Software Alternatives & Reviews

Shmeppy VS Roll20

Compare Shmeppy VS Roll20 and see what are their differences

Shmeppy logo Shmeppy

Your wet erase mat. Online.

Roll20 logo Roll20

Roll20 is a suite of easy-to-use digital tools that expand pen-and-paper gameplay.
  • Shmeppy Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-06-24
  • Roll20 Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-20

Shmeppy videos

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Roll20 videos

Roll20 Overview 2019 (Play 5th Edition Dungeons & Dragons Online)

More videos:

  • Review - Why I Quit Roll20
  • Review - Roll20 Vs Fantasy Grounds | Which is REALLY the Cheapest?

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Shmeppy and Roll20)
Game Engine
12 12%
88% 88
Gaming
9 9%
91% 91
Maps
38 38%
62% 62
Online Games
3 3%
97% 97

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Shmeppy and Roll20

Shmeppy Reviews

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Roll20 Reviews

  1. When it works, its mediocre

    As a DM for homebrew games, I used Roll20 for 2+ years. When it works, its OK. When it doesn't, its frustrating. I use a lot of custom rules and they are simply not supported due to a lack of modularity within the system. A simple variant of Proficiency Dice in 5e is outlined in the rules, and even it is hacky and not well supported on Roll20.

    The format feels like it was made two decades ago, and the web console spits out warnings and errors left and right. There has even been some conspiracies / drama with some of the higher-ups at Roll20, showing a lack of leadership.

    Please, let's let Roll20 die. Support another system.

    👍 Pros:    Can purchase modules like curse of strahd and tomb of annihilation|Free for dms and players|Use with a variaty of systems|Many features
    👎 Cons:    Not modular enough for me|Hacky programming|Ugly|Features feel clunky and slow|Some features do not work well at all|Buggy
  2. Not very easy to learn

    Not easy to learn, not friendly controls

    🏁 Competitors: digitald20.com Digital d20
    👍 Pros:    The most famous
    👎 Cons:    User experiance|Design|Costly pro plan

10 Best Sites Like Roll20 Alternatives For Tabletop Gaming
These tools aide gamers during online games. Both Roll20 and the Roll20 alternatives can be best described as table-top games. Launched in 2012, Roll20 has received a lot of positive feedback.
Roll20 Alternatives, Similar Games, Apps 2020
Roll20 is a set of easy-to-use digital tools that extend the pencil and paper set. It is the easiest and free way to play board games (such as paper and pencil role-playing games) online with others. Roll20 is completely online, so it runs directly in your browser.
7 Best Roll20 alternatives 2020
Programs like Roll20 and Best Roll20 alternatives are quite similar. So you can play and try one of them and easily download from play store, app store and Roll20 official Website.

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Roll20 seems to be a lot more popular than Shmeppy. While we know about 334 links to Roll20, we've tracked only 22 mentions of Shmeppy. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Shmeppy mentions (22)

  • Struggling as a DM to handle VTT
    Shmeppy is particularly good for little to no prep time play. Not free though. Source: 12 months ago
  • What digital tool do you need as a GM/Player ?
    You probably already heard about this one, but just in case, I have heard good things about https://shmeppy.com/ for this sort of purpose. It is not free though, and I have not had a chance to try it out myself yet. Source: over 1 year ago
  • Alternatives to roll20?
    I really like shmeppy. It's got a very intuitive and fast user interface, great for rules light games and maps that you improvise as you play. Source: over 1 year ago
  • Running a dungeon virtually
    I converted my in-person game to full virtual at the end of The Before Times and it’s been fairly pain-free. We use Discord for voice chat and dice rolls, and Shmeppy (https://shmeppy.com/) for maps. Its somewhat low fidelity but it works for most dungeons you’ll do. Tokens, fog of war, etc. It’s not free either but $5/month is cheaper than the cost of [insert nerd food stereotype here] every week 🤷🏼‍♂️. Source: over 1 year ago
  • Ask HN: Companies of one, what is your tech stack?
    Https://shmeppy.com A single node process serves everything on a Ubuntu digital ocean server. It’s managed by the daemon utility. PostgreSQL holds all the data. There’s some significant in-memory caching in node. The server code is written in typescript and JavaScript. During deploys I t’s transpired on my laptop and then rsynced to the server. Monitoring and backups are done via cron jobs on another digital ocean... - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
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Roll20 mentions (334)

  • Friend screwed 3/4 of the table out of 1/2 the game.
    There are other options: https://roll20.net/. Source: 5 months ago
  • Looking for a DND/TTRPG group
    I've used roll20.net up until now. They have a find group feature and a virtual table top with character sheets and dice roller included, so everything you need to play virtually is all on the one site. Source: 5 months ago
  • I’m here to giveaway $1,500 in RPG goodies to celebrate 1 Year of Roll20 x DriveThruRPG! [Mod Approved]
    1 Year Roll20 Pro Subscription ($109 value!) – use it yourself or give it to your GM! Source: 6 months ago
  • Looking for advice on running DnD game on stream!
    There are plenty of D&D software programs out there that are free and paid versions. Many of them with the ability to have friends join and interact with the table. As basic as Tabletop Simulator to Fantasy Grounds (both on steam that I have experience with, not an endorsement). roll20.net being a popular browser based version. Source: 6 months ago
  • I'm looking for someone to teach me how to Play DnD
    I have made a character on roll20.net that maybe border line iffy/OP, so I may have to make one that's not. My free time can be a bit unusual at times(it's 12:24AM as I write this)so someone who has similar free times as I do(if your interested let me know and we can talk times), basicly I've been listening to a DnD podcast and I think it sounds fun and I want to try it out Edit: I'm in PST timezone in... Source: 6 months ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing Shmeppy and Roll20, you can also consider the following products

Mipui - An online grid-based map editor for games, with real-time collaboration.

Foundry Virtual Tabletop - A self-hosted, modern, and developer-friendly roleplaying platform.

DUNGEONFOG - Online authoring tool to draw rpg maps & dungeons, create dynamic notes and share your maps online. Create dungeons, world maps and more with the easy to use map editor and create your game master notes dynamically.

Astral Tabletop - Create, host, and manage your tabletop role-playing games — online or in person

Dungeon Map Doodler - Dungeon Map Doodler is a free to use drawing tool accessible from any web browser. Easily create maps for your favourite tabletop RPGs in minutes!

D&D Beyond - Official online toolset for Dungeons & Dragons tabletop gaming