D&D Tabletop? - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

D&D Tabletop?

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
onelife
Dec 07, 2010 22:59:17 Hi,
Long time ago (i think 2008) i found this:

I have been looking for some way to play D&D online. I know about those Tabletop systems you can download/buy.

My question is...where is the one shown on this video ? Is it still in development or im so dumb and cant find it.

If there is some info about that ,can you please point me? Please, dont give me anything like...google it.
I was looking for last few days and all that i can find is not even close to software from this video.

And, if this is still in development, what would you reccomend instead? I work in a very remote place and cant really go to a big city every weekend, so i am forced to use online means.

I was going trough many websites, most of them are very restictive or they dont play D&D.

Please, help me out here...help a noobie trying to get into D&D ;)

Thank you!
#2
totemensch
Dec 08, 2010 0:18:53 That particular one is dead, they are currently beta testing a 2d game table. If you look under the d&di general area you should be able to find screen shots of the table they are putting out now.

Joe
#3
BendBarsLiftGates
Dec 09, 2010 15:34:35 That video you're looking at is from the very early days of D&D 4E. It was unveiled with huge fanfare, but as it turns out the actual application was a lot less far along than the "demo" video made it look. What you're looking at in that video is not really what the product looked like at that point, but rather what it would have looked like if they had pulled it off.

Eventually, it came to be realized that the 3D application was too big in scope. I think there was some kind of breakdown with the software developers hired to do it. The whole affair was kind of embarrassing for Wizards after they made such a big promise and then could not follow through on it. So, they changed their game plan and started working on the digital applications one at a time, not promising more than they could reasonably finish.

A few weeks ago, they made the surprise announcement that they were ready to beta test a virtual table top, after all. It's not the one in the video, but is something much closer to MapTool, except with tighter D&D integration, more limited options for customization, a much easier learning curve, and D&D map tiles.

Some people have been bent out of shape ever since the original VT got canned, and so even mentioning that stuff on these forums is likely to start some arguments.
#4
paulstrait
Dec 11, 2010 15:52:41 In my opinion, we don't really need wotc to develop a vtt at this point, b/c maptool is sick. People who are unfamiliar with maptool would be absolutely amazed I think when they see the extent to which game mechanics are automated. In my campaign, the players don't even have character sheets for their pcs-- almost all of the info is stored in their maptool token, and the little that isn't (mostly inventory) we have in a shared google spreadsheet.

When we play, no one needs to have any book with them, even the DM (me). Literally everything, even room descriptions and the details of traps and the like can be embedded in maptool, and any rules questions that arise are easily handled by the ddi online compendium. It makes the game much faster and more efficient, and it frees people up to focus on what their characters are actually doing, rather than continually thinking about the mechanics of how everything works.

The other amazing feature is vision -- maptool can be set so that each player can only see what their token sees. It allows a level of realism that is impossible with a non-virtual tabletop since there is no way for anyone to avoid seeing what their characters can't see. It creates some interesting situations-- we had an encounter in a library with several rows of bookshelves, and consequently basically all of the combatants could see at most 2-3 other combatants at any one time, which forced the characters to rp out things like "does anyone see the flameskull?"

If anyone would like a demo, just PM me and I can show you how it works.
#5
lokiare
Dec 24, 2010 15:35:55
That video you're looking at is from the very early days of D&D 4E. It was unveiled with huge fanfare, but as it turns out the actual application was a lot less far along than the "demo" video made it look. What you're looking at in that video is not really what the product looked like at that point, but rather what it would have looked like if they had pulled it off.

Eventually, it came to be realized that the 3D application was too big in scope. I think there was some kind of breakdown with the software developers hired to do it. The whole affair was kind of embarrassing for Wizards after they made such a big promise and then could not follow through on it. So, they changed their game plan and started working on the digital applications one at a time, not promising more than they could reasonably finish.

