The Best Free VTTs for Stars Without Number in 2026
Short answer
The best free VTTs for Stars Without Number in 2026 are Roll20 for a free tier that runs anything, Owlbear Rodeo for a fast free map, and our own Stars Without Number tabletop for the sector, factions, and ships. Foundry is the strongest option overall but is not free.
This is a short list on purpose. There are dozens of virtual tabletops and only a handful are worth considering for a Stars Without Number campaign specifically, because the game asks for things most tools have never heard of: a hex sector, worlds with tags, factions that act between sessions, and starships with crews.
We make one of the options below. It is listed first because we think it is the best fit for a Stars Without Number campaign, and the reasoning is stated so you can disagree with it. The other entries are described as fairly as we can manage, and there are two cases at the end where we are not the right answer.
The short list
| Free? | Knows SWN? | Best for | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Our SWN tabletop | Free forever, 1 game | Yes, built for it | Long SWN campaigns |
| Roll20 | Free tier | No | Groups who play many systems |
| Owlbear Rodeo | Free | No | Theatre of the mind plus a map |
| Foundry VTT | No, one time purchase | Community modules | GMs who will run many campaigns |
1. Our Stars Without Number tabletop
The sector is an 8 by 10 hex grid because that is what the rules say a sector is. Worlds carry atmosphere, temperature, biosphere, population, and tech level as fields you can filter, not prose in a note. Factions track assets, goals, and turn order. Starships carry crew, cargo, weapons, and deck plans, and the hacking minigame follows the packet and response structure in the book. One game is free forever with unlimited players, who never pay and never make an account.
The honest limitation: it only runs Stars Without Number. If your group rotates systems, that is a real cost.
2. Roll20
A genuine free tier, a huge community, and it will run any game you point it at. For Stars Without Number that means you build the sector as an annotated image, the faction turn as a note you update, and the starship as a page of fields. It is the fastest way to get a group into a room, and the slowest way to keep a sandbox campaign organised.
3. Owlbear Rodeo
Free, browser based, and deliberately minimal. It does maps and tokens well and does not pretend to do more. If your Stars Without Number game is mostly conversation with an occasional tactical fight, this is a genuinely good answer and takes about a minute to learn.
4. Foundry VTT
Not free, so it is here with an asterisk: a one time purchase by the GM, after which players join at no cost. There are community built Stars Without Number systems for it and they are good. If you will run many campaigns across many systems and do not mind maintaining modules, Foundry is the most capable tool on this list.
When we are not the right answer
- Your group plays five different systems a year. Learn one generic tool well instead.
- You want to run a published module with prebuilt maps for another game entirely. That ecosystem lives on the bigger platforms.
How to choose in one question
Ask how long the campaign will run. For a one shot, use whatever is already open. For a campaign measured in months, the setup you skip every single session is worth more than any feature list.
This product is an independent product compatible with Stars Without Number by Kevin Crawford / Sine Nomine Publishing. Stars Without Number is the property of Sine Nomine Publishing. This product is not affiliated with or endorsed by Sine Nomine Publishing.
Related questions
- Is there a free VTT built specifically for Stars Without Number?
- Yes. Ours runs one game free forever with unlimited players, with the sector, factions, starships, and hacking built in rather than assembled by hand.
- Does Roll20 have a Stars Without Number character sheet?
- Community sheets exist and work, but the sector map, faction turns, and starship records stay manual because Roll20 has no built in understanding of those structures.
- Is Foundry VTT free for Stars Without Number?
- No. Foundry is a one time purchase made by the GM. The community Stars Without Number systems for it are free, but you need the licence first.