What is VTT Hosting and How to Play Your Favorite Board Games Remotely?

Board games are awesome. As a Dungeons and Dragons fan, I can’t get enough of all sorts of fantasy role-playing board games. They have survived the digital revolution and that shows just how great an experience they can be, especially since you play them with friends. But all that changed with the pandemic. With the COVID lockdown, people didn’t feel safe getting together for a campaign anymore. 

Like everyone else, I started looking around to alternatives that would allow me to play with my friends remotely. That’s when I found out that more than a few apps can make that happen. After trying a few options, I’ve found the perfect solution, and I’m going to tell you about it in this blog post. Stick around and I guarantee you’ll have a much better experience with your virtual game night.

What is VTT Hosting

VTT stands for Virtual TableTop gaming, and as you can guess, it’s an application or software solution that simulates the table where you used to place board games. VTT applications give you the tools to create, host, and play board games with friends over an Internet connection. So, they include all sorts of features, like maps, dice, calculators, and so on. Almost all of them also support different types of games, with Dungeons and Dragons being the most commonly supported. 

Now, just like how you or one of your friends used to host game night or board game sessions in their place, VTTs may also need a host. Some VTT companies offer hosting services, so you and your friends can just join their server. But just like with Minecraft, self-hosting is a better idea, since it gives you much more control and freedom .  Of course, given the recent security breaches in Minecraft, it’s important to make sure your gaming server is safe and secure. I’ve written a quick guide to fixing the Log4J exploit that has made Minecraft hosting difficult. First, let’s see what exactly we mean by VTT hosting. 

Get Your Game Face ON

Impress your friends on game night or just start a commercial multiplayer server for Minecraft, Virtual TableTop games, and more!

Get Your Game Server

Basically, hosting a game is about having one computer or server that all players will connect to and join for playing the game. All multiplayer games need a host — sometimes that is the company offering the game (like with many console games), but in some cases, you can decide to use your own computer or server to host your games.

When you and your friends use the VTT service provider’s servers, you will be bound by their rules. That means you will have some limitations and restrictions that can affect your gameplay. Also, you won’t be able to modify or customize your games, and that’s a very big part of any RPG board game and one of the reasons they have survived and thrived over the years. When you choose to do your own VTT hosting, however, you get to decide how you everything will be, and only you will have access to your data, your conversations, and your customized assets (like icons or mods). So, how does VTT hosting work?

READ

Want to Play Ark with Friends? Learn How to Host An Ark Server 🦖

Getting the Right Server for VTT Hosting

To host up your own game sessions, you will need a server. A server is like a remote computer that people use for all sorts of reasons — hosting websites is perhaps the most common. There are actually different types of servers, and it won’t do to just choose one at random. For example, a dedicated server is a very powerful and robust type of server that’s perfect for hosting large websites with heavy traffic. It’s also way too overpowered for game hosting and much too expensive to boot. The most popular type of server for game hosting, whether Minecraft or VTT, is called a VPS. A Virtual Private Server (VPS) is a hybrid server solution that gives you dedicated servers’ high performance and security at a fraction of the price. Cloudzy, for example, offers reliable and powerful Gaming VPS plans that start at $7.95/Month.

Hosting a VTT Game using Self-Hosted FoundryVTT

FoundryVTT is one of the most popular VTT software and it lets you use your own computer or server to host games. Considering the high quality of the application and how affordable it is, the self-hosting option just makes FoundryVTT an ideal solution to playing board games remotely. So, in this post, I’ll show you how to set up your own VTT hosting using FoundryVTT and a Cloudzy Gaming VPS, all of which actually add up to a very affordable price.

Get Your Game Face ON

Impress your friends on game night or just start a commercial multiplayer server for Minecraft, Virtual TableTop games, and more!

Get Your Game Server

Making the Most of your Game Night with VTT Hosting Gaming VPS

With your VTT server up and running a copy of FoundryVTT, you’re ready to wow your friends on your next game night. Just send them the IP they need to log in and ask them to join you for your favorite board game. I’ve had an excellent experience running virtual DnD campaigns on my self-hosted FoundryVTT. Of course, gaming quality also comes down to the server you choose to set up your VTT hosting. Without a fast and reliable server, you can forget about having a good time. Cloudzy offers all its Gaming VPS plans with the latest server hardware, including NVMe storage, DDR4 RAMs, and ultrafast 1Gbps bandwidth.