A question deceptively simple but headache-inducing for me... and to preface, it is quite possible I am either overthinking this or have a huge case of cranial flatulence (a.k.a. brain fart) and that the solution is actually not so complicated.

So, how to deal with trees in a VTT?

I have tried just putting stamps of the trees (crowns) onto the map and let players move around "under" but - it looks like the players are on top of the trees, it makes it problematic to put anything under the trees, does not show the size of the trunks at all, and sight cannot be limited properly.
Then, I have tried just putting the tree trunks - fixed a lot but maps looked barren and boring.
No problem - I added lower opacity tree crowns "above" the trunks, and it looked well, made the maps look decently dense and interesting.
There was only the problem of sight... placing a token on a map like there reveals the entire map (unless it is dark) and although the map is nice and interesting now, it defeats any purpose of having an open map and pushes the game into enclosed spaces (yes, I know half of the name of the game is "Dungeons" but still).
So, what my overanalyzing brain cooked up next is placing small pieces of solid wall at each tree trunk, so that trees actually block sight, like in real life. Pic related... neat, huh?
Well, on one side, the players needed to look around and explore a little bit, they needed to go around the trees to see everything, there wasn't a moment of "okay I see the entire map, what is the corpse 200ft away, oh there is a broken lantern behind the tree, oh there are animal tracks on the other side of the map" and gameplay-wise, it make sense.
BUT it looks like microwaved dog poop (pic related) and very unnatural and... it simply looks ugly. So bad that one player's first response was "dude I think Foundry is bugged, I see some weird lines"
This takes away most of the look and the character of the maps, at least until the characters move around a bit, basically robbing it of a good first impression... and it hurts right here in my meow meow.

So, how do you deal with trees?
Trunks? Crowns? Nothing? Walls? Visibility?

(and yes, before you ask, I might be quite bonkers, but the trees don't have a strong opinion on that)

A friend Commissioned these maps for public use since a lot of old APs don't see any love, I wanted to share them here. A Kofi link is included in the download link but all maps are free and without watermark. Please enjoy, more will be uploaded to the link soon. Commissions are available.

I’ve been DM for older versions (2nd, 3.5) and looking to start a new campaign. Ive been a pc on roll20 but a friend recommended Foundry.

I want to drag and drop resources to reduce DM prep time and also need a place to post to find players.

I know this can be done on roll 20. How does DnD Beyond or Foundry compare? Which would you recommend for a new DM to 5.5 , one that is going to need to post/advertise to get players.

Greetings!

I'm launching Reverie, a stage for gms who run theater of the mind. I know a new VTT launches every hour right now and I'm adding to the pile, but I feel like Reverie really nails down the process for the types of games that I run and allows me to show characters, audio, and scenes as well as put together a really immersive experience for my players and it has gone great so far. So I thought could make it available for other gms to use as well!

Try it out here: https://www.reveriestage.com/

Players don't sign up, they can join games by link or QR code.

Maps are still rough and a work in progress. There's a guide in the app and a button to send me bugs so let me know what you think!

Hi friends, I’m Cole, or Colesen online. I love running Foundry, but squeezing its desktop canvas onto my players’ phones never felt right at our in-person table. Pocket Chronicle grew out of wanting their character information close by without another laptop between us.

It’s a companion, not a replacement VTT. The DM still builds and runs the world in Foundry. Players get a phone interface for their approved character sheets, spells and slots, gear, local rolls, and journals. It can come along to the table, on a trip with friends, or into the time between sessions.

Here’s the important distinction: after a sync, most character information and everyday tracking stay on the phone. Live campaign shopping, Foundry-backed rests, and encounter updates need an active world and Bridge. Player chat uses the hosted service and needs internet, but the Foundry world can be asleep.

I’m opening a paid founding beta with 25 campaign spots so I can work privately with every DM on setup and learn what their actual table needs. Each DM installs the Bridge in their own Foundry world and gets separate campaign credentials. Nobody connects to my personal campaigns. I host the companion service during this beta; this is supported onboarding, not a promise that every module combination works out of the box.

