Virtual Tabletop
Virtual tabletops are a way of playing roleplaying games online (or, alternately, for projecting them onto another surface). There is a variety of them, and they all have their strengths and weaknesses.
Tabletops
RPtools
The RPtools family, located at rptools.net, are some of the best available. They all require Java to run, and are optimized for Java 8.
Maptool is arguably the best stand-alone virtual tabletop available. It is, for one thing, free and open source. For another, it's incredibly script-able if you know how to write java functions. There is a fork of the project called Mote that has been largely disappointing, but is promoted for having a lot of awesome upcoming features. Upcoming being the operative word. The result is currently a more processor / memory expensive version of Maptool with a few added convenience features, and it is not currently recommended. The github for maptool can be found here.
Tokentool is useful for making tokens, as the name would imply. It comes with a great many useful shapes, but possibly the most useful aren't provided with it. The pog below, for example, is great for creating circular tokens.
The other tools, Character Tool, Dice Tool and Initiative Tool are pretty steep on learning curve for everyday use, and, for the most part, aren't too very useful.
Roll20
Roll20 is a free (or pay, if you like the pay features) virtual tabletop that has a few advantages, not the least being that it runs in any modern browser[1]. The pay features are worth it if you actually intend to use it frequently. Some of them are genuinely pretty amazing, while others are just cute novelties. Playing on mobile devices requires the paid version, which is a shame, but it's generally worth it, and development is still quite ongoing.
Tabletop Simulator
Tabletop Simulator on Steam is incredible. SUPPORT GAMES YOU LIKE.
Other Tabletops
Not recommended. They come in two varieties - cost a lot of money and are terrible. If you think otherwise, by all means, post here about your favorite.
- ↑ That means not Internet Explorer