Hey, Beyonders! I was wondering what tips you have for starting to use Roll20 to play D&D!
My concerns are internet speeds coupled with video and audio? I just know how odd skype calls and such can be and I was wondering if these tended to be problems when using Roll20 and how to iron these things out! Let me know what you think! :)
My group used Discord, and it worked very well. As for actually using Roll20 from a DM's perspective, there are others who would have better advice than I.
My group used Discord, and it worked very well. As for actually using Roll20 from a DM's perspective, there are others who would have better advice than I.
Same here. Beyond and Discord.
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"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
I use TeamSpeak instead of Discord (but that's only because we had it from a Guild perspective for Neverwinter). The voice and video that is built into Roll20 is... well garbage. And that is putting it nicely.
There is a number of video guides and tutorials on youtube on how to setup and use shortcuts with Roll20. If you are going down the Pro subscriber route, then the APIs that both the Roll20 and other users have created can also be a godsend in helping a DM speed up play, or even do nifty little things like allowing a player to resize their token (great for druid's wildshape or the Enlarge/Reduce spell).
From a basic DM user perspective, the biggest tip/trick I can offer is don't try to create everything all at once within a campaign. Roll20 can have super lag issues when your Journal has massive amounts of data. Frequent archiving of handouts/monsters/maps that you aren't using anymore will help keep Roll20 running smoothly.
I use TeamSpeak instead of Discord (but that's only because we had it from a Guild perspective for Neverwinter). The voice and video that is built into Roll20 is... well garbage. And that is putting it nicely.
There is a number of video guides and tutorials on youtube on how to setup and use shortcuts with Roll20. If you are going down the Pro subscriber route, then the APIs that both the Roll20 and other users have created can also be a godsend in helping a DM speed up play, or even do nifty little things like allowing a player to resize their token (great for druid's wildshape or the Enlarge/Reduce spell).
From a basic DM user perspective, the biggest tip/trick I can offer is don't try to create everything all at once within a campaign. Roll20 can have super lag issues when your Journal has massive amounts of data. Frequent archiving of handouts/monsters/maps that you aren't using anymore will help keep Roll20 running smoothly.
This used to be the case, but roll20 has since started loading things on demand and that shouldn't cause performance issues any more. Archiving is now basically an organizational tool.
My advice is to avoid creating backgrounds out of many small tiles. I had a DM that treated roll20 like a tile-based map editor and created maps out of a huge number of small squares. That eats resources like crazy. Make your background one static image and limit tokens to the bits and pieces you need to move or hide. Also try to keep the background image relatively small, since it has to be loaded by every player each time, and large maps impact performance. If your dungeon is really large, split it up into multiple maps. This is also nicer for your players, because it's annoying to scroll through huge sections of map to find the party.
You can still make maps out of tiles with a map editor like Tiled; just export the map as one image before bringing into roll20.
Turn on advanced hotkeys and memorize them, especially the ones for switching between layers and moving tokens between layers. If you can afford the Monster Manual and/or published adventures on roll20, this'll save you A LOT of time. Going without either can be time-consuming. The Monster Manual gives you the best bang for your buck if you're willing to create your own maps, but the adventures are ready to use out of the box and save the most time. The adventures are extra nice if you have a subscription because they're already set up for Dynamic Lighting, which is a really cool feature but time-intensive to set up.
See a lot of gaming groups using Skype instead of Discord. Is there a comparison somewhere?
Agree that most people are using Roll20, but I am definitely going to use DnDBeyond. It already has features like encumbrance which I would never track otherwise.
I've not really ever used the voice/video in Roll20 (in fact, I usually have it disabled) so I can't speak to that. My group has used discord before, but we had a problem with it getting choppy and people cutting out. It was to a point where I was only hearing about 80% of what a person was saying. It might have also been the time of day that we were playing... not sure. In my games (and I think in newer sessions with others coming up) I use Zoom. It's a $15 a month subscription, but since I pay for it, the quality is usually a lot better.
If you're wanting to know about using Roll20 in general, there are tutorials, but the best way to get used to it is just to use it. Like, just log into the tutorial session or make your own and just play around with the tools.
See a lot of gaming groups using Skype instead of Discord. Is there a comparison somewhere?
Agree that most people are using Roll20, but I am definitely going to use DnDBeyond. It already has features like encumbrance which I would never track otherwise.
I kinda' feel like this is comparing two different mediums. Roll20 is for playing online exclusively, and DnDBeyond is more for IRL games or play by post I feel like. Unless you have a game going in something like Table Top Simulator....
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Hey, Beyonders! I was wondering what tips you have for starting to use Roll20 to play D&D!
My concerns are internet speeds coupled with video and audio? I just know how odd skype calls and such can be and I was wondering if these tended to be problems when using Roll20 and how to iron these things out! Let me know what you think! :)
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InsidersMy group used Discord, and it worked very well. As for actually using Roll20 from a DM's perspective, there are others who would have better advice than I.
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"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
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I use TeamSpeak instead of Discord (but that's only because we had it from a Guild perspective for Neverwinter). The voice and video that is built into Roll20 is... well garbage. And that is putting it nicely.
There is a number of video guides and tutorials on youtube on how to setup and use shortcuts with Roll20. If you are going down the Pro subscriber route, then the APIs that both the Roll20 and other users have created can also be a godsend in helping a DM speed up play, or even do nifty little things like allowing a player to resize their token (great for druid's wildshape or the Enlarge/Reduce spell).
From a basic DM user perspective, the biggest tip/trick I can offer is don't try to create everything all at once within a campaign. Roll20 can have super lag issues when your Journal has massive amounts of data. Frequent archiving of handouts/monsters/maps that you aren't using anymore will help keep Roll20 running smoothly.
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See a lot of gaming groups using Skype instead of Discord. Is there a comparison somewhere?
Agree that most people are using Roll20, but I am definitely going to use DnDBeyond. It already has features like encumbrance which I would never track otherwise.
I've not really ever used the voice/video in Roll20 (in fact, I usually have it disabled) so I can't speak to that. My group has used discord before, but we had a problem with it getting choppy and people cutting out. It was to a point where I was only hearing about 80% of what a person was saying. It might have also been the time of day that we were playing... not sure. In my games (and I think in newer sessions with others coming up) I use Zoom. It's a $15 a month subscription, but since I pay for it, the quality is usually a lot better.
If you're wanting to know about using Roll20 in general, there are tutorials, but the best way to get used to it is just to use it. Like, just log into the tutorial session or make your own and just play around with the tools.