So I am a new DM (3 months) and I also am a university student. I host a variation of Dragonheist for my friends online. The problem is I feel I can make it way better. I would like to make the combat feel way more intense and also make the whole RP and Combat package more appealing as well. Do you have any recommendations on what sites , apps and methods I could use to make an online session way better?
If you are running games online, using a virtual table top (VTT) can make things a lot better. There are a ton of options, but they work better for different groups. I personally use a Foundry server hosted by Molten Hosting, which is very robust and supports extensive customization through modules, but also takes a lot of time to set up and learn and is relatively expensive with both a first time purchase (for the VTT license) and the server, though you could run it locally if you have a setup that works well.
For websites, Roll20 is a pretty popular one. Astral used to be my go to recommendation until it entered maintenance mode. I'm not super familiar with other online only VTT solutions.
Tale Spire and Tabletop Simulator are both popular programs for having a visual space, but I know Tabletop Simulator requires everyone to own a copy (not sure about Tale Spire) and neither of them are really "gameplay" oriented compared to something like Fantasy Grounds or Foundry, which are designed to do the math part of the game for you.
Ultimately, all of these are relatively popular (except Astral, RIP) because they do different things and appeal to different people. Having any of these gives a much more tactile feel with a game board and opportunities to really imagine out and streamline playing the game, so whatever feels best for you and your players is probably fine. I'd recommend taking a look at these (and others) if you're interested.
If you are a student then for VTT I suggest Above VTT, it is free and works really well.
First of all have you asked your players how they feel about how things are going, it can take time to get into playing the game and I would say after 3 months if the rules are flowing and you are not having the game feel stop start that is a great base. What do you see the problems as being, some examples would be good. Talk to your players, I tend to give my players a fairly simple questionnaire to complete about twice a year or so it means that people can make suggestions without the confrontation of talking about things. It can be as simple as a set of questions, or you can go really deep. The key thing is to get that sense because, you may feel there are areas that can be better (and we are all constantly improving) but it is important to gauge if the players would like you to focus on improving the same things as you think you should :).
In terms of making the experiance more immersive though there are some simple things you can do.
For Combat, Ask your players to describe how they attack, get your magic users to come up with a description of how the spell works or takes effect, then fold that into your description of how the dice defines what happens, your fighter tells you they sweep at the legs of the orc.
"You swing your sword down, trying to strike the un armoured leg, at the last moment the Orc twists and your blade strikes the ground." or "You feint as if about to strike at the body, as the orc parries up you strike your sword down piercing its thigh muscle, roll for damage".
I use these kinds of descriptions rather then telling my players a straight, you miss, you hit.
For Roleplay, do your players prefer 1st person or 3rd person interactions, my current group are all remote and there is not much inter character roleplay apart from in set moments as defined by me, there is not much talking round a campfire etc, so, instead of making my players have interactive roleplay moments I ask at every long rest, is there any information any of you would like to see if your fellow characters are open to talking about. That generally leads to an out of character conversation as player A asks player B if there character will tell him something about there parents, or where they are from. It generally results in just a few bullet points that might be expanded on, or might not. It is a good way to start getting players thinking about what they talk about in those "down time" moments.
As for you, if you want to improve the roleplay experiance of NPC's, I am rubbish at accents and voices so have never gone that route but feel free to give it a try yourself. Alternatively describing seemingly insignificant details about a person or place can add a bit of flavour. Just a sentance or 2.
"You walk into a shop, an old man sits behind the counter, half elf." Turns into "As you push the shop door open a bell rings behind the counter, you look around, the light filters into the space through the items that stand in the front windows. Dust hovers in the light indicating this shop is not visited much. Every surface you can see is covered, there are too many tables for this size of room and you work your way through. As you approach the counter an individual sits, slumped, a hat pulled over his eyes, for a second you look wondering if he is alive, before you see his chest rise and fall, the hat is lifted slowly, an eye looks at you, locking on, he licks his thinning lips, and as you look you notice the shape of his ears, not fully elven but def there is elf blood somewhere in his heritage"
"I don't have all day, have a look, let me know if you see something you like, everything you see is for sale, well, apart from me"
That extra bit of flourish just adds a little something to help paint a picture of the scene, and will help you "get into character" better.
I see. My players, as they are newbies to the D&D world, have been very satisfied with the story overall. I personally believe and I want to make things a lot better cause I want to give them the same kind of incredible experience my former DM gave me when I was a player. I also believe music also adds an extra layer of immersion to the table and I use a lot of ambience and rpg music. Its just that sometimes the work of a DM seems wayyy too big and that can overwhelm me during a session, which sometimes makes me rush things like skipping that description of a shop or simply say "Your attack hits" and that's what I want to improve on. Thanks for your advice. Much appreciated!
