Astral Tabletop

Potentially the Best “Free” Virtual Tabletop

I have to apologize, I thought I had written this article ages ago! For the games I DM, Astral Tabletop (or Astral as I have a habit of shortening it to), has been my main go to for over a year. I started working with it around 2018 and have watched it grow quite a bit! So what is it?

Astral Tabletop is a virtual tabletop, not unlike Roll20. It is an online website where a Dungeon Master (DM) or Game Master (GM) can set up maps for players. It includes features like dynamic lighting (so a player can only see what their character or party sees), weather (it’s pretty great for setting the tone), and customizable tokens for both players and enemies. At the time of this review, their last update was April 5, 2021. 

I know I focus on content for Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition, but I would be amiss if I didn’t mention that they have an incredibly large collection of tabletop role playing game (TTRPG) rules in their application, and it continues to grow. They already support popular games like Pathfinder, Call of Cthulu, Fantasy Age, Forbidden Lands, and more. 

I did find the initial learning curve to be a little tough – though I was new to Virtual Tabletops entirely. Thankfully, their media/support teams had already done many tutorial videos which helped me a lot! With a little practice though I started building maps and setting up dungeons with enemy tokens (they offer a large selection for free, with pre-generated character sheets for NPCs and monsters alike). Being able to instantly jump into the character view of a player token was very helpful, and importing content worked pretty much right off the bat. I did run into some organizational issues and getting the gridlines to match up with my maps is consistently a pain (not something I think they can improve – so not something to fault them for) but it honestly is a pretty click-and-drag to get what you want! 

In the last year of using Astral, I have to say it has grown and improved significantly, and I would be shocked if that momentum stopped. They have even gone so far as to partner with DriveThruRPG for shared content and to make it easy to import purchases. They have been uploading assets non-stop*, with feature updates entering beta every few weeks. (*“Non-Stop” from Hamilton the musical – anyone else listening to that album on repeat?). Looks like live video chatting has just hit the paid tier and animated spell effects. The site also uses an email or username invite system, shows your current games in the left-hand sidebar, and provides a handy newsfeed for the game. Great if you want to see when you last played, or if anyone wants to include a synopsis of your previous game. 

Some features I personally have enjoyed are Quick Creatures, access to NPCs you’ve made previously, the dynamic lighting and door systems, and the import features. The initiative tracker has worked very well for us as it emphasizes which player’s turn it is. We found this especially helpful when the struggle of being at home leaves your attention wandering in and out. I also love all the visual effects and how it helps set the tone. 

The one issue our party has had with Astral Tabletop is performance. It can be a very graphically intense program, and rough on players using tablets or non-gaming computers/laptops. It is online only, which is wonderful as you don’t have to worry about installing anything but can be an issue with poor connections. It often sets laptop fans to ‘jet-engine mode’ and lag can happen. It is something they speak of often in their updates and on the forum, so I am sure improvements continue to be worked on.  

Almost everything mentioned is from the free tier of the game. I say almost because the amazing people behind Astral have provided paid features for free a few times during the pandemic to help player groups come together (and I was super happy that they did this) – so I may have referenced a feature that is no longer free. Their paid tiers are affordable and purchased through their website or DriveThruRPG. That being said, I believe most players and groups could happily stay on the free side of the game and never feel anything was lacking. 

There is a reason I continue to host my game on Astral Tabletop, and if you were to try it out – I am sure you will see why for yourself. 

You can find them at https://astraltabletop.com/ and they are active on Twitter, YouTube & Discord!

May the d20 ever roll in your favour!