A virtual tabletop that does not care which TTRPG you play
Most VTTs are built around one system's automation, and every other game is a compromise of unused sheets and half-supported rules. TerrainTale automates nothing about rules, which is exactly why it fits all of them: it gives you a 3D battle map, miniatures, a ruler and a turn order, and leaves the rules to you and your book.
Why "no rules engine" is the feature
A rules engine is a commitment to one game. It has to know what a saving throw is, what a condition does, how a spell targets. Switch systems and the engine is in the way. TerrainTale tracks the things every grid-based game has in common (position, distance, whose turn, hit points, a list of conditions you name yourself) and resolves none of them. The DM reads the book; the table shows the fight.
What a grid-based game needs, and gets
The library is authored to a five-foot square, the ruler counts squares and reports feet, and the diagonal rule is a setting: every diagonal as one square (5e), alternating 5/10/5 (Pathfinder and the 3.5-era rules), or true distance. Elevation is measured alongside distance, so a game with flying or a fight on a wall has a readout instead of an argument. Creature size is a field: Medium is one square, Large is two by two.
That covers the systems most groups actually run:
- D&D, any edition, 2014 or 2024 rules
- Pathfinder 1e and 2e with the 5/10/5 diagonal
- OSR games: Old-School Essentials, Shadowdark, Dungeon Crawl Classics, and their 10-foot dungeon corridors
- Savage Worlds and other "one inch is one square" games
- Any homebrew or indie system that fights on a grid
Games that are not on a grid
Turn the grid off and the map is a lit 3D set the table looks at while the DM narrates. The ruler still measures true distance between any two points, which is enough for zone-based and range-band games. Theatre-of-the-mind groups use it the way a film uses an establishing shot: here is the tavern, here is the crypt, now we talk.
Fantasy first, honestly
The built-in library is stone, timber, torchlight, forest and graveyard: it is built for fantasy, and a sci-fi or modern game will find it thin. Anything with a model can be added by dropping a .glb on the window, and any image becomes a standee token, so a Call of Cthulhu investigator or a starship corridor is possible with your own assets; it is just not in the box yet.
One tool for a group that switches games
Groups rotate: a 5e campaign, a Shadowdark one-shot, a Pathfinder arc. The same scenes, the same minis and the same play mode serve all three, and nobody re-learns a tool or re-buys a module. Scenes export as JSON, so a map built for one game is a file you keep for the next.
Questions
Does it work for Pathfinder 2e?
Yes. Set the diagonal rule to 5/10/5, and the grid, sizes and elevation readout match the rules. There is a page on Pathfinder specifically.
Can I play a gridless game?
Yes. Toggle the grid off; the ruler measures true distance between any two points on any surface.
Are there character sheets or dice?
No, by design. Use your system's sheets and your own dice; the table handles position, distance, turn order, HP and conditions.
Is there a hex grid?
Not yet. The grid is square, which is what the library and the ruler are built around.
Does it work for sci-fi or horror games?
With your own models and image tokens, yes. The built-in library is fantasy.
Keep reading
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