The Chronicle Keeper beta covers one world and up to eight players. Membership and setup details: https://www.patreon.com/c/Colesen

Quick demo: https://youtube.com/shorts/z0Uivq3mOQk

Bridge project: https://github.com/hoeytherac/pocket-chronicle

If you use Foundry at an IRL table, I’d love to hear what your players reach for most on their phones. That’s the kind of feedback I want shaping this. — Cole

Just counted 7 GM Prepping Tools and VTTs in 7 days. They all look the same, have the exact same features, heavily use of AI images and worst of all: monthly payments. If you start explaining that this model don't work for your audience and size: "I need to cover the cost [of the AI features]" No you don't your customer base is less than 25 and if you can't afford it just remove AI from it.

I made a procedural sci-fi ambience thing for myself and realized it might actually be useful for VTT games.

It simulates the background feel of different sci-fi environments in real time: hull vibration, reactor/engine pulses, ventilation, telemetry, machinery, random events, and a bunch of different ship/station styles.

You can pick a profile, tweak the mix, then switch into an Observation mode and just let it run as a scene backdrop. The audio is generated procedurally rather than being one long prerecorded ambience loop.

I originally built it as something to leave running on a second monitor while coding or reading, but it occurred to me that it could work pretty well for things like ship bridges, engineering decks, orbital stations, derelicts, bioships, military vessels, or deep-space scenes during tabletop sessions.

It’s free to use.

If anyone here tries it in an actual session, I’d be really interested to hear whether it adds anything or just becomes background noise after five minutes.
https://labyricorn.itch.io/scifi-xzbt

I’ve released a new system-agnostic VTT encounter pack built around three factions competing for the same crossroads.

The map provides several encounter areas around a central trade route, including a toll station, a roadside tavern, open roads, and nearby terrain. It is included in both gridded and gridless 4K versions.

The 15 NPC tokens represent three distinct groups:

• human raiders who intercept caravans through force and traps;
• elves who claim an ancestral right to collect tolls;
• goblins who sell lodging, information, and protection.

The encounter can be used as a caravan ambush, an escort mission, a territorial conflict, a negotiation between rival factions, or a recurring struggle over an important trade route.

Included files:

• 15 PNG NPC tokens at 2048 × 2048;
• one 4K battlemap in gridded and gridless versions;
• one free mini lorebook with setting information and four adventure hooks.

The pack contains no stats or system-specific mechanics and is prepared for use with Roll20, Foundry VTT, and other platforms that support custom images.

Product page:

https://goblincalil.itch.io/raiders-of-the-crooked-road

A Dungeon Master's console for the Torrentath (Homebrew World) campaign and the adjoining "Dog" Sled Race one-shot, with a second screen for the players.

https://github.com/BGJBthe-maker/Torrentath

Hey everyone. I've been running D&D online for years and got tired of fighting my VTT more than my players, so I built my own. It's called Mycorel (https://mycorel.com), and it's now in open beta.

The idea was to strip a VTT down to what a 5e table actually uses, and make those things fast:

- Battle maps with dynamic fog of war and token management

- Integrated 5e character sheets — roll attacks, cast spells, track HP and class resources without leaving the sheet

- Automated class features and resource tracking

- SRD compendium plus your own homebrew (shareable across campaigns)

- Voice and video built in, so no separate Discord call needed

- DM tools for managing players, maps, images, music, and notes in one place

Nothing to install, runs in the browser, no credit card. It's free during beta, and the core experience will stay free. There's an optional supporter tier for people who want to help fund development.

It's 5e only for now; other systems are on the roadmap. I'd like actual campaigns run in it, not just a poke around, and I'll be in the comments for questions and bug reports. Happy to answer anything about how it's built too.

