Folks, we live in interesting times. How are you connecting, organizing, and playing with friends? As someone who's struggled with online organization and feels iffy about getting together in-person, are you part of a group that have taken precautions and social distance when you get together in person or has everyone kept themselves quarantined to create a little DnD bubble? Either as a player or a DM, what are your approaches to tabletop gaming right now, and how have you adapted to make the experience better for yourself and others?
My group couldn't play in person regardless, since all but 2 of us live in far different places, and the one guy who lives in town with me has been MIA for most of the campaign due to family issues. We play on Zoom (or Google Meet when it was unlimited for free -- yeah we're a bunch of misers) and use Foundry VTT as our table top.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
We Zoom. Theater of the mind with share screen references to map with annotations features on, I was never a miniatures guy and I'm DM so.... Everyone for the most part rolls physical dice unless physical dice are not physically accessible.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
Roll20 + Discord. The other DM among my ttrpg buddies likes Roll20 for battlemap sharing anyway, so I might look into building a table with a monitor or tv built in, or possibly some sort of projector situation, for when we get to get together again but I don’t expect that to be until spring next year at the earliest though.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
The group I'm in started at a local gaming store almost four years ago, and then switched to playing in the kitchen of one of the members because the gaming store was kinda loud. But in these times of Ye Merry Plague we have begun a new campaign using Roll20 for the maps and character sheets, and dice rolling etc, and using Zoom for our face-to-face and voice. Most players have their Roll20 page linked to their DNDBeyond account, too.
It took some getting used to, but we're really enjoying it. I mean, it's not perfect, but it's the best thing available at the moment. The maps on Roll20 are great, and I really love the dynamic lighting aspect of it. I hope someday to get back to the table with my paper character sheet, because I'm old fashioned like that. But safety comes first.
Tayn of Darkwood. Lvl 10 human Life Cleric of Lathander. Retired.
Ikram Sahir ibn Malik al-Sayyid Ra'ad, Second Son of the House of Ra'ad, Defender of the Burning Sands. Lvl 9 Brass Dragonborn Sorcerer + Greater Fire Elemental Devil.
Viktor Gavriil. Lvl 20 White Dragonborn Grave Cleric, of Kurgan the God of Death.
Our gaming cafe opened up about 7 weeks ago. We play in person. I got back from a game 4 hours ago. DM my own table on Sat aft, then play in a campaign Sat evening (same cafe), and every other Thurs night. Yes, we wear masks, and follow whatever laws are in place. Some people tried to keep games going using Roll 20 or equivalents (I had a look at Roll20), but found it hugely lacking compared to an in-person game.
D&D always was, and always will be, a tactile game, designed to be enjoyed in person.
Honestly, this year didn’t really affect my weekly group. With players spread between two states and some Canadian provinces, we had always played online. Roll20 has been our VTT for the last 5 years now, but we switched from the discontinued Google Hangouts to Discord in early 2019.
I don't play - but then frankly I never really did beforehand anyway - so...
You SHOULD! D&D is fun!
Yea - it's not really by choice. The idea of playing with strangers (which is what I would have to do) fills me with nothing but terror.
There are no strangers in D&D, just friends who never met...
But seriously: I had similar trepidations. Maybe a MeetUp group can help. I joined one, where the members met in person once a month (now virtually) so you get to know each other. Then you can play with people you know.
My group plays over Discord, which we already did before Corona, cause we're playing international. (DM + 2 players from the US, one from the UK and me from Switzerland)
We just had the 2 year anniversary of our campaign ^-^ (started playing Oct. 28th 2018)
We started a group just before the pandemic hit us. We had our session zero in-person and then had to switch.
It worked surprisingly well. We use Roll20 as VTT, and connect our DnDbeyond characters via Beyond20. Roll20's video & voice works out most of the time, with Discord being our failsafe.
As our county opened the restrictions, we were able to play in-person again (with masks), but we still fall back on the virtual meeting, occasionally.
I've dabbled in d20 sessions, but that was spurred more by travel distance then covid fears.
