At the top of each of the big VTTs you will see a table like this. I’ve tried to explain my reasons behind each item to primarily keep ME consistent. Honestly a lot of this is going to be educated guesses.
| Basic Requirements | Good Aspects (Higher is Better) | Bad Aspects (Lower is Better) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Platform: | . . . . . . | Game Support: | [ | ](https://flash-acrylic-5ca.notion.site/ec7c3a105a3845ffb0349799a9394e01) [ | ](https://flash-acrylic-5ca.notion.site/89cce7fdfc454657a5f7747fedaacb79) [ |
| Up Front Cost: | Free to 💰💰 | Community: | 🟢🟢🟢⚪⚪ | Tedium: | 🔴🔴🔴⚪⚪ |
| Ongoing Cost: | Free to 💰💰 | Features: | 🟢🟢🟢⚪⚪ | ||
| Cost of Books: | N/A to 💰💰 | User Interface: | 🟢🟢🟢⚪⚪ |
Platform: The operating system or browser required to run the VTT.
. Chrome
. Firefox
. Windows
. Apple
. Linux
. Mobile
Up Front Cost: A rating of how much the VTT costs on day 1 to be able to DM a quality game. Either a flat purchase, or a special getting started deal. 💰 - $1 to $45 💰💰 - $45 to 95 💰💰💰 - More
Ongoing Cost: A rating of how much the VTT costs yearly. 💰 - $25 or less yearly 💰💰- $90 or less yearly 💰💰💰 - More
Cost of Books: A rating of how much a standard book costs including potential sales and sales frequency. (sometimes this category is changed to match what is offered in the VTT besides books) N/A - cost can be avoided entirely 💰 - books are always on sale or at cost in rotation 💰💰- books are on sale for holidays and seasonal sales 💰💰💰 - books generally don’t go on sale
Game Support: A few of the most popular games the system supports. The word game support is a link that will take you to a complete list of supported games.
| Wizards of the Coast - Dungeons and Dragons
| Paizo - Pathfinder and Starfinder
| Chaosium - Call of Cthulu
| 13th Age - Pendragon
| Cubicle 7 - warhammer fantasy roleplay adventure, sin, middle earth, age of sigmar
| Warhammer
| Savage Worlds - deadlands
| Shadowrun
| Generic
The colored dots are 5 star ratings. Grey circles are missing “dots”. So this would be a 3 out of 5 rating: 🟢🟢🟢⚪⚪
Here’s what each label represents:
Community: This sums up the size, friendliness, and helpfulness of the community surrounding the VTT.
Features: A general rating of how many features the VTT has, as well as how well they are implemented. See below the table for a complete list of features.
User Interface: How user-friendly, intuitive, and pleasant is the program to use?
Complexity: How complex is the program? This affects learning and also the speed of use during games.