D&D General Next Generation VTT

[Oofta]

I am curious about your experiences doing the in between of a fully prepared campaign and just running something on the fly. Do you do much whipping up your own content preparing for a session? Is it just too much work to prep? Poor tools? Can't find good maps to download and integrate?

I can only speak for myself, but when I'm planning for a session I regularly just figure out how many combat encounters I want and usually figure out an extra couple.

Then the story just takes people where it takes them. Maybe I thought they were going to investigate the mansion but instead they head to the swamps. Maybe they attract too much attention in the wrong part of town and get jumped in an alley.

So I may (or may not, I'm lazy) have done a quick sketch of the mansion but all I did for the swamp was think what kind of threat could be there. The alley thing was just made up on the fly but I can either grab appropriate NPCs or those bugbears suddenly become humans and part of the Red Mask gang that I just invented.

I do a lot of theater of the mind until initiative is rolled. With a mat, it's easy to just draw some lines and we're good to go in whatever setting I envision at the moment.

Part of it is probably just that because I can have pretty maps I feel like I should. But even simple maps simply take more time.

 

[Reynard]

I am curious about your experiences doing the in between of a fully prepared campaign and just running something on the fly. Do you do much whipping up your own content preparing for a session? Is it just too much work to prep? Poor tools? Can't find good maps to download and integrate?

Generally speaking, I am a very improvisational, low prep GM. When I run games at conventions, for example, I have a single page of notes (at most) for a 4 hour session. Because I usually run what I call "convention campaigns" where four through 6 sessions all operate together as a compressed campaign experience with full drop in/drop out (I usually have 2 or 3 players that play all the sessions, another couple that play half the sessions, and the rest are single session players) I built on what has happened previously in the sessions and between the characters. This means by the end I have to prep less because I have a lot to draw on. Some of these "con campaigns" are more story focused than others and I have found there is a happy medium between "railroad" and "sandbox" in that environment. As it relates to running on Fantasy grounds, I find that a lot of my tools and techniques for doing IRL games like this don't translate well to the "FG plus Discord" environment. Automation actually makes it harder to just roll with the flow and make stuff up off the top of my head. Playing without automation, especially if using video chat, is roughly the same as at the table without that sense of presence I like so much.

On the other hand, i find running canned adventures, especially the WotC ones, on FG much easier than IRL. Since everything is linked and readily available I don't have to try and parse all the prose and poor organization. IRL I spend more time prepping that doing something original, so I generally don't do it (although I did successfully run Dragon heist by throwing out almost everything).

 

[Dausuul]

I am curious about your experiences doing the in between of a fully prepared campaign and just running something on the fly. Do you do much whipping up your own content preparing for a session? Is it just too much work to prep? Poor tools? Can't find good maps to download and integrate?

Can't speak for Reynard, but for me:

Until the pandemic hit, pre-drawn maps (whether drawn by me or by someone else) were an absolute nonstarter for me, because all my gaming was F2F. Copying a pre-drawn map onto a physical battlemat is painfully slow and brings the game to a screeching halt at the exact moment when excitement should be ramping up. It's far less disruptive to just refer to my notes for any key terrain features, and then quick-sketch something.

Obviously, the limitations of a physical battlemat no longer apply; but the other issue is that I want flexibility to adapt to what the PCs do. Let's say they get attacked by assassins in the common room of an inn. Do they fight them right there? Do they beat a fighting retreat up the stairs and barricade their rooms? Do they dive out the window and draw their attackers into the open? Do they run up to the top floor, bash a hole in the roof, and turn the whole thing into a chase across the city rooftops where half the game is trying to knock your opponents off the edge? Each of these scenarios is going to require a different map, and it's hardly feasible to think of and prep them all in advance.

Likewise, a lot of my encounters are just lightly sketched out: The PCs might go here, and if they do, they'll probably run into these critters. I'm not going to put a lot of prep time into any one of those, since most will end up not being used.

Now, in the case of a set-piece encounter where I know where and how the PCs must engage the bad guys--like you find in a more traditional dungeon crawl--it might make more sense to draw maps in advance, at least as long as we're gaming online instead of in person. Even so, I put a premium on speed and ease of use: The last thing I want to spend my limited prep time on is wrestling with my tools.

 

[Bawylie]

I don’t know anything about programming. (Furthest I went was BASIC in high school). And I don’t use VTTs. I have, but I like a tactile experience more than VTT (and i acknowledge that VTT automation has several very good additions like initiative and lighting).

But, as a dummy, here’s what I think I want out of a nextgen vtt. Something like final fantasy tactics / augmented reality. Perhaps you buy a map with a QR code or something that you drop on your table, and you look through your tablet at it and it’s 3D-ish and populated by controllable characters you can move around via a touch-menu system. Spells and attacks with damage values and ranges can be automated but some stuff still needs to be dm-adjudication, so we need dice (virtual and actual).

And between encounters, the VTT should flip to the comms system (like a round table zoom conference that displays the speaker and the character’s profile picture maybe?).

I think you’d make some money by selling the maps individually. They’d be 2d on the table and 3D-ish in the AR with the lighting and stuff. All the stuff from the basic rules should be included with the system with options to buy other stuff as micro transactions or bundles.

And the thing would / could work with people in your game room and your cousin across the country too.

And maybe we already have all that and I’m just not paying attention! Like I said. I’m a dummy on this subject. I just don’t want to sit at a computer and play d&d on VOIP with a view I don’t really control. So if we can put a pikachu on my dining room table via AR, why not a dragon? And if we can put a dragon, why not a dungeon?

