D&D General Should We Start Using a VTT?

[Yenrak]

I’ve been DMing a pretty large group for about two years now. The last year has been done over Zoom calls. Two of the players live with me so they are in the room but the other five play remotely.

The Zoom call thing works okay and I can show battle maps by pointing my phone or tablet at the table top. I generally have three or even four different ”cameras” going as DM during games, while the other players have one each or share one. It’s a bit clunky but it seems to work.’

We’ve never tried a virtual table top but I’m open to the idea. What would be the benefits? Which one would be easiest for a group to pick up and start using?

 

[TheSword]

Roll 20 for simplicity and ease of use
Foundry VTT for technical ability (though a bit trickier to learn)

I personally use Roll20 for d&d and Foundry for WFRP (as Roll20 can’t cope very well with some of wfrp’s mechanics yet)

There are a ton of features but in essence it lets you upload a map and move tokens. With a dice roller, character sheets and compendium.

the only question, is, are your group Willing to pay a bit of money to buy the rules packs?

 

[Yenrak]

I think we would definitely be willing to pay if it would improve our games. Like a lot of folks, most of the grownups in my group (we’re an intergenerational gaming group) have unexpectedly accumulated savings because so many of the recreational things we used to spend our money on (sports, movies, eating out, travel, etc) have been closed or unavailable for the last twelve months.

 

[tetrasodium]

Arkenforge has a bunch of premade.maps and built in assets to help get started. That's the one I use

 

[LordEntrails]

Yes, you will find a great many benefits, depending upon which VTT you chose.

I suggest you and your players go find some one-shots and online cons to play in. That way you can get to actually play and use various different VTTs and see what they can do.

One good place to get started doing this with FG is FG College; Join the Fantasy Grounds Discord Server!

 

[Umbran]

Roll 20 for simplicity and ease of use

Goodness no. Roll20 is a pretty full-featured solution, supporting game mechanics, map layers and fog of war, audio/video and text chat, and lots of other stuff. It is NOT simple.

You want simple, you go with Owlbear Rodeo. Map. Tokens. Done.

Owlbear Rodeo

A more bear-able virtual tabletop

www.owlbear.rodeo

 

[LordEntrails]

Ph, and though I don't agree with a lot of the opinions in this guide, as I find different things of importance, this review is fairly unbiased in it's evaluations. https://paper.dropbox.com/doc/Cyano...zhfF1A6uMrcwL6APODsBnAQ-Ef83ststlhPqW0LELrgye

 

[Li Shenron]

Here's a list, not sure how recent, of VTTs with nice video previews to give you an idea of how you might like them:

D&D Compendium - Virtual Tabletops

Many RPG players have migrated over to virtual tabletop (VTT) software during the pandemic. These tools often include multi-person connectivity, drawing features, token movement, and image import. If you want something simple, try out Owlbear Rodeo or Tableplop. If you want 3D, Talespire and

www.dnd-compendium.com

Notice that many of them have a free basic version or demo, so your group can try several out before committing to your favourite.

 

[Bawylie]

I recommend against it.

Ultimately the largest variable in the quality of your game is table management. How well you frame an adventure or scenario. How quickly you manage the various nuts and bolts of combat. The speed of task resolution (from proposed action to die roll to narration). And how much play your group can push in the time allotted.

Obviously there is no perfect way to measure this - but these game fundamentals make up so much of the quality of play, that your biggest gains in enjoyment will come from working on these.

A VTT can automate some stuff for you. I’ve seen it done beautifully. But there is an investment of time and a bit of starts and stops related to using the interface itself.

Ultimately very little beats a clear diagram, a good scenario frame up, and a group’s commitment to the game. If I were in your shoes, that sort of thing would take priority. If we had that down really really well, I might whip out a VTT for a single set piece for 30 min to an hour and see how well the group takes to it. And it wouldn’t be the climax of the session either.

 

[Zio_the_dark]

If you want a free solution then MapTools might be a good choice. It does not have ready to sell content but depending on your use it can do many things.

I own Foundry and FG and yet I still use MapTools because I find it much more intuitive for a GM who just need to drop a map and tokens for a quick session. If you want some automation it also does it but you'll need to dig in macro (there's also available frameworks here). It has also VBL, MBL and can import map directly made in dungeondraft (that will include VBL)!

Ha did I say it, yes I'll say it again it's free...

Edit: you can also run multiple instances of it (1 for GM and 1 for players in the same room as you) if you use dual/triple screen on the same computer