A few weeks ago, they made the surprise announcement that they were ready to beta test a virtual table top, after all. It's not the one in the video, but is something much closer to MapTool, except with tighter D&D integration, more limited options for customization, a much easier learning curve, and D&D map tiles.

Some people have been bent out of shape ever since the original VT got canned, and so even mentioning that stuff on these forums is likely to start some arguments.

Your assessment is wildly innacurate. If you do a search you can find the thread that had a timeline. It described in detail what actually took place. The president of the company doing the 3D VT died. Then the company decided to shut down their digital department. The 3D VT was actually about 90% done. According to both the PR and inside sources it was being used within the offices of WotC to play games on. What happened was their was also a contract snafu with Atari having the rights to produce D&D games. Along with a C&D from the Fantasy Grounds company for using their 3D dice in an early mock up video. Basically they made a mess of things. Instead of finishing what they started they just dropped it and moved it all in house. Which further messed things up. Then they did the ol' ha$bro layoffs and anyone that knew anything about the old VT was gone...
#6
BendBarsLiftGates
Dec 24, 2010 22:17:44 All I said was that, at GenCon 2007 when they announced 4e and made a big deal of the Virtual Tabletop, it wasn't actually as ready-to-go as it looked. That's to be expected, as they want to show what they want it to look like. It seems like what you said was pretty much in keeping with what I said about things not working out with the 3rd party developers. Contract disasters and all that.

You seem to remember the story in more detail, sure, but am I "wildly inaccurate"? I don't really think so.
#7
lokiare
Dec 28, 2010 0:52:59
All I said was that, at GenCon 2007 when they announced 4e and made a big deal of the Virtual Tabletop, it wasn't actually as ready-to-go as it looked. That's to be expected, as they want to show what they want it to look like. It seems like what you said was pretty much in keeping with what I said about things not working out with the 3rd party developers. Contract disasters and all that.

You seem to remember the story in more detail, sure, but am I "wildly inaccurate"? I don't really think so.

By the end they had re-demoed it at another convention and showed it in actual play. It was very workable, and many posts on the board talked about "almost beta" by the developers and community liasons...

