D&D 5E Playing DnD online

[Vael]

So, with social distancing becoming the new norm for a bit, I thought I'd ask about playing DnD online. I'm learning Roll20 with the goal of starting up some games shortly, but I have some questions to those that have done this before:

What programs do people use?
How does it differ from in-person play?
Any advice on running/playing games specifically online?

 

[ART!]

I'm having a heck of a time figuring out Roll20. I suspect some of the newer VTTs are more user-friendly, having the advantage of looking at earlier sites and seeing what works best, what the most common complaints are, etc.

Generally, it's just very frustrating to have what I think is a pretty good (read: "makes for a fun time for all") face-to-face GMing skill set and approach to planning and prep, and now having to learn this whole new way of doing things, and Roll20 is not making it easy for me.

 

[robus]

As we run TotM I’m going to stick with Discord for as long as possible. But we‘ve playing as a group for years so there’s a lot of trust/shared knowledge about how things go.

 

[ChaosOS]

Here's my setup of online play tools

Roll20: Battlemaps for combat or detailed exploration

Discord: Organizing play times, between-game chatting

Google Hangouts: Main play - a big mistake I see a lot of people make for online games is thinking the map/table is the most important thing. It's not! The table is an accessory to seeing the other people. Yes, that means Jim has to finally go buy a decent webcam.

Kanka: Best campaign planning tool I've found, it's essentially a wiki but with pre-defined types of pages with additional functionality based on type.

 

[Vael]

Here's my setup of online play tools

Roll20: Battlemaps for combat or detailed exploration

Discord: Organizing play times, between-game chatting

Google Hangouts: Main play - a big mistake I see a lot of people make for online games is thinking the map/table is the most important thing. It's not! The table is an accessory to seeing the other people. Yes, that means Jim has to finally go buy a decent webcam.

Kanka: Best campaign planning tool I've found, it's essentially a wiki but with pre-defined types of pages with additional functionality based on type.

Fascinating ... so do you normally run the game in Hangouts and then, if an encounter warrants it, switch to Roll20?

 

[ChaosOS]

Yeah the game is in Hangouts and then Roll20 is the equivalent of pulling out the markers to draw on the map (I'm not the type of person who has a bunch of high quality terrain for in person games).

 

[Oofta]

Here's my setup of online play tools

Roll20: Battlemaps for combat or detailed exploration

Discord: Organizing play times, between-game chatting

Google Hangouts: Main play - a big mistake I see a lot of people make for online games is thinking the map/table is the most important thing. It's not! The table is an accessory to seeing the other people. Yes, that means Jim has to finally go buy a decent webcam.

Kanka: Best campaign planning tool I've found, it's essentially a wiki but with pre-defined types of pages with additional functionality based on type.

So why discord and hangouts? Is there an advantage to using one over the other?

 

[ChaosOS]

Discord's servers are great for chatting between games, while Hangouts handles multi-video calls better.

 

[MNblockhead]

Because of work I no find myself overseas but have been able to keep my campaign going through on-line play. I don't have great internet and I'm not sure all my players want to install software and learn new technology, so that colors my preferences.

I've been using RealmWorks for years for building campaign worlds and running face-to-face games. So what I've been doing is running my games with Google Hangouts, sharing the player view window to show maps. Basically it is just to show maps, progressively revealing them as the party explores. It is not a VTT. But RealmWorks development has stopped and it was getting to be too much work to enter everything in RW. Also, I'd like to use tokens for more tactical battle situations.

I've also joined some pickup games on Roll20 with mixed results. Usually it is fine, even without great internet, but I wouldn't want to rely on it as a DM. Also, many of those running games on Roll20 use Discord for voice. Many complain Roll20 voice is not great. But I've had so many issues with Discord that I won't even try joining a game that uses it.

For voice and screen sharing I find Google Hangouts or Google Meet to provide the most consistent good quality no matter where I am in the world. Few companies are able to provide the reach and power that Google can with datacenters all around the world. It also ofters a great app for smart phones, which is a good backup if my wifi has issues, I can just switch to the app and my 3G network (I use Google Fi giving me choice of multiple service providers in most countries in the world). Microsoft Teams is also go and, I suppose Skype. I only use Teams with work and don't want to use it for personal activities.

I've been spending a lot of time testing VTT platforms the past few weeks. I like Roll20 as it is easy to get started with and players don't need to install anything. But it chokes on large maps with a lot of lines mapped out for line of sight and dynamic lighting.

There are other threads on EnWorld I've participated in recently where I've discussed various VTT platforms, but I'm getting close to settling on Fantasy Ground Unity. It is easy to add the MANY maps I have for the mega dungeon I'm running. You can set up a player instance and share that window in Google Hangouts. If players want to download and install the software, they can. FG does, however, have a steep learning curve esp. if you want to use all its features. But it is growing on me. Happy to discuss more but I have pizza and a movie waiting!

 

[ninjayeti]

I have played online using both Fantasy Grounds and Roll20 plus Discord for voice chat.

Online play isn't too different from IRL play. There are only a couple of differences that stand out to me. First, it is more focused on maps because that is what everyone is staring at for most of the session. Having nice maps and visual aids (e.g., pics of key NPCs) pays off more in an online game. Second, having a group on voice chat can be a bit more awkward than in-person play. Without visual cues that someone is going to start/stop talking you end up with long silences where everyone is waiting for someone else to talk, then everyone starts speaking at once. It tends to get better as the group gets more familiar just be prepared for it and don't let it throw you.

Some advice in no particular order:
-Don't set out to master all the bells and whistles on the VTT at the outset. As long as you can get people into your game rolling dice and moving tokens on the map you can run a game. Figure additional stuff out as you go.

-There are many features on the VTTs that might not be obvious. With Fantasy Grounds, every time I thought "I wish the system could do X" I later found out it DID do x, I just didn't know how. Roll20 is less robust, but even then there are a lot of great things you can do with macros. So if there is a feature that you think would be helpful, a little research may pay off. Both VTTs have helpful communities so reach out if you have questions.

-The text chat feature of Discord is great for between-game communications. Players can post recaps, plan for the next session, handle downtime, or even engage in RP over text. Or you can just post memes.

-Voice Chat Etiquette: If you aren't the DM, use push-to-talk. But if you are laughing at someone's joke, be sure to key your mike - nothing kills humor quicker then hearing dead silence after every joke.

Good luck!