I want to start a campaign online with friends that are out of state but I'd like some input about the different platforms to do so. I know there is Roll20 and Fantasy Grounds, but I also know people use free services like Discord and Skype often. What do you all think are the pros and cons of each, and what would you prefer?
I've run sessions using Skype, which worked fine, as there wasn't much visual needed. We don't play with grids and minis etc. Made it a little hard to sketch out features of dungeons etc, but we worked around it. Be prepared for lots of narrative, and make sure you've got a good connection.
I've also used Roll20, which has plenty of features specifically for D&D, and is designed specifically for this type of thing. Combined with D&DBeyond, that's probably going to be your best all round solution.
I have zero experience with Fantasy Grounds, but I know of a few people who use it. They say it's a pretty good solution, albeit with a fairly steep learning curve and quite a lot of prep required.
If you want an 'authentic' experience, you could consider something like Tabletop Simulator. Which essentially gives you a virtual table to play on. Might be a bit fiddly, and would need a bit of work to get all of your D&D bits and pieces in there, but would probably be closest to actually sitting at a table with pen and paper, etc. I have a fellow DM who swears by it, and he's been using it for years. I could probably dig out some great resources if you wanted to explore that option.
Safest bet though? Roll20. It's super popular for a reason.
I always use Discord for voice comms, as the whole channel set-up means it's super easy if the DM needs to talk to a player without others knowing - I don't recommend doing this regularly though unless you want your players to become paranoid. ;)
The free version of Roll20 provides everything you need to share a map and move tokens around it, but make sure you set aside some time to learn how to use it, as it's not the most intuitive system. It also has digital dice rolling and macros built in, so you can easily run the campaign and characters on D&D Beyond, but use Roll20 for maps and dice rolling.
Disclaimer: This signature is a badge of membership in the Forum Loudmouth Club. We are all friends. We are not attacking each other. We are engaging in spirited, friendly debate with one another. We may get snarky, but these are not attacks. Thank you for not reporting us.
I use Discord, my party has 9 players and it is working pretty well, all that is needed is a bit of coordination or organization with your party, and then it's all fine.
I have zero experience with Fantasy Grounds, but I know of a few people who use it. They say it's a pretty good solution, albeit with a fairly steep learning curve and quite a lot of prep required.
I used Roll20 for a couple of years and had great success with that. Then my players kept having unexpected technical issues with it (coulda been them; coulda not). So we migrated over to Fantasy Grounds.
My experience with FG has been excellent. On par with Roll20, they're just good at different things.
The reason I quoted you was the "quite a lot of prep required" portion. I found, in my experience, that my prep was no more than when I used Roll20, but just in different areas. If that makes sense. FG does have a steeper learning curve if the users stay with the base version of both VTT, but once you start into all the Roll20 APIs, Dynamic Lighting, and such, Roll20s learning curve can reeeeally get steep for the non-computer adepts like myself. Worse even than FG.
So, to go back to the OP. Both Roll20 and FG are excellent, but both will have a learning curve once you start using all the bells and whistles. Do NOT use the built in voice of Roll20's. OMG. That was the root of the Evil that plagued us. Also, DISABLE the automatic updates to your player sheets, etc. It can be quite easy to get back on Roll20 and find all your custom stuff no longer works.
I find that FG is easier to use than Roll20. But that just may because I haven't used Roll20 in about 8 years and have used FG fairly regularly during those years ... soooo... Heh.
Just throwing another suggestion in for Roll20 and Discord. Roll20 is great and you can get up and running really quickly, but if you like fiddling with things, you can really make a game 'pop' , if you have the time to sink into it. Check out the Beyond20 extension for integrating D&D Beyond with Roll20 really easily.
There is an extension for Google chrome (might be a firefox version) called Beyond20 that will let you do your rolls and stats based off of your dndbeyond sheet and stats.
I use that and Discord for our Friday night church game of dnd for the players who cant make it to the chapel kitchen.
