If you’re looking to run a game online I heartily recommend people to use Tabletop Simulator. It’s a 3D virtual tabletop that you can customize your table and the room it is in depending upon the genre of your game. You can have miniatures, dice, rules in pdfs, maps, and even 3D terrain. It’s also relatively inexpensive at $19.99 for a copy. Yes, everyone in your group will need to have a copy in order to play.
It does have built in voice chat, but I prefer using Discord. For Discord I use KenzuFM that lets me create a bot that I can play music and sound files from my computer without violating copyright.
I’m a big fan of TTS, I used it to help prototype game designs, play assorted board games, develop tools for playtesting, and I plan on using it for a future Five Parsec from Home game. It is a great option for online play and is a lot cheaper/more convenient than a room full of minis. I also like that it is a flat fee and none of that subscription BS that other VTTs try to inflict on their user base.
I play in a Pathfinder campaign with a GM who uses Fantasy Grounds. I’ve gotten used to it but it took about 5 or 6 games for me to really feel comfortable with it. The GM seems to have to do a lot of prepping and with so many options for maps and tokens I feel like I would get paralysis through analysis.
Bottom line; I’m nervous about getting into any Virtual Tabletop because I think it’d take me longer than setting up for a game in person.
I’ve used Fantasy Grounds and Foundry to run virtual table tops. Both required a lot of setup time. After paying for both, our group decided to just scrap the complex interfaces and the fancy gee-whiz graphics and go back to a more basic approach.
We landed with AboveVTT, which is a free, web-based browser plug in. It doesn’t support animation, but it does allow native video chat, which is important for our remote games. Works in a variety of browsers, which is nice. It also interfaces with D&D Beyond really, really, well.
It also feels a lot more like sitting around the roll-out markerboard map on a kitchen table.
Some folks love the complexity of setting up their VTT with the 3D graphics and animations. It sure looks pretty. But I found myself spending so much prep time, I personally needed something simpler.
Another free option is Owlbear Rodeo. It is very bare bones, but perfectly functional as a battlemap.
