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Here's a list of all the virtual tabletops I know of
http://gametable.galactanet.com/
http://rptools.net/doku.php?id=maptool:intro
http://trisrpg.bronzeforge.com/index.htm
http://users3.ev1.net/~mem5000/
http://www.battlegroundsgames.com/index.html
http://www.codemonkeypublishing.com/index.php?modu le=htmlpages&func=display&pid=21
http://www.enworld.org/RolePlayingMaster/
http://www.fantasygrounds.com/
http://www.geocities.com/trainz_ca/ID/
http://www.ghostorb.com/
http://www.kloogeinc.com/
http://www.nbos.com/products/screenmonkey/screenmo nkey.htm
http://www.openrpg.com/
http://www.opnpw.com/
http://www.tabletopmapper.hpg.ig.com.br/
http://www.travellerrpg.com/Catalog/software.html
http://www.triaxe.co.uk/dnd/index.php?page=Online% 20Chat
http://www.viewing.ltd.uk/viewingdale/index.htm
http://www.webrpg.com/gamesystem/

There are several ways to go, but for my money, the best product is FantasyGrounds.

Fantasy Grounds is a "virtual tabletop" complete with d20 rules, character sheets, dice, a chat window, the ability to share images with your players, and to mask/unmask maps as your party progresses.

The current version is 1.05, but a major revamp has been in the works all year, with a version 2.0 due out "soon". Speaking of GenCon - the SmiteWorks guys (who make FantasyGrounds) will be sharing a booth with the guys from Code Monkey Publishing (makers of the E-Tools software for character creation).

Other tools to look at include OpenRPG and Klooge.

I'm not, personally, a fan of those, but everyone has their preferences.

Also, to aid in communication, I strongly suggest running a TeamSpeak server, so you can actually talk to your fellow players, instead of typing everything manually.

http://www.codemonkeypublishing.com/modules.php?op =modload&name=News&file=article&sid=238&mode=threa d&order=0&thold=0

Specifically they state:

"Direct download links for PCGen 5.8.0 can be found in the above-mentioned Release Notes page down under the "Read the doc!" sub-heading of the Installation section. We'll also be updating our Downloads section to point to the new version just as soon as we release data sets that are compatible with it ;)

-The CMP Team"

Devon Jones
PCGen Board of Directors

I think that Code Monkey Publishing could boost their sales by making such information easier to find on the website.

http://www.codemonkeypublishing.com/

E-Tools is the program that Wizards publishes; the Character Generator was an early release of the tools that went on to become E-Tools.

The interesting twist to the story, is the a core group of the developers (mostly founders) for PCGen started a company (www.codemonkeypublishing.com) that is handling the distribution of the data sets for money AND is now responsible for patching E-Tools. So the PCGen people are now working on the rival program as well.

Current story is that this $1-$5 is per book and perhaps even per year (subscription model). Add it up now... and then multiply by the number of gamers in your gaming group. Cute, eh?

Check the lastest Q&A.

Why do these data files change? Well, historically, developing versions of PCGen occationally break backward compatibility and/or reorganize the data files. There has always been a converter buit into the program, but I think it's range of updating old files is limited.