Got a Yeti as well. Hands down my best purchase of last year. I probably wouldn’t have bought a mic if 95% of my communication hadn’t suddenly shifted to online, not just the D&D sessions, but after the first day I was already kicking myself for not switching from a headset to a standing mic and some decent speakers sooner. Comfort and quality are so much better.
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Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
Another great thing about the yeti is you can adjust its gain and collection direction. I have mine set to only capture what's in front of the mic with the gain down quite low.
Huh well that kinda sells it for me then...I think Discord has the background noise removal feature that helps too. You can do things like clap or sneeze and it doesn't pick it up.
Discord for communication and avrae for players to roll and handle their characters linked to DDB.
OneNote for my notes.
Dungeon draft and world draft for making maps.
I wrote my own VTT in visual studio to handle maps, grids, initiative, dice rolls, tokens, mobs, spells and their effects, shops and prices. I then stream that VTT to players over discord.
Future addition would be to add an audio player into my VTT along with client/server aspects.
Other than that just a headset and built in mic works just fine. Do have a professional mic but don't use it much. The headset works just fine. Plus it's worries so I can go outside with the phone and not interrupt the game cause I wanna be outside for whatever reason.
Discord for communication and avrae for players to roll and handle their characters linked to DDB.
OneNote for my notes.
Dungeon draft and world draft for making maps.
I wrote my own VTT in visual studio to handle maps, grids, initiative, dice rolls, tokens, mobs, spells and their effects, shops and prices. I then stream that VTT to players over discord.
Future addition would be to add an audio player into my VTT along with client/server aspects.
Other than that just a headset and built in mic works just fine. Do have a professional mic but don't use it much. The headset works just fine. Plus it's worries so I can go outside with the phone and not interrupt the game cause I wanna be outside for whatever reason.
Mine is not as Grand, My books, my notebook, Facebook Chat room ( because we are all poor and it runs fine) Dndbeyond for everyone's sheets, and Owlbear rodeo for tabletop.
Going to do my first online session soon (waiting for 2 more players and the rest to finally make a character) so far i'm planning on using: DDB discord voice and text channels shared screen with photoshop, to display maps i've got a wacom pen tablet that i'll by using for photoshop to simulate "fog of war" and to make battle tactics :D
Zoom for the gameplay, screen-sharing when necessary.
DDB for actual character creation and leveling.
Foundry VTT for almost everything else.
Same for my one remote player! Everyone else is physical. Pictures on the website.
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Husband, Father, Veteran, Gamer, DM, Player, and Friend | Author of the "World of Eirador" | http://world-guild.com "The secret we should never let the gamemasters know is that they don't need any rules." ~Gary Gygax
Fantasy Grounds for VTT - I use it primarily to share maps, to track initiative and to track NPC/monster hitpoints. I have the DM screen on my laptop and share the player screen on an external monitor (when we were in person; now I show it on the big screen TV for my wife and share it in WebEx/Zoom for the other players).
D&D Beyond is usually up on my iPad Pro so I can quickly check spells, rules (rarely), etc. I also have the spell and monster cards I used, but sometimes there are things missing from them (and not everything has a card either).
Paper. I print a lot out - I have special Google Docs cheat sheets I've created for NPC's that have their key stats and spells, makes it a lot faster to run them. Also print out my session notes so I can handwrite notes on them as needed.
Character sheets. My players run their character sheets however they want them - two use D&D Beyond (and often find it frustrating given the number of things that don't incorporate the right bonuses, etc.) and one uses paper. Two players and myself roll physical dice, one rolls digitally on D&D Beyond.
Dungeon Painter Studio, Dungeon Draft, Campaign Cartographer 3, Inkarnate for making overland maps and battle maps.
Google Docs to do all of my world building (e.g., I have a list of every NPC indexed by name and location, some of which have a full page about them that is linked from the index), session notes, campaign calendar, experience point tracking, etc. and share several folders with my players so they can get to letters they've found on NPC's, lists of loot they find, etc. etc.
Pre-COVID, we played in person in a conference room with almost the identical set up - just no video conferencing. Now we just had to add in video conferencing for communication, which isn't great but works (3 of us work together and are used to being on web conferences all day anyway).
I've used Roll20 and Fantasy Grounds pretty extensively and I prefer FG after getting over the HUGE learning curve (seriously, it's one of the most unusable pieces of software I've encountered and I used to use DOS on a daily basis). I bought Foundry VTT and have started learning it and I play in a campaign that uses it - I think it is better for what I want to do that Fantasy Grounds EXCEPT I have already bought a lot of the sourcebooks for FG. I tried out the backdoor integration between Foundry and DDB and it works, but I am afraid it'll get killed.
I really wish DDB or WotC would release a great VTT.
DDB for all the stats I need plus having all players make their characters in the campaign here so everyone has access to the same content.
Beyond20 extension with Roll20 although soon switching to Astral which still has the beyond20 compatibility.
