For those doing TTRPG online, what are your reasons?

[Wolfpack48]

Choose as many options as you want: Why do you use online tools to TTRPG?

 

[humble minion]

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy both. I'm DMing on in-person campaign, and playing in on VTT campaign. The VTT campaign is the group I started playing with 20+ years ago. Now we live conservatively an hour and a half drive apart, and the DM has deteriorating vision which makes tabletop play difficult. Plus, as you get higher level the automatic dice rolling functions of a VTT save more and more time (as you start rolling 8+ dice at a time and have to add up the result), and VTTs handle very large maps and long-range encounters much better than is easily possible on tabletop.

(I use a hybrid approach with the game i DM, I use an online combat tracking tool, and I have an old TV mounted screen-up that i can display maps on)

But the VTT game is with people I've known and played with for many years. I've found it hard to get into a real vibe with a brand new group, of people I don't know, in a purely online game. And it kinds sucks the whole game being completely at the mercy of whoever's computer hardware and internet connection is the least reliable.

 

[Umbran]

Several of these answers are not really independent.

My online games have been and are among people who could not or cannot get together in-person with any regularity.

 

[Reynard]

I have two groups: one is local, and we used to play in person. the Covid, yadda yadda.

The other is composed of people in 4 different states.

 

[sevenbastard]

I move a lot so typically the game starts in person then after a year I move three states over and everyone want to keep playing so we move to online. Rinse and repeat.

 

[Corinnguard]

For me, its convenience and geographic constraints. Most of my role-playing group lives down in Texas while me and one other player live up near the Great Lakes. So, participating in an online TTRPG is very convenient for all of us. Then there are the online tools such as D&D Beyond, Heroforge, Tabletop Simulator and Discord.

 

[payn]

Im busy, my folks are busy too. After trying it out, found im far more efficient at running games in this format.

 

[plecostomus]

We live in different states.

 

[schneeland]

A mixture of things. I think the starting point was that I moved twice for the job after graduating from university, and that meant the end of my regular F2F D&D game (and also of the occasional second group that played other systems). And the people in my new surrounding were notably less nerdy that at university, with the number of active TTRPG players being exactly zero. So no new group happened naturally.

And then two major things happened:

1. I spent a lot of time reading new rule sets and also more time discussing them online and that shaped my tastes in a way that I'm now much more picky about the games I play and the play styles of the people I play with.
2. The pandemic happened and remote communication and collaboration tools surged and matured - I tried online play with my old group via Skype in 2017 or 2018 and the experience really wasn't that great. So we never tried again. If I compare this to playing with Discord, potentially accompanied by either Owlbear Rodeo or Foundry, that's a completely different experience. In fact, I actually find it more immersive than playing at the table.

Now if the people in my current groups lived closer, we might still play at the table from time to time. But I also have to say, I really appreciate how much easier it is to schedule a regular game when we can all meet online after work and/or when the kids have been put to bed.

 

[Bomberooski]

Nothing I would like more than to play in person, but with three little kids my schedule doesn't really open up until 8pm and their aren't many people hosting live games at that hour. BUT I can jump online and get in PST games that start 5 or 6 PST which is great for me on EST.