1) For your in-person sessions, do you ever have players bring devices and have everyone play on the VTT?
2) If the answer is yes, can you give any tips on how to make it successful?
3) If the answer is no, would you ever consider it? Why or why not?
I just started DMing and have been using AboveVTT to manage all the battles, maps, etc. I feel like it works great but just want to get some other perspectives.
I sometimes have one person do this to use Roll20's fog of war. "Here's what you see." It's not the same as a drawn map, but sometimes it's nice for important battles. I set up an extra monitor to do this so everyone can see.
I find that if everybody does this, their noses are in a laptop instead of in the story. One person isn't bad.
If you have the budget, time, resources, and motivation, you could install a projector on the ceiling, or a monitor into the table, so that everyone can see the digital map ON the table. That way, you get fog-of-war and other VTT benefits, but without having to work to keep everyone's attention.
1) For your in-person sessions, do you ever have players bring devices and have everyone play on the VTT?
2) If the answer is yes, can you give any tips on how to make it successful?
3) If the answer is no, would you ever consider it? Why or why not?
I just started DMing and have been using AboveVTT to manage all the battles, maps, etc. I feel like it works great but just want to get some other perspectives.
1) Yes i run a game and play in another where we game in person with laptops on Roll20.
2) Its not so much different than playing without a VT, all it does is make visual cues such as maps, miniatures, handouts and dicerolling appear on ascreen. And you can play with a mix of people in person and at distance. I suggest insisting on players not surfing on internet while playing to avoid distractions.
Everyone's own device isn't the preferred solution for me. I prefer to only use VTTs for battlemaps in person. So, I'll either use a monitor or TV with a wireless mouse that can be passed around.
Linking back, the reason for not having people's own individual devices is the same reason we switch off mobile phones during the session...we want as little distractions and want to respect each other during play. That said, I have had sessions where everyone was fortunate enough to have their own tablet and those were used for both the VTT and the character sheets. Being brutal though, a D&D Beyond character sheet generally doesn't help the flow of a session because for in person sessions people like to hold on to the magic of rolling dice.
Took a look at AboveVTT, what I would say is that given that it's locked to a single browser it isn't something I could ever endorse for my players. You're locking them into a browser with laughable privacy controls and policies (chrome) which is a shame because it looks interesting.
Honestly, I'll be sticking with actual character sheets (which become some sort of weird artefact at the end of the campaign...usually I get them framed professionally as a gift to my players) and Owlbear solely for visuals.
All of this though misses the biggest factor...what do your players enjoy about a VTT? If they enjoy physical dice rolls don't take that away. If they enjoy just the battlemap visuals then your set-up would be perfect. Think not about what others do but what works round your table.
Our group already uses Beyond for nearly all the dice rolls, so adding a VTT isn't that big of a stretch. We love all the great looking maps and tokens. As a DM, I like being able to easily edit the adventures by finding new maps online and populating them with story content. In my free time I managed to put together about 10 different maps for this island they're going to.
We are using AboveVTT which automatically syncs with beyond Beyond. The players do all their own rolls on Beyond and the information automatically shows up in the VTT. It's super quick and convenient.
Our group already uses Beyond for nearly all the dice rolls, so adding a VTT isn't that big of a stretch. We love all the great looking maps and tokens. As a DM, I like being able to easily edit the adventures by finding new maps online and populating them with story content. In my free time I managed to put together about 10 different maps for this island they're going to.
We are using AboveVTT which automatically syncs with beyond Beyond. The players do all their own rolls on Beyond and the information automatically shows up in the VTT. It's super quick and convenient.
Cool, if that works for your group I 100% get that. I guess because I and many of my friends started with physical sheets and dice we have a nostalgia for them.
You can go pick up a old flat screen tv for stupid cheap at pretty much any thrift store.
Get one you can lay flat, face up on a table and hook up a laptop to it, and then use your VTT of choice for maps. You can use physical minis on the screen or choose to use the VTT for that interface.
