TaleSpire

This game really makes it for playing DnD with friends who are online only. Importing custom models from HeroForge is just icing on the cake.
Been running my Tyranny of Dragons campaign for 3 years strong now, most of it through TaleSpire with DnD beyond managing the stat blocks and rules, such a great combo.

Cant recommend at the moment, to get a recommend from me, you need to take the seat cost for players and divide that by 3.,

Talespire is a wonderful tool for building 3D encounter maps. It excels at allowing the GM control over exactly how a specific scene looks and feels. Between the basic pieces, decorations, and atmosphere settings that even include some sounds and music, it really covers most of the bases. I have so far run two versions of the same homebrew campaign, with some slight differences and a new party. Both times I've felt like it was relatively easy to set up maps and make boards feel very fun to move around and explore while also easily creating a space that allows players to come up with more interesting methods of attacking than I found on 2D map makers.
It also just scratches the itch to create something. Building the maps themselves is fun and intuitive enough that sometimes I forget I'm preparing them for players. There are a few tricks to learn for making maps look truly incredible, but most of them are really well documented on youtube or the subreddit at this point. If you're considering Talespire, know that the functionality of the program itself is top notch and easy to understand.
The only downside I see to Talespire is that either players need to own their own copy, or GMs have to spend a bit extra buying seats. Many competing tools offer a free player version and a much more expensive DM version that actually allows for building and running games. Talespire has more individual transactions(A copy for the GM and a copy or seat for each player) I think the over all costs of setting up for a party of four are pretty much the same. Plus, Talespire has the advantage of community made content and the ability to import tokens from Hero Forge, as long as you own them. There are TONS of tokens already available between Talespire itself and the community, but if you really need something specific, you can add it to your game yourself!
Overall I would say Talespire has way more upsides than downsides, and the only real downside is that it costs money. So, if you have it to spend and you're looking for a cool tool to add to your online TTRPG experience, I can't recommend Talespire enough. I've heard some folks say they also use it for in-person games, but I don't have any experience using it that way so can't really comment.

Consistent support. Easy to build. Some things still need polishing and it is missing useful features, but the devs seem committed to making Talespire one of the best VTTs out there. Community mods, creations, and minis are extremely useful and easy to implement.

Be prepared to use tutorials to figure out how this program works. I still can't.

Unless you are willing to sit down for two hours and really get into making a map like I did (I slapped together a giant Cyberpunk City), I don't recommend. But if that's up your alley, and you have a basic knowledge of tabletop games, this is a good option.

I was skeptical to say the lease when we/I chose to use Talespire as our VTT. We had been using 2d VTT like roll20 for a very long time and moving away from free and something that was mostly easy to use was a bit of a stretch for me. After almost 600 hours of use I can safely say it has been a amazing move. Lets break it down.

Is it the easiest and most time effective way to use my time to build maps?
- No not by a long shot. At times I can get pretty frustrated with the system but it has also brought a new kind of life to our games. My players are always blown away by maps and its made our battle maps so much better being able to see things in 3d. It helps my players try new things just because they can see the world in that 3d space.

Is the price worth it?
- For us yeah. We got the game well before there were seats and I payed for most of my players copies. As a DM I think this was just something nice to do and I want to be able for them to enjoy the game without worrying about the cost of it. Again I have logged almost 600 hours and my players are not far behind me. So for 4 hours every Tuesday for almost every week of the year, yeah totally worth it.

Hows development?
- Tricky one for me. The developers certainly listen to their community. They are often trying to make additions that the community asks for and release new content often. Is it the content I would like to see... not always. I like new map features and UI updates. I would love to see fog o war, and more effects but I also understand that some of these features may be harder to make and implement than others. At the end of the day though it gets update a lot and new features come pretty regularly.

Feedback and general Before you buy
- Talespire is not a easy log in and build a map. It takes some getting used to and you are going to find things that are a bit frustrating. Its also not a one stop shop for my map building needs as a DM. I use inkarnate and worldanvil as huge add ons to Talespire to make our campaigns work. But if you are willing to put in the time the pay off is huge. Your players will love the environments you can make and it adds real life to a battle or area that you want them to FEEL. We have made it a huge part of our weekly sessions and I love making a good map that my players ooohhh and aww over.
- It has its flaws, anything will. I wish that it was a bit easier to build in, wish there was more additions to some map textures I use more often, wish I didn't have to use Heroforge to make a lot of extra minis. But hey we love it. Its rare to find a game that developers listen to their community and deliver as much as this team does.