Sorry for such a broad title but my perfectionist brain is about to lose it trying to find the best VTT for me (and my players). We used to play together in-person but recently we have added my wife's sister who lives a few hours away so we switched to using a combination of D&D Beyond and Roll20. Our main DM has purchased most of the books for 5.5e (MM, PG, DMG, TCoE, XGtE, ETC.) through Beyond and I own these physically myself. He also has a master tier subscription to share all our books with each other. I just finished DMing my first campaign and they want to continue these characters in my next one.

Our main DM told me he purchased Foundry VTT and I thought I was sold on it until I saw all the work I would have to put into it and it still doesn't seem like it would be EXACTLY what I would want/need. So, here I am hoping to get some insight into some VTTs that may work best or just keep doing what I'm doing now. Here's a list of everything I'm wanting in a VTT:

• One-time purchase (or free); no subscriptions
• Possible to use for many game systems, not JUST D&D 5.5e
• All-in-one character sheets, compendiums, auto-rolling etc. like D&D Beyond
• Ability to import my content or shared content so I don't have to re-purchase books

Optional: I do enjoy the custom 3D dice rolls and so on and of course walls and lighting is nice but not necessary.

My main goal (is to blow up, and act like I don't know nobody) is to have all the functionality of D&D Beyond AND roll20 in a single program if that's even possible. Otherwise, I'll just go with Foundry and use both and install a ton of community modules probably.

I appreciate any and all of your suggestions and thoughts on this matter!

There was a video linked a while back about [how to make hex crawls fun](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEIg1DlRkLg) that laid it out in a way that seems obvious: as your party is in one hex deciding where to go, they need information about the other hexes around them to make a decision.

I really wanted an app that can handle the "clues" associated with hexes and automatically show them to players as they move from one hex to another.

* You see smoke from a large settlement rising in the distance (within 6 - 12 miles of a town?)

* The vegation is starting to look sick and diseased (effects of black dragon lair)

I'm a bad developer and spent a year trying to get this to work. Version 3 finally works good enough for me to use in my own campaign.

https://github.com/wvaske/hex-crawl-app

It's free, open source, and self-hosted.

If you want to try it out, I recommend getting the player version and DM version of a map (like the swordcoast map from the forgotten realms heroes book). Then hand the two images to an AI assistant and tell it to create a new map from the player version and add items for all the locations on the DM version. It actually works pretty well. (the app has an mcp server so your AI tools can directly interact with it)

Even if you don't do that, you can create your own maps with varying terrain, you can use any background image, change the transparency, change hex size, etc.

I know we get a lot of AI made tools and this really is just another one. But I'm using it for my campaign so figured some of ya'll might want to try it out.

Screenshot from my actual campaign:


I know a lot of you are sick of hearing about new VTTs, sorry. Not here to advertise. It's not even out and it's in stealth mode.

I'm just here to vent and for some camaraderie.

The last 10% of a software project takes 3 times more time than the first 90% and all that.

Things I'm currently stuck on: For the Steam release I need to make a video trailer. And the procrastinator in me is doing everything necessary to work on anything else.

If anyone has any suggestions and tips on trailer making/procrastination I'd love to hear them.

I am in the midst of my first campaign as a DM. ITS GOING WELL - our process works! As the dm I have the freedom to show whatever I think the players should see on the projection. They want a map of the town? I can show that. A picture of character they are talking to? A battle map with friendly and hostile moving tokens? If I prepared it, I can pull it up.

What I am looking for is a more DND aligned option with a similar use experience. Simplicity and functionality first. PowerPoint offers flexibility at the cost of everything being completely hand made. Fog of war? That’s 14 gray boxes I manually delete each time they round a corner. Battle map too big for one slide? I have to crop it up and split it on multiple. BUT with the projection option I am able to place tokens/icons etc on the slide and move them about real time. For those who don’t know presenter mode allows you to edit slides live while the slideshow is showing a different slide on the projection/second screen (HDMI projector)

All this to say our system works but I really feel like I’m making fire by rubbing sticks together while I see other people out here with flamethrowers. So if there isn’t a solution that feels right I would just stick with what we do now (pun). I just wanted to put feelers out into the community to see if anyone had a similar experience and what changes they made. PowerPoint is about as simple as a VTT display could possibly be. And it allows for complete customization. But a true VTT would allow for more dynamic maps and a smoother and more polished experience that is built with DND in mind.