I use Roll20 as the VTT, but I believe it lacks some of the things I would like to have. Like a music player or not so laggy images etc. Thing is I don't have much money to spare on paid VTTs so I guess I have to content with the options I have right now. Thanks for your info as well!
I use Roll20 as the VTT, but I believe it lacks some of the things I would like to have. Like a music player or not so laggy images etc. Thing is I don't have much money to spare on paid VTTs so I guess I have to content with the options I have right now. Thanks for your info as well!
Maybe there is more to your issue but have you checked this out for playing music on Roll20? https://wiki.roll20.net/Music
Woof, immersive combat. This is something my group struggled with for a long time. Theater of the Mind fights get super boring if you don't take care to describe what you are doing. Unfortunately, while a lengthy description of your turn can sound epic, it also makes encounters waaaaaaaay longer. All of the sudden, half the session was spent in combat. Some people might enjoy that, but I feel that most want to enjoy all that you can do in D&D.
Speaking with your players is the first step. Take a couple of minutes at the beginning of your next session to discuss a couple of options. At the very least, you'll get your opinion out and your players will have a realistic expectation of what might be happening next.
I see. My players, as they are newbies to the D&D world, have been very satisfied with the story overall. I personally believe and I want to make things a lot better cause I want to give them the same kind of incredible experience my former DM gave me when I was a player. I also believe music also adds an extra layer of immersion to the table and I use a lot of ambience and rpg music. Its just that sometimes the work of a DM seems wayyy too big and that can overwhelm me during a session, which sometimes makes me rush things like skipping that description of a shop or simply say "Your attack hits" and that's what I want to improve on. Thanks for your advice. Much appreciated!
The description doesn't always need to be more then a few words, and sometimes I will fall back to, you hit, if I think we are getting bogged down a bit, but, I am finding more and more players are prompting me to give those descriptions and, while others may think this slows the game down, once we have got into it it doesn't add much more time (the time I spend describing is thinking time for the next player meaning they are spending less time thinking), and it makes the game better for us.
Music is a debatable thing but I would say, for an online game I always advise against music. I have said this on other questions but during lockdown some studies where done about the best way to keep those using online meeting tools engaged and the key distractor was background music.
The reason for this makes a lot of sense.
In person at a table the music source (speaker) is in a different location to the person/people talking, this allows the ear to differentiate between the 2 and filter out the music when focussing on talking and interactions. The music becomes a background layer that does not distract the brain which can passively filter it out.
When you move that music and speech to the same source, eg the speaker on a laptop or headphones, then sonically it becomes a mesh of noise. It becomes much much harder for the brain to latch onto the differences between what it should and shouldn't separate. Instead of being something the listener can do passively the listener has to actively seperate the soundwaves and pick out the ones they should be keying into. This has 2 effects, it means the brain is doing more active work so finds it harder to refocus on other things that it needs to do (rolling dice, working out what has been rolled, making decisions), eventually the brain ends up giving up and just latches onto the music as a constant noise ignoring any speech meaning the listener has to activley listen again.
The second impact is that a side effect can be more tiredness leading to players zoning out or dropping off.
I would seriously consider using music online, I used to, after reading the above I stopped and my sessions became far smoother, required far less repeating of information and players git far quicker at decision making. In addition average session length actually increased as all my players where switched on for longer.
I see. My players, as they are newbies to the D&D world, have been very satisfied with the story overall. I personally believe and I want to make things a lot better cause I want to give them the same kind of incredible experience my former DM gave me when I was a player. I also believe music also adds an extra layer of immersion to the table and I use a lot of ambience and rpg music. Its just that sometimes the work of a DM seems wayyy too big and that can overwhelm me during a session, which sometimes makes me rush things like skipping that description of a shop or simply say "Your attack hits" and that's what I want to improve on. Thanks for your advice. Much appreciated!
The description doesn't always need to be more then a few words, and sometimes I will fall back to, you hit, if I think we are getting bogged down a bit, but, I am finding more and more players are prompting me to give those descriptions and, while others may think this slows the game down, once we have got into it it doesn't add much more time (the time I spend describing is thinking time for the next player meaning they are spending less time thinking), and it makes the game better for us.
Music is a debatable thing but I would say, for an online game I always advise against music. I have said this on other questions but during lockdown some studies where done about the best way to keep those using online meeting tools engaged and the key distractor was background music.
The reason for this makes a lot of sense.
In person at a table the music source (speaker) is in a different location to the person/people talking, this allows the ear to differentiate between the 2 and filter out the music when focussing on talking and interactions. The music becomes a background layer that does not distract the brain which can passively filter it out.