I still participate in a group that meets person-person. One member has started doing remotes with us, the rest of us gather. The DM has a job in IT so he had no problem setting him up with video conferencing. He gets to see the table, we get to see him. We're all mature enough not to worry about him cheating on his rolls.
My group had been playing in person for a few years off and on. In March, we agreed to switch to online. It took a few attempts, but we found a method that worked for us. We started a new campaign. The previous DM didn't want to DM online, so I took over and started a new campaign.
So what we do is use Discord for voice. We use DNDBeyond for character sheets, and I use it for monsters/encounter builder. We use the Beyond20 extension to roll straight from DDB. We use Roll20 for a battlemap / tokens.
We have found it's the best way to combine the functionality of DDB with having a battle map.
I think part of it was that it was a big group (DM and 6 players) on a single call all trying to use Zoom and things like Screen share for the first time, etc.
However I am in the process of revisiting all of this in my effort to get into live streaming. We're going to use a website (I'm going to write a different forum post for all the tools) that does a virtual white board, DDB character sheets, and a discord plugin to create real time dice displays. I'm also limiting my group to 4 players, and I'm only running a campaign that will last 5 sessions (prologue and 4 acts). And with it being on stream I'm hoping to get some kind of audience that will help build into another incentive to "Keep Working".
We have migrated to using Discord. I have recently been setting up a system to video stream the miniatures/terrain from a GoPro connected to another laptop. We will see how this goes!
Folks, we live in interesting times. How are you connecting, organizing, and playing with friends? As someone who's struggled with online organization and feels iffy about getting together in-person, are you part of a group that have taken precautions and social distance when you get together in person or has everyone kept themselves quarantined to create a little DnD bubble? Either as a player or a DM, what are your approaches to tabletop gaming right now, and how have you adapted to make the experience better for yourself and others?
My group couldn't play in person regardless, since all but 2 of us live in far different places, and the one guy who lives in town with me has been MIA for most of the campaign due to family issues. We play on Zoom (or Google Meet when it was unlimited for free -- yeah we're a bunch of misers) and use Foundry VTT as our table top.
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
I don't play - but then frankly I never really did beforehand anyway - so...
Mega Yahtzee Thread:
Highest 41: brocker2001 (#11,285).
Yahtzee of 2's: Emmber (#36,161).
Lowest 9: JoeltheWalrus (#312), Emmber (#12,505) and Dertinus (#20,953).
We Zoom. Theater of the mind with share screen references to map with annotations features on, I was never a miniatures guy and I'm DM so.... Everyone for the most part rolls physical dice unless physical dice are not physically accessible.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
I play in two weekly games with people from a handful of different cities and states, so we played on Roll20/Discord even in the Before Times.
You SHOULD! D&D is fun!
"Sooner or later, your Players are going to smash your railroad into a sandbox."
-Vedexent
"real life is a super high CR."
-OboeLauren
"............anybody got any potatoes? We could drop a potato in each hole an' see which ones get viciously mauled by horrible monsters?"
-Ilyara Thundertale
Roll20 + Discord. The other DM among my ttrpg buddies likes Roll20 for battlemap sharing anyway, so I might look into building a table with a monitor or tv built in, or possibly some sort of projector situation, for when we get to get together again but I don’t expect that to be until spring next year at the earliest though.
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
Yea - it's not really by choice. The idea of playing with strangers (which is what I would have to do) fills me with nothing but terror.
Mega Yahtzee Thread:
Highest 41: brocker2001 (#11,285).
Yahtzee of 2's: Emmber (#36,161).
Lowest 9: JoeltheWalrus (#312), Emmber (#12,505) and Dertinus (#20,953).
The group I'm in started at a local gaming store almost four years ago, and then switched to playing in the kitchen of one of the members because the gaming store was kinda loud. But in these times of Ye Merry Plague we have begun a new campaign using Roll20 for the maps and character sheets, and dice rolling etc, and using Zoom for our face-to-face and voice. Most players have their Roll20 page linked to their DNDBeyond account, too.