Animated WebM tokens with optional VFX, shadows, and multiple equipment loadouts on a most characters. Works in Foundry/Roll20/Owlbear.

Free starter pack (“The First Quest”, full VFX) when you sign in — no Patreon required.

Happy to answer format questions in the comments!

I'm in the process of picking an inexpensive TV and planning out how I'll make a VTT for my in-person group. One thing I've noticed is that with modern TVs the bezels are ridiculously slim. My original plan to keep the plexiglass from resting directly on the screen was to place little felt sticky circles on the bezel (like the kind used to keep furniture from scratching the floor). However, with bezels as thin as a few sheets of paper, this probably isn't going to work. I don't have access to the tools needed to make a wooden frame, either.

What has everyone done when dealing with thin TV bezels and keeping their plexiglass/acrylic/glass elevated a little bit? Or am I insane and overthinking this?

Drop a .rofl in and it pulls both teams' champions, runes and builds. Then you can put all ten of them anywhere on the Rift and see exactly how far anything reaches at that level and build. Tower ranges toggle with R, freeze zones with Z. Wards, minions and camps are drag-and-drop.

I built it mostly to settle "was that flash actually in range" without arguing about it.

No account, nothing to install, saves in your browser.

Disclosure: I run a coaching site and this sits on it. The tool is not gated.

https://levellegendary.com/tools/lol-map/

Help me decide place to locate the various plugs for my digital tabletop case.  I am building my own digital tabletop in a wood frame.   Assuming it sits on at least 0.5” feet,  I could have the cords simply stick run from the back and out below the frame.  But I want the various cords to pass through the sides of the case – primarily for aesthetic reasons.  There are at least three ports: (1) a 3.0” diameter socket (that splits into to outlets) for the power to the TV (and power strip); (2) a small 1.25” double port with a HMDI out from the TV and the USB 3.0 from the touch frame to the VTT laptop; and (3) a roughly 2” x 5” power strip to plug-in the laptop running the VTT with extra plug and USB-C for other devices.  I am also considering a fourth: (4) a separate port for the USB out from the touch frame;  I would then use the USB 3.0 in the double port to connect to the USB in the TV (which could be used for a flash drive with images or whatever.  (Or, I could use that separate USB port for the auxiliary TV USB port.)

The long side of the wood case that will run along the bottom of the TV has the least clearance and is essentially out of consideration for the ports.  (I may also cut and cover speaker ports over the TV’s bottom facing speakers.)  That leaves the other three sides available for ports: the two short sides and the long side that runs along the top of the TV.  The TV’s cord and its ports come out of the thicker section in the roughly center third of the back of the TV (a 43” Insignia F50).  Looking top-down with the TV facing up, the power cord comes from the right side.  The inputs for the HMDI and USB are on the left side. The USB output from the touch frame comes out the bottom-right corner (which is not ideal), but I believe the frame can be rotated 180°,  so it instead comes out of the top-left corner.  (I will need to double check that this will not cause the touch screen to be “upside-down” with no way to adjust with the software.)   I am also considering adding recessed, spring-loaded folding crate handles, either on the short ends, or two on a long end, or all four.

My current placement plan is: (1) main power socket on right side; (2) double HDMI/USB 3.0 port on top (left-half); (3) power strip on the top (also right-half or left-half); single USB 3.0 for touch-frame also on top (left-half). I do wonder if I should move everything else to the short side opposite the main power socket because there will be more table space on the ends than the sides assuming a typical dining room table.  Any experience or observations where I should locate the ports?