I'm starting a campaign later today in a discord server where theres 3 other groups, and everybody in the server is welcome to listen into sessions and such as theyre in the public voice channels. I've been going over my notes and it just now hit me that handling combat via discord may become messy. I've done it before with just describing the scene and making notes as we go, but its ended up taking way too much time and it can get fairly confusing. I've looked into using roll20 for maps and everything but i and my group absolutely hate how it works and it is just not enjoyable for any of us. if anybody has any ideas or advice i'd really appreciate it!!!!
If it helps, keep a battlemap just for you that you can refer to, even just a sketch. Whenever you move to a new players turn, describe where they are in relation to everything, and when the enemies attack, describe them moving over, around and through terrain. Basically keep reiterating the nature of the environment.
Roll20 can get complex if you use their character sheets, subscribe for dynamic lighting and use all the bells and whistles. But if all you do is slap a map on there and move tokens around, it's simple.
The new Beyond20 integration with Roll20 makes things even better. Just use Roll20 for the map and moving of tokens. Everything else can be done via voice and D&DBeyond.
Sly Flourish and D&D Beyond both have articles with tips on how to do effective theater of the mind, combat and all! It can be pretty tricky like you said, but I like the suggestion of having a map at least you yourself keep to make sure details remain consistent.
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I'm starting a campaign later today in a discord server where theres 3 other groups, and everybody in the server is welcome to listen into sessions and such as theyre in the public voice channels. I've been going over my notes and it just now hit me that handling combat via discord may become messy. I've done it before with just describing the scene and making notes as we go, but its ended up taking way too much time and it can get fairly confusing. I've looked into using roll20 for maps and everything but i and my group absolutely hate how it works and it is just not enjoyable for any of us. if anybody has any ideas or advice i'd really appreciate it!!!!
If it helps, keep a battlemap just for you that you can refer to, even just a sketch. Whenever you move to a new players turn, describe where they are in relation to everything, and when the enemies attack, describe them moving over, around and through terrain. Basically keep reiterating the nature of the environment.
Find my D&D Beyond articles here
Roll20 can get complex if you use their character sheets, subscribe for dynamic lighting and use all the bells and whistles. But if all you do is slap a map on there and move tokens around, it's simple.
The new Beyond20 integration with Roll20 makes things even better. Just use Roll20 for the map and moving of tokens. Everything else can be done via voice and D&DBeyond.
http://slyflourish.com/guide_to_narrative_combat.html
https://www.dndbeyond.com/posts/355-how-to-run-combat-in-the-theater-of-the-mind
Sly Flourish and D&D Beyond both have articles with tips on how to do effective theater of the mind, combat and all! It can be pretty tricky like you said, but I like the suggestion of having a map at least you yourself keep to make sure details remain consistent.