Theater of the Mind and VTTs: Oh Brave New World...

[Umbran]

I'm wondering if other people play this way, and if so, what pitfalls should I avoid? What are some best practices you can suggest? Any and all advice generously given will be thankfully received. Thank you!

I'm in a game that started in the pandemic, and is still rolling - using Fate Accelerated. Battlemap? What battlemap?

Choice of game can make this easier or harder. Some systems really work better with a map handy, and it can be hard to adjudicate them fairly without one. Other (like Fate Accelerated) work perfectly find without a map

As others have suggested - describing the area, and re-describing it as events unfold, is a good idea.

 

[GrimCo]

I'we been playing ttrpgs totm pretty much whole my life. Even in the old days of 3x/PF1.

During pandemic, we just used google meets and shared google drive. No vtt-s or anything. But, our group isn't into super tactical combat. If you have players that like that stuff, totm isn't really for them.

 

[Bedrockgames]

Greetings, friends. Bit of a backstory: I'v been playing TTRPGs for 44 years(!). The majority of that time was face to face around a table, and completely done with theater of the mind. Never used minis or maps or grids. In 2019, my group picked up again after a long hiatus (marriages, little kids, geography, etc.) and we've been using a VTT ever since. This has allowed us to play way, way more than we ever could face to face, and it's been a blast. We use Roll20, and occasionally Foundry.

With that said, I have observed that our games have become too focused on maps and tokens. It has all taken on a feel that is way more tactical than narrative (and I am a narrative DM to the core). I spend a lot of time populating tokens, filling out monster character sheets, adding things to online maps, etc. It's a time sink, and it's not the part of DMing that I, personally, enjoy. (We are not using 5e, which would make all of this mechanical stuff super easy.)

So we are about to begin a new campaign using a new system (Castles&Crusades) which has limited support on Roll20 to begin with. I am thinking I want to do this much more theater of the mind, as we used to do for the majority of our gaming time. Players can have paper characters in front of them, or use Troll Lord's rollable character sheets online, or they can just roll on the VTT. Whatevah. Instead of using maps and grids and tokens, I am going to use more art and images. When it comes to combat, I am going to just describe what's happening instead of showing what's happening. In the case of a large or complicated battle, I'd just throw some tokens on a map in order to make things less confusing, but not worry too much about distances and all of that.

I'm wondering if other people play this way, and if so, what pitfalls should I avoid? What are some best practices you can suggest? Any and all advice generously given will be thankfully received. Thank you!

I play online almost exclusively these days, usually 2 games a week, and they are all theater of the mind. I just use discord. If I used a platform like roll20, I would probably just use the dice roller for everything. For complicated battles I usually keep track on my end on a note pad, and when needed I show the players the general sketch (but I figure they are in a chaotic big battle, it probably doesn't look like a crystal clear chess board from their perspective).

 

[GothmogIV]

This is all really helpful, friends. Thank you! I am playing face to face tomorrow, so I'll get a chance to practice being a ham.

 

[Cordwainer Fish]

practice being a ham

Just make sure you don't transmit until and unless you get licensed. Don't worry, a Pet Rock could pass the Technician exam. You don't even have to learn Morse code any more.

...

... You did mean that kind of ham, right?

 

[Jacob Lewis]

Most of the popular VTTs flaunt really cool features that highlight things that are often difficult or expensive to do at a real table. Things like line of sight, fog of war, or just having a plethora of unique, large, well-drawn maps at the ready. This promotes a specific, but common, style of play in RPGs that involves maps and minis, especially for those built around combat encounters. Not surprisingly, a lot of people assume that's what VTTs are specifically designed for.

But just because they have these features doesn't mean that's all they're good for. If you used them just for the character sheets alone, you'll find that tracking information can be a huge benefit in any system, especially in complex games with a lot of information. Little things we take for granted, like initiative order, can be one less thing to burden yourself. And not just players, but also monsters, NPCs, and other challenges. And if vehicles, mounts, ships, and/or companion creatures are involved, DMs can get overwhelmed quickly. If you're closer to my age, you know what I'm talking about when your own mental capacity starts becoming premium real estate!

Most VTTs also keep logs of what happens. This makes it easy to remember what went down three weeks ago, or find little details that might not have been important at the time. Also, good for DMs who want to review past sessions, maybe find inspiration for the next one.

TLDR; I think a lot of practical applications get overlooked because we think VTTs are largely designed and marketed for a particular kind of RPG. But there's a lot of helpful utility built into them, even if you don't use all the bells and whistles as intended.

 

[CellarHeroes]

Just make sure you don't transmit until and unless you get licensed. Don't worry, a Pet Rock could pass the Technician exam. You don't even have to learn Morse code any more.

...

... You did mean that kind of ham, right?

I'm old, so I get this and approve!
WB0***

 

[Cordwainer Fish]

I'm old, so I get this and approve!
WB0***

KJ5*** QSL. 73!

 

[Thomas Shey]

As I've noted, because of the way my brain works with spatial memory and imagination, I'm functionally incapable of either running or playing in a game where positioning and other spatial elements matter to any significant degree, and as such haven't run a game in decades without at least minimal mapping and markers (with one specific exception that very much didn't care about spatial elements except in a very broad narrative sense). I suspect if I felt otherwise, I'd not really bother with a VTT when running remote, just something like Skype or Discord.

 

[thullgrim]

My current Shadowdark game we use Foundry for exploration maps and I use to display pictures. I do not populate stat blocks or build tokens. My players use their own character sheet and we roll physical dice. I have one token on the map screen. A party token that casts light so they can see where they are. That’s it.

My previous GURPS game we did the same thing. Tried to do as much with theatre of the mind as we could. Even with a game that crunchy it worked.

When I have a good set piece we might switch to a map and token battle in a more tactical game, but those battle have become the exceptions and not the norm.

We play via discord with cameras and switch screens to the VTT when we have to. I had the same experience of it feeling more video game and less live rpg when we were running games full on in the VTT.