I use Google Meet for my digital games and have found great success with the jam board. I present it from my tablet to the meeting so I can make real time marks and changes just like a whiteboard. At a glance, it seems most DM's use Discord for there digital game needs.
I am curious to hear some pro's and con's about your chosen digital platform so I can best prepare to entertain players on a wider variety of digital games. Thank you.
Google for reviews of Virtual Table Tops, or search the general forum here.
Discord is a great solution for voice and optionally video, and a few people use the Avrae bot to help with playing "Theatre of the Mind" purely over discord.
Many people use a dedicated virtual tabletop system like Roll20, Foundry, Fantasy Grounds, Owlbear rodeo, AboveVTT etc.
These are build to display maps and roll dice, and often integrated deeper with the specific game system you are playing (e.g. D&D)
There are now also 3D systems like Talespire where people can play together and build up maps to explore.
So generics out of the way, My current way of working is to use voice via discord (although some people are starting to mutter about guilded as well). Having it separated from the VTT isn't strictly necessary, but it helps if something goes wrong and people drop out from one or the other.
I am currently using Roll20 to run my online adventures, and it works well enough. It has things like dynamic lighting for maps so players can only see sections where their mini/token is placed. Roll20 is hosted already, so you don't need a separate computer/server to run it, and that makes it easy to get into creating your adventure.
I am by no mans an expert on Roll20 - I use it quite light touch. There are features to create animated backgrounds, spell effects etc, but I am mainly using it to display battle maps or scenic pictures for inspiration/setting, and to have a common place where everyone roll dice (although we do have one player that prefer to roll physically, and that's fine, although because nobody sees it, the excitement isn't quite the same) .
Overall, with a subscription, you get a very decent amount of storage, and can run any number of games and systems (e.g. if you want to try a different ruleset, that's entirely possible)
The biggest cons in my book is that we do have occasional glitches where the system seems to go down. It's quite rare, so doesn't ruin games, but can be frustrating. The interface looks a bit dated by now, but it works for the basics at least. I still track monster HP etc. directly on a notepad, so don't make use of a lot of the extra functionality.
I know there are other VTT's that can do even more and integrate even deeper with dndbeyond - but I'm pretty old school, using mainly my books when writing etc. So in some ways I'm probably a terrible person to give advice on it, but this is at least my experience. It feels a little smooter than just sharing a screen because players can move their tokens and roll the digital dice, but overall, I don't personally want a lot of bells and whistles since I tend to feel that it detracts from the roleplay aspects if you have too many things going on at the screen.
I'm new to using DDB. Did you mean that Roll20 maps are already hosted so you can use it with DDB or did you mean just to use it exclusively? I used to play in a campaign on here a long while ago and am no longer in touch with the other players, so I can't figure out how they used maps. I got a subscription to DDB, but that hasn't helped, and I'm looking to run DnD online this time.
I am currently using Roll20 to run my online adventures, and it works well enough. It has things like dynamic lighting for maps so players can only see sections where their mini/token is placed. Roll20 is hosted already, so you don't need a separate computer/server to run it, and that makes it easy to get into creating your adventure.
I use Owlbear at http://owlbear.rodeo I then combine that with either self-created or downloaded battlemaps. Honestly, it's just an brilliant platform and should get more props that it does for its flexibility. The fact that my players don't need yet another account as it's all browser based is the icing on the cake.
Outstanding! http://owlbear.rodeo Is probably the best suggestion I have received on this thread. WHY HAVE I NEVER HEARD OF THIS?!?! The simplicity and functionality are refreshing. Allowing a DM to set up a game quickly and adapt to gameplay on the spot. Thank you very much for the suggestion. Only been playing around with it for 10 minutes and will be recommending it to friends.
Outstanding! http://owlbear.rodeo Is probably the best suggestion I have received on this thread. WHY HAVE I NEVER HEARD OF THIS?!?! The simplicity and functionality are refreshing. Allowing a DM to set up a game quickly and adapt to gameplay on the spot. Thank you very much for the suggestion. Only been playing around with it for 10 minutes and will be recommending it to friends.
This is the reaction every time I introduce someone to it. Honestly, I don't know why it's not better utilised, but after using it now since January I can't imagine using anything else.
Combine it with Inkarnate as a mapping tool (or other tool of your choice)...heck even download other people's maps (cheeky plug I'm starting to release my back catalogue of maps on my Ko-Fi) to up the process even further. Though that's a personal preference. I prefer theatre of the mind but players lately seem to expect battlemaps so...
Prefer Foundry VTT (in combo with its majoritively free modules), and Dungeondraft for Map creation. Foundry costs around $50 or $60 by memory and I think Dungeondraft is $20 or $30. You don't "need" to pay anything for hosting, just do it yourself, but again I use a service called The Forge (exact monthly / annual pricing varies). Past that, fantastic extras include Patreons for Forgotten Adventures and Tom Cartos, which expand and offer AMAZING art assets to make your battle maps all the more stunning. YouTube Videos by Bailey wiki are very useful for Map designs and use of Foundry.
But if Free matters, pretty sure Roll20 remains a depressing best.
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Hello fellow weavers of fate.
