TaleSpire Early Access Preview: A Good Initiative Roll

As a nerd in all things, I love to play tabletop RPGs. Dungeons & Dragons is my first and go-to. Vampire: The Masquerade is super cool with its unique politics and mixing with our world. Call of Cthulhu is chilling for horror and mystery. 

The one issue my party and I have is limitations on visuals, which can make some situations and settings harder to imagine. The old-school solution is to buy/build models to be representative, but that can cost quite a bit of money, is a hassle to take all of them around to friends’ houses, and takes a lot of work to paint them how you want. While also assuming you can even find the correct models that match.

The modern solution was to use Tabletop Simulator on Steam, but that has its issues, such as the maps being too small, the user interface not being friendly, and the technical problems of poor online connection and general performance with constant lag and bugs. TaleSpire seeks to take a similar route but design itself dedicated to tabletop RPGS. 

TaleSpire is currently in Early Access on PC for $24.99.

Story – A Tool Rather Than a Narrative

Due to being more of a simulator and less of a game in itself, it doesn’t have a story. The lack of a story doesn’t impact TaleSpire because that was not its goal. Instead, it gives the GM and players the tools they need to enhance the stories they make with their Tabletop RPGs.

Gameplay – Like Getting a New Box of Legos

So, the control scheme is not what one would initially expect. I would not say I disliked it; it took me a bit to get used to it. It is very intuitive, and thankfully, there is an easy-to-access and understand tutorial. It is located on the top left of the screen that can show you how everything works.

Each section has a both descriptions and videos showing how it all works that is viewable at anytime.

TaleSpire has a map maker that uses a square grid-based system. Just pick the type of block you want, from sandy beach to dungeon stone or Sci-fi metal, and place it on the grid. You can stack these blocks on top of each other or make them float in the air if you want hovering islands or an underground section. There’s no need to worry about the collision with the blocks, as you can have them fuse seamlessly, such as taking a bunch of tree models and pushing them together to make it into a dense forest rather than just a bunch of spaced-out trees.

Interiors/Exteriors

You can build anything you can think of for a Tabletop RPG game. When I messed around with TaleSpire and used the map maker, I felt like a kid again building with Legos and could have hours of fun just doing that. You can also highlight and save what you created. That way, if you made a unique pirate ship you want to use in other games, you can.

I’m still reeling at how much detail you can make for inside and outside of your creations.

You can also use the vertical green slider on the right to change the layer view. If you slide it down, you can use it to see inside the interiors of the buildings you made and can go up or down the levels of the interiors. So, for example, if you are playing in a haunted castle, you can view the roof, upstairs, downstairs, and even the basement by going up and down on that slider. You can also change the water level with the blue slider on the same side. You can make your map look like it is on an ocean, the building is flooding, or even underwater.

With the slider, you can make dungeons as tall as forty floors.

Tips and Tricks

A few cool things I learned about TaleSpire is that players can upload slabs (what TaleSpire calls the board state) so others can use them in their games. Even better, it is a super quick and easy process. Say you suddenly need a dungeon map in your game or a village. You can go to this website or one like it while having TaleSpire running, click on the Open in TaleSpire button, and boom. You now have a fully pre-made map that loads in less than a minute. Some people have already uploaded almost every map in famous modules like Curse of Strahd or Tomb of Annihilation, ready to go. 

Someone already made the ENTIRE map of Curse of Strahd with correct topography and everything.

A little warning in advance. As this is Early Access, new versions get patched in. Some uploaded maps are not usable with the current version. So make sure before you rely on pre-made maps that it is compatible with the current version.

Another neat feature is that you can import your custom models from websites like HeroForge for your characters. You download the OBJ file, share it with your party members, and you can import it directly to TaleSpire. Unfortunately, HeroForge costs $7.99 per model, so you may want to save that for characters you plan to use for a while. Also, unfortunately, as far as I am aware, this is the only official way to import models in TaleSpire currently. I have heard that as long as you have an OBJ file like one from Unity, you can use those as well, but I have not tried that yet. 

Some examples of things you can quickly import like my Sarujin Samurai.

Technicals

On a technical level, it runs very smoothly and quickly. I have, so far, not encountered any bug or crash, but your results may vary. Due to it being in Early Access, I have not had many opportunities to try the online components, but from my limited experience, it appears to work with little to no issue.  

The map maker allows for highly detailed and massive in-depth game boards with multiple levels. You can create an entire town with filled interiors for every building and numerous animations; it is that detailed.

This person made every single building have a unique interior. That is fan dedication right there.

Hopefully, when the game finishes, Bouncyrock Entertainment might incorporate Steam Workshop in the same way Tabletop Simulator has. So that players can easily import and download fan-made models and animations.  

Graphics and Audio – Spectacular Sights, Subdued Sounds

Despite its simplicity in style, TaleSpire can be visually stunning if you take advantage of all the tools available. With proper lighting and visual effects, you can make a forest look downright creepy or a castle look haunting. You can make your Cyberpunk into a neon-noir with bright street lights against the dark city. Unfortunately, there aren’t any weather effects like rain or storms currently. According to their FAQ, that is something they plan to add in.

As for Audio, the game has good click sounds when you add a block in and general feedback sounds for when map making. TaleSpire has a decent number of music tracks. The music sounds generic fantasy/sci-fi but is pleasant to listen to while map-making and playing. Unfortunately, switching songs mid-game can be a bit clunky for the GM. Hopefully, they will allow players to add music and make hotkeys for quicker music transitions.

TaleSpire was previewed on PC.