Discord for voice plus having various threads available for the random banter throughout the week, posting of gifs and other stuff.
For me specifically as the DM, after having started with just google docs and then trying one note, I now have everything in one place on LegendKeeper. And I am honestly surprised I didn't see it mentioned here already. It is so good for creating your prep and adding notes on the fly, to then search through everything, such as finding a specific NPC many months later. Also lets your players use it, being able to update in real time, even multiple people writing on a single page at the same time without issues. I have all their backgrounds in one simple place and their NPCs, I can see their notes so I am able to know what they have and have not picked up on, all the while keeping their own sections hidden from the other players. Means I can easily provide players with information, text, images, at a large file size without having to copy and paste links, just un-hiding articles, or having areas for commonly forgotten rules or house rules. And all this on a single tab in the browser. Currently in a beta, so it is a patreon subscription to get added. But you only need to be subbed for that first month. For something like $5, it is a fantastic service. Once it goes full release it will have a subscription fee though if cost is an issue for people.
All stars fade. Some stars forever fall. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Homebrew (Mostly Outdated):Magic Items,Monsters,Spells,Subclasses ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If there was no light, people wouldn't fear the dark.
For me as the GM: Physical Adventure Book OR Laptop (adventure and maybe monster tabs on Beyond) Smartphone (Beyond monster tabs, notes to track monster HP, Google dice) Portable Table Huge Tote (to carry everything below, and some small boxes to separate and organize things) Physical Dice Mats Minis Dry Erase Markers Eraser
My players just need their smartphone to keep track of their character sheets.
My ideal setup: Tablet (Beyond adventure tabs) Second Tablet (Beyond Monster tabs) Smartphone (notes to track monster HP, Google dice) Portable Tables Miniatures and Terrain Storage Suitcases Minis Terrain Pieces Mats Physical Dice Dry Erase Markers Eraser
As DM I use OneNote for all campaign text, Beyond for encounters etc, and standard note app for passives, familiars and such. Players rolls on Beyond/log, I roll physical dice.
I run a stationary PC with dual screen for Discord and Chrome, and a MacBook for Beyond, OneNote and everything else. I have a custom DM screen too as cheat sheet. I have Steelseries Arctic 7 for sound, and I don't see any need for separate mic.
I use Dungeondraft and Wonderdraft for maps.
This setup is easy to use and works great. As we are a bunch of old folks who plays we have found that playing digitaly is comfy and makes it easy for everyone to participate. So we will keep playing digitaly even after the pandemic.
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Got a Yeti as well. Hands down my best purchase of last year. I probably wouldn’t have bought a mic if 95% of my communication hadn’t suddenly shifted to online, not just the D&D sessions, but after the first day I was already kicking myself for not switching from a headset to a standing mic and some decent speakers sooner. Comfort and quality are so much better.
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
Another great thing about the yeti is you can adjust its gain and collection direction. I have mine set to only capture what's in front of the mic with the gain down quite low.
Find my D&D Beyond articles here
Huh well that kinda sells it for me then...I think Discord has the background noise removal feature that helps too. You can do things like clap or sneeze and it doesn't pick it up.
Discord for communication and avrae for players to roll and handle their characters linked to DDB.
OneNote for my notes.
Dungeon draft and world draft for making maps.
I wrote my own VTT in visual studio to handle maps, grids, initiative, dice rolls, tokens, mobs, spells and their effects, shops and prices. I then stream that VTT to players over discord.
Future addition would be to add an audio player into my VTT along with client/server aspects.
Other than that just a headset and built in mic works just fine. Do have a professional mic but don't use it much. The headset works just fine. Plus it's worries so I can go outside with the phone and not interrupt the game cause I wanna be outside for whatever reason.
Dungeon draft is simply amazing!
-DDB (campaign, combat tracker, reference, etc.)
-adventure in print or on my iPad (I tend to use/adapt one-shots I can get from DMsGuild)
-Dropbox Paper for notes on the campaign (mostly because I have a paid Dropbox account and I haven't played around with One Note)
-Owlbear rodeo for VTT
-ZOOM for audio/video with players (hosted by one of my players, who has a paid account due to their student work)
Trying to Decide if DDB is for you? A few helpful threads: A Buyer's Guide to DDB; What I/We Bought and Why; How some DMs use DDB; A Newer Thread on Using DDB to Play
Helpful threads on other topics: Homebrew FAQ by IamSposta; Accessing Content by ConalTheGreat;
Check your entitlements here. | Support Ticket LInk
This looks hella cool, where did you get the base/black thing? Not sure what it's called.
Mine is not as Grand, My books, my notebook, Facebook Chat room ( because we are all poor and it runs fine) Dndbeyond for everyone's sheets, and Owlbear rodeo for tabletop.
