Your tabletop, in 3D. Run it yourself.
HexBench is a VTT for tabletop RPGs. Grid or free-form, turn-based or real-time, however you run your game. Maps, tokens, lighting, dice, and live play share one native Client. And under the table there's a workbench: build your maps, your rules, even your own game, inside the same tool you play it on. It runs on your machine, your data stays on your hardware, and it gets out of the way so you can run the game.
What it is
The VTTs before this got a lot right, and I learned from them. The wall I kept hitting was speed. The more I asked of a tool, the harder it strained. HexBench is the version that keeps up. A native app written in Rust. Starts fast and runs on modest hardware. Players download the client and join without buying a license or creating a HexBench account; a perpetual host license runs the server from your own computer or VPS.
Under the table is a real engine: GPU lighting, line-of-sight that respects your walls, procedural maps, a sandboxed scripting layer for rules and triggers, and a 3D layer that makes the pieces feel like objects, not icons. A Host License is a one-time purchase with perpetual hosting rights, and everything you make in it is yours.
The bench builds tables. As many as you have campaigns. On game night, the bench is the table: grid or free-form, turn-based or real-time, however your group plays. Every other day it's the workshop: a voxel editor, procedural generators, a scripting engine, and a plugin SDK. And what you build is what you play. No exporting, no loading it into something else. Same surface, all week.
Every layer is a pick, not a default. Mix a hex-crawl with real-time skirmishes, run gridless theater with a round clock, swap the system and keep the map. The game that comes out is yours.
Game night
The bench is the table. The pieces that make a session run, built in, not bolted on.
Real-time & free-form
Play in real time, not just turn-by-turn. Move tokens freely, or keep the grid, your call. The table runs the way your game actually does. It's core to how HexBench plays.
Maps that obey the rules
Hex or square grids when you want them, free-form when you don't. Drag-and-drop tokens, dynamic per-token lighting, fog of war, and line-of-sight from your walls. Import or build in-editor.
Self-hosted, no campaign cloud
A licensed host runs the server on their own machine or VPS. Players connect directly with the free client, with no required HexBench account or third-party relay.
Living character sheets
Interactive sheets that update in real time. HP, equipment, spell slots, conditions. The system plugin defines the layout, so the sheet always fits the game you're playing. I'm building this now.
Between sessions
The bench is the workshop. Build the world you run, and the rules it runs on.
Build at every scale
Hand-place every wall, or generate a whole dungeon in seconds. And the middle: build a corner your way, and the generator carries your style across the map. Wave-function-collapse layouts, Poisson-scatter props, cave and dungeon generators. The tedious parts are optional.
Extensible; your creations are yours
A sandboxed Rhai scripting engine drives rules, macros, and triggers; the MIT-licensed plugin SDK lets you build modules and sell them. No gatekeeping, no revenue cut.
Game-system plugins
The plugin architecture is here now, so any system can be added, by me or by you. Official systems, every one ORC- or CC-licensed, are on the way, Pathfinder 2e first.
From the table
Real captures, coming soon.
That's the part I'm ready to show.
Want it on your table?
HexBench is in active development. Leave your email and I'll tell you when it's playable.