3. , VTT Assets, which also allows you to instantly transfer dndbeyond character sheets and monsters into the game with a click of a button. https://www.patreon.com/vttassets/posts
Reasonably low memory and network requirements (notably lower than Fantasy Grounds - I'm looking at you: new player initial load-in)
UI not bound by clunky single window interface (again, an issue with Fantasy Grounds on a 15" or smaller laptop)
Meh:
Fairly decent scripting (very similar to JS), with good online documentation and forum support, though can be intimidating for the uninitiated
Like Fantasy Grounds, you still need to poke a hole through your Firewall (the DM has to port forward, and get Windows to stop removing it from Windows Defender white-list every time there is an update to Windows 10)
Cons:
No pre-built option to use a 5e framework, no option to even buy this, you have to build all rules into the program
Must use Discord/Hangouts/Skype/Whereby/etc... for audio and video chat (text chat is built-in)
Maptools + DnDBeyond (for character sheets) + Whereby (video/audio) has served us well for many years. Just my 2 cents.
A less known way that is rapidly growing in popularity is what I have been using lately, a combination of:
1. Foundry VTT, right now in beta, has many people who are migrating over (mostly from Roll20). https://foundryvtt.com/
Tell me about this, if you don't mind. I've used FG and Roll20, but this looks very, very interesting. How is this working for you?
Once I got the hang of it, it works well enough to run a game just fine. Since it is still in beta, there are releases (about 1 to 2 times per month) that some of the mods will need to be updated to catch up.
The main thing that got me hooked was the ability to use dndbeyond with it. With the virtual tabletop assets mod, which uses Google chrome extension, I can pull up any item or monster and click a button and have it automatically added to the game's compendium, ready to use. My characters are able to fully use their dndbeyond character sheet with the game as well, including levelling up and making changes on the fly. And if you are of a developer mindset, the system allows you to be able to create your own mods for other to use, which many have already done. Once the game is released, only the DM will need to purchase the download, and everyone else can join via the internet for free.
There is a very very dedicated discord channel with others there with way more know how about the in's and out's of the game than I have, if you want to check it out. I will send you the link via personal message.
I want to start a campaign online with friends that are out of state but I'd like some input about the different platforms to do so. I know there is Roll20 and Fantasy Grounds, but I also know people use free services like Discord and Skype often. What do you all think are the pros and cons of each, and what would you prefer?
I've run sessions using Skype, which worked fine, as there wasn't much visual needed. We don't play with grids and minis etc. Made it a little hard to sketch out features of dungeons etc, but we worked around it. Be prepared for lots of narrative, and make sure you've got a good connection.
I've also used Roll20, which has plenty of features specifically for D&D, and is designed specifically for this type of thing. Combined with D&DBeyond, that's probably going to be your best all round solution.
I have zero experience with Fantasy Grounds, but I know of a few people who use it. They say it's a pretty good solution, albeit with a fairly steep learning curve and quite a lot of prep required.
If you want an 'authentic' experience, you could consider something like Tabletop Simulator. Which essentially gives you a virtual table to play on. Might be a bit fiddly, and would need a bit of work to get all of your D&D bits and pieces in there, but would probably be closest to actually sitting at a table with pen and paper, etc. I have a fellow DM who swears by it, and he's been using it for years. I could probably dig out some great resources if you wanted to explore that option.
Safest bet though? Roll20. It's super popular for a reason.
-
View User Profile
-
View Posts
-
Send Message
D&D Beyond FoundersI always use Discord for voice comms, as the whole channel set-up means it's super easy if the DM needs to talk to a player without others knowing - I don't recommend doing this regularly though unless you want your players to become paranoid. ;)
The free version of Roll20 provides everything you need to share a map and move tokens around it, but make sure you set aside some time to learn how to use it, as it's not the most intuitive system. It also has digital dice rolling and macros built in, so you can easily run the campaign and characters on D&D Beyond, but use Roll20 for maps and dice rolling.
Pun-loving nerd | Faith Elisabeth Lilley | She/Her/Hers | Profile art by Becca Golins
If you need help with homebrew, please post on the homebrew forums, where multiple staff and moderators can read your post and help you!
"We got this, no problem! I'll take the twenty on the left - you guys handle the one on the right!"🔊
I don't run an online session, but I play in one.