It took some getting used to, but we're really enjoying it. I mean, it's not perfect, but it's the best thing available at the moment. The maps on Roll20 are great, and I really love the dynamic lighting aspect of it. I hope someday to get back to the table with my paper character sheet, because I'm old fashioned like that. But safety comes first.
Tayn of Darkwood. Lvl 10 human Life Cleric of Lathander. Retired.
Ikram Sahir ibn Malik al-Sayyid Ra'ad, Second Son of the House of Ra'ad, Defender of the Burning Sands. Lvl 9 Brass Dragonborn Sorcerer + Greater Fire Elemental Devil.
Viktor Gavriil. Lvl 20 White Dragonborn Grave Cleric, of Kurgan the God of Death.
Anzio Faro. Lvl 5 Prot. Aasimar Light Cleric.
Our gaming cafe opened up about 7 weeks ago. We play in person. I got back from a game 4 hours ago. DM my own table on Sat aft, then play in a campaign Sat evening (same cafe), and every other Thurs night. Yes, we wear masks, and follow whatever laws are in place. Some people tried to keep games going using Roll 20 or equivalents (I had a look at Roll20), but found it hugely lacking compared to an in-person game.
D&D always was, and always will be, a tactile game, designed to be enjoyed in person.
Honestly, this year didn’t really affect my weekly group. With players spread between two states and some Canadian provinces, we had always played online. Roll20 has been our VTT for the last 5 years now, but we switched from the discontinued Google Hangouts to Discord in early 2019.
There are no strangers in D&D, just friends who never met...
But seriously: I had similar trepidations. Maybe a MeetUp group can help. I joined one, where the members met in person once a month (now virtually) so you get to know each other. Then you can play with people you know.
More Interesting Lock Picking Rules
My group plays over Discord, which we already did before Corona, cause we're playing international. (DM + 2 players from the US, one from the UK and me from Switzerland)
We just had the 2 year anniversary of our campaign ^-^ (started playing Oct. 28th 2018)
We started a group just before the pandemic hit us. We had our session zero in-person and then had to switch.
It worked surprisingly well. We use Roll20 as VTT, and connect our DnDbeyond characters via Beyond20. Roll20's video & voice works out most of the time, with Discord being our failsafe.
As our county opened the restrictions, we were able to play in-person again (with masks), but we still fall back on the virtual meeting, occasionally.
More Interesting Lock Picking Rules
I've dabbled in d20 sessions, but that was spurred more by travel distance then covid fears.
I still participate in a group that meets person-person. One member has started doing remotes with us, the rest of us gather. The DM has a job in IT so he had no problem setting him up with video conferencing. He gets to see the table, we get to see him. We're all mature enough not to worry about him cheating on his rolls.
My group had been playing in person for a few years off and on. In March, we agreed to switch to online. It took a few attempts, but we found a method that worked for us. We started a new campaign. The previous DM didn't want to DM online, so I took over and started a new campaign.
So what we do is use Discord for voice. We use DNDBeyond for character sheets, and I use it for monsters/encounter builder. We use the Beyond20 extension to roll straight from DDB. We use Roll20 for a battlemap / tokens.
We have found it's the best way to combine the functionality of DDB with having a battle map.
I've tried to play using Zoom and it was... meh?
I think part of it was that it was a big group (DM and 6 players) on a single call all trying to use Zoom and things like Screen share for the first time, etc.
However I am in the process of revisiting all of this in my effort to get into live streaming. We're going to use a website (I'm going to write a different forum post for all the tools) that does a virtual white board, DDB character sheets, and a discord plugin to create real time dice displays. I'm also limiting my group to 4 players, and I'm only running a campaign that will last 5 sessions (prologue and 4 acts). And with it being on stream I'm hoping to get some kind of audience that will help build into another incentive to "Keep Working".
"Teller of tales, dreamer of dreams"
Tips, Tricks, Maps: Lantern Noir Presents
**Streams hosted at at twitch.tv/LaternNoir
We have migrated to using Discord. I have recently been setting up a system to video stream the miniatures/terrain from a GoPro connected to another laptop. We will see how this goes!
My local group and I still play in person.