Thank you to the devs
- I know a review in itself is some ways a thank you but I know mine is not all flowers and gold stars. That said thank you very much for making what you have and continue to make better all the time. It has truly been a great addition to our Tuesday nights. Thank you for listening, thanks for working as hard as you do, and thank you for helping me as a DM make our sessions that more magical. Thank you.

Was a success playing D&D with the family. Would Recommend!

Really rad tool for any ttrpg enthusiast, also great for table top miniatures games. Ive played middle earth, relicblade, cyberpunk combat zone using this tool. The hate received about the pricing is made silly, its a one time cost yall. Meanwhile WotC is tryna nickel and dime yah with monthly subs to use thier vtt software. Support this rad team of developers whove made something truly special

A fantastic tabletop simulator for TTRPGs, seemless integration of other creators works and effortless easy to create your own. Would absolutely recommend for a group of distant friends to use as an online way of continuing their TTRPG adventures.

it is a fantiastic alternitive to irl dnd, amazing avalibility and a fun time all around!

Decent learning curve - and definitely scratches the miniatures itch.
Doubt I'll be able to use it beyond wow-factor boss fights (which I think is worth it alone)

Hope it grows and continues to evolve like owlbear has.

Critique: If it's not already a thing - door functionality and Player dungeon exploration could be HUGE.

At a first glance, this looks like a cool tool for TTRPGs, BUT.
Having to spend more for each other player to join your game with the "guest" version is scummy. A regular D&D group is 4 to 5 players, at the moment of writing this, each seat costs 15$.
At least, seats are like chairs in your house, when a player leaves, the seat is vacated. While that makes the long term costs better than subscription based alternatives, the up-front cost is unpleasant.

4 years ago a remarkable new way to build maps for games and play on those maps in 3D came into my awareness. TaleSpire. The tools were powerful, the art style beautiful, and it sparked my imagination in ways that 2d virtual tabletop programs didn't. It was one of the most remarkable and exciting innovations in the Virtual Tabletop space I had ever seen.

4 years later, I’m ready to talk about it.

-Visuals-
Visually this program is excellent. The assets are of a very high quality, they render well, and the program runs well even on lower end PCs. It’s fast, and I experience little to no stuttering, few if any graphical glitches, and a wealth of community content that one can use.

-Tool Set-
The building tools are robust. There’s a large amount of tiles, assets, and models to use,with more being added. One can even use their favorite Hero Forge models in the program if they are into that. The learning curve is a bit high, but that’s normal for VTT’s. It’s quite satisfying clicking things into place and moving them around, it has an almost tactile feel. It is easy to import and use sound in this program and easy to set up parameters for said sound. There are a number of rulers and measurement tools not just for building but for playing as well.

And, that’s the good stuff. The problems are many.

-Cost-
If you think you can purchase this and invite your friends to play with you like any other VTTs, they will have to pay $25 for their own copy, or you must $15 to unlock a “seat” so they can connect to your game using the ‘demo’. $15 does not unlock SEATS by the way, it unlocks a SINGLE seat. There are no seats included with the initial purchase, not even to early backers. Seats should be as easy to assign to players or rescind from them as sending an invite to the game, I shouldn't have to worry about having spent enough money to unlock enough seats so others can play.

It is $70-$85 minimum for a standard group of 1 DM and 4 players to use this. Compared to any other virtual tabletop, this is the most expensive option.There are a large number of free VTT’s out there beside the massive Roll20. Foundry only requires a single $50 purchase, and $40 for Fantasy Grounds. D&D’s Sigle (another 3d VTT) is free to play and $6/month for some nice features. I suppose Table Top Simulator IS technically more expensive, at $20 a player, but that’s a very broad program supporting many types of games of which only TTRPG’s are only a fraction. The competition is fierce, and it’s about to get even more fierce with some very compelling VTT’s on the horizon.

I understand this program is a different type of beast, but currently Talespire is the most expensive option for running a TTRPG and it has the least amount of support. Asking that a standard group of players (4 players and a DM ) pay $75-$85 between them to play an open beta program with flailing mod support and lack luster updates -is- -a- -Problem-.

-Community-
The community is in dire straits. Steam Charts has this game averaging 300 users. Finding groups of people who have this program let alone who want to play on it has been extremely difficult. The most conversations being had are complaints and feature requests for the same features we’ve been asking for this whole time. It is vaguely possible to play 5e, but any other system? Good luck finding them.

