You come upon a steam supported virtual tabletop that facilitates role playing as well as it does combat. Roll Initiative.



It is difficult, if not impossible, to summarize a game as vast, varied, and labyrinthine as Dungeons and Dragons, it would be similar for me to try and summarize the plot of Star Trek… all of it. So in this review we will look exclusively at the application itself and some of its strengths and weaknesses as an application for playing D&D.

There is no shortage of tabletop simulators designed for D&D. Roll20 and Virtual Tabletop are usually the first two to come to my mind. These programs are excellent for the combat simulation that is such a critical component to Dungeons and Dragons. Unfortunately they fall short when it comes to telling a story and creating a realistic world. The major issue is that programs like Roll20 and VT turn D&D into roll playing games instead of role playing games.

Enter Fantasy Grounds II, a desktop application that has been around on the internet for a few years and has recently ended up on Steam. Like Roll20 and VT it does an excellent job of simulating combat and laying down the rules for the Player Characters in the game. For example, it allows you to target your intended victim, roll hit dice automatically with specific weapons you have equipped, and calculate your success and damage based on actual stats from actual D&D books. You can use all the PDFs you already have stockpiled in your computer and parse their information using programs like the “4e Parser” to scrape the data from them for use in the program.

If this all sounds a little too technical, you are right, but fortunately there are a plethora of easily accessible tutorial videos and a lively online forum to help you through your woes. That is another thing that must be mentioned, if you are planning on being the Dungeon Master for your Fantasy Grounds group there is a steep learning curve that you must hurdle before you will be able to start anything, but it is well worth it. The way it compensates for the difficulty is by making it so much easier for you to get a group together and play D&D and not just the combat portion.

This is what separates Fantasy Grounds and justifies its price tag. Unlike Roll20 and VT Fantasy Grounds serves as an excellent Role Playing organizer as well. There are well integrated sections to help you organize your story, including text formatting that allows you to transfer flavor text easily and efficiently from your story entry into the chat box. There are ways to chat with specific people, chat as different NPCs as a Dungeon Master, and even emote as a PC. Anyone who has played D&D will realize how incredibly useful this is and how much it can enhance your experience.

Fantasy Grounds II also has a litany of optional add-ons that range from full fledged campaign settings like “Call of Cthulhu” to token packs to enhance your visual interaction in the game. They are many and varied, but by no means necessary, as you can access everything you need from PDF’s of the D&D books or even by hand if you are truly dedicated.

There is, of course, a certain attraction to musty books, messy character sheets, and real dice but in our fast moving digital world that sometimes is not feasible. Fantasy Grounds allows you to clutter up your virtual game with papers and charts and maps and fantastical stories instead. You can still roll dice, collect items, acquire feats, slay dragons, and converse with influential politicians and vampires. Fantasy Grounds II is pen and paper D&D working in a different medium. It allows you to connect with friends around the world instead of having to gather them all in one place. It allows you to run D&D combat as well as D&D role playing. In the end, it allows D&D online with the same effectiveness as you would with pen and paper.

Pros: Great interface and chat features, fully functioning combat systems for any version of D&D including 3.5e, 4e, and 5e, A way to play full fledged D&D online with friends, Awesome online aides to help you learn

Cons: Huge learning curve for the DM and slight learning curve for the PCs, High Price tag

Final Score: 7/10