Essential Add-on Modules for Foundry Virtual Tabletop
My top five most useful
I’ve been running a weekly game of my new favorite tabletop role-playing game, Shadowdark, via an instance of Foundry Virtual Tabletop on a server at my house. I’ve also used the platform to run Dungeons and Dragons 5E and Blades in The Dark, and Foundry has myriad module add-ons produced by third party programmers and hobbiests. With so many options, I find it useful to see a breakdown with examples, so here are the ones I use.
Combat Carousel by Evan Clarke
This is an upgrade to the built in combat tracker in Foundry. A carousel is displayed in a small overview on the play area that can be moved around. Selecting character icons and adding them to combat places their icons in a row in the carousel not unlike a turn based tactical RPG such as Baldur’s Gate 3 or Final Fantasy Tactics. Hotbuttons for rolling initiative, moving to the next players turn, and the ability to double click a player image icon to open their character sheet.
Dice So Nice! by Simone, JDW
One of the more fun bits about a hosted virtual tabletop that just works in your web browser is getting to chuck 3D dice across the screen when you roll. Dice So Nice! gives you and your players the ability to customize the dice with many themes and color variations. Added bonus, you can make a sound and effect happen when you roll a minimum or maximum on the die if you want to set this up. All of these options come in this add-on module for free, when other virtual tabletops make this an opportunity to charge you for fun die customization.
Dice Tray by Asacolips
A simple collection of buttons at the bottom of the chat window built into the control console. Being able to create a handful of dice with a couple clicks and then roll them is a 100% necessity to keeping the time between thought and action to a minimum.
PopOut! by KaKaRoto, Posnet
PopOut! is just a functional button to pop out most windows that clog up your play area. I have a dual monitor setup and the ability to clear up some space and move sheets to a second monitor is a must for me. I have my obsidian notes, characters sheets, and discord on one screen, and the play area on the other.
Simple Calendar by Dean Vigoren(Vigorator)
I am becoming a big fan of time tracking in tabletop games. In the style of play I am currently exploring, time in the game world is occuring at the same speed as the real world. This is an old school “westmarches” style of play that functions like an analog MMO (massively mutliplayer online) game where the world feels more alive because events are occuring and rumors are added or removed from the area based on what different factions are up to. All that is to say, some kind of time tracking adds to the versimilitude of your players, even if they never interface with it directly. Simple Calendar is a quick and easy way to use a default calendar or setup your own custom calendar. The customization can get a little crazy, but if you want to go all out, it’s there for you to do.
Some of these modules require some background Add-ons that you will be prompted for upon installation and activation. The two notable ones i’ve personally installed and used without issue are libWrapper by Rui Pinheiro and Settings Extender by azzuritetv on Discord.
This is the list of add-on modules that I will always use in Foundry VTT no matter the kind of game i’m running.
I will likely have more in depth coverage of Foundry VTT, how to setup and run games with it, why I choose to run my regular weekly game with it, review comparison with other options i’ve explored and so forth. If you’d like the ability to comment and be involved in the discussion and help me decide what to write about next, please consider a paid subscription to suppot this publication.
Useful things for your game
Spotify Playlist Add: Baseline Fantasy Ambiance - Dyrford - Justin Bell
What I am up to
TTRPG Game Playing:
Game Master: Shadowdark - Giathos Campaign - Session 11
Player: D&D 5E - Storm King’s Thunder
“Seven” Sorrows | 7 Swashbucker Rogue, Bladesinger Wizard 4
Current Audiobooks:
Homo Deus by Yuval Noah Harari
The Shadow of the Gods by John Gwynne
Links
Goof and Grump - Startplaying Game Master Page - Hire Me! - TikTok