If you use a vtt that handles the d&d system you probably will have to have a players screen as the table screen so the DM stuff can't be seen by everyone.
I recently ran Sunless Citadel from Tales from the Yawning Portal and used MapTool to track travel through the dungeon. I made tokens for the PCs and set up a fog of war in the map. We used it as the battle map with a 36" TV I got for $50 on Facebook Marketplace and put ottoman legs on the back of it to sit on the table.
It was great for remembering where we were between sessions and was easy enough for me to just run two instances of the application on my laptop. I wouldn't use it for EVERY session of DnD, but it works great for extended dungeon crawl-type things or large battles that won't finish in a single session.
My current method is to have one player (lovingly called the cartographer) bring their laptop that I hook that up to a TV which is easily seen by everyone in the room, that way the players see the players version of the map while I run the DMS version of the map on abovevtt. Some of the other players bring their own laptops so that they can move themselves, the others ask me or the cartographer to move their icons where they want to go. For dungeon exploration and larger more complicated battles this has worked exceptionally well, and abovevtt has exactly the integrated tools I want to make things easier (Mainly a good initiative tracker and immediate access to monsters stat block in addition to good lighting tools, fog of war and an easy map importing system). I reward contributions like cooking or being the cartographer with inspiration points since they're putting in extra work and what they do makes the game better for everyone.
I use VTT's for both in person and virtual gaming. In person it serves as a map repository and battle map. For my virtual group the map and discord are the way my friends and i who live is different states and, in some cases, different countries it allows us to reconnect and do something we love.
While I encourage my group to use devices for our rpg sessions, only 1 has refused to do so and still use pen & paper. The other only brings his smartphone with his uploaded character sheet and refuses to bring a laptop to the tabel. If everyone would bring a laptop, I would definitely use a VTT for my D&D battles and scenes.
I always have a laptop with me when I DM. I use D&DB encounters, maps, adventure books, as well as tools on other sites. We always have one other laptop set on the other side of the DM screen with the map open, and players can either reach over and ping where they want to move, or just tell me. We also use devices for character sheets. I've never heard of putting a projector on the ceiling, but it's actually not a terrible idea. The biggest reason we use D&DB for characters is easy access to homebrew and spells. We still use dice for rolling. There is actually a TV right next to the table we usually play at, but we haven't used it for maps just because half the players would have their backs to it.
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I have a few questions:
1) For your in-person sessions, do you ever have players bring devices and have everyone play on the VTT?
2) If the answer is yes, can you give any tips on how to make it successful?
3) If the answer is no, would you ever consider it? Why or why not?
I just started DMing and have been using AboveVTT to manage all the battles, maps, etc. I feel like it works great but just want to get some other perspectives.
I sometimes have one person do this to use Roll20's fog of war. "Here's what you see." It's not the same as a drawn map, but sometimes it's nice for important battles. I set up an extra monitor to do this so everyone can see.
I find that if everybody does this, their noses are in a laptop instead of in the story. One person isn't bad.
If you have the budget, time, resources, and motivation, you could install a projector on the ceiling, or a monitor into the table, so that everyone can see the digital map ON the table. That way, you get fog-of-war and other VTT benefits, but without having to work to keep everyone's attention.
1) Yes i run a game and play in another where we game in person with laptops on Roll20.
2) Its not so much different than playing without a VT, all it does is make visual cues such as maps, miniatures, handouts and dicerolling appear on ascreen. And you can play with a mix of people in person and at distance. I suggest insisting on players not surfing on internet while playing to avoid distractions.
Everyone's own device isn't the preferred solution for me. I prefer to only use VTTs for battlemaps in person. So, I'll either use a monitor or TV with a wireless mouse that can be passed around.
Linking back, the reason for not having people's own individual devices is the same reason we switch off mobile phones during the session...we want as little distractions and want to respect each other during play. That said, I have had sessions where everyone was fortunate enough to have their own tablet and those were used for both the VTT and the character sheets. Being brutal though, a D&D Beyond character sheet generally doesn't help the flow of a session because for in person sessions people like to hold on to the magic of rolling dice.
