Every time I open the back page of my PHB I see the ad for the D&D Virtual Gametable.... is this still even in production?
Between a bad economy, a Hasbro-enforced hiring freeze, Gleemax, and Wizards being an inexperienced software company, things have been delayed time, time, and time again.
Wizards has, therefore, modified its production scheme: rather than make all D&Di programs at the same time, it's producing them one at a time. First the Character Builder. Then the Adventure Tools.
The answer to your question? They aren't working on the VTT right now, they're finalizing the Monster Builder and are going to work on the next Adventure Tool after that until they've finished all 5 (what they are has yet to be unveiled).
And after all that's done, they'll get the VTT done. Which is how it needs to be done anyway: the VTT depends on databased monster stats, player stats, digitally mapped dungeons, 3d Models... so before they can get the VTT even started, they need to get the Monser Builder, Character Builder, Dungeon Mapper and Character Visualizer done FIRST
According to this article at RPGamer, Bill Slavicsek says the Game Table is not dead, and will be release "when it is ready".
"When it's ready" is the classic vaporware line. See Duke Nukem Forever (or, rather, don't).
Oh, come on. There's hardly room for a DNF reference.
Anyways, I'll gladly bump the thread when the game table finally does come out so you can eat your words. Sure, it might take another year or so and I'll probably completely forget, but oh well.
Every time I open the back page of my PHB I see the ad for the D&D Virtual Gametable.... is this still even in production?
Now imagine a Fallout VTT 
Hey, that's not fair. It's not vaporware, it just has the [insubstantial] and [phasing] keywords. 
Hey, that's not fair. It's not vaporware, it just has the [insubstantial] and [phasing] keywords.
See, now that's clever. =D
Hey, that's not fair. It's not vaporware, it just has the [insubstantial] and [phasing] keywords.
See, now that's clever. =D
Agreed!
EDIT: This is my first post on these newfangled forums. I'm optimistic about the whole setup overall, but at the moment, WTF is this junk? Why the weird formatting? Why all the whitespace in each post?
in the meantime, there are alternatives. rptools.net has got it's maptools program which works quite well.
Vaporware.
They're not working it. It's been fourteen months since the promised release. There are a half-dozen components to be released before. AND there is a deadline.
5e will be coming out eventually. 4e will probably last longer than 3.0 or 3.5 (4 and 5 years respectively) but we're already into year 2 of 4e. If the VTT doesn't come out in the next couple of years they'll have to delay it to re-do it for the next edition along with all the other DDI components.
in the meantime, there are alternatives. rptools.net has got it's maptools program which works quite well.
In fact, it's probably already better than anything WotC will manage. Which will probably further discourage WotC from developing the VTT since it's hard to convince people to pay for something if something else can do the same or better for free.
If it ties into the character builder and adventure tools, it'll be miles above maptools in terms of usability. For me at least.
*snip*
3e came out in 2000 and 3.5 came out in 2003.
3e came out in 2000 and 3.5 came out in 2003.
The PHB for 3.0 came out in 1999, so *technically* 3.0 laster from '99 to '03 so roughly 4 years.
The other option is to say it lasted 3 years (99-02) and 3.5 lasted (03- 07) 4 years, so 4e only needs to make it until 2012-13 to match/exceed 3e. But I get nervous shivers when I think about an annoucement at GenCon in just three years...
The PHB for 3.0 came out in 1999, so *technically* 3.0 laster from '99 to '03 so roughly 4 years.
How do you figure, seeing as the 3rd edition Player's Handbook has a publication date of August 2000 (no where close to 1999)? The 3.5 Player's Handbook was release in July 2003 (2 years and 11 months later). If one considers 3.5 to have lived until the publication of the 4th edition Player's Handbook in June of 2008, then it lasted 4 years and 11 months (though it was pretty much walking dead the better part of it's final year).
If it ties into the character builder and adventure tools, it'll be miles above maptools in terms of usability. For me at least.
Wasn't the announcement that it wouldn't? IIRC it's supposed to be a completly neutral gametable without any build-in rules support for 4e or any other system. So probably no ties to CB or AT (otherwise Atari might get crancky because WotC sold them the exclusive right to any digital D&D games)
On the bright side it wouldn't matter if the GT comes out the day 5e is announced since there would be no need for any transition update anyway.
Well then the whole thing is pointless I can't figure out why people are bitching about it so much. If that's the case, just use maptools and let me get the tools I'm actually going to use.
If it ties into the character builder and adventure tools, it'll be miles above maptools in terms of usability. For me at least.