I use Google Meet for my digital games and have found great success with the jam board. I present it from my tablet to the meeting so I can make real time marks and changes just like a whiteboard. At a glance, it seems most DM's use Discord for there digital game needs.
I am curious to hear some pro's and con's about your chosen digital platform so I can best prepare to entertain players on a wider variety of digital games. Thank you.
Honor, Integrity, Valor.
Google for reviews of Virtual Table Tops, or search the general forum here.
Discord is a great solution for voice and optionally video, and a few people use the Avrae bot to help with playing "Theatre of the Mind" purely over discord.
Many people use a dedicated virtual tabletop system like Roll20, Foundry, Fantasy Grounds, Owlbear rodeo, AboveVTT etc.
These are build to display maps and roll dice, and often integrated deeper with the specific game system you are playing (e.g. D&D)
There are now also 3D systems like Talespire where people can play together and build up maps to explore.
So generics out of the way, My current way of working is to use voice via discord (although some people are starting to mutter about guilded as well). Having it separated from the VTT isn't strictly necessary, but it helps if something goes wrong and people drop out from one or the other.
I am currently using Roll20 to run my online adventures, and it works well enough. It has things like dynamic lighting for maps so players can only see sections where their mini/token is placed. Roll20 is hosted already, so you don't need a separate computer/server to run it, and that makes it easy to get into creating your adventure.
I am by no mans an expert on Roll20 - I use it quite light touch. There are features to create animated backgrounds, spell effects etc, but I am mainly using it to display battle maps or scenic pictures for inspiration/setting, and to have a common place where everyone roll dice (although we do have one player that prefer to roll physically, and that's fine, although because nobody sees it, the excitement isn't quite the same) .
Overall, with a subscription, you get a very decent amount of storage, and can run any number of games and systems (e.g. if you want to try a different ruleset, that's entirely possible)
The biggest cons in my book is that we do have occasional glitches where the system seems to go down. It's quite rare, so doesn't ruin games, but can be frustrating.
The interface looks a bit dated by now, but it works for the basics at least. I still track monster HP etc. directly on a notepad, so don't make use of a lot of the extra functionality.
I know there are other VTT's that can do even more and integrate even deeper with dndbeyond - but I'm pretty old school, using mainly my books when writing etc. So in some ways I'm probably a terrible person to give advice on it, but this is at least my experience. It feels a little smooter than just sharing a screen because players can move their tokens and roll the digital dice, but overall, I don't personally want a lot of bells and whistles since I tend to feel that it detracts from the roleplay aspects if you have too many things going on at the screen.
Thank you for your insight.
Honor, Integrity, Valor.
I'm new to using DDB. Did you mean that Roll20 maps are already hosted so you can use it with DDB or did you mean just to use it exclusively? I used to play in a campaign on here a long while ago and am no longer in touch with the other players, so I can't figure out how they used maps. I got a subscription to DDB, but that hasn't helped, and I'm looking to run DnD online this time.
I use Owlbear at http://owlbear.rodeo I then combine that with either self-created or downloaded battlemaps. Honestly, it's just an brilliant platform and should get more props that it does for its flexibility. The fact that my players don't need yet another account as it's all browser based is the icing on the cake.
DM session planning template - My version of maps for 'Lost Mine of Phandelver' - Send your party to The Circus - Other DM Resources - Maps, Tokens, Quests - 'Better' Player Character Injury Tables?
Actor, Writer, Director & Teacher by day - GM/DM in my off hours.
Outstanding! http://owlbear.rodeo Is probably the best suggestion I have received on this thread. WHY HAVE I NEVER HEARD OF THIS?!?! The simplicity and functionality are refreshing. Allowing a DM to set up a game quickly and adapt to gameplay on the spot. Thank you very much for the suggestion. Only been playing around with it for 10 minutes and will be recommending it to friends.
Honor, Integrity, Valor.
This is the reaction every time I introduce someone to it. Honestly, I don't know why it's not better utilised, but after using it now since January I can't imagine using anything else.
Combine it with Inkarnate as a mapping tool (or other tool of your choice)...heck even download other people's maps (cheeky plug I'm starting to release my back catalogue of maps on my Ko-Fi) to up the process even further. Though that's a personal preference. I prefer theatre of the mind but players lately seem to expect battlemaps so...
DM session planning template - My version of maps for 'Lost Mine of Phandelver' - Send your party to The Circus - Other DM Resources - Maps, Tokens, Quests - 'Better' Player Character Injury Tables?
Actor, Writer, Director & Teacher by day - GM/DM in my off hours.
Prefer Foundry VTT (in combo with its majoritively free modules), and Dungeondraft for Map creation. Foundry costs around $50 or $60 by memory and I think Dungeondraft is $20 or $30. You don't "need" to pay anything for hosting, just do it yourself, but again I use a service called The Forge (exact monthly / annual pricing varies). Past that, fantastic extras include Patreons for Forgotten Adventures and Tom Cartos, which expand and offer AMAZING art assets to make your battle maps all the more stunning. YouTube Videos by Bailey wiki are very useful for Map designs and use of Foundry.
But if Free matters, pretty sure Roll20 remains a depressing best.