-Mod Support-
They call these Symbiotes. These are not integrated with Steam workshop so they are being hosted by 3rd party sites. They don't want to tie down mod support to one exosystem, I can understand that, but right now Talespire is ONLY available on Steam, and that ecosystem is extremely robust. Steam Modders are very active. By keeping mods off Steam Workshop they lose all of that. Besides that, the functionality is spread between 3 different places, and there is nothing that tells you how to get, access, or use them aside from an FAQ on the website. Though you can browse available mods in the program, filtering them leaves something to be desired, and you can't see important information like dependencies or last time one was updated.


-Early Access-
This is an early access program. While it has been an early access program for longer than most indie games are in development, one's criticisms should keep that in mind. This is being developed by 2 people who, I suspect, are not developing this as full time jobs just based on the Steam Charts data to estimate sales. With that said, I have some issues with how this early access has progressed.

The early access blurb is written thusly: “TaleSpire has already benefited hugely from the feedback of the community, and this is something we seek to continue. While we have a strong vision for where we want to take the game, we want to keep this dialog going so we can continue to make something that is honed to the needs of real players.”

The developers are more than happy to respond to criticism and concerns, but do nothing about them. Worse, their responses often feel a little hand-wavy or condescending. I work in customer service and client support. I know how hard it is to communicate well, especially when there is criticism, but it vital to get it correct.

Here is a list of some of the most basic features most requested that are missing from Talespire I went to the features request site and these are the most popular:
-Fog of War
-Adjustable light Sources (size and color)
-Map Pins
-Character sheet
-Any kind of place to put notes, journal, character information, container contents
-Inventory
-A turn counter
-The ability to prevent players from zooming around the whole map
-Being able to define rules sets so we can tailor the game toward the TTRPG we are playing.
-Secret rolls
-Status effect indicators

The community has been BEGGING for years for BASIC features like the ones above. Instead we get features like:
-Hero Forge integration, which only a fraction of a fraction of people are going to use unlike any of the other ones on the list above that EVERYONE would use.
-Builder Presence, to be able to keep track of what other people are building on the map, fair enough.
-Board folders. They were so excited about the ability to group your boards and keep them organized that they wrote a release post about it.
-Symbiotes: Mods. Just, seriously, call them mods.
-Map Ping
-A number of smaller ‘features’ that are really just UI improvements.

Currently they are working on
-Controller support, I’m ALL for accessibility features, but I would like a functional VTT I think, thank you.
-Restricting player movement
-Searching assets
-Emotes
-Status effect indicators

So almost nothing we’ve asked for over the last 4 years. Something is wrong here.

-Conclusion-
I am frustrated at the state and direction of TaleSpire. Instead of basic functions, we’ve gotten Hero Forge, and poorly integrated mods. Hero Forge is expensive for many people and while the Devs don't control the cost, they do have control over what they spend their time on. Implementing Hero Forge this early was a waste of time. I’m still fuming at how far back it set other features. EVERYONE would have been able to use a journal/notes. Every DM would use map pins. Only a fraction of a fraction of people wanted Hero Forge integration; even fewer will ever use it.

The developers are happy to respond to criticism, but nothing ever comes out of it. I have yet to ever see them address the community by actually taking up any of the most suggested features and doing something about it, not a single time, with perhaps the exception of pinging the map. But, really, in a VTT a map ping is a major feature release?

TaleSpire is all but dead. You will spend $25 and have fun with making maps and importing maps, you might get together a group to play fueled by your excitement alone, you’ll play some sessions until everyone realizes it is too hard to play without basic functions, and then you will do nothing with it after that. After 4 years, that’s my conclusion.

Talespire (endorsed by dimension 20) is a fantastic way to make d&d combat more fun and interactable. While the interface/controls are quite confusing at first, once you get the hang of them it is an entertaining and exciting spin on dnd! I introduced it to my players and they were so exited and hyped. While it is slightly pricey, I think it's worth it.

While TaleSpire has a very cool and immersive visual offering for tabletop, it leaves everything else on the floor. Worse, it inevitably forces you (and your players) to go outside the app for tools and additions to actually play the game, shattering the immersive value it brings. Its support for things like character stats, sheets and even basic functionality, like being able to add a modifier to an existing die you're about to roll, is either clumsy or non-existent. It's impossible to recommend this when Foundry and even Owlbear Rodeo exist to facilitate much better TTRPG gaming online.