 

[Guest 6801328]

I don’t know anything about programming. (Furthest I went was BASIC in high school). And I don’t use VTTs. I have, but I like a tactile experience more than VTT (and i acknowledge that VTT automation has several very good additions like initiative and lighting).

But, as a dummy, here’s what I think I want out of a nextgen vtt. Something like final fantasy tactics / augmented reality. Perhaps you buy a map with a QR code or something that you drop on your table, and you look through your tablet at it and it’s 3D-ish and populated by controllable characters you can move around via a touch-menu system. Spells and attacks with damage values and ranges can be automated but some stuff still needs to be dm-adjudication, so we need dice (virtual and actual).

And between encounters, the VTT should flip to the comms system (like a round table zoom conference that displays the speaker and the character’s profile picture maybe?).

I think you’d make some money by selling the maps individually. They’d be 2d on the table and 3D-ish in the AR with the lighting and stuff. All the stuff from the basic rules should be included with the system with options to buy other stuff as micro transactions or bundles.

And the thing would / could work with people in your game room and your cousin across the country too.

And maybe we already have all that and I’m just not paying attention! Like I said. I’m a dummy on this subject. I just don’t want to sit at a computer and play d&d on VOIP with a view I don’t really control. So if we can put a pikachu on my dining room table via AR, why not a dragon? And if we can put a dragon, why not a dungeon?

If going the AR route, why put it on a table?

Play on a 1:1 scale outdoors.

“Hey, guys, meet in the park. In the wooded part. After dark.”

 

[Nebulous]

Obviously, the limitations of a physical battlemat no longer apply; but the other issue is that I want flexibility to adapt to what the PCs do. Let's say they get attacked by assassins in the common room of an inn. Do they fight them right there? Do they beat a fighting retreat up the stairs and barricade their rooms? Do they dive out the window and draw their attackers into the open? Do they run up to the top floor, bash a hole in the roof, and turn the whole thing into a chase across the city rooftops where half the game is trying to knock your opponents off the edge? Each of these scenarios is going to require a different map, and it's hardly feasible to think of and prep them all in advance.

Likewise, a lot of my encounters are just lightly sketched out: The PCs might go here, and if they do, they'll probably run into these critters. I'm not going to put a lot of prep time into any one of those, since most will end up not being used.

Now, in the case of a set-piece encounter where I know where and how the PCs must engage the bad guys--like you find in a more traditional dungeon crawl--it might make more sense to draw maps in advance, at least as long as we're gaming online instead of in person. Even so, I put a premium on speed and ease of use: The last thing I want to spend my limited prep time on is wrestling with my tools.

I'm using Roll20, and I don't know about FG, but if i needed a map in a pinch, say, a rooftop chase scene, it would take about sixty seconds to three minutes to get one downloaded from a google search and uploaded to Roll20. The hardest part would be figuring out which map to use, as "rooftop battle map" yields dozens and dozens of full color images. But I generally try to have all the maps I might need already loaded and waiting, now random outdoor encounters or city street.

 

[Mort]

I'm using Roll20, and I don't know about FG, but if i needed a map in a pinch, say, a rooftop chase scene, it would take about sixty seconds to three minutes to get one downloaded from a google search and uploaded to Roll20. The hardest part would be figuring out which map to use, as "rooftop battle map" yields dozens and dozens of full color images. But I generally try to have all the maps I might need already loaded and waiting, now random outdoor encounters or city street.

I've been using Roll20 for about a month and am getting more comfortable with it. In the "I don't have a map for that situation" -I just create a new page and freehand sketch a quick map - just as I would on a battlemat. usually takes about 30 seconds and is barely a break in the action.

 

[Oofta]

I'm using Roll20, and I don't know about FG, but if i needed a map in a pinch, say, a rooftop chase scene, it would take about sixty seconds to three minutes to get one downloaded from a google search and uploaded to Roll20. The hardest part would be figuring out which map to use, as "rooftop battle map" yields dozens and dozens of full color images. But I generally try to have all the maps I might need already loaded and waiting, now random outdoor encounters or city street.

Your google-fu is much superior to mine then.

I can find a lot of maps ... finding one that's free and decent is more difficult. I'm slowly building up some generic maps so longer term it may not be as much of an issue.

Of course, longer term I also hope to actually play face-to-face.

 

[Reynard]

I've been using Roll20 for about a month and am getting more comfortable with it. In the "I don't have a map for that situation" -I just create a new page and freehand sketch a quick map - just as I would on a battlemat. usually takes about 30 seconds and is barely a break in the action.

How are the drawing tools in Roll20? I have used it once or twice but only with things where I did not actually care about a battle grid. I am heavily invested in FG, primarily for D&D, so I won't switch from that generally, but for games that fall somewhere between "TotM only" and "needs a grid" I am curious if Roll20 supports improvisational play.

 

[Mort]

How are the drawing tools in Roll20? I have used it once or twice but only with things where I did not actually care about a battle grid. I am heavily invested in FG, primarily for D&D, so I won't switch from that generally, but for games that fall somewhere between "TotM only" and "needs a grid" I am curious if Roll20 supports improvisational play.

For what I've used - pretty basic. Just a big grid and a freehand drawing tool. Basically, it's akin to MS Paint (shapes etc) - which for my purpose has been just fine.

I suspect there are more robust options - but those would take time to learn and implement. Since I'm pretty happy with the way it's going - I haven't experimented further yet.