D&D 5E Playing DnD online

[pogre]

I thought about that too, setting up so cameras and having the players all use their own sheet and dice and I move the miniatures around the terrain.

Yep, exactly what I do. If you already have zoom or another videoconferencing suite it works well.

 

[Nebulous]

Yep, exactly what I do. If you already have zoom or another videoconferencing suite it works well.

No I don't, I would have to invest in the stuff. My players are also exceptionally poor too and have bad internet connections and one has a 16 year old laptop.

Edit: They have no idea how lucky they were for me buying all the minis and props their poor assess have enjoyed for so long now. They play D&D for free.

 

[Baumi]

D&D Beyond had a great Article about it: New Player's Guide: How to Play D&D Online

I personally use Roll20 in combination with Discord (Video if possible).

But I actually prefer the free maptool ( MapTool ) to Roll20 .. it's not only free (open source) but has much more features (good Scripting, dynamic Lightning,..) and is faster since it is not a browser-app. The downside is that the learning curve can be higher, but only if you want to use all the features.

 

[GreyLord]

I just started trying to run one online with a Portal. We all connect and can be onscreen and online at the same time talking to each other.

I am trying to run Dungeon of the Mad Mage. It's not as fun thus far as doing it in person, or so I feel.

But, it's gaming.

 

[GlassJaw]

@GlassJaw Start playing without a web cam.

But then I can't show off my sweet quarantine beard.

 

[Nebulous]

I've been having a lot of fun tweaking Roll20, but it wasn't intuitive and really just required sitting my ass down and fiddling with settings for hours and hours and hours. But I got it set up so that a generic Party Token can now navigate across city maps and unveil terrain as it advances, and all the players can manipulate the token. I have to mess with all the dynamic light and shadows to get it to work but it looks great.

 

[vpuigdoller]

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?

I use Roll20 for the maps, char sheets, handouts and rolls. (I disable audio and voice there since i find it not to my standards)
Then I use roll20 for sound. (We don't use video)

When we started we used skype only then added roll20 and then switched to discord, on the long run discord proven to be way more stable. Roll20, Astral and Fantasy grounds all have a learning curve. Whichever you choose to play with first on your on to familiarize with it and start only using simple stuff and slowly start adding more functions as you feel more comfortable using them.

 

[GreyLord]

I'm not exactly certain how it's done, but with the Portal you don't actually have to have a Portal to phone into the game. I had a Player I think who was using their cell phone. One has to have a facebook account and sign in, but I don't think a Portal itself is actually necessary.

 

[Nebulous]

I use Roll20 for the maps, char sheets, handouts and rolls. (I disable audio and voice there since i find it not to my standards)
Then I use roll20 for sound. (We don't use video)

When we started we used skype only then added roll20 and then switched to discord, on the long run discord proven to be way more stable. Roll20, Astral and Fantasy grounds all have a learning curve. Whichever you choose to play with first on your on to familiarize with it and start only using simple stuff and slowly start adding more functions as you feel more comfortable using them.

We use Discord voice only and it works well. I agree, they all have a learning curve, and the best way is to start simple and slowly add. I doubt I can ever do Roll20 scripting but it looks fantastic.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

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?

I think I prefer ToTM over video conference call to roll20, tbh. I wanna see people’s faces, but we don’t need a map, and roll20...isn’t very good, IMO. None of the vtts are. I liked the beta one for 4e that never got finished. It was easy as hell and intuitive.