D&D 5E Most User-Friendly VTT? (Dice Games In The Time of Covid)

[Len]

My gaming group tried to play over Roll20 tonight, since we didn't want to meet during the pandemic. After trying for almost an hour to get everyone to hear everyone else, we gave up. We simply couldn't get Roll20 to work. I suppose we'll try Fantasy Grounds instead next week.

I had the foresight to set up a Discord server for our group ahead of time, just in case, so when we ran into that problem we switched our voice chat to Discord.

In my experience that type of problem happens often with browser-based voice chat. I recommend doing voice/video chat with something like Discord or Skype that has a proper app.

 

[cmad1977]

Is there a good source for maps for Roll20? I can make my own using Campaign Cartographer but I'm lazy.

There’s also someone on the forums who makes them and puts a bunch in a thread for free. I haven’t used them but they look really good.

 

[Ovinomancer]

My gaming group tried to play over Roll20 tonight, since we didn't want to meet during the pandemic. After trying for almost an hour to get everyone to hear everyone else, we gave up. We simply couldn't get Roll20 to work. I suppose we'll try Fantasy Grounds instead next week.

Just as a heads up, FG has no integrated video/voice conferencing. As others have noted, many people use a separate app for voice/video than the VTT.

In other words, just switching to FG won't solve your problem. It's a good VTT, though. You might want to brush up on port forwarding, though, just hosting a game might require some router work.

 

[Prakriti]

I find it’s only simple for showing everyone a map or other thing that would normally be a paper handout. Actually using it to run a fight is simple by some definition, but still requires tutorials and spending time to learn how to do even basic stuff like adding an asset and the giving control of it to a player.

I'm a Roll20 veteran, and I still find that stuff to be overly time-consuming. Correctly aligning maps and creating tokens is pure drudgery.

 

[Shiroiken]

I find it’s only simple for showing everyone a map or other thing that would normally be a paper handout. Actually using it to run a fight is simple by some definition, but still requires tutorials and spending time to learn how to do even basic stuff like adding an asset and the giving control of it to a player.

Yeah, there's a bit more the DM needs to figure out than the players (players got it easy). I've been using it so long, I forgot about how hard some of the basic DM tasks can be at start.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Yeah, there's a bit more the DM needs to figure out than the players (players got it easy). I've been using it so long, I forgot about how hard some of the basic DM tasks can be at start.

Yeah, I just want a program that is already set up to do things like;

• Dynamic environmental lighting* and fog of war
• Dynamic character lighting* where a player can cast light, select the character that is holding or wearing what they cast light on, and that character emits the appropriate distance of light
• Player-side visual templates for spells, ranges, movement, and other effects. (in astral, you can shift-drag to measure distance, which is nice)
• assets that are built to integrate with all the other functionality, and easy tools for users to make a custom asset integrate. ie, I set down a house, and bc it's a stock asset from the library, it is already set up to block vision and light, including windows and doors that can be clicked to open or close.
• Character sheets and basic video-game style action bars (astral has this) so you can easily click to cast a spell or attack something, and have it allow you to then click on a target or select an area. (astral almost does this, but has no targeting, and I still haven't seen any area of effect templates.
• Integration with character builder tools and encounter building tools would be nice. Maybe dndbeyon will make this happen someday.
• A UI that is built for noobs to be able to use easily, and put the complex tools "behind" that basic UI.

I don't care about rules automation so much, but the above is what I would want at least most of in order to consider it better than having a webcam looking at my physical table and video conference call with my group.

 

[Ovinomancer]

Yeah, I just want a program that is already set up to do things like;

• Dynamic environmental lighting* and fog of war
• Dynamic character lighting* where a player can cast light, select the character that is holding or wearing what they cast light on, and that character emits the appropriate distance of light
• Player-side visual templates for spells, ranges, movement, and other effects. (in astral, you can shift-drag to measure distance, which is nice)
• assets that are built to integrate with all the other functionality, and easy tools for users to make a custom asset integrate. ie, I set down a house, and bc it's a stock asset from the library, it is already set up to block vision and light, including windows and doors that can be clicked to open or close.
• Character sheets and basic video-game style action bars (astral has this) so you can easily click to cast a spell or attack something, and have it allow you to then click on a target or select an area. (astral almost does this, but has no targeting, and I still haven't seen any area of effect templates.
• Integration with character builder tools and encounter building tools would be nice. Maybe dndbeyon will make this happen someday.
• A UI that is built for noobs to be able to use easily, and put the complex tools "behind" that basic UI.

I don't care about rules automation so much, but the above is what I would want at least most of in order to consider it better than having a webcam looking at my physical table and video conference call with my group.

In the meantime, you might want to get started with the VTTs that exist now. Wishing for perfect isn't going to allow you to get a game together this weekend.

 

[tommybahama]

My gaming group tried to play over Roll20 tonight, since we didn't want to meet during the pandemic. After trying for almost an hour to get everyone to hear everyone else, we gave up. We simply couldn't get Roll20 to work. I suppose we'll try Fantasy Grounds instead next week.

Use Discord for voice. Most experienced DMs don't seem to use the integrated voice & video.

 

[Blue]

We are neophytes to VTT. Our group tried Astral. We tried Roll20, but starting the night of the game, and we couldn't even figurte out how to place tokens. But worse, one person or another would constantly drop from voice/audio.

So we've moved to Zoom (a paid video conference service I'm using for multiple things) for fantastic audio/video, and a shared google something for maps. Working well. Absolutely no bells or whistles, but the social aspect is rock solid and the rest isn't tough to handle.

 

[LordEntrails]

I found FG to be very intuitive and Roll20 to be incomprehensible. Others are the other way.

But look, if you don't want to spend money (and don't want to get a refund from FG within 30 days), then just use Discord with a web camera. It's not ideal but it is as simple and user-friendly as it gets. I've done it. Just hang your camera from a light and point it at your dry-erase mat. Everything else is just like around the table. People talk, roll dice and keep track of their own character sheets.

Easy Peasy, not fancy, and not efficient. But no learning curve and no cost unless you need to buy a $10 camera.