Good until you realize to add any custom models it costs 8 dollars per model. If it was a subscription for unlimited, maybe. But with it costing 8 dollars to have a custom digital model it makes the game expensive as a dm. For my current campaign I would have to spend another 24 for models. And my players would need to spend another 32 for their models. Not to mention I would need to spend another 50 on the seats for people to play with me, but at least that is permanent. But paying 127 to play a single campaign is a scam.

not for me

its a really nifty dungeon building game. lets you invite friends and thats cool. they have mods that allow you to import dnd stuff. better than roll 20

Switch FoundryVTT for a one time purchase by the DM. This pricing model is way too high.

although it seems promising the fact you must spend 15 dollars usd per player to be able to enjoy the campaign is utterly abusrd i should not have to spend over 80 dollars to set up a campaign for my friends to play, when other sites exist that are one much cheaper, but also free

Likes: lighting and 3d environment. Once learned the ease at which you can build your maps and boards. Great multi-level environments that can be made. It has Modern as well as fantasy builds. Mixing and matching allows for some amazing builds. The Thunderspire community also contributed several hundred additional maps, slabs, prebuilds, characters, and mulitiple game possibilities. Dislikes, limited diagonal building, and circular materials. Limits on the camera and sometimes a glitchy build button that puts down multiples of one item instead of anything else. Some of the translations of maps from 2d do not go so well without modifications to 3d.

Absolutely amazing. The customisation options not only for tiles and structures but also for minis is out of this world. Access to the community content on Tales Tavern is genius and is essentially a funnel for unlimited future content. If they keep up with the updates this will just get better and better! I am a player and a DM in 2 different virtual campaigns and could not recommend this more to anyone looking to do the same.

Can't wait to see the progress and features in future updates! Keep up the great work devs.

Hope to see more tiles added in the future, but loving it so-far!

Extremely fun, incredibly engaging

I LOVE this. What I don't love is that my players would have to pay. I wish there was a join-game feature where you can just..you know, allow players to watch / interact with the game without having to pay real money. It's kind of ick.

its super cool how they have a website to allow community creations to be imported and all these community assets to be taken and used on your own, but aside from the inability to change the color of assets, or that you can only change the direction of things on the X axis or size range is vastly inconsistent depending on the default they were made, limited camera mobility, and the BIGGEST issue being that you are - constantly loosing connection to the servers and bringing your games to a halt for half hour or more at a time.
- having to redownload the same community assets like you never downloaded them or they just dont show up anymore (some arent characters but environment or props) and end up being just a token that is basically nothing because you need to keep downloading the same things or the game forgets.
- runs poorly, despite having an overbuilt PC. the bottle neck is the game itself.
- crashes whenever you unveil something in a hidden box so players cant see it. even though the map is fully loaded and everything you are unhiding from players (like a ship with detailed interior) if you unhide it, it will sh1t itself and crash the game. (probly from running so poorly like i mentioned)

ive had it with this game despite the cool updates, its unuseable and theres no reason to know why it keeps breaking

TLDR; Its a great program with lots of tools for players and DM/GMs and the creators are very active and always adding new stuff.

I have been using this for a while (just under 400 hours) and i have to say it is top notch. The creators constantly add new things and modders are just as frequent with adding things. While it doesn't cover everything just yet, They constantly come out with new assets and tools for the program. You can also use clipping of objects to create some really awesome things your players will never forget. Not to mention it saves a lot of money, time and space not having to use physical set ups and I can change things on the fly too which is nice. The building time can be a little daunting but there are websites that make whole maps furnished and populated that are ready to go if you don't have the time to make your own.

As for the multiplayer online, you do need to purchase seats but its much less expensive then making everyone buy talespire at full price which is awesome. You can also move those seats to a different campaign but idk if that removes players from the previous game so keep that in mind if you run multiple games. The dice rolling is nice as well and makes it so players can't fudge rolls which a trouble player of mind used to do from time to time before we swapped over to Talespire. It's also pretty easy to keep track of stats, combat and players more focused because they can look around and see everything that I worked so hard to put together while finding hidden things that makes them feel rewarded for looking.

For the low low price of all your money you too can spend all day using D&D beyond instead of it to make your rolls because this VTT doesnt have *anything* for tracking a characters or resources.

Pros
===
Fun to build with, if you like legos or 3d modeling.
Visuals and atmosphere keeps players engaged.
Talespire makes it possible to build maps a DM could only dream of. Massive, moody sets with way more options for vertical environments and all the possibilities of tactics in 3D space!
Changing the "weather", because ramping up the tension with a shift in the atmosphere creates more impactful moments..
Volumetric fog is cool.

Cons
===
Getting all your players to make the purchase is rough. Personally, I think they should have a free "spectator" version, to get people intrigued.