When you move that music and speech to the same source, eg the speaker on a laptop or headphones, then sonically it becomes a mesh of noise. It becomes much much harder for the brain to latch onto the differences between what it should and shouldn't separate. Instead of being something the listener can do passively the listener has to actively seperate the soundwaves and pick out the ones they should be keying into. This has 2 effects, it means the brain is doing more active work so finds it harder to refocus on other things that it needs to do (rolling dice, working out what has been rolled, making decisions), eventually the brain ends up giving up and just latches onto the music as a constant noise ignoring any speech meaning the listener has to activley listen again.
The second impact is that a side effect can be more tiredness leading to players zoning out or dropping off.
I would seriously consider using music online, I used to, after reading the above I stopped and my sessions became far smoother, required far less repeating of information and players git far quicker at decision making. In addition average session length actually increased as all my players where switched on for longer.
It's the opposite for my table. Everyone wants and basically expects music (we use a discord bot so everyone can adjust their own volume). It's an absolute necessity for me as the DM and as a player, I seriously can't focus without background music that at least vaguely fits the scene. Doing music poorly, such as not changing to some combat music when there's combat, is also extremely immersion breaking and distracting. Switching music is pretty quick, and as long as I have some tracks saved on a YouTube list it doesn't at all take away from the game.
That said, only use ambience, never music with lyrics, that's extremely distracting. Unless that's what engages your own players, of course.
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So I am a new DM (3 months) and I also am a university student. I host a variation of Dragonheist for my friends online. The problem is I feel I can make it way better. I would like to make the combat feel way more intense and also make the whole RP and Combat package more appealing as well. Do you have any recommendations on what sites , apps and methods I could use to make an online session way better?
If you are running games online, using a virtual table top (VTT) can make things a lot better. There are a ton of options, but they work better for different groups. I personally use a Foundry server hosted by Molten Hosting, which is very robust and supports extensive customization through modules, but also takes a lot of time to set up and learn and is relatively expensive with both a first time purchase (for the VTT license) and the server, though you could run it locally if you have a setup that works well.
For websites, Roll20 is a pretty popular one. Astral used to be my go to recommendation until it entered maintenance mode. I'm not super familiar with other online only VTT solutions.
Tale Spire and Tabletop Simulator are both popular programs for having a visual space, but I know Tabletop Simulator requires everyone to own a copy (not sure about Tale Spire) and neither of them are really "gameplay" oriented compared to something like Fantasy Grounds or Foundry, which are designed to do the math part of the game for you.
Ultimately, all of these are relatively popular (except Astral, RIP) because they do different things and appeal to different people. Having any of these gives a much more tactile feel with a game board and opportunities to really imagine out and streamline playing the game, so whatever feels best for you and your players is probably fine. I'd recommend taking a look at these (and others) if you're interested.
If you are a student then for VTT I suggest Above VTT, it is free and works really well.
First of all have you asked your players how they feel about how things are going, it can take time to get into playing the game and I would say after 3 months if the rules are flowing and you are not having the game feel stop start that is a great base. What do you see the problems as being, some examples would be good. Talk to your players, I tend to give my players a fairly simple questionnaire to complete about twice a year or so it means that people can make suggestions without the confrontation of talking about things. It can be as simple as a set of questions, or you can go really deep. The key thing is to get that sense because, you may feel there are areas that can be better (and we are all constantly improving) but it is important to gauge if the players would like you to focus on improving the same things as you think you should :).
In terms of making the experiance more immersive though there are some simple things you can do.
For Combat, Ask your players to describe how they attack, get your magic users to come up with a description of how the spell works or takes effect, then fold that into your description of how the dice defines what happens, your fighter tells you they sweep at the legs of the orc.
"You swing your sword down, trying to strike the un armoured leg, at the last moment the Orc twists and your blade strikes the ground."
or
"You feint as if about to strike at the body, as the orc parries up you strike your sword down piercing its thigh muscle, roll for damage".
I use these kinds of descriptions rather then telling my players a straight, you miss, you hit.
For Roleplay, do your players prefer 1st person or 3rd person interactions, my current group are all remote and there is not much inter character roleplay apart from in set moments as defined by me, there is not much talking round a campfire etc, so, instead of making my players have interactive roleplay moments I ask at every long rest, is there any information any of you would like to see if your fellow characters are open to talking about. That generally leads to an out of character conversation as player A asks player B if there character will tell him something about there parents, or where they are from. It generally results in just a few bullet points that might be expanded on, or might not. It is a good way to start getting players thinking about what they talk about in those "down time" moments.
