So, tomorrow the monthly home game I run is going to have one player who needs to participate virtually.

Since we're all eager to see each other, we're going to attempt our first hybrid in-person / virtual game. Curious to hear any thoughts, tips or suggestions anyone might have about the setup we're planning:

1. The three in-person players (and myself) will wear headsets and mics, each broadcasting to a Discord server that we'll be sharing with the remote player.
2. We'll set up a "seat" for the remote player, either broadcasting his video or with a still image of his character, so he still has some physical presence at the table.
3. Battle maps and handouts will be distributed on Roll20, so the remote player can have equal access to them without having to futz with a camera.

Those were the best thoughts I could come up with for this very imperfect system, but I'd love any feedback others have! (Particularly positive suggestions. We already know it's not an ideal way to play but we're committed to at least trying.)

I have not done this for D&D, but I have for work. My main takeaway is that it is extremely easy for the remote person to feel left out. Groups in person have all kinds of side banter and visual communication that just doesn't make it through on video chat. Everyone on mic is good, but unless you have a massive table or very good noise cancelling, you're going to get some feedback from each other.

One thing that would help them a lot is if each of you were also on the call, with your phone or laptop pointed at your face. The extra visual info helps.

My group still does this (was fully virtual during the pandemic), but we use Zoom -- I create the room as DM, the virtual players, usually one or two, join plus we have one tablet set up to show the entire table of in-person players. I also use a phone camera on a tripod as a separate account in the room for battle maps at the table, so the virtual players can see it more easily. We don't bother with a VTT

If the main battle map is going to be in person with minis then set up a camera for that and don’t bother with the vtt for the remote person. The remote person just has to describe where they want there mini placed

you will need a pointer 

for our sessions that are exactly like this (hybrid in person / remote) we use the top of an old pool cue with a small piece of high contrast tape on the end

What do you do for audio? Just a single mic?

Such hybrid play works okay for most people but there is some people that prefer in person and it's understandable. Personally i'm ambivalent, i run a game where we rely on hybrid play using Roll20 + Discord and it works  great. I even run another where we are all present but use Roll20 still.

In the end, all it takes for us to have fun with D&D is a way to be all able to hear each other and see maps, sheets and all our crappy and great die rolls!

Quote from MAOShea >>

What do you do for audio? Just a single mic?

Yes, just a single mic for the whole table suffice, just like office meetings where they have a speaker phone line for the folks phoning it in.  Multiple mics in one room is just not good, even if everyone's wearing headsets.  Non present members are the table dial into a Zoom, we set one device as the absentee zoom perspective and set it up so the device's camera capture the room.  We do more TotM stuff with reference documents sent/shared in advance and we've been good with the honor system "Ok, everyone open file 7".

How much you invest in the set up depends on how often this hybrid group meets.  If it's a one time thing, just make do with the single device, but it's going to be a standard available format for sessions, you'll probably want a camera or distribution system for battle maps and/or visual aids.

We've done this a few times with my group in the last year. I agree with previous posters that the remote person feels only half there. Between background noise, connection issues, not really seeing what's going on other than the battle map, and cross-table talk they don't feel "there" to everyone in person. 

There are also more opportunities for misunderstanding when someone is remoting it. We had to cancel the following session once to give folks a chance to really cool down due to some misunderstandings about character intentions from our remote player. 

I'm not saying don't do it, but it should not be a long-term solution unless the whole party is remote playing and there are VERY clear expectations of player behavior during remote sessions. 

Thanks for all the setup suggestions, folks. That's helpful. We're playing tomorrow, so we'll see how it goes!

This is ours;

We use a good quality camera with microphone and Zoom meetings, restarting every 40mins for a short break (free zoom limitation).

set it up as a top down view of the battle map helps. To complicate it you can have multiple devices feeding the zoom meeting or even set them up as a screen showing their feed too (Holly - Red Dwarf: season 2 episode 5, Queeg)

Bluetooth speaker for the sound from the remote person and put it nice and loud and close to the DM

Discord running just in a text general chat for when we  miss the restart (you have X mins remain in your zoom meeting…) 

We could pay for a better zoom account but for once a year it works for us

Don’t spend a lot on it for your first go, just roll with what you have and MacGyver it together. 

as long as the remote persons voice into the room is nice and loud and you take your time to allow remote-person to speak, it will be fine

That sounds like a great setup. Thansk!

Quote from MAOShea >>

So, tomorrow the monthly home game I run is going to have one player who needs to participate virtually.

Since we're all eager to see each other, we're going to attempt our first hybrid in-person / virtual game. Until then, we would get together in any audio chat room, pick up games and sites after reading reviews on https://terracasino-nz.com/1-deposit-casinos-nz/ and it was easy and fun. Now we want to take it to the next level. Curious to hear any thoughts, tips or suggestions anyone might have about the setup we're planning:

1. The three in-person players (and myself) will wear headsets and mics, each broadcasting to a Discord server that we'll be sharing with the remote player.
2. We'll set up a "seat" for the remote player, either broadcasting his video or with a still image of his character, so he still has some physical presence at the table.
3. Battle maps and handouts will be distributed on Roll20, so the remote player can have equal access to them without having to futz with a camera.

Those were the best thoughts I could come up with for this very imperfect system, but I'd love any feedback others have! (Particularly positive suggestions. We already know it's not an ideal way to play but we're committed to at least trying.)

 Hey, how was the game? My friends and I are planning something similar, and it would be great to hear more helpful tips. Thanks 

It actually worked out great! I way overthought it. Here's what we ultimately did.

The missing player was on Discord. We used my computer's internal mic and an external bluetooth speaker for sound. He could hear us and we could hear him clearly and easily.

We printed a full 8x10 picture of the missing player's character and propped it up by the speaker.

We ran combat as theater of the mind, but I had my own reference map on Roll20 so I could at least practice seeing how well I could manage a tactical map on a VTT while still engaging in a normal, organic way with the in-person group.

Everyone was satisfied.

I should note that it was a role play and exploration-heavy session... So, it's hard to tell how well it work in a more combat-heavy scenario, but I'm very happy with the result.

Don't know if I'd attempt it with more than one player though... However, I might run a quick one-shot some time just to test it out.

Quote from MAOShea >>

We printed a full 8x10 picture of the missing player's character and propped it up by the speaker.

Amazing

Cool. Thanks for the feedback