Roll20 is an excellent Virtual Table-Top application that allows Game Masters and players to get together and roll dice anytime, anywhere, even if everyone involved is scattered across the four corners of the world. Best of all, Roll20 is FREE, so you can game on without everyone in your game having to own their own copy of the game client, like you would with other VTTs like Fantasy Grounds.

Roll20 is system agnostic, which means you don’t need to have separate rule-sets for each of the games you want to play. You will have a little scripting to complete in order to play, but that little work goes a long way when you get to play Pathfinder with old friends! Roll20 also has a built-in webcam interface, so you can communicate directly with your group.

Roll20 wrapped up their Kickstarter campaign one year ago today. To commemorate the occasion, the development team is adding some shiny new functions to the application. Here’s the official press release:

Wichita, Kansas (April 30th, 2013) – One year ago, on May 1st, 2012, virtual tabletop Roll20.net had finished it’s eighteen day Kickstarter, gaining over $39,000 in backing from 1,580 users.  A year later, their users have grown one hundred fold to over 170,000.

“We still regularly talk about those first 1,580 users and their importance to us. We didn’t have a thousand Facebook friends or Twitter followers among the creators we we started– it’s all the users and their word of mouth that’s brought us this far,” said co-creator Nolan T. Jones.

A large part of the appeal found in the initial Kickstarter project was the developers’ focus on Roll20.net being focused on table mechanics instead of specific games– less automation and more ease-of-use.  Since growing, however, more and more feature requests continue, so today the Roll20 team offers a programming solution for advanced users: an-JD8I8T_ic” rel=”nofollow” target=”_blank”> “application programming interface” or “API” for their mentor level subscribers.

“The API is going to allow advanced users to create and share scripts to do all sorts of creative things.  If you’re using the Dynamic Lighting element of Roll20, you could track the number of squares a token moves, and have the light related to that token diminish as if their visibility was being lost, for example,” said co-creator Riley Dutton.

Jones added, “Perhaps the best part of the API is that it gives those who want these advanced elements a place to play, while letting us focus on the tabletop gaming mechanics that make the system accessible to all.  We’re honestly excited to dive back into bettering the card deck feature next.”

Hand-in-hand with the API is a new Wiki system for help documentation, that will allow users to assist each other in taking maximum advantage of the browser-based program.  As part of the wiki launch, the developers will be running a two week content rewarding the best contributors.

Beyond these changes, the creators are also expressing their artistic muscles via a new webcomic entitled “House of Orr”, a nod to the company they founded to run Roll20, “The Orr Group, LLC.”  The first installment of the comic went live last Friday, and is illustrated by Victoria Grace Elliott.

“It’s a big storytelling gamble; we’re writing a batch of pages and then allowing mentors to vote on elements of what happens next,” said co-creator Richard Zayas.

Roll20 began as an effort to keep developers Dutton, Jones, and Zayas in touch via long distance gaming. It continues as a free service, with paid elements optional for advanced users.

 I’ve been using Roll20 for the better part of six months now, and I’ve been subscribing for the last three. The system is pretty intuitive, and unlocks a lot of story-telling opportunities during game play. I’ve even used it in my face-to-face gaming sessions, since it supports maps, tokens, and even visual props like wanted posters. Check Roll20 out for yourself here.