Alternatives to Fantasy Grounds
A desktop virtual tabletop for playing D&D, Pathfinder and other RPGs online with rules automation. The listings below can replace it for an important use case. Each note says what changes if you switch.
The original
Fantasy Grounds
A desktop virtual tabletop for playing D&D, Pathfinder and other RPGs online with rules automation.
Replacements
Listings that take over the same core job as Fantasy Grounds.
Foundry Virtual Tabletop
A self-hosted virtual tabletop for running role-playing games that players join through a web browser.
Foundry Virtual Tabletop is a one-time purchase that the game master self-hosts, with players joining through a browser, instead of an account-based freemium desktop app.
Roll20
A browser-based virtual tabletop for playing pen-and-paper role-playing games and board games online.
Roll20 runs in the browser with nothing to install and supports over 1,200 systems, but it shows ads, uses tracking cookies, and sells some content separately.
MapTool
Host a virtual tabletop for pen-and-paper roleplaying games.
MapTool is free and open source under AGPL-3.0 on Windows, macOS and Linux, combining maps, tokens and chat, without licensed official content from publishers.
Alchemy RPG
A virtual tabletop for playing, creating and sharing tabletop roleplaying games with a scene-based layout.
Alchemy RPG uses a scene-based layout for story-driven play with licensed worlds and a web version, rather than a focus on heavy rules automation.
Owlbear Rodeo
A browser-based virtual tabletop for running tabletop role-playing sessions with maps, tokens and fog.
Owlbear Rodeo runs in any browser including phones with simple maps, tokens and fog, but offers much lighter rules automation than Fantasy Grounds.
TaleSpire
A 3D virtual tabletop for building scenes and playing pen-and-paper role-playing games with friends online.
TaleSpire offers 3D scene building for sessions with friends, but it is Windows only, still in Early Access, and has less rules automation.
Similar software
Related functionality, not a direct replacement.
Dungeondraft
A desktop map editor for drawing battle maps for tabletop role-playing games.
Dungeon Alchemist
A 3D map-making application that builds tabletop RPG battle maps by automatically furnishing drawn rooms.
Wonderdraft
A desktop program for drawing fantasy world and regional maps for tabletop games and fiction.
Tabletop Simulator
A physics-based sandbox for playing and building board, card and tabletop games online with others.
VASSAL
An open-source engine for building and playing digital versions of board games and card games.