Took a look at AboveVTT, what I would say is that given that it's locked to a single browser it isn't something I could ever endorse for my players. You're locking them into a browser with laughable privacy controls and policies (chrome) which is a shame because it looks interesting.
Honestly, I'll be sticking with actual character sheets (which become some sort of weird artefact at the end of the campaign...usually I get them framed professionally as a gift to my players) and Owlbear solely for visuals.
All of this though misses the biggest factor...what do your players enjoy about a VTT? If they enjoy physical dice rolls don't take that away. If they enjoy just the battlemap visuals then your set-up would be perfect. Think not about what others do but what works round your table.
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
Actor, Writer, Director & Teacher by day - GM/DM in my off hours.
Our group already uses Beyond for nearly all the dice rolls, so adding a VTT isn't that big of a stretch. We love all the great looking maps and tokens. As a DM, I like being able to easily edit the adventures by finding new maps online and populating them with story content. In my free time I managed to put together about 10 different maps for this island they're going to.
We are using AboveVTT which automatically syncs with beyond Beyond. The players do all their own rolls on Beyond and the information automatically shows up in the VTT. It's super quick and convenient.
Cool, if that works for your group I 100% get that. I guess because I and many of my friends started with physical sheets and dice we have a nostalgia for them.
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
Actor, Writer, Director & Teacher by day - GM/DM in my off hours.
You can go pick up a old flat screen tv for stupid cheap at pretty much any thrift store.
Get one you can lay flat, face up on a table and hook up a laptop to it, and then use your VTT of choice for maps. You can use physical minis on the screen or choose to use the VTT for that interface.
If you use a vtt that handles the d&d system you probably will have to have a players screen as the table screen so the DM stuff can't be seen by everyone.
I recently ran Sunless Citadel from Tales from the Yawning Portal and used MapTool to track travel through the dungeon. I made tokens for the PCs and set up a fog of war in the map. We used it as the battle map with a 36" TV I got for $50 on Facebook Marketplace and put ottoman legs on the back of it to sit on the table.
It was great for remembering where we were between sessions and was easy enough for me to just run two instances of the application on my laptop. I wouldn't use it for EVERY session of DnD, but it works great for extended dungeon crawl-type things or large battles that won't finish in a single session.
My current method is to have one player (lovingly called the cartographer) bring their laptop that I hook that up to a TV which is easily seen by everyone in the room, that way the players see the players version of the map while I run the DMS version of the map on abovevtt. Some of the other players bring their own laptops so that they can move themselves, the others ask me or the cartographer to move their icons where they want to go. For dungeon exploration and larger more complicated battles this has worked exceptionally well, and abovevtt has exactly the integrated tools I want to make things easier (Mainly a good initiative tracker and immediate access to monsters stat block in addition to good lighting tools, fog of war and an easy map importing system). I reward contributions like cooking or being the cartographer with inspiration points since they're putting in extra work and what they do makes the game better for everyone.
I use VTT's for both in person and virtual gaming. In person it serves as a map repository and battle map. For my virtual group the map and discord are the way my friends and i who live is different states and, in some cases, different countries it allows us to reconnect and do something we love.
While I encourage my group to use devices for our rpg sessions, only 1 has refused to do so and still use pen & paper. The other only brings his smartphone with his uploaded character sheet and refuses to bring a laptop to the tabel. If everyone would bring a laptop, I would definitely use a VTT for my D&D battles and scenes.
I always have a laptop with me when I DM. I use D&DB encounters, maps, adventure books, as well as tools on other sites. We always have one other laptop set on the other side of the DM screen with the map open, and players can either reach over and ping where they want to move, or just tell me. We also use devices for character sheets. I've never heard of putting a projector on the ceiling, but it's actually not a terrible idea.
The biggest reason we use D&DB for characters is easy access to homebrew and spells. We still use dice for rolling. There is actually a TV right next to the table we usually play at, but we haven't used it for maps just because half the players would have their backs to it.