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.
The discord bots are really nice, both Avrae itself and Beyond20 bot + browser extension integration are really nice together.
The voice/video quality, though, depends on group size and timing. Especially when we play Sunday afternoons or when our group size gets above six or so, we often have audio and video issues (and other group members report similar problems with larger group sizes as well).
Google Meet is definitely a lot better, no audio feedback or disconnect issues we experience with people in discord; it's just overall smoother. I first join Meet in a Firefox window and present the Discord server so everyone doesn't have to be in it, then join Meet via Chrome for my audio/video and rolling on D&D Beyond.
Gonna go ahead and necro this thread one more time. I came here hoping to find a better setup but it looks like I may have the best one.
I use Roll20 for Battle mapping/rolling/character sheets/handouts, etc. You can pop out pretty much everything like Character sheets or handouts for easier access.
I use Discord for video chat, which you can set up with gallery view so you can see everyone at once. You can also pop out your gallery screen for easier access. I use Craig bot to record audio, the biggest downside however is Craig takes up another space of your gallery. Craig also only keeps recordings for a week, which I learned the hard way, so you have to download your session within 7 days.
Discord is totally free and you can run a text chat channel and video chat channel, as well as Private Messaging which of course is helpful for side talk as a DM. My biggest gripe with it is you lose some audio quality if people are talking over each other, which happens a lot of course because it's D&D. Luckily I have 3 players who all live together so that kind of solves some problems. Including me it's a 6 person campaign so we do pretty well considering. I'll also soon be upgrading my setup to include a 3rd Monitor because trying to run notes and reference material on the same screen as either of the other two is pretty rough.
We tried the video chat feature on Roll20 a couple times and it just crashed over and over, so I definitely don't recommend that. Zoom offers conference calling for free but only up to 40 minutes. If you want unlimited calling and audio storage you're paying $100/month for Pro. Google hangouts might be a viable substitution but it appears from this thread VIP Speaking is a problem there.
Just my input. Best system would likely be Roll20 for Battle mapping and overall Game running, Discord for video chatting and Craig bot for recording. Of course run a hard line to your modem and the more monitors the better. I don't see this setup as being all that possible with just one monitor, and like I said, two is rough.
Great ios app. I run discord and Encounter+ this allows video/voice and allows the players to connect to the Web app of Encounter+ to see maps, handouts, etc.
This has been my favourite way to run games as I'm not a fan of Roll20 at all.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
“...there are many things that move through fire and find themselves much better for it afterward.” Bipolar II, Anxious, ADD | Chef|QueerHe/Him | Descent into Avernus [DM] Running on Encounter+
1) I'm a tabletop streamer and I'm looking for a better solution than Discord (Zoom is too costly since the free version only allows for 40 minute calls) for capturing player cameras on my tabletop streams. As it is now, in XSplit for my stream to be able to see the players' faces, I have to capture the same Discord window multiple times and crop each one. This makes thing overly CPU intensive and I'm trying to avoid that.
2) I'm going to go ahead and offer up Questline (https://questlinevtt.com/) as a better alternative to Roll20. Easier to use, much more pleasing interface, Animated maps, and a better pricing structure.
***
If anyone has recommendations for my first point, I'd love to hear them!
You may want to try out SendingStone if you're looking for something video conferencing focused and simple. Free, browser-based, no sign up necessary, video conferencing meets VTT with most of the basic features you need to play, and very basic D&D Beyond integration to boot.
Disclosure: I built the app.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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The discord bots are really nice, both Avrae itself and Beyond20 bot + browser extension integration are really nice together.
The voice/video quality, though, depends on group size and timing. Especially when we play Sunday afternoons or when our group size gets above six or so, we often have audio and video issues (and other group members report similar problems with larger group sizes as well).
Google Meet is definitely a lot better, no audio feedback or disconnect issues we experience with people in discord; it's just overall smoother. I first join Meet in a Firefox window and present the Discord server so everyone doesn't have to be in it, then join Meet via Chrome for my audio/video and rolling on D&D Beyond.
Gonna go ahead and necro this thread one more time. I came here hoping to find a better setup but it looks like I may have the best one.
I use Roll20 for Battle mapping/rolling/character sheets/handouts, etc. You can pop out pretty much everything like Character sheets or handouts for easier access.
I use Discord for video chat, which you can set up with gallery view so you can see everyone at once. You can also pop out your gallery screen for easier access. I use Craig bot to record audio, the biggest downside however is Craig takes up another space of your gallery. Craig also only keeps recordings for a week, which I learned the hard way, so you have to download your session within 7 days.
Discord is totally free and you can run a text chat channel and video chat channel, as well as Private Messaging which of course is helpful for side talk as a DM. My biggest gripe with it is you lose some audio quality if people are talking over each other, which happens a lot of course because it's D&D. Luckily I have 3 players who all live together so that kind of solves some problems. Including me it's a 6 person campaign so we do pretty well considering. I'll also soon be upgrading my setup to include a 3rd Monitor because trying to run notes and reference material on the same screen as either of the other two is pretty rough.
We tried the video chat feature on Roll20 a couple times and it just crashed over and over, so I definitely don't recommend that. Zoom offers conference calling for free but only up to 40 minutes. If you want unlimited calling and audio storage you're paying $100/month for Pro. Google hangouts might be a viable substitution but it appears from this thread VIP Speaking is a problem there.
Just my input. Best system would likely be Roll20 for Battle mapping and overall Game running, Discord for video chatting and Craig bot for recording. Of course run a hard line to your modem and the more monitors the better. I don't see this setup as being all that possible with just one monitor, and like I said, two is rough.
I've just swapped over to Encounter+
Great ios app. I run discord and Encounter+ this allows video/voice and allows the players to connect to the Web app of Encounter+ to see maps, handouts, etc.
This has been my favourite way to run games as I'm not a fan of Roll20 at all.
“...there are many things that move through fire and find themselves much better for it afterward.”
Bipolar II, Anxious, ADD | Chef | Queer He/Him | Descent into Avernus [DM] Running on Encounter+
Re-Necro:
Two things here:
1) I'm a tabletop streamer and I'm looking for a better solution than Discord (Zoom is too costly since the free version only allows for 40 minute calls) for capturing player cameras on my tabletop streams. As it is now, in XSplit for my stream to be able to see the players' faces, I have to capture the same Discord window multiple times and crop each one. This makes thing overly CPU intensive and I'm trying to avoid that.
2) I'm going to go ahead and offer up Questline (https://questlinevtt.com/) as a better alternative to Roll20. Easier to use, much more pleasing interface, Animated maps, and a better pricing structure.
***
If anyone has recommendations for my first point, I'd love to hear them!
Thank you!
RaigeMage
https://www.twitch.tv/raigemage
You may want to try out SendingStone if you're looking for something video conferencing focused and simple. Free, browser-based, no sign up necessary, video conferencing meets VTT with most of the basic features you need to play, and very basic D&D Beyond integration to boot.
Disclosure: I built the app.