[VTT] Going Back to VTT Instead of Live Play

[aramis erak]

I am sure that many will stick with online play as the pandemic ends.

At some point I would like to try a hybrid--some people together, some people remotely.

I do like some social aspects of gaming--actually eating and drinking while playing, otherwise I tend to be pretty focused--but also like the flexibility of online play.

Pre-pandemic, I ran from remote for a group I used to run FTF for. They have a REALLY good mic. And they'd gather at the mic. It was a far better, more focused experience than each of them at respective homes. (And EO's drive home is long, so he's not available when we start...)

From home, they're each more distracted; all together, when they do get distracted, it's all 4 of them...

 

[Jd Smith1]

Yes.

I just turn it off as DM, but it can even be hard to turn off!

I am a big roll20 fan and have used it for a long time, but certain features have actually made it harder to use.

You really need a Pro account to make dynamic lighting work. With Pro, setting up and using DL is a breeze.

 

[Lanefan]

You really need a Pro account to make dynamic lighting work. With Pro, setting up and using DL is a breeze.

That's for the DM, right? How does that fix the lag-and-crash at the player end?

 

[Ovinomancer]

That's for the DM, right? How does that fix the lag-and-crash at the player end?

I doesn't. Roll20 pushes the work onto each participant's computer, so everyone has to have a PC capable of handling dynamic lighting or they will experience lag. The requirements for dynamic lighting are trivial if you have even a low-end gaming rig, but not everyone does. If you're using a Chromebook or older PC, it can absolutely be a huge problem.

Plus, setting up dynamic lighting is actually fairly tedious, and if you don't have a good workflow, you can find a mistake that costs quite a bit of rework is not that hard. If you're using good battlemaps and you use a 3pp plug-in you can mostly autogenerate the dynamic lighting layer for walls, but this still requires you to go in an tweak. If you want door that open, that's another layer. And all of that requires getting familiar with how the API sandbox works, then downloading and learning the code to find out if it works for you. I'm computer savvy and I generally found most of the API scripts to be more hassle than they are worth, especially as the API sandbox was pretty unstable for awhile. No idea if it still is, my current games are not using any API scripts.

I mean, I'm a booster for Roll20 -- I love it, and recommend it. But I'm not about to claim that dynamic lighting is super easy to set up. Perhaps I'm just overly demanding.

 

[BookTenTiger]

I doesn't. Roll20 pushes the work onto each participant's computer, so everyone has to have a PC capable of handling dynamic lighting or they will experience lag. The requirements for dynamic lighting are trivial if you have even a low-end gaming rig, but not everyone does. If you're using a Chromebook or older PC, it can absolutely be a huge problem.

Plus, setting up dynamic lighting is actually fairly tedious, and if you don't have a good workflow, you can find a mistake that costs quite a bit of rework is not that hard. If you're using good battlemaps and you use a 3pp plug-in you can mostly autogenerate the dynamic lighting layer for walls, but this still requires you to go in an tweak. If you want door that open, that's another layer. And all of that requires getting familiar with how the API sandbox works, then downloading and learning the code to find out if it works for you. I'm computer savvy and I generally found most of the API scripts to be more hassle than they are worth, especially as the API sandbox was pretty unstable for awhile. No idea if it still is, my current games are not using any API scripts.

I mean, I'm a booster for Roll20 -- I love it, and recommend it. But I'm not about to claim that dynamic lighting is super easy to set up. Perhaps I'm just overly demanding.

I found Dynamic Lighting to be a lot of fun to set up and play around with as a DM... And then mostly a hassle during play. I disabled it about an hour into our first session using it.

I plan on using it again in an upcoming labyrinth the characters will be exploring, but other than that specific case I think I'll be keeping it off.

 

[Ovinomancer]

I found Dynamic Lighting to be a lot of fun to set up and play around with as a DM... And then mostly a hassle during play. I disabled it about an hour into our first session using it.

I plan on using it again in an upcoming labyrinth the characters will be exploring, but other than that specific case I think I'll be keeping it off.

Oh, I definitely use it when I run 5e. I find setting it up to be tedious. My players love it. I'm okay with it.

 

[ART!]

I found Roll20 awkward to use. It was introduced in 2012, and I feel like it's built on older ideas and frameworks. I'm not a videogamer, but I found Astral's more videogame-like interface much easier. Too bad Astral is going bye-bye.

 

[Ovinomancer]

I found Roll20 awkward to use. It was introduced in 2012, and I feel like it's built on older ideas and frameworks. I'm not a videogamer, but I found Astral's more videogame-like interface much easier. Too bad Astral is going bye-bye.

Roll20 is a mess. It's one of the most functional overall VTTs. It's kinda hard to get a VTT up and running, especially if it's hosted, because that's not cheap. Revenue streams are important. Roll20 has the licensing in place, a robust marketplace, and a large userbase. That makes it a hard thing to avoid, even though it's very clearly long in the tooth and clunky in ways.

 

[Lanefan]

I doesn't. Roll20 pushes the work onto each participant's computer, so everyone has to have a PC capable of handling dynamic lighting or they will experience lag. The requirements for dynamic lighting are trivial if you have even a low-end gaming rig, but not everyone does. If you're using a Chromebook or older PC, it can absolutely be a huge problem.

Older* PC here, and - other than this - no pressing reason at all to buy new hardware as it otherwise does what I need for the time being. I don't do any online gaming of the sort you're referring to and, to be honest, have little if any interest in it.

* - though it still seems new to me; but I'm one of those people who look at computers as appliances, the same as I look at dishwashers and toasters and cars - if you buy good quality once, and don't abuse it, you shouldn't have to buy another one for a very long time if ever.

Plus, setting up dynamic lighting is actually fairly tedious, and if you don't have a good workflow, you can find a mistake that costs quite a bit of rework is not that hard. If you're using good battlemaps and you use a 3pp plug-in you can mostly autogenerate the dynamic lighting layer for walls, but this still requires you to go in an tweak. If you want door that open, that's another layer. And all of that requires getting familiar with how the API sandbox works, then downloading and learning the code to find out if it works for you. I'm computer savvy and I generally found most of the API scripts to be more hassle than they are worth, especially as the API sandbox was pretty unstable for awhile. No idea if it still is, my current games are not using any API scripts.

I mean, I'm a booster for Roll20 -- I love it, and recommend it. But I'm not about to claim that dynamic lighting is super easy to set up. Perhaps I'm just overly demanding.

Our DM, to his credit, is more than willing to do tedious work if he thinks the results will be worth it. And I gather it is for everyone else, but the other players all have fancy or quasi-fancy hardware either for gaming or for work reasons.

 

[General_Tangent]

I am sure that many will stick with online play as the pandemic ends.

At some point I would like to try a hybrid--some people together, some people remotely.

I do like some social aspects of gaming--actually eating and drinking while playing, otherwise I tend to be pretty focused--but also like the flexibility of online play.

I did try this with a previous group. One of the players had moved out of the area so I had a netbook running Skype with them connected to the other end of the call. Three people in the room and one on the computer.

While it did work, I did rather have the impression that it was like having Holly from Red Dwarf at the end of table as most of the time all you could see was their head.