From what I understand (having been at that seminar and subsequent seminars at GenCon)
There will be a 'Base' set of tiles and Minis, but yes, of course, there will be subsequent virtual 'boosters' of Minis and Tile packs available for purchase.
Myself, I have all the plastic D&D Minis already, aswell as the cardstock DungeonTiles they produce. I have no need for the virtual stuff as I prefer my D&D games on the REAL Kichen Table.
Daniel the Neon Knight: Campaign Cartographer User
Never use a big word when a diminutive one will suffice!
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MY 'FAMOUS' CC3 MAPS: Thunderspire; Pyramid of Shadows; King of the Trollhaunt Warrens; Demon Queen's Enclave
I have been monitoring the announcement of D&D 4.0 for my gaming group.
We have entertained the notion of using a VTT application for gaming but we prefer the face to face time and the option to toss back a few drinks together. So fo us at least D&D is a social excuse for gathering.
While we aren't too interested in the VTT aspects the Character creator and Character Visualizer sounds really interesting. (Links can be found at http://www.dndinsider.com)
Some of our players are artists (professionally even) and the others simply drool over thier character sketches. The Character Creator and Visualizer would allow the group to roll thier characters online (And store them to avoid a lost character sheet) and create thier own art of the character's appearence.
Though I doubt all of us will spring for the monthly membership fee. I probably will and allow them to create and visualize thier characters before the game.
Before you do that you may want to look at some of the other VTTs that are out there. Most if not all allow you to use it FtF as well so that it basically just replaces the crystal map/scratch paper that we have all used for many years.
Many VTTs are free, and offer essentially the same capabilities as WotC's. Perhaps even better than WotC's in many respects. I won't name specific ones as a cursory search through these forums will tell you which one I use, but instead I'll give you the link to a very nicely done page of links to all the various VTTs that are out there:
http://www.battlegroundsgames.com/links.html
Pyrandon, myself and our gang of thugs...I mean cohorts...I mean friends use OpenRPG and have been for over two years now. WotC's VTT has one thing (and one thing only IMO) going for it: Dynamic light sources. Of course, other VTTs (Battlegrounds to name one) already have that and others (OpenRPG) are working toward it already. Sure the 3d nature of it is great too but meh...just one more level of complexity that's can only add so much to the game before it becomes more of a pain than it's worth.
As to the Kitchen Table vs VTT debate: Kitchens win but when your players are scattered (literally) over two countries, that's going to have to be one BIG table!
Innkeeper at the Darkwood Inn. The Foul Punster of the Cartographers' Guild!
Better role playing than dragon slaying!
MapTool is currently adding light. As for the WotC VTT, note that the maps are still 2d, only the token is 3D and it doesn't have things like Visibility Blocking which is something MapTool has had for quite some time. It will be interesting to see how GameTable (I think that is what it is called) will improve over the next year. The real thing that it has going for it is the vast amount of money that WotC can throw at it. The biggest thing it has going against it is that it can only be used for D&D.
I have used Battlegrounds for a while now as my VTT of choice. My group has found it a great tool, and its got a very uncluttered interface that concentrates on what you need the most. Also Heruca, the developer, is one of the hardest working admins I've seen. He even finds time to pop in here every now and then.
I think check out the independents first like BG, Maptool, OpenRpg and Fantasygrounds. They may not have the marketing budgets that Wizards do, but they have been putting together VTts for longer.
Torq
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