Hi! I am a player coming off a yearlong Star Wars Age of Rebellion campaign on Roll20/Google Meet, and our GM is pretty burned out and needs a break. I've played D&D tabletop in the recent past (in the "Before Times") and just have the Players Handbook.
I would love to set up a D&D campaign for my group, starting very simple, level 1, basic scenarios - I probably wouldn't purchase pre-created campaigns for a bit until I was really comfortable. I found this site and LOVED how easy it was to re-create and save my TT character. But I realized this doesn't have a VTT, so began looking around at what was out there.
From what I am reading, Foundry and Fantasy Grounds seem to be the top two choices. Here are my current questions:
1. Can you import characters created in DDB into these VTTs? I think there is no simple import button but is there a "download this file, convert it to this, uploading that file"? If not, do you manually update in both systems after a character has gained some experience? Or do you simply use DDB as a database in a separate window from whatever VTT program you use and don't bother with creating a character in DDB at all?
2. I'd like to create 2D maps of the towns, a couple of houses/inns, and of course whatever cave, dungeon, area the group would have encounters in. Do you create your maps in Foundry and FG, or use another program and import them? What programs re your go-tos?
3. Since I would want to start off as level 1s, where do you find the appropriate baddies and loot drops - do either VTTs offer suggestions, or do you research that yourself and create the NPCs? If the players search the bodies, is there a sort of loot randomizer?
4. I've seen The Forge mentioned as a hosting place for campaigns and while I found some information on it, I don't quite understand the strong draw - can someone explain why I would want to pay monthly for it? I am willing to pay for things, but I just want to have a clear understanding of it's worth.
5. Also just found the AboveVTT Chrome extension, which apparently integrates with DDB - has anyone used it? Thoughts?
If you've been using Roll20 for star wars why not for DnD?..... (I've never used roll20 so that might have a real obvious answer thought it was used for DnD)
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
“It cannot be seen, cannot be felt, Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt, It lies behind stars and under hills, And empty holes it fills, It comes first and follows after, Ends life, kills laughter.” J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, or There and Back Again
1) There is beyond20, a browser extension for Chrome or Firefox, which will allow players to keep their character sheets on dndbeyond.com and pass their rolls to one of two supported VTTs: roll20 or Foundry VTT. There is no need to download/upload or otherwise transfer the characters since they can be kept on dndbeyond.
Within the VTT they only need a blank character and token with the same name as their DDB character for the interaction to work properly.
2) There are various programs. I've heard that dungeondraft is a popular tool for creating maps.
3) The DMG has suggestions for how to create balanced encounters, and there is an Encounter Builder on DDB (maybe you need to be subscribed to see it).
4) The Forge is a way of hosting Foundry VTT "in the cloud" so that you don't have to do complicated stuff on your home computer network in order to get players to be able to connect to Foundry. It doesn't support Fantasy Grounds, but FG would have the same issues with setting up connections.
5) Never used it. I've been on roll20 for the past year, but transferred to Foundry VTT for the past few sessions. Much better visually.
For a new DM actually running one of the introductory campaigns might be the easiest way to learn the rules. The starter set or the essentials kit has a supposedly balanced campaign to introduce players to the system.
If you've been using Roll20 for star wars why not for DnD?..... (I've never used roll20 so that might have a real obvious answer thought it was used for DnD)
We found it to be a bit clunky, and I didn't want to get attached to dealing with it if there were better options out there :) And thanks I will grab the Frozen Sick scenario!
Hi! I am a player coming off a yearlong Star Wars Age of Rebellion campaign on Roll20/Google Meet, and our GM is pretty burned out and needs a break. I've played D&D tabletop in the recent past (in the "Before Times") and just have the Players Handbook.
I would love to set up a D&D campaign for my group, starting very simple, level 1, basic scenarios - I probably wouldn't purchase pre-created campaigns for a bit until I was really comfortable. I found this site and LOVED how easy it was to re-create and save my TT character. But I realized this doesn't have a VTT, so began looking around at what was out there.
From what I am reading, Foundry and Fantasy Grounds seem to be the top two choices. Here are my current questions:
1. Can you import characters created in DDB into these VTTs? I think there is no simple import button but is there a "download this file, convert it to this, uploading that file"? If not, do you manually update in both systems after a character has gained some experience? Or do you simply use DDB as a database in a separate window from whatever VTT program you use and don't bother with creating a character in DDB at all?
2. I'd like to create 2D maps of the towns, a couple of houses/inns, and of course whatever cave, dungeon, area the group would have encounters in. Do you create your maps in Foundry and FG, or use another program and import them? What programs re your go-tos?
3. Since I would want to start off as level 1s, where do you find the appropriate baddies and loot drops - do either VTTs offer suggestions, or do you research that yourself and create the NPCs? If the players search the bodies, is there a sort of loot randomizer?
4. I've seen The Forge mentioned as a hosting place for campaigns and while I found some information on it, I don't quite understand the strong draw - can someone explain why I would want to pay monthly for it? I am willing to pay for things, but I just want to have a clear understanding of it's worth.
5. Also just found the AboveVTT Chrome extension, which apparently integrates with DDB - has anyone used it? Thoughts?
5) I've been using AboveVTT Lovely Free Easy Yeah!
I think Frozen Sick is still free on DDB which I think is a level 1 scenario - https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/wa/frozen-sick
If you've been using Roll20 for star wars why not for DnD?..... (I've never used roll20 so that might have a real obvious answer thought it was used for DnD)
“It cannot be seen, cannot be felt, Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt, It lies behind stars and under hills, And empty holes it fills, It comes first and follows after, Ends life, kills laughter.” J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, or There and Back Again
1) There is beyond20, a browser extension for Chrome or Firefox, which will allow players to keep their character sheets on dndbeyond.com and pass their rolls to one of two supported VTTs: roll20 or Foundry VTT. There is no need to download/upload or otherwise transfer the characters since they can be kept on dndbeyond.
Within the VTT they only need a blank character and token with the same name as their DDB character for the interaction to work properly.
2) There are various programs. I've heard that dungeondraft is a popular tool for creating maps.
3) The DMG has suggestions for how to create balanced encounters, and there is an Encounter Builder on DDB (maybe you need to be subscribed to see it).
4) The Forge is a way of hosting Foundry VTT "in the cloud" so that you don't have to do complicated stuff on your home computer network in order to get players to be able to connect to Foundry. It doesn't support Fantasy Grounds, but FG would have the same issues with setting up connections.
5) Never used it. I've been on roll20 for the past year, but transferred to Foundry VTT for the past few sessions. Much better visually.
For a new DM actually running one of the introductory campaigns might be the easiest way to learn the rules. The starter set or the essentials kit has a supposedly balanced campaign to introduce players to the system.
We found it to be a bit clunky, and I didn't want to get attached to dealing with it if there were better options out there :) And thanks I will grab the Frozen Sick scenario!
It might be old school, but I make my maps with a pad of graph paper and a pencil!
Only spilt the party if you see something shiny.
Ariendela Sneakerson, Half-elf Rogue (8); Harmony Wolfsbane, Tiefling Bard (10); Agnomally, Gnomish Sorcerer (3); Breeze, Tabaxi Monk (8); Grace, Dragonborn Barbarian (7); DM, Homebrew- The Sequestered Lands/Underwater Explorers; Candlekeep