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Message: <blockquote data-quote="MNblockhead" data-source="post: 9518657" data-attributes="member: 6796661">Lot's of good advice in the comments above. I've tested most of the major VTTs over the years, though I'm a bit out of date since I've settled on Foundry. But based on your post, I think I have a few good recommendations. If you want to play D&D, get D&D Beyond and use its character sheets, encounter builders, and its Map feature. All have a low learning curve compared to many of the popular VTT options out there. Also, if you are running published WotC adventures, the maps and monster stats, etc. are already entered and easy to pull up. What I also like about DDB is that I can easily switch from online to in-person gaming with it. I'll go into more detail if you are interested. For video and audio, use whatever you are comfortable with. I use Discord now, but used Google Meet before. I really prefer Google Meet, but my players prefer Discord. I've found Discord to be very solid, even without great internet and I can run it from the computer or from my phone. If the audio-video conferencing aspect is the most important to you and just want simple tools for character sheets, dice rolling, and basic battlemaps, and want to support multiple game systems, check out Role (<a href="https://www.playrole.com/" target="_blank">Role - The easiest place to play and create any TTRPG</a>).  Excellent and easy teleconferencing site designed for gaming. It has character sheets for many game systems and also offers a pretty easy to learn custom character sheet builder. It is great for more rules light systems where you don't need much automation or battlemaps with all the bells and whistles.  The biggest selling point is it is everything you need in one place. You don't need to juggle multiple apps/sites, one for VTT and one for A/V.  And it does that while offering excellent audio and video. A lot of the map-focused VTTs that also offer A/V have subpar audio and video quality. If you want the option for more sophisticated battlemaps, I would recommend Roll20. There is a learning curve, but I find most people who don't like to geek out on tech have an easier time with Roll20 than other popular VTTs (e.g. Fantasy Grounds, Foundry, etc.).  There is no need to download software, no need to learn the ins and outs of port forwarding or use a third-party hosting service, etc. Also it offers built in audio and video. If everyone playing has decent internet, the A/V in Roll20 is servicable. Many people still prefer to use Discord, Zoom, Google Meet, etc. instead of Roll20s A/V, but I've played in games that use Roll20s A/V and it was fine. You can also get official content for D&D and many other systems. Lastly, it has an excellent Find Game site which you can use to join games or find players. I recommend joining a one-shot using the Find Games feature to play a few games in Roll20 before deciding on a paid subscription. If you want solid automation and rules support and official content, but are willing to deal with a higher learning curve, Fantasy Grounds is worth looking into. You and your players have to download software and connecting the game, while easy, isn't as easy as just going to a website (that may be different now, I've not used FG in almost 3 years). You'll need a different platform for A/V. FG has not built in voice or video functionality.  Foundry is the VTT I use almost exclusively. But I don't recommend it to beginner DMs, especially if they do not like tinkering with technology. D&D support is better now that they have an official license, but a lot of the community modules that provide the automation, special effects, etc. that folks like to show off in videos do not work with the new version. What I love about Foundry is how customizable it is. But once you start getting into playing around with community modules to customize the experience, it can become a hobby in and off itself.  Also, setting it up so that you can run games from your PC can be frustrating to less technically inclined people and one of the first recommendations you'll get is to use a hosting service like The Forge or Molten. So, even though the software is only a one-time payment of 50 USD, you very likely to end up paying a hosting service anyway. There is a big exception to my putting Foundry lower on the recommentation list, however. For certain game systems, most notably Pathfinder 2e and Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 4e, Foundry is the no-brainer choice of VTT. The PF2e and WFRP4e game systems in Foundry are wonderful and provide the best VTT experience for running those systems. As for video, I don't really use it any more. I though it would be important, but it isn't going to be the same as in person anyway, so I've embraced the immersion of people focusing on the map, art, and voice. I find video to be distracting and an unnecessary use of screen real estate and bandwidth. But if video is important to you, I don't think you need to go crazy on buying expensive web cams. Your laptops built in camera is fine. I did use a webcam, however, just as I do for online meeting at work, because I don't like the angle of the laptop camera and how it is overly zoomed in on my face. Also, I use external monitors, so I always looks like I'm looking to the side or up. So I use a webcam that I mound on top of my main external monitor, where I'll be looking most of the time and because of a bit more distance, I shows me sittle rather than just a close up of my face.  I've found the Logitech C920 Webcam to be more than serviceable and very durable. I travel with it for work. You can get it for about USD 50 and probably less with upcomming black friday sales. For voice, I use head phones. My preferred is my Bose NC 700s, but I've used my air pods a lot as well.  I think the mic on my Macbook Pro is fine, but a good noise cancelling headset or ear buds, help me here everyone better and help me concentrate. Last point about sound. If you use one system for voice and your VTT for background music and sound effects, it can be a subpar experience. At the same time, I hate fiddling around with discord. I'm thinking about giving Foundry's A/V tools another go so all sound is coming from the same platform. For new DMs, I would just ignore background music and sound effects until you are comfortable with running games online. It is just another thing to juggle when running games and usually they don't really add that much to the game. They have a lot of impact in live stream games and podcasts, but in regular, non-audience games, I think they are more of a distraction. If you would find it helpful, I would be happy to show you around DDB and Foundry. I rarely run games in Roll20 anymore, so I don't think I would be a great guide there. But it is easy to find one shot on their Find a Game site. Anyway, hope this helps.</blockquote>

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