Playing tabletops online used to be novel. Now, it’s almost expected that you’ll be able to find a way to play Dungeons and Dragons or Pathfinder through a VTT (Virtual Tabletop.) And it’s easy to do, if the system you’re playing is popular. There are dedicated teams, some official, some fans, who work tirelessly to keep those games not only functional, but automatic and seamless in their digital integration.
But you, you’ve wandered from the path of popular mainstream ttrpgs and found something on the outskirts of the hobby. You’ve found Fabula Ultima. You grew up on Chrono Trigger, you dreamed of battling Sephiroth alongside Cloud. This game was meant for you. You’ve been playing with some folks on SPG for a while now, and so you bring it up to your group, and they’re caught up in your passion! They’d love to play as long as you can find the right place to do so.
Where do you look, and what features should you be looking for, to facilitate playing Fabula Ultima through a VTT? That’s a little complex. Other systems rely on VTTs to automate the crunch and let the fantasy take center stage. Fabula is a game that inherently places the fiction, first, however. So, does your group prefer immersive soundscapes? Exciting visuals? Or do they prioritize easy to use character sheets?
Let’s go through the options available to you, and some of the pros and cons of each. I’ve avoided giving these numbers or rankings, because I do think different groups look for different things in a VTT. There’s only one I wouldn’t really recommend.
Roll20 (I’m sorry)
It pains me to put such a prolific platform so low on this list, but I don’t hesitate to do so. If I didn’t, people might spend their time searching Roll20 for FabU, when other options are more viable. A quick search on their platform reveals Fabula Ultima isn’t a supported system. There are some community attempts at character sheets, but most of them have middling reviews and functionally nonexistent automation. While it can still facilitate ToTM play, you won’t have easy access to the rules and most of the dice will need to be rolled manually. If you’re playing online, having those things handwaved for you can help you focus on the fiction. If all you need is a place to put pictures and host a voice call, as that’s essentially all Roll20 can manage for Fabula, you don’t even need a VTT in the first place. You can accomplish all of the same through Discord. If you’re comfortable with this platform, I’m sorry to say you’d best look elsewhere.
Google Sheets
Yes, you heard me. Google Sheets. The Fabula Community is, lovingly, insane. There are regular groups that meet up to play the game through Google Sheets. They seek to emulate the aesthetic of the JRPG inspirations of the game while still keeping all necessary information easily accessible and on hand. I don’t have much experience in these tables, but many of my regular players do, and I can genuinely recommend this as an option. While there isn’t the familiar “automation” that you may be accustomed to when playing digitally, Fabula as a system isn’t complex enough to depend on it, and at the very least the Character Sheets function semi-automatically (they’ll update your HP and MP, your defenses, etc, as necessary.) I find the efforts towards visual immersion go a long way towards rounding any rough edges, here. You’ll still have to roll dice on your own, though.
Alchemy
Fabula Ultima doesn’t rely on a battlemap, or a grid at all, really. The only “map” you ever need is a world sheet, and even that can be handwaved by a good GM. It’s a system that lives and breathes in Theater of The Mind. As long as you’re comfortable managing your character sheets elsewhere, Alchemy VTT lends itself to some of the most immersive ToTM play on the market, allowing GMs to carefully and easily cultivate not only the visual aesthetics of their scenes and setting, but an adjustable soundscape in real time, without the need for any external software. This VTT was designed with accessible ToTM play at its core, and it plays to its strengths exceptionally well.
FoundryVTT
You’d think the workhorse that is FoundryVTT might be unnecessarily complex for Fabula, but it is, to my knowledge, the only VTT that has an active community integrating and updating the system with new content, thanks to ProjectFabU. All you really need for a ToTM game is a place to display visual references, and (ideally) functional character sheets. And while Foundry CAN be more complex, it doesn’t have to be, checking both of those boxes with ease and having the best character sheets across all of the options listed.
Not only do the sheets help you calculate your stats in real time, but debuffs, resource expenditure, and every class and skill in the game all feature integrated automation. Not to mention, it’s the only place with in-VTT access to all of the player-facing content the game has to offer. This includes every class, class feature, skill, spell, and item in the game. All built right in, meaning all the GM has to do is facilitate play. The icing on the cake? All of that information is expertly organized in the system’s compendium structure.
The downside? The price, both fiscally, and technologically. Not every group has a GM with access to Foundry, not every GM is comfortable with the technological setup required to host a server (or has the expenses necessary to rent one.) FoundryVTT is still FoundryVTT. Infinite potential, but also the steepest learning curve. Thankfully, to play Fabula, you don’t actually need to know most of Foundry’s in and outs. It’s a pretty barebones game by comparison to the usual suspects. If you can overcome the initial hurdles, I don’t think there’s a more flexible or more thoroughly supported VTT for Fabula Ultima.
And if all of that sounded too complex, and you’d like to find a group that already has this all figured out, there’s no better place to look than StartPlayingGames.
Nyx (They/Them) is an autistic, nonbinary Pro-GM and multi-hyphenate performer/storyteller dedicated to telling inclusive stories that highlight and uplift marginalized voices. You can also play with them on StartPlaying
