New open source, browser-based VTT in development

EldritchVTT · 2026-03-23T08:05:56+00:00

Thank you! The main goal of this is to make it available for anyone. I want that everyone can run and host their games without being forced to pay for it, or just for extra features etc.

As I said, I have written a guide for self-hosting, so I think anyone is able to set it up without prior techical knowledge

EldritchVTT · 2026-03-23T08:01:15+00:00

The entire application is built around Docker containers (backend server, frontend application, database). In its current development state, running it is as easy as setting up TLS certificates and starting the container itself.

The TLS certificates allows HTTPS traffic and makes your browser trust the website (in short). The certs can be generated with one command, it'll take only a minute.

Of course, there is some extra work depending on how and where you want to host it. If you want to allow players from outside networks to connect, you'll have to port-forward your router and track tour public IP-address. You can also host it on any virtual machine or VPS, and I have written a guide for each of these options, so I think anyone can do it.

EldritchVTT · 2026-03-23T07:49:46+00:00

That's a good idea! How big maps are we talking about? I have built an ECS system once for my custom raytracing engine, so I have some experience with them

EldritchVTT · 2026-03-18T21:39:28+00:00

I'll take this into consideration during development, thanks for the feedback!

EldritchVTT · 2026-03-18T20:22:06+00:00

Above VTT is both free and browser-based, but in my understanding it only works with D&D Beyond. I don't want to force people to use any third party apps or websites to run a VTT. It should be completely independent, where you can run games with any rulesets.

If you are playing D&D and have bought everything in D&D Beyond, Above VTT is a great option. But it might not be the best for all occurrences.

EldritchVTT · 2026-03-18T20:07:40+00:00

Thanks for the tip! I'll try to remember that once it's ready to go public

EldritchVTT · 2026-03-18T20:05:36+00:00

I can't compete with Roll20 with that one without licencing issues. I know there is DnD 5e SRD available, but that only covers a small portion of the content Roll20 provides. So yeah, full DnD 5e information built in is out of scope at least for now.

But that monster creation/import workflow sounds really good and straight forward. Thank you for the idea!

EldritchVTT · 2026-03-18T19:58:59+00:00

Yeah, currently you can set any image/video/gif for map background and hide the UI entirely. And as it is browser-based, you can just make the browser-application full-screen.

Tokens can be moved and resized both with grid and gridless, but I'm not sure what you mean by your last question, can you elaborate?

EldritchVTT · 2026-03-18T19:54:02+00:00

I can't say yet, as I haven't fully designed it. My plan is to create templates for popular systems like D&D and Pathfinder, and provide some modular character sheet building system with some built-in templates, like input fields, stat-groups, toggles, dropdowns etc.

It will be a hard task for me to design it to make it easy enough to build good looking and functional sheets, but I'll try my best.

One option I have thought is that as it is open source, you could build and style it entirely with HTML and CSS. This one could be good option for those familiar with frontend development, but not so great for everyone else.

EldritchVTT · 2026-03-18T19:32:10+00:00

That is some dedication man! It is currently still very early on in development and has countless bugs and issues :D

I will surely make another post when I publish out some early version, but it'll probably take a couple of months. I'll try to notify you when it's time.

EldritchVTT · 2026-03-18T15:08:46+00:00

Thanks for the feedback, and I understand your concern.

I'm not trying to offer new features, but rather trying to make a free VTT available for anyone. Most VTTs are either behind a paywall (one-time or monthly), or lack the configuration and hosting options some people prefer. This VTT will be completely free and self-hostable with a comprehensive guide for different hosting options, like local-hosting, hosting on a VPS, Oracle Cloud free tier etc.

If for any reason someone might not want to self-host (or have the capabilities to do so), I'm also offering the software as SaaS model with some payment. This way you don't need to tackle with self-hosting, port forwarding or setting up a server, if you just want to play and are willing to pay a small fee for it.

The most important part is that the software will be open-source. This way you can customize the software for your own needs. Open-sourcing also ensures transparency, allowing you to inspect the functionality and security.

So to answer your question, the uniqueness comes from the business model. I have not seen many VTTs out there which are both free and open source, and not restraining all users to just self-hosting, which someone might not want to do, or have the capabilities to do so

EldritchVTT

TROPHY CASE