Going to do my first online session soon (waiting for 2 more players and the rest to finally make a character)
so far i'm planning on using:
DDB
discord voice and text channels
shared screen with photoshop, to display maps
i've got a wacom pen tablet that i'll by using for photoshop to simulate "fog of war" and to make battle tactics :D
Hey there, lurker!
I made it - More info here... Click Me
Love this thread! I'll contribute my setup in a bit.
Same for my one remote player! Everyone else is physical. Pictures on the website.
Husband, Father, Veteran, Gamer, DM, Player, and Friend | Author of the "World of Eirador" | http://world-guild.com
"The secret we should never let the gamemasters know is that they don't need any rules." ~Gary Gygax
Group chat on phone/gmail for communication.
Zoom for playing/screen-sharing.
Heroforge for designing character looks.
D&D Beyond for making characters and occasional reference.
Google Docs for campaign notes.
Inkarnate for mapmaking.
Theatre of the mind as tabletop(don't look this up i don't use any virtual tabletop and do not know if it exists).
I am leader of the yep cult:https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/off-topic/adohands-kitchen/82135-yep-cult Pronouns are she/her
More pics people! I want to see your setups so I can steal your ideas! :)
\My set up:
Pre-COVID, we played in person in a conference room with almost the identical set up - just no video conferencing. Now we just had to add in video conferencing for communication, which isn't great but works (3 of us work together and are used to being on web conferences all day anyway).
I've used Roll20 and Fantasy Grounds pretty extensively and I prefer FG after getting over the HUGE learning curve (seriously, it's one of the most unusable pieces of software I've encountered and I used to use DOS on a daily basis). I bought Foundry VTT and have started learning it and I play in a campaign that uses it - I think it is better for what I want to do that Fantasy Grounds EXCEPT I have already bought a lot of the sourcebooks for FG. I tried out the backdoor integration between Foundry and DDB and it works, but I am afraid it'll get killed.
I really wish DDB or WotC would release a great VTT.
DDB for all the stats I need plus having all players make their characters in the campaign here so everyone has access to the same content.
Beyond20 extension with Roll20 although soon switching to Astral which still has the beyond20 compatibility.
Discord for voice plus having various threads available for the random banter throughout the week, posting of gifs and other stuff.
For me specifically as the DM, after having started with just google docs and then trying one note, I now have everything in one place on LegendKeeper. And I am honestly surprised I didn't see it mentioned here already. It is so good for creating your prep and adding notes on the fly, to then search through everything, such as finding a specific NPC many months later. Also lets your players use it, being able to update in real time, even multiple people writing on a single page at the same time without issues. I have all their backgrounds in one simple place and their NPCs, I can see their notes so I am able to know what they have and have not picked up on, all the while keeping their own sections hidden from the other players. Means I can easily provide players with information, text, images, at a large file size without having to copy and paste links, just un-hiding articles, or having areas for commonly forgotten rules or house rules. And all this on a single tab in the browser. Currently in a beta, so it is a patreon subscription to get added. But you only need to be subbed for that first month. For something like $5, it is a fantastic service. Once it goes full release it will have a subscription fee though if cost is an issue for people.
Only a few things (but a lot of tabs):
All stars fade. Some stars forever fall.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Homebrew (Mostly Outdated): Magic Items, Monsters, Spells, Subclasses
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If there was no light, people wouldn't fear the dark.
For me as the GM:
Physical Adventure Book OR Laptop (adventure and maybe monster tabs on Beyond)
Smartphone (Beyond monster tabs, notes to track monster HP, Google dice)
Portable Table
Huge Tote (to carry everything below, and some small boxes to separate and organize things)
Physical Dice
Mats
Minis
Dry Erase Markers
Eraser
My players just need their smartphone to keep track of their character sheets.
My ideal setup:
Tablet (Beyond adventure tabs)
Second Tablet (Beyond Monster tabs)
Smartphone (notes to track monster HP, Google dice)
Portable Tables
Miniatures and Terrain Storage Suitcases
Minis
Terrain Pieces
Mats
Physical Dice
Dry Erase Markers
Eraser
Check Licenses and Resync Entitlements: < https://www.dndbeyond.com/account/licenses >
Running the Game by Matt Colville; Introduction: < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-YZvLUXcR8 >
D&D with High School Students by Bill Allen; Season 1 Episode 1: < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52NJTUDokyk&t >
We use Discord, Beyond and Owlbear rodeo.
As DM I use OneNote for all campaign text, Beyond for encounters etc, and standard note app for passives, familiars and such. Players rolls on Beyond/log, I roll physical dice.
I run a stationary PC with dual screen for Discord and Chrome, and a MacBook for Beyond, OneNote and everything else. I have a custom DM screen too as cheat sheet. I have Steelseries Arctic 7 for sound, and I don't see any need for separate mic.
I use Dungeondraft and Wonderdraft for maps.
This setup is easy to use and works great. As we are a bunch of old folks who plays we have found that playing digitaly is comfy and makes it easy for everyone to participate. So we will keep playing digitaly even after the pandemic.