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There are many applications and utilities written in Java that are quite far from useless, and which are not web-based applications. The website Java.net alone has an enormous number of open source ones. I've personally played around with Klooge Werks, a virtual gaming table for RPG's, which is written entirely in Java. Minecraft was originally developed in Java. A large percentage of IBM's Watson is written in Java.. And of course, Eclipse is mostly written in Java, which is the most widely used development environment for Android

Take a look at KloogeWerks gaming desktop at http://www.kloogeinc.com/

The group that I've been playing with since pre-Y2K, and who has been playing for the 25+ years before me have been using this gaming desktop for about 8+ years now. It really came into use after I moved down to Chicago, from Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. Pair it up with Skype (or any other VoIP setup) and you might as well be there. Another player is working over in China and we both connect up to the rest of the group in Canada.

I am not an agent of KloogeWerks or the likes, just a player. Several of the plus of this gaming desktop are:

• ~ it is written in Java so it is portable across multiple platforms -yes, it will run on the various flavors of *nix.
• ~ it is definition based - you are not locked into just a single set of game rules or game type. There are definitions for Dnd (2, 3, 3.5x, 4.x), Pathfinder, Gurps, etc. or create your own.
• ~ it also has a scripting language where you can setup scripts to do your complex tasks - eg: targeting a magical effect (fireball) and all in the area of effect auto magically roll their saving throws, and the appropriate damage applied.
• ~ players can move their own characters as required, target opponents, select their own weapons, roll skill checks, etc.
• ~ DM can reveal all or only portions of the map, enter combat more (initiative base turns), target players, etc.

Updates are not as often as I would like, but most bugs do have a work around and sometime the network configuration can be a pain to setup, especially if your behind a firewall/router. But all you need to do is setup port forwarding which isn't that difficult, after all this is slashdot right? We are all nerds here

It works well for what it is, isn't too outrageously priced, and best of all, your not tied into a specific BRAND (read: in bed with WoC) and limited to only one set of rules and best of all it is customizable. I'd encourage you to check it out - it may not be exactly what you want, but I'm pretty sure it will be more flexible than what WoC will bring to the table (pardon the pun)

Cheers!

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.

My friends and I hoped that DDO would allow us to relive our D&D pen and paper days, but as others mentioned, DDO falls far short of that. We did however search the net and found a couple of programs that did a better job of it.

My personal favorite is Fantasy Grounds (http://www.fantasygrounds.com/, which mimics a table top with dice and such. There's no real automation in it, but if you know XML you can customize the rulesets and such.

There are a few others, Klooge (http://www.kloogeinc.com/) is a bit more complex, but you can tweak the heck out of it if you know what you're doing. OpenRPG (http://www.openrpg.com/) is another one.

To each their own, but these programs (combined with voice comms) can really help ya relive the tabletop experience if your friends are long distance like mine.

H

• GRiP.
• ScreenMonkey.
• Fantasy Grounds. Excellent graphics, but mostly just for D20.
• KloogeWerks. Java-based, with lots of neat features.
• OpenRPG. My favorite -- it runs on Linux and is open source!

There is a feature-limited demo. There are knowledgeable people on the forum who can help with questions.

KloogeWerks allows you to run a master to which clients can connect. The master can control the visibility of the map and the creatures, include sounds and images and documents for players to read. XML definition files let you tweak character sheets and game rules. There are definition files for several game systems.

Hope that helps you.

Give two things a try: try Klooge.Werks for dice handling, miniature display and map obscurement, and try Dundjinni for creating stunning--gorgeous--maps with little effort. These two products deserve tons more users, and they make the game easier to run for the DM and more fun for the players. And those of you talking about "roll playing" -- I hear you, babe. I try to run the most ROLE campaign I possibly can, and KW only helps me do that. Once everyone knows how to use the program, which can be done in a single half-hour training session, play is smooth and you can resolve combat quickly and accurately so you get to the interesting stuff.

I can't believe after all of these posts, no one has mentioned it.

I use this all the time. It works great for network play, but is also ideal for replacing your game table. We no longer use minis and just use this.

I have used all of the other products listed here (GRIP, WebRPG, OpenRPG, ScreenMonkey, Forums) and this is the best way to play.

It has great d20 support, as well as 2nd Edition AD&D. However, I use it for Savage Worlds, GURPS, and have been running Hero in it for over a year.

I cannot recommend this program enough. Version 2.0 is supposed to make it out by GenCon (I think) and will support fully GURPS, and many other systems.

I use OpenOffice to make my maps, but there are many map programs out there that work well. A new program coming is Dundjinni. The demo is great and I think this will be a wonderful tool.

Here's an okay shot of it in action at a local con.

I run both the client and server on my laptop with the client projected on the 15" LCD that faces the players. That way I can have my GM view and a player view. Works great!