We moved away from some friends that we played dnd with regularly and are trying to start up again on video chat. We'd need to recruit a DM so the more commonly used app the better to save everyone a little trouble.

Dice camera action and critical role both just use skype. I don't know all the ins and outs of discord, but you could look into that. Aside from those, I don't think there's any dedicated video chat sites for DnD.

You may look into the intricacies of roll20 or a couple other sites, but I never saw any video chat things on any of the ones I looked at.

Discord is good and has bots to roll dice and so on but video screens are tiny when you're 3 or more. When playing with friends, I prefer a Google Hangout because it automatically switches the speaker to the main screen. Skype would work just fine as well though.

Oh cool! I didn't think discord had a video option. I'll check it out.

thanks guys:)

Not to necro this thread for the heck of it, but with the popularity of streaming DnD shows exploding since Stranger Things, has any new platform other than Discord, Skype, or Hangouts entered onto the scene since February?

I'm also here to necro this thread. We are planning to play next weekend and are considering Google Hangout, Discord, and Roll20. Anybody have any recommendations?

Definitely need this thread now.  With a new company policy, we are no longer allowed to have meetings, particularly ones that include guests.  So our biweekly game has to go online.  I’ve got some custom characters, so none of the specific gaming apps work well.

looks like it’s between Discord and Hangouts.

We are playing via Hangouts on Thursday; I'll post back and let you know how it goes. We are playing theatre of the mind so that might make it easier, but I usually prefer battle maps for combat (and some puzzles); not sure which would work better for that.

meow

Most ive seen for online games is usually just straight up video or voice or a combo of Roll20 for the maps feature and voice/video for everything else as roll20 systems for that not as great.

So we play every week using Hangouts and Roll20 using a complicated setup but it works.  But Hangouts is going away and I'm looking at 8x8 Meetings now, seems really easy to use and has the features I need.  Just needs a way to stream Desktop Audio.  If anyone wants to see the setup in use, we got videos on Youtube.

I'm surprised there's no software yet that integrates webcam with overlays controlled by the GM.

As in, having a software that immediately functions like a game streamed on twitch.

Zoom allows you to share content from your screen, as well as a second camera source, files etc. 
I've yet to test how well it works for battle maps or just sharing a Roll20 screen. I'm trying to work out the easiest way for players to only have to join one source and then whatever they want to run their character sheet from -- so far Zoom seems like a good option. 

Edit (Add) -- Zoom also allows screen share from ipad and mobile in the same chat. 
So you can run all participant cameras including DM/Host and then have a separate screen for sharing on a second device. Handy for maps, NPC/Monster images, etc.

So I'm thinking Zoom as my app. Laptop + Extra Monitor + iPad. 
Main screen with Zoom to see players and shared content. 
Large second screen for my DM Stuff notes, running encounters, etc
iPad for content I want to share with players via screen share. 

Has anyone attempted to use facebooks video call rooms?

Nope, we ended up switching to Zoom.  There's a new one coming down the pipe that looks fancy but it's not released yet, it's called Role.

We're having trouble with zoom that it focuses on one speaker when multiple are speaking. This means that when people are shouting over eachother or interrupting eachother, it becomes completely impossible to understand anything. These are both things that happen quite often during roleplaying. Is there any video conferencing solution that does this better?

I’m looking for a group to join via zoom. Played D&D and V&V in my younger years LOL. New to 5e

Use discord. With servers it's super easy to organize reference art and all that with different places to chat in, there is voice chats with video call supported and there are a handful of discord bots that can roll the dice virtually for you in case you don't have dice. 

Google Meets could work.