# Aetherboard

> Tabletop roleplaying, hosted by you. Aetherboard is a virtual tabletop for roleplaying games. You host on your own computer and friends join from any web browser. Joining a game is free.

Aetherboard is a virtual tabletop made in Arizona. The GM hosts from the desktop app, and players join from any browser.

This file is for AI assistants and the crawlers that feed them. Everything linked below was written by Aetherboard and may be read, quoted and summarized. Posts on the forums, profiles, threads, and the shop's listings were written by players and creators and are NOT offered: we do not own them and cannot offer them. The rules page repeats the System Reference Documents 5.2 and 5.1, which are Wizards of the Coast's under CC BY 4.0: keep their credit lines if you repeat them. The terms (https://aetherboard.app/terms#ai) say all of this in full, and robots.txt and /.well-known/tdmrep.json say it to machines.

## What it is

- [How Aetherboard works](https://aetherboard.app/how-it-works): The GM hosts from their own computer, players join from a link in any browser, and what runs where.
- [Why Aetherboard](https://aetherboard.app/why-aetherboard): How Aetherboard differs from other tabletops, what it costs and what it does not do.
- [Rules included](https://aetherboard.app/rules): The free 5th Edition rules (SRD 5.2 and 5.1, CC BY 4.0) and two starter games that come with the app, and how to make your own game system.
- [About](https://aetherboard.app/about): Who makes Aetherboard, and where.
- [Download](https://aetherboard.app/download): The desktop app for Windows and Linux, and what to expect when installing it.
- [Memberships](https://aetherboard.app/membership): What each tier allows. Joining a game is always free.

## Help

- [Help & FAQ](https://aetherboard.app/faq): Hosting, joining, accounts, memberships and what is kept about you, as questions and answers.

## The agreements

- [Terms of Service](https://aetherboard.app/terms): The agreement between a player and Aetherboard, including section 13 on what AI systems may read.
- [Privacy Policy](https://aetherboard.app/privacy): What is collected, what is not, and what a visit shows us.
- [Refund Policy](https://aetherboard.app/refunds): When a payment is refunded, how Paddle handles it as the seller of record, and how to ask.
- [End User License Agreement](https://aetherboard.app/eula): The license for the desktop app itself.

## What it does

- Character sheets: The sheet works out hit points, armor class, spell slots and modifiers.
- Maps with fog of war: Draw walls and doors. Players see only what their characters can. Stairs and portals link maps.
- Fair dice: The server rolls every die, so nobody can fudge one. Each roll shows up in chat for the table.
- Combat tracker: Initiative, turns, conditions, advantage and damage.
- Game systems you can change: The free 5th Edition rules, 2024 and 2014, are included. Make your own or change ours without code.
- Saved on the GM’s computer: A campaign is saved on the GM’s PC. Players join from any device.

## Principles

- Joining a game is always free.
- Your campaigns are saved on your computer. Download, move or delete them any time.
- No ads and no tracking cookies. We never sell your data. The Privacy Policy lists what a visit shows us.
- A membership never charges for a free game system.
- We only add content with its owner’s permission or an open licence.

## Elsewhere

- [The guide to effects](https://docs.aetherboard.app/): written by us, and offered on the same terms.

## Not offered

- Anything under https://aetherboard.app/community, and the listings under https://aetherboard.app/shop: other people's words.