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 onelife Dec 07, 2010 22:59:17	Hi, Long time ago (i think 2008) i found this: I have been looking for some way to play D&D online. I know about those Tabletop systems you can download/buy. My question is...where is the one shown on this video ? Is it still in development or im so dumb and cant find it. If there is some info about that ,can you please point me? Please, dont give me anything like...google it. I was looking for last few days and all that i can find is not even close to software from this video. And, if this is still in development, what would you reccomend instead? I work in a very remote place and cant really go to a big city every weekend, so i am forced to use online means. I was going trough many websites, most of them are very restictive or they dont play D&D. Please, help me out here...help a noobie trying to get into D&D ;) Thank you!
#2 totemensch Dec 08, 2010 0:18:53	That particular one is dead, they are currently beta testing a 2d game table. If you look under the d&di general area you should be able to find screen shots of the table they are putting out now. Joe
#3 BendBarsLiftGates Dec 09, 2010 15:34:35	That video you're looking at is from the very early days of D&D 4E. It was unveiled with huge fanfare, but as it turns out the actual application was a lot less far along than the "demo" video made it look. What you're looking at in that video is not really what the product looked like at that point, but rather what it would have looked like if they had pulled it off. Eventually, it came to be realized that the 3D application was too big in scope. I think there was some kind of breakdown with the software developers hired to do it. The whole affair was kind of embarrassing for Wizards after they made such a big promise and then could not follow through on it. So, they changed their game plan and started working on the digital applications one at a time, not promising more than they could reasonably finish. A few weeks ago, they made the surprise announcement that they were ready to beta test a virtual table top, after all. It's not the one in the video, but is something much closer to MapTool, except with tighter D&D integration, more limited options for customization, a much easier learning curve, and D&D map tiles. Some people have been bent out of shape ever since the original VT got canned, and so even mentioning that stuff on these forums is likely to start some arguments.
#4 paulstrait Dec 11, 2010 15:52:41	In my opinion, we don't really need wotc to develop a vtt at this point, b/c maptool is sick. People who are unfamiliar with maptool would be absolutely amazed I think when they see the extent to which game mechanics are automated. In my campaign, the players don't even have character sheets for their pcs-- almost all of the info is stored in their maptool token, and the little that isn't (mostly inventory) we have in a shared google spreadsheet. When we play, no one needs to have any book with them, even the DM (me). Literally everything, even room descriptions and the details of traps and the like can be embedded in maptool, and any rules questions that arise are easily handled by the ddi online compendium. It makes the game much faster and more efficient, and it frees people up to focus on what their characters are actually doing, rather than continually thinking about the mechanics of how everything works. The other amazing feature is vision -- maptool can be set so that each player can only see what their token sees. It allows a level of realism that is impossible with a non-virtual tabletop since there is no way for anyone to avoid seeing what their characters can't see. It creates some interesting situations-- we had an encounter in a library with several rows of bookshelves, and consequently basically all of the combatants could see at most 2-3 other combatants at any one time, which forced the characters to rp out things like "does anyone see the flameskull?" If anyone would like a demo, just PM me and I can show you how it works.
#5 lokiare Dec 24, 2010 15:35:55	That video you're looking at is from the very early days of D&D 4E. It was unveiled with huge fanfare, but as it turns out the actual application was a lot less far along than the "demo" video made it look. What you're looking at in that video is not really what the product looked like at that point, but rather what it would have looked like if they had pulled it off. Eventually, it came to be realized that the 3D application was too big in scope. I think there was some kind of breakdown with the software developers hired to do it. The whole affair was kind of embarrassing for Wizards after they made such a big promise and then could not follow through on it. So, they changed their game plan and started working on the digital applications one at a time, not promising more than they could reasonably finish. A few weeks ago, they made the surprise announcement that they were ready to beta test a virtual table top, after all. It's not the one in the video, but is something much closer to MapTool, except with tighter D&D integration, more limited options for customization, a much easier learning curve, and D&D map tiles. Some people have been bent out of shape ever since the original VT got canned, and so even mentioning that stuff on these forums is likely to start some arguments. Your assessment is wildly innacurate. If you do a search you can find the thread that had a timeline. It described in detail what actually took place. The president of the company doing the 3D VT died. Then the company decided to shut down their digital department. The 3D VT was actually about 90% done. According to both the PR and inside sources it was being used within the offices of WotC to play games on. What happened was their was also a contract snafu with Atari having the rights to produce D&D games. Along with a C&D from the Fantasy Grounds company for using their 3D dice in an early mock up video. Basically they made a mess of things. Instead of finishing what they started they just dropped it and moved it all in house. Which further messed things up. Then they did the ol' ha$bro layoffs and anyone that knew anything about the old VT was gone...
#6 BendBarsLiftGates Dec 24, 2010 22:17:44	All I said was that, at GenCon 2007 when they announced 4e and made a big deal of the Virtual Tabletop, it wasn't actually as ready-to-go as it looked. That's to be expected, as they want to show what they want it to look like. It seems like what you said was pretty much in keeping with what I said about things not working out with the 3rd party developers. Contract disasters and all that. You seem to remember the story in more detail, sure, but am I "wildly inaccurate"? I don't really think so.
#7 lokiare Dec 28, 2010 0:52:59	All I said was that, at GenCon 2007 when they announced 4e and made a big deal of the Virtual Tabletop, it wasn't actually as ready-to-go as it looked. That's to be expected, as they want to show what they want it to look like. It seems like what you said was pretty much in keeping with what I said about things not working out with the 3rd party developers. Contract disasters and all that. You seem to remember the story in more detail, sure, but am I "wildly inaccurate"? I don't really think so. By the end they had re-demoed it at another convention and showed it in actual play. It was very workable, and many posts on the board talked about "almost beta" by the developers and community liasons...