Part of my group play on mobile phone dialing in on discord so VTT is not an option. I make battle maps, and I then have larger regional (town and surrounding area, nation etc) maps. Until recently I would move tokens about and theartre of the mind combat not worrying overly much about ranges or distance on either side. However if the map got a little. Complicated to describe or it was clear I was not getting it across well enough I would then take a screen grab to post up on discord to show the current situation.
a go. It is free, easy to use and while it is only available on desktop/laptop one of my players has now taken to grabbing screen grabs for the other players so it frees me up to keep combat flowing. I really do advise you give it a go before you go paying for anything, or trying to work out how to use roll 20.
The great thing about above VTT is that I have just drawn a map out on a piece of paper or my trusty white board, grabbed a pic and then you can upload it to above VTT as is apply a grid and then fog of war it. Makes my life so much easier remotely and means I can create battle maps on the fly as if I was sat at my table.
I use both together. In my last session we set up so I had 2 players who were in my living room with me, and 2 who joined by Zoom because they were quarantining after travelling abroad. It worked totally fine.
I run everything on Roll20, and it's really worth taking the time to learn how to use it well if you intend to do so. Make sure you download a Token Maker, and just make all the awesome, custom made tokens you want. I search out images on Pinterest and then just make them into great looking monsters. There are thousands of great looking maps as well. I like it so much I've moved to using Roll20 with an HDMI cable and a TV even when we're all together.
Before I found above VTT which uses the tokens from the monster manual, I just used to screen capture an image from the monster manual on DnD beyond to use as the token. Personally I find roll 20 too labour intensive, I want a system I can just stick a map into with no effort or worries. I use Inkarnate to draw my detailed maps I have time to make, but I can also draw out a rough map, load it into above VTT in about a min and then add a grid to it and my players can just instantly play on it. :)
The great thing about above VTT is that I have just drawn a map out on a piece of paper or my trusty white board, grabbed a pic and then you can upload it to above VTT as is apply a grid and then fog of war it. Makes my life so much easier remotely and means I can create battle maps on the fly as if I was sat at my table.
How do you upload your image Above? I've gone through the videos but I do not see a way to add a map of your own making.
If you aren't playing face to face, I'm a big believer in having something for the players to look at. If it's a noncombat scene, just a static piece of art displayed on the vtt sets the mood just fine. If you have a kind of exploration minigame set up, you can even incorporate a rudimentary way to track successes and failures onto the image. I've found that just having that visual connection keeps everyone on message.
Of course, if you're doing strictly in character verbal roleplaying, nothing will compete with face to face interaction. There's plenty you can do with ToTM in that situation.
Vtts are really at their best when you're using a battle map. I never really use ToTM combat on a vtt. It's so easy to get the exact map layout you want virtually, and there's no stopping the game while you clean up or take out the components. I probably over prepare in that sense - I've made whole encounter maps that never get used because the PCs did something else. Or even if you do have to come up with an encounter on the fly, a blank grid with a few hand drawn shapes to represent terrain is something all vtts can accommodate in minutes with enough practice.
The great thing about above VTT is that I have just drawn a map out on a piece of paper or my trusty white board, grabbed a pic and then you can upload it to above VTT as is apply a grid and then fog of war it. Makes my life so much easier remotely and means I can create battle maps on the fly as if I was sat at my table.
How do you upload your image Above? I've gone through the videos but I do not see a way to add a map of your own making.
You load the image into Google drive, set it as shareable and paste the shared link from that in.
TotM for everything (describing corridors, chambers, objects, monsters, weather, traps, etc ) Just using maps for combats (a generic ones according to the local terrain like stone, sand, grass and so on).
DMG has great advices to deal with scenarios including random ones. Try to use it!
Do not limit yourself through maps, use them just to allow tatics
Part of my group play on mobile phone dialing in on discord so VTT is not an option. I make battle maps, and I then have larger regional (town and surrounding area, nation etc) maps. Until recently I would move tokens about and theartre of the mind combat not worrying overly much about ranges or distance on either side. However if the map got a little. Complicated to describe or it was clear I was not getting it across well enough I would then take a screen grab to post up on discord to show the current situation.
Recently I have been giving above VTT
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/abovevtt/ipcjcbhpofedihcloggaichibomadlei?hl=en
a go. It is free, easy to use and while it is only available on desktop/laptop one of my players has now taken to grabbing screen grabs for the other players so it frees me up to keep combat flowing. I really do advise you give it a go before you go paying for anything, or trying to work out how to use roll 20.
The great thing about above VTT is that I have just drawn a map out on a piece of paper or my trusty white board, grabbed a pic and then you can upload it to above VTT as is apply a grid and then fog of war it. Makes my life so much easier remotely and means I can create battle maps on the fly as if I was sat at my table.
Before I found above VTT which uses the tokens from the monster manual, I just used to screen capture an image from the monster manual on DnD beyond to use as the token. Personally I find roll 20 too labour intensive, I want a system I can just stick a map into with no effort or worries. I use Inkarnate to draw my detailed maps I have time to make, but I can also draw out a rough map, load it into above VTT in about a min and then add a grid to it and my players can just instantly play on it. :)
How do you upload your image Above? I've gone through the videos but I do not see a way to add a map of your own making.
If you aren't playing face to face, I'm a big believer in having something for the players to look at. If it's a noncombat scene, just a static piece of art displayed on the vtt sets the mood just fine. If you have a kind of exploration minigame set up, you can even incorporate a rudimentary way to track successes and failures onto the image. I've found that just having that visual connection keeps everyone on message.
Of course, if you're doing strictly in character verbal roleplaying, nothing will compete with face to face interaction. There's plenty you can do with ToTM in that situation.
Vtts are really at their best when you're using a battle map. I never really use ToTM combat on a vtt. It's so easy to get the exact map layout you want virtually, and there's no stopping the game while you clean up or take out the components. I probably over prepare in that sense - I've made whole encounter maps that never get used because the PCs did something else. Or even if you do have to come up with an encounter on the fly, a blank grid with a few hand drawn shapes to represent terrain is something all vtts can accommodate in minutes with enough practice.
I’ll try to keep it short. With RP focused players theater of the mind. With more tactical and rule Monterey characters virtual table top.
You load the image into Google drive, set it as shareable and paste the shared link from that in.
TotM for everything (describing corridors, chambers, objects, monsters, weather, traps, etc ) Just using maps for combats (a generic ones according to the local terrain like stone, sand, grass and so on).
DMG has great advices to deal with scenarios including random ones. Try to use it!
Do not limit yourself through maps, use them just to allow tatics