I'm looking to potentially run an online campaign using certain modules (Journey through the Radiant Citadel for a one-shot and Waterdeep Dragon Heist). However, I would like my players to get experience combat on a grid. Does anyone have any recommended resources or approaches?
I know Roll20 is popular, but I would prefer not to purchase the sourcebooks twice over.
Also, does D&D Beyond offer a function to live share media like a photo of a NPC without needing to screenshare the entire page? If not, I can always fall back to copy/paste in Discord. Thank you!
There is a very simple way to not buy your sourcebooks multiple times with any VTT: just use it as a way to show where people are and keep all your handling of mechanics elsewhere.
Check out aboveVTT it is a free google chrome plugin and interacts pretty seamlessly with DnD beyond letting you use any map you own in DnD beyond. It lets you apply a grid to any map and place tokens on it. You can also import your own maps into it, it also has fog of war. It is a good starting option and if you like the way it works but want something with more dynamic lighting etc you can then move onto one of the pay for options.
Alternatively I will often use the Snip functionality on my laptop (on my mac cmd/shift/4) to just grab a screengrab of the map/npc etc I want to show my players. I have a few players who play on Iphones so can't see the map in real time so sometimes one of my players will grab a screenshot of the map (because the DM version of VTT might have other stuff showing that players shouldn't see yet) and share it on our Discord server.
I'm running Waterdeep Dragon Heist on Roll20, and I use the maps I pull off from DDB, and it works pretty well. If there is one challenge is matching the grid size to the one defined on the map. That is not to say it isn't possible, just that it takes a bit of extra work.
“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
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New DM here!
I'm looking to potentially run an online campaign using certain modules (Journey through the Radiant Citadel for a one-shot and Waterdeep Dragon Heist). However, I would like my players to get experience combat on a grid. Does anyone have any recommended resources or approaches?
I know Roll20 is popular, but I would prefer not to purchase the sourcebooks twice over.
Also, does D&D Beyond offer a function to live share media like a photo of a NPC without needing to screenshare the entire page? If not, I can always fall back to copy/paste in Discord. Thank you!
There is a very simple way to not buy your sourcebooks multiple times with any VTT: just use it as a way to show where people are and keep all your handling of mechanics elsewhere.
Check out aboveVTT it is a free google chrome plugin and interacts pretty seamlessly with DnD beyond letting you use any map you own in DnD beyond. It lets you apply a grid to any map and place tokens on it. You can also import your own maps into it, it also has fog of war. It is a good starting option and if you like the way it works but want something with more dynamic lighting etc you can then move onto one of the pay for options.
Alternatively I will often use the Snip functionality on my laptop (on my mac cmd/shift/4) to just grab a screengrab of the map/npc etc I want to show my players. I have a few players who play on Iphones so can't see the map in real time so sometimes one of my players will grab a screenshot of the map (because the DM version of VTT might have other stuff showing that players shouldn't see yet) and share it on our Discord server.
I'm running Waterdeep Dragon Heist on Roll20, and I use the maps I pull off from DDB, and it works pretty well. If there is one challenge is matching the grid size to the one defined on the map. That is not to say it isn't possible, just that it takes a bit of extra work.
I can Highly recommend AboveVTT
“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