As for you, if you want to improve the roleplay experiance of NPC's, I am rubbish at accents and voices so have never gone that route but feel free to give it a try yourself. Alternatively describing seemingly insignificant details about a person or place can add a bit of flavour. Just a sentance or 2.
"You walk into a shop, an old man sits behind the counter, half elf."
Turns into
"As you push the shop door open a bell rings behind the counter, you look around, the light filters into the space through the items that stand in the front windows. Dust hovers in the light indicating this shop is not visited much. Every surface you can see is covered, there are too many tables for this size of room and you work your way through. As you approach the counter an individual sits, slumped, a hat pulled over his eyes, for a second you look wondering if he is alive, before you see his chest rise and fall, the hat is lifted slowly, an eye looks at you, locking on, he licks his thinning lips, and as you look you notice the shape of his ears, not fully elven but def there is elf blood somewhere in his heritage"
"I don't have all day, have a look, let me know if you see something you like, everything you see is for sale, well, apart from me"
That extra bit of flourish just adds a little something to help paint a picture of the scene, and will help you "get into character" better.
I see. My players, as they are newbies to the D&D world, have been very satisfied with the story overall. I personally believe and I want to make things a lot better cause I want to give them the same kind of incredible experience my former DM gave me when I was a player. I also believe music also adds an extra layer of immersion to the table and I use a lot of ambience and rpg music. Its just that sometimes the work of a DM seems wayyy too big and that can overwhelm me during a session, which sometimes makes me rush things like skipping that description of a shop or simply say "Your attack hits" and that's what I want to improve on. Thanks for your advice. Much appreciated!
I use Roll20 as the VTT, but I believe it lacks some of the things I would like to have. Like a music player or not so laggy images etc. Thing is I don't have much money to spare on paid VTTs so I guess I have to content with the options I have right now. Thanks for your info as well!
Maybe there is more to your issue but have you checked this out for playing music on Roll20? https://wiki.roll20.net/Music
Woof, immersive combat. This is something my group struggled with for a long time. Theater of the Mind fights get super boring if you don't take care to describe what you are doing. Unfortunately, while a lengthy description of your turn can sound epic, it also makes encounters waaaaaaaay longer. All of the sudden, half the session was spent in combat. Some people might enjoy that, but I feel that most want to enjoy all that you can do in D&D.
Speaking with your players is the first step. Take a couple of minutes at the beginning of your next session to discuss a couple of options. At the very least, you'll get your opinion out and your players will have a realistic expectation of what might be happening next.
Keep your friends close, and enemies closer.
The description doesn't always need to be more then a few words, and sometimes I will fall back to, you hit, if I think we are getting bogged down a bit, but, I am finding more and more players are prompting me to give those descriptions and, while others may think this slows the game down, once we have got into it it doesn't add much more time (the time I spend describing is thinking time for the next player meaning they are spending less time thinking), and it makes the game better for us.
Music is a debatable thing but I would say, for an online game I always advise against music. I have said this on other questions but during lockdown some studies where done about the best way to keep those using online meeting tools engaged and the key distractor was background music.
The reason for this makes a lot of sense.
In person at a table the music source (speaker) is in a different location to the person/people talking, this allows the ear to differentiate between the 2 and filter out the music when focussing on talking and interactions. The music becomes a background layer that does not distract the brain which can passively filter it out.
When you move that music and speech to the same source, eg the speaker on a laptop or headphones, then sonically it becomes a mesh of noise. It becomes much much harder for the brain to latch onto the differences between what it should and shouldn't separate. Instead of being something the listener can do passively the listener has to actively seperate the soundwaves and pick out the ones they should be keying into. This has 2 effects, it means the brain is doing more active work so finds it harder to refocus on other things that it needs to do (rolling dice, working out what has been rolled, making decisions), eventually the brain ends up giving up and just latches onto the music as a constant noise ignoring any speech meaning the listener has to activley listen again.
The second impact is that a side effect can be more tiredness leading to players zoning out or dropping off.
I would seriously consider using music online, I used to, after reading the above I stopped and my sessions became far smoother, required far less repeating of information and players git far quicker at decision making. In addition average session length actually increased as all my players where switched on for longer.
It's the opposite for my table. Everyone wants and basically expects music (we use a discord bot so everyone can adjust their own volume). It's an absolute necessity for me as the DM and as a player, I seriously can't focus without background music that at least vaguely fits the scene. Doing music poorly, such as not changing to some combat music when there's combat, is also extremely immersion breaking and distracting. Switching music is pretty quick, and as long as I have some tracks saved on a YouTube list it doesn't at all take away from the game.
That said, only use ambience, never music with lyrics, that's extremely distracting. Unless that's what engages your own players, of course.