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

[Oofta]

Had our first game on Roll20 yesterday and it was ... okay. I didn't find it too horrible, but then again I'm not using it as much more than a virtual dry erase board. Biggest issue is that I have to actually prep maps ahead of time, which can be a pain because it isn't really my style to run "dungeon crawls". The fights occur wherever it makes sense for them to occur.

My biggest wish would be easier icons to just drop on for terrain and buildings. It doesn't have to be the most beautiful thing in the world. For the moment I'm just free-hand drawing like I would in person. Just because it can do amazing maps doesn't mean it has to.

I considered buying some stuff (Dungeon Tiles Reincarnated for example) but I don't know how much I'm going to use this. Hopefully in a couple of months we'll be back to playing in person. I guess I can always relearn Campaign Cartographer and make maps in there.

I also used zoom. You do need to pay for that if your game lasts more than 40 minutes but I wanted it for other reasons anyway.

 

[Azzy]

I guess I can always relearn Campaign Cartographer and make maps in there.

Oh god, why would you do that? You could use free programs like Gimp or Inkwell that are vastly more user-friendly, and there are community created assets for fantasy mapping that you can find for these. I'd suggest going to the Cartographer's Guild for links to assets, advice, tutorials, etc.

Also, there are a lot of free maps that you can import into Roll20 (or other VTT) all over the internet in case you don't want to make maps yourself.

 

[Oofta]

Oh god, why would you do that? You could use free programs like Gimp or Inkwell that are vastly more user-friendly, and there are community created assets for fantasy mapping that you can find for these. I'd suggest going to the Cartographer's Guild for links to assets, advice, tutorials, etc.

Also, there are a lot of free maps that you can import into Roll20 (or other VTT) all over the internet in case you don't want to make maps yourself.

I used to use CC for all my city and world maps. I already have it and more-or-less remember how to use it. I just don't use it much any more other than for quick regional or town maps.

The thing is I simply don't map much ahead of time, exploration of dungeons is TOTM and I just draw specific rooms as it becomes necessary. Every once in a blue moon I do a tradition dungeon or haunted house/castle as a change of pace.

But yeah, I probably need to watch some "how to" videos" ... I'm just hoping I don't have to use it for more than another couple of sessions.

 

[Azzy]

But yeah, I probably need to watch some "how to" videos" ... I'm just hoping I don't have to use it for more than another couple of sessions.

I'm with you there. I much prefer to play in person. However my group is scattered across the states, so it's not an option for me even after we get through this crisis.

Good luck!

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Had our first game on Roll20 yesterday and it was ... okay. I didn't find it too horrible, but then again I'm not using it as much more than a virtual dry erase board. Biggest issue is that I have to actually prep maps ahead of time, which can be a pain because it isn't really my style to run "dungeon crawls". The fights occur wherever it makes sense for them to occur.

My biggest wish would be easier icons to just drop on for terrain and buildings. It doesn't have to be the most beautiful thing in the world. For the moment I'm just free-hand drawing like I would in person. Just because it can do amazing maps doesn't mean it has to.

I considered buying some stuff (Dungeon Tiles Reincarnated for example) but I don't know how much I'm going to use this. Hopefully in a couple of months we'll be back to playing in person. I guess I can always relearn Campaign Cartographer and make maps in there.

I also used zoom. You do need to pay for that if your game lasts more than 40 minutes but I wanted it for other reasons anyway.

Yeah, we have the same wish with regards to dropping in assets and having them just work.

As it is, it isn’t worth the time involved, for me, to throw together a map during play, which means the program is just a dry erase board, like you said.

 

[DND_Reborn]

Yeah, we have the same wish with regards to dropping in assets and having them just work.

As it is, it isn’t worth the time involved, for me, to throw together a map during play, which means the program is just a dry erase board, like you said.

That's all we've been looking for. A shared whiteboard and showing video for chatting. So far I haven't found anything that simple that works well.

 

[Oofta]

That's all we've been looking for. A shared whiteboard and showing video for chatting. So far I haven't found anything that simple that works well.

Yeah, the whiteboard part was okay (not fantastic). For video/audio we used Zoom. So two different apps, which is okay for laptop users not so much for tablets, unless like my sister you simply use two tablets.

 

[Nine Hands]

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.

My group had the exact opposite experience. We tried Fantasy Grounds and just could not get everyone to connect, then moved to Roll20 and it worked pretty well. The thing that really hooked us was that we use D&D Beyond and there is a plug in called Beyond 20, which makes the whole process of rolling dice super easy.

Also to note, we used Discord for audio, not the Roll20 integrated audio.

 

[Oofta]

My group had the exact opposite experience. We tried Fantasy Grounds and just could not get everyone to connect, then moved to Roll20 and it worked pretty well. The thing that really hooked us was that we use D&D Beyond and there is a plug in called Beyond 20, which makes the whole process of rolling dice super easy.

Also to note, we used Discord for audio, not the Roll20 integrated audio.

I saw the integration piece ... but didn't bother. Mainly because I couldn't get it to work in the 30 seconds I tried.

But also, I trust my players and rolling a real die is fun. On the other hand we had a couple of newbies (new family game) and integration might have helped.

 

[DND_Reborn]

Yeah, the whiteboard part was okay (not fantastic). For video/audio we used Zoom. So two different apps, which is okay for laptop users not so much for tablets, unless like my sister you simply use two tablets.

I looked into Zoom. It looks ok but has the time limit for free use. Unfortunately, no one in my group makes great money so we can't afford most sites that have monthly fees. I found one really nice site, but you have to have a third party app to link webcams via a P2P connection or something. It seemed fishy to me, so I dropped that one.