D&D 5E Playing DnD online

[Martin]

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.

Could you elaborate on why you feel that it's the most important thing to see other people? James Haeck wrote something similar in his recent article on online gaming and I'm genuinely curious as to how and why this is a must have for those of you who use it.

 

[Umbran]

Could you elaborate on why you feel that it's the most important thing to see other people? James Haeck wrote something similar in his recent article on online gaming and I'm genuinely curious as to how and why this is a must have for those of you who use it.

So, a couple of relevant things:

We get information from words. We also get a lot of information out of vocal tone (which, along with speed, is why having audio is better than just typing everything. But, we also get a ton of information out of facial expression and body language, which is why he camera is important.

Also, if there's a camera on, you recognize that people can see you. If you have just a microphone on, you are more likely to get distracted, because you don't have the presence of people keeping you focused.

 

[Mistwell]

We use just Roll20 and Skype. Roll20 has it's own built-in skype too, but we didn't like it as much (at least early-on). It does handle video too I seem to recall. And of course there is a fully chat/text window in Roll20 as well.

 

[Azzy]

Could you guys help expand this wiki so we can have a comprehensive list?

Discussion thread is here.

 

[Todd Roybark]

Used Zoom last night, worked well. A very easy interface.

 

[Dax Doomslayer]

Fantasy Grounds and Discord (along with Syrinscape for music!). FG really is robust.

 

[Prakriti]

Any advice on running/playing games specifically online?

There was a good post on Reddit about this recently, and I agree with it wholeheartedly. The gist was: Don't try to use all of a virtual tabletop's features right out of the gate. There's too much to learn, and a lot of the features are unnecessary anyway. You can get by using just the dice-roller. Once you (and your players) become more comfortable with the interface, you can slowly add in more features.

Also, my groups use Discord for voice chat and Roll20 for the VTT. When I run games, I have the adventure book on my desk, a tablet with my campaign notes on it in my lap, a glass of water, and a Blue Yeti microphone. For comfort, I use an adjustable standing desk (so I can switch between sitting and standing).

Playing online does make some parts of DMing more difficult (reading the table, an important DMing skill, is much harder when you can't see players' faces and body language (we play without video)), but I get a lot of enjoyment out of playing online.

 

[Nebulous]

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.

I am also learning Roll20. Fortunately, two of my old players are in different online groups and they've been able to help me. But yes, the layers crap can be very, very confusing, and getting dynamic lighting to work the way I want has been a huge pain in the ass. One player knew how to tweak the aura setting to replicate 60 foot darkvision, which I never ever would have figured out.

However, I don't think Roll20 is any harder than Fantasy Grounds. I signed up for Fantasy Grounds College where you have online Discord chats with DMs who volunteer their time to teach the VTT. They are both very different systems, and I don't know either well enough to say which I prefer, but for now I'm using Roll20.

In a month or two Foundry comes out, check that out, it's being built from the ground up as a VTT and has some exceptionally good looking lighting dynamics.

 

[Nebulous]

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).

See, I am the opposite. My in person games are full color maps, 3D terrain, miniatures of all types, spell templates, etc. I need my online to replicate that as best as I can, so I search for full color maps, preferably maps with elevation terrain for added tactics, not just a square room. I have been enjoying the dynamic lighting of Roll20 as it really enhances the "exploration" aspect of the game where you can't see what is waiting in the shadows around the corner until you look, and it's often some scary token.

 

[Nebulous]

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!

I agree. I found Roll20 difficult enough to get the hang of, and FG is much, much steeper. I will continue to fiddle with both though. Sadly, Roll20 does choke on large maps with dynamic lighting. I don't think I could even load Wave Echo Cave into the game. Probably doing something wrong, or the megabyte size was too large, i dunno.