We're sure there are many different ideas out there, but we'll just tell you what it means to us. As Gamers ourselves, we've seen time after time members of our game groups move out of town, go into the military, get so busy they can't even make the trip from across town, have family responsibilities that keep them home, etc., etc., etc. One by one the group dwindles and eventually dies. We'd be willing to bet you've probably seen the same thing happen in your groups at some time or another.

So for us, an Online Virtual Tabletop first and foremost allows folks to play their tabletop games with their group, no matter where they are or when it's happening. Of course there are a few more things that we think are important for an Online Virtual Tabletop:

• It has to make you feel like you're really there,in the same room, with the other players
   
• The software has to take a back seat to the group interaction - meaning its so simple, easy to use and non-distracting, you pretty much forget it's there
   
• It's preferable if it's Game Rule Agnostic, meaning you can play any kind of tabletop RPG you want

Now to make software simple and non-distracting while giving you a sense that you're physically with your group, it actually takes more complex programming - and that's just what we've done with iTabletop.

• Use iTabletop because it lets you connect with your group, whether all the members are connected virtually from separate locations, or whether you're connecting to a group of folks in a local game sitting around a real table. 
   
• Use it because it offers a face-to-face web cam connection, so you can see your group and joke around and have fun the same way you'd do it if you were there.
   
• Use it because you can easily upload your maps, PDF rule books, character sheets, character tokens, creepy music and sound effects, and even video cut scenes - and keep them securely on the iTabletop servers.
   
• Use it because iTabletop is not peer-to-peer - so it punches easily through firewalls, and streams lightning fast using Amazon.com's state-of-the-art Elastic Cloud Compute (EC2) infrastructure.
   
• Use it because iTabletop follows a simple, rules agnostic mechanic where you have a map, add graphical character and NPC tokens, move them around, play music and sound effects to create a rich immersive mood, and just play the game like you would if the map and tokens were sitting on the table in front of you.
   
• Use iTabletop because it's free for a basic version, and very inexpensive for the big feature packed Power Player and Game Master versions.

There are plenty more reasons but we think you get the picture.

• Firstly, our number one focus is on getting the group together and providing a great communication experience. People have said "can't we just use Skype along with a few other tools to do this?" but trust us, it's not the same. Here is one Big Huge Reason to use iTabletop instead of cobbling together other applications: iTabletop is the ONLY video communication program that lets you instantly create private video tunnels between one or more selected players. This is extremely useful when you need to talk privately with a player, or a few players.
   
• Another differentiation - we use one of the most powerful data centers in the world to handle our video and game material streaming. Most other VTs are peer-to-peer and have all the issues that go along with that, like slowdowns, disconnections, and problems punching through firewalls. When you're hosting video communication - peer-to-peer is often lousy.
   
• Simplicity and flexibility are also key. Since other VTs are often knee deep in the rules of a particular game, you have to spend a great deal of time setting up the game experience beforehand, and the technology and upkeep can be distracting during play. Many of our users have thanked us for keeping the game experience simple and close to the experience of sitting down at a real table together. And we realize many GMs like having a software program keep track of everything for them - and we respect that completely. This program is intentionally not that program. If you like sitting down at a table with your pen and paper, and rulebooks, and dice, having a great time with your players - you'll appreciate iTabletop.

Seriously - nothing. We've made iTabletop fun and easy to use. We've made it flexible and powerful at the same time. We've even made a feature-packed free version so you can try it out with your group and see if it does everything we claim, and more.

To download the software, click the download button below. To learn more and see some pictures of it, Take the Tour.