Wasn't the announcement that it wouldn't? IIRC it's supposed to be a completly neutral gametable without any build-in rules support for 4e or any other system. So probably no ties to CB or AT (otherwise Atari might get crancky because WotC sold them the exclusive right to any digital D&D games)
On the bright side it wouldn't matter if the GT comes out the day 5e is announced since there would be no need for any transition update anyway.
There was never any announcement to that effect- though some people jumped to conclusions when WotC sold Atari Videogame rights, the Game Table is clearly part of the digital side of the TABLETOP game, just like the charactere builder and the adventure tools. And because they will already have the Character Visualizer and Dungeon Designer in-house, they would be silly not to include the ability to at least port things from one to another.
There was a statement early on in the process, from one of the designers, that the GameTable would not "adjudicate game rules." I took that to mean that it would not be automating play - so you may roll virtual dice, but you'd still tell your GM, via voice or chat, that you got a 22, and the GM would look at the monster and say, "Hit," and then go and manually edit hit point totals.
This is not to say it would not integrate at all with the other tools - maybe you could double-click on your virtual mini and it would display your character sheet or something - just that I understood it to mean that you wouldn't be clicking on an enemy and then clicking the "Cleave" power to execute Cleave, for instance, and you'd have to eyeball whether the target had cover, and so forth.
Oh I see. Yeah, I heard that as well. I thought the idea was more to allow house rules and particular styles of play. They didn't want to create a video game rather a tool to facilitate online play.
I would like to be able to integrate encounters build with the adventure tools though and character sheets, etc. though.
The biggest issue with the VTT is the longer they wait, the more work they have to do. Even if they release a program, if all it supports is PHB1 and MM1, it's pretty much worthless for everyone involved.
The longer they wait, the more books they've gotta build into it, the more time it's going to take to make it, and the more likely it's vaporware that was axed over a year ago.
The biggest issue with the VTT is the longer they wait, the more work they have to do. Even if they release a program, if all it supports is PHB1 and MM1, it's pretty much worthless for everyone involved.
The longer they wait, the more books they've gotta build into it, the more time it's going to take to make it, and the more likely it's vaporware that was axed over a year ago.
Not if it links to the Character Builder and Monster builder... with systems already in place for the updates, they can build each component separately- the dungeon designer, the character visualizer, and so on- until they finally come to the online interface, the Virtual Tabletop, which would be the cumulation of all that came before it.
The biggest issue with the VTT is the longer they wait, the more work they have to do. Even if they release a program, if all it supports is PHB1 and MM1, it's pretty much worthless for everyone involved.
The longer they wait, the more books they've gotta build into it, the more time it's going to take to make it, and the more likely it's vaporware that was axed over a year ago.
And what support would the VTT have to have for books beyond PHB1 and MM1? It doesn't deal with rule issues, so unless a new type of die, new type of lighting, or a new type of 5th dimensional movement are introduced there really isn't anything the VTT would have to deal with really.
-=Edit: Minus miniatures of course, but monster tokens don't add any complication to the actual programming of the VTT. And player tokens will be imported from the visualizer. Now the Character Visualizer could get more complicated the longer they wait as more and more playhable races are made.=-
...Although they do seem to be tapering off. 8 races in PH1, 6 in PH2, 4 in PH3...while PG seem to be holding steady at around 2-3.
I think thats an effect from there being only so many 'generic' common races that fit in just about any setting
Andy Collins mentioned at Norwescon in April of this year that the Virtual Table Top was not vaporware, and that they are in fact working on each DDi Tool in turn, but that they were going to make the tools that the public wanted most first.
Vaporware means that have yet to be launched well past the date it would be expected to in the development cycle.
That describes the Vurtial Tabletop faily well, even if it will be released.
Maybe, but the implication is that it will never be released. It even says that in the Wikipedia article you mentioned.
That implication is what people seem to be arguing.
In the meantime to make the most use out of the VTT's that are available I've started a community group here based around VTT gaming:
Yes it's about finding groups to play with online. But it's also about developing a community of gamers who know one another and are reliable.
Sixteen months late and counting == vaporware.
IF it sees release someday that might change, but today it is unequivocally vaporware.
Gee Wizards made promises about tools they couldnt keep. Never happened before. *cough* Master Tools *cough*
No, but seriously, how do you SAGE on this ****?
However they are slowly rolling out every feature they ever promised. The recent community section of the site being a replacement for Gleemax for example and the new monster builder they released.
I think it's still on their list. But they have more realistic expectations on how fast they can do things now.
Its dead Jim.
As was this thread. O.o