Playsets is currently on Kickstarter, with 8 days to go. It has $2,000 left on its $30,000 goal, and dropping pretty quickly. Its function is to bring tabletop RPG to your digital world.
It will be available cross-platform to iOS iPad, Android tablets, and any computer with web access. There are no actual game mechanics to Playsets. Instead, it is merely giving you all the tools you need in order to play an RPG campaign with friends.
Tabletop RPG at its digital best.
There are a few other very good options out there that do tabletop gaming, such as Roll20. Yet, one of the unique things about Playsets is the experience it appears to be able to create for gamers. Not only does it make a playable map with tokens, but it will give you a 2D isometric view.
Its creators feel that “you should be able to peek through windows” and “trees should be climbed or hidden behind.” Afterall, one of the wonderful things about tabletop gaming, besides the social aspect, is how immersed you are into the characters and story.
To that affect tokens will also be able to show emotes, there is real-time movement, and status effects. If the inn catches on fire, you can see that, and cry about it if you want to. You also won’t just see the top of your token’s head, either.
Don’t waste valuable dragon-slaying time setting up.
This town isn’t going to save itself, after all. So Playsets makes creating maps and campaigns as quick and painless as possible. Instead of adding things one small little bush and tree at a time, each environment has many things you can customize to make things the way you want.
Playsets also allows you to save your maps exactly as you have them currently set up. No need to login and add all your tokens and status effects all over again if you need to stop mid-way.
The price of a hero…
Playsets is being created by Anthony Maitz, his wife Bronwyn Burns, and his childhood friend Alex Meyer. They are using Kickstarter to hire more help including an additional developer among others.
The pledge levels are very reasonable, too.
At $15 you get beta access for you and a friend, plus Kickstarter special tokens. You each get 6 tokens. Move up a few higher levels to $30, and you plus three friends get Beta access as well as tokens. You’ll also get a paper-craft version in the mail, and a premade digital campaign. The campaign includes “. . . story hooks, NPC characters (with dialog trees), maps, puzzles, encounter suggestions, and several story related images. Everything you need to run a full campaign “out of the box” with playsets. "
That’s a pretty sweet deal for something that seems pretty damn awesome. Although you’ll have to create your own campaigns if you don’t get the tier with an included one, the possibilities Playsets brings to tabletop gaming on a digital map are unique. It will give tabletop gamers a chance to play with friends remotely, quickly, and with all the RPG elements they could want–perhaps even a few more than you might normally expect.