It is really great to use for Dungeons and dragons when you and your friends are far away from each other.

great product. sometimes feels clunky when dealing with topography. I have been using it for a couple years now and it definitely helps with online dnd campaigns. also they have integration with hero forge and a great amount of community content on tales tavern. IMO its the best tabletop alternative option out there.

Was against it at first cause it was too much compared to theater of the mind and basic maps. I was wrong its actually awesome. The biggest thing is being able to use heroforge made minis, this really allows connection with your character and customization. Its good. 9/10.

Genuinely my favorite tool for running tabletop games. Building structures goes incredibly smoothly once you get it down, being able to run games in real time by inviting my players to boards is so helpful, and to top it off the community support for custom figures and slabs is insane. Would highly recommend for GMs of online groups,

I've used this software for around 1000 hours now. As a forever DM and avid D&D player, its wonderful. There's not a single other software out there that does what Talespire can do or half as well. If you are looking to modernise your game online or in person I'd 100% recommend this. Plenty of ways to build and create worlds even down to set dressing. Use of Mini's and lighting too. Its changed the way my groups play and I couldn't think about having a session without it.

$25 for a large set of tools that can also use your purchased renders from HeroForge makes playing TTRPGs online with friends way easier.

This is a great tool for GMs and players who want another level of depth in their tabletop games. A constantly evolving toolkit and excellent Mod and community support make this application really stand out.

A fantastic, usable tool. I love it. One of my favourite little details is the fact it doesn't TRY to look like a videogame but like a map you assembled from tiles in real life- It allows for the same abstraction and theatre of the mind that makes TTRPGS truly magic. That and the HEROFORGE integration is perfect. Could not recommend more.

Someday they might add Fog of War and other player vision options, and you'll actually be able to use this to PLAY a game, but in the meantime it's basically just a fun set of virtual LEGOs and that's enough for me.

Absolutely amazing vtt, Had so much fun dm-ing a short community made dungeon map to see how it worked. Can't wait for future updates.

Wonderful way to spice things up. As a forever DM I've tested many ways to make my world come to life and Talespire is honestly the best I've found for the battle portions. My group and I play in person in a garage, we set up my PC with a TV and my players can see what's going on. The added feature of models from HeroForge is even more useful as my players can see their character do the fighting. Miniatures and terrain pieces get extremely expensive so Talespire fills the niche.

Talespire is not a one stop shop for your ttrpg, you’re still going to want your pen and paper to the side. There are tools in game to help you with this, but I prefer my own books, my own notebook, and my friend’s faces to one side.

What this does exceed at however, is being the most immersive, intractable (battle) map I’ve come across. It’ll never be a replacement for the real thing, but god is this the closest thing there is.

A lovely, miniature-esque style. Easy to use tools for making maps, and an extensive community driven library of pre-fabs, campaign maps and custom minis. I can quite comfortably run my dnd campaign here, and fully intend to do so with the seat system (which yes, does cost money, but no more than any other subscription based tool on the market). I was, before buying seats, live streaming my screen, which worked just fine if I am being honest.

The thing that really has sold me to recommend this however, is that the tools provided have allowed me to now make the maps work for more generic games- ones measured in inches rather than feet. Allowing me to play a plethora of other games, not just dnd or pf2.

So if you’re a general nerd for rolling dice you get even more for your money. I do not recommend the full title if you are exclusively a player of ttrpgs, rather than a game master as well. But if you are a builder, an orchestrator, or a creative - this is it what you’ve been looking for.

beautiful addition to my DnD campaigns

This is now my go to platform for my RPG's I love the visual aesthetic and tactile feel. I am able to create immersive maps for my players, or find maps that other users have created. There is already a large community of creators that have created works of art with this program. The devs obviously care about the project and are constantly releasing new parts and features. This game has only been getting better.

I think this is an excellent tool for players and DMs to play on VTT. It does a lot for how simple it feels. I do wish that there was a little more of a tutorial to help get past the learning curve of building good looking boards, but that just comes with time and experience.

Bought it thinking I could try a new format for my players, but having to buy seats for players is dumb and there's still so much missing in this.

Great tool for fights

This is a great tool for playing dnd and other games alike, sadly I can't give a positive review because it lacks the essentials and is very confusing and I'm talking about the grid, yes you can activate as gm that the miniatures snap to the grid but that doesnt work because the players cant see the grid and this is very confusing at times, so untill the devs adds somethis as essentials as a grid show for everyone system, I will not change the review to a positive one

Great TTRPG application for DnD or really any other fantasy settings.

Good visuals if you put in the effort!