D&D General [Help] Playing D&D online with strangers

[not-so-newguy]

TL;DR I just bought a laptop and I'd like to play some TTRPG online. Any advice?

I know that there was a thread about this subject several months ago, but I can't find it. It would be appreciated if someone could provide a link. Unfortunately, I can't remember the title.

My new laptop has arrived! I'm still futzing and familiarizing myself with it, but eventually I'd like to play some TTRPG online. My local group is kaput due to shelter-in-place, so I'll need to start searching outside my comfortable confines in order to scratch this itch. The thing is I'm unsure where I'll need to start.

A slurry of random questions off the top of my head:
Is there, like, Tinder for D&D? Or what??
What do I need to do in order to prepare for this?
Will I need to pay for a subscription (e.g. D&D beyond or Roll20)?
What's a discord? Edit: What is a discord server?
It's ok to roll your eyes. I'm embarrassed by these questions too.

I'm open to any RPG, but I suppose 5E would be the most available choice.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

Discord acts like Tinder. Ha hah. You can ask for games there.

You will likely use Roll20 to actually play the game, with Discord handling the "talking". (You can actually use Roll20 to talk, too, but it doesn't send you emails when someone reaches out to you.) Roll20 character sheets can be a bit of a PitA to handle early on. The GM should teach you how to handle it. I personally find leveling up to be the hardest part.

Discord and Roll20 are free. Maybe you can pay for extras, but I've never done that.

I just use the websites. You can download the apps. My GM wants me to use the app, but I don't see any point; I'm not playing it on my phone.

 

[Retreater]

I subscribe to Roll20. It's not essential to do so, but I am hosting like 5 games at the moment. They have a Gamers Seeking Gamers forum there, and I'm sure there are options for new players to learn the system. I would encourage you to watch the tutorial the first time you sign in - and it's free to create an account.
Discord is useful for voice chat and finding online games too. There is a dice roller in the chat, but no virtual table top if you want to move around tokens, etc.
I don't use D&D Beyond at all. It is paying a third time for something that has little functionality for me. I've found that Roll20's Charactermancer (while not perfect) is completely sufficient for online play. D&D Beyond has no usability in TTRPG online play - no virtual table top, no chat/voice features, no communications with the rest of the group, no sharing of campaign details during play. It's a glorified character builder at a premium price.

 

[Oofta]

I subscribe to Roll20. It's not essential to do so, but I am hosting like 5 games at the moment. They have a Gamers Seeking Gamers forum there, and I'm sure there are options for new players to learn the system. I would encourage you to watch the tutorial the first time you sign in - and it's free to create an account.
Discord is useful for voice chat and finding online games too. There is a dice roller in the chat, but no virtual table top if you want to move around tokens, etc.
I don't use D&D Beyond at all. It is paying a third time for something that has little functionality for me. I've found that Roll20's Charactermancer (while not perfect) is completely sufficient for online play. D&D Beyond has no usability in TTRPG online play - no virtual table top, no chat/voice features, no communications with the rest of the group, no sharing of campaign details during play. It's a glorified character builder at a premium price.

Not sure where the DndBeyond bashing comes from (and don't care, I'll just say I only pay once for most things), but you can integrate DndBeyond into roll20 with the beyond 20 plugin for chrome.

But when it comes to DndBeyond I'd probably search for a game first. I just share my campaign with my players (my wife does the same for her game) and the players don't have to pay a thing.

 

[Oofta]

Another possibility for online games is adventurer's league. I haven't looked into it just yet myself but you can check out page: AL Online

 

[Mort]

Not sure where the DndBeyond bashing comes from (and don't care, I'll just say I only pay once for most things), but you can integrate DndBeyond into roll20 with the beyond 20 plugin for chrome.

But when it comes to DndBeyond I'd probably search for a game first. I just share my campaign with my players (my wife does the same for her game) and the players don't have to pay a thing.

I've also been using Roll20 combined with D&D Beyond through Beyond20. Since I have an established group, I haven't had to look for games but the Roll20 Join a game feature seems to be thriving - certainly for 5e.

I've really liked Roll20 integrated with D&D beyond BUT in the last few months (ever since D&D Beyond started tinkering with 3D dice and pushing dice sets like heroin) there has been a much higher lag between the 2 programs making the integration much less smooth. If D&D beyond lets you turn off the 3D animation (like roll20 does) I suspect that would fix the problem - but so far not an option.

Anyway- as to the OP, Roll20 will likely have a game if your looking for one, and if you're looking to simply play, not DM, the cost to entry should be very low.

 

[thom_likes_gaming]

Just as an aside: you could start out by playing online with your established local group. It's what I did, and it works just fine, using Roll20, DnDBeyond and Jitsi for talking.

 

[dbm]

Roll20 seems to be popular, however there is Fantasy Grounds as well.

Our group went with FG Unity as it supports 64-bit on Mac and it also had the module for Out of the Abyss which wasn’t on Roll20 for some reason.

FGU has been good for us and kept our group gaming during lockdown

 

[jayoungr]

Roll20 seems to be popular, however there is Fantasy Grounds as well.

I've heard nothing but good things about Fantasy Grounds. However, the OP should be aware that it does come with a price tag for at least one member of the group.

Does it have a free "looking for game" feature?

 

[dbm]

I've heard nothing but good things about Fantasy Grounds. However, the OP should be aware that it does come with a price tag for at least one member of the group.

If the GM has an ultimate license then the players can just use the free demo to join their game. It’s $10 per month for the GM at that point, which is probably less than I used to incur when traveling to games or hosting in person.

Does it have a free "looking for game" feature?

There is an active forum for people looking for an open table game. Most of the people holding regular open games seem to have the Ultimate License.