The DM is using Roll20 ( free version ) and Google Hangouts.
Seems to work pretty well.
My DM Philosophy, as summed up by other people: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rN5w4-azTq3Kbn0Yvk9nfqQhwQ1R5by1/view
Disclaimer: This signature is a badge of membership in the Forum Loudmouth Club. We are all friends. We are not attacking each other. We are engaging in spirited, friendly debate with one another. We may get snarky, but these are not attacks. Thank you for not reporting us.
I use Discord, my party has 9 players and it is working pretty well, all that is needed is a bit of coordination or organization with your party, and then it's all fine.
I used Roll20 for a couple of years and had great success with that. Then my players kept having unexpected technical issues with it (coulda been them; coulda not). So we migrated over to Fantasy Grounds.
My experience with FG has been excellent. On par with Roll20, they're just good at different things.
The reason I quoted you was the "quite a lot of prep required" portion. I found, in my experience, that my prep was no more than when I used Roll20, but just in different areas. If that makes sense. FG does have a steeper learning curve if the users stay with the base version of both VTT, but once you start into all the Roll20 APIs, Dynamic Lighting, and such, Roll20s learning curve can reeeeally get steep for the non-computer adepts like myself. Worse even than FG.
So, to go back to the OP. Both Roll20 and FG are excellent, but both will have a learning curve once you start using all the bells and whistles. Do NOT use the built in voice of Roll20's. OMG. That was the root of the Evil that plagued us. Also, DISABLE the automatic updates to your player sheets, etc. It can be quite easy to get back on Roll20 and find all your custom stuff no longer works.
I find that FG is easier to use than Roll20. But that just may because I haven't used Roll20 in about 8 years and have used FG fairly regularly during those years ... soooo... Heh.
--Everything I do is a work of Art.
Art the Rat Bastard DM
Just throwing another suggestion in for Roll20 and Discord. Roll20 is great and you can get up and running really quickly, but if you like fiddling with things, you can really make a game 'pop' , if you have the time to sink into it. Check out the Beyond20 extension for integrating D&D Beyond with Roll20 really easily.
I got on and played a bit with Roll20 this morning. Things have definitely improved!
--Everything I do is a work of Art.
Art the Rat Bastard DM
There is an extension for Google chrome (might be a firefox version) called Beyond20 that will let you do your rolls and stats based off of your dndbeyond sheet and stats.
I use that and Discord for our Friday night church game of dnd for the players who cant make it to the chapel kitchen.
A less known way that is rapidly growing in popularity is what I have been using lately, a combination of:
1. Foundry VTT, right now in beta, has many people who are migrating over (mostly from Roll20). https://foundryvtt.com/
2. Beyond 20, which works in concert with Foundry VTT to handle dice rolls. https://beyond20.here-for-more.info/
3. , VTT Assets, which also allows you to instantly transfer dndbeyond character sheets and monsters into the game with a click of a button. https://www.patreon.com/vttassets/posts
Tell me about this, if you don't mind. I've used FG and Roll20, but this looks very, very interesting. How is this working for you?
--Everything I do is a work of Art.
Art the Rat Bastard DM
MapTools has been my group's go-to.
Pros:
Meh:
Cons:
Maptools + DnDBeyond (for character sheets) + Whereby (video/audio) has served us well for many years. Just my 2 cents.
Once I got the hang of it, it works well enough to run a game just fine. Since it is still in beta, there are releases (about 1 to 2 times per month) that some of the mods will need to be updated to catch up.
The main thing that got me hooked was the ability to use dndbeyond with it. With the virtual tabletop assets mod, which uses Google chrome extension, I can pull up any item or monster and click a button and have it automatically added to the game's compendium, ready to use. My characters are able to fully use their dndbeyond character sheet with the game as well, including levelling up and making changes on the fly. And if you are of a developer mindset, the system allows you to be able to create your own mods for other to use, which many have already done. Once the game is released, only the DM will need to purchase the download, and everyone else can join via the internet for free.
There is a very very dedicated discord channel with others there with way more know how about the in's and out's of the game than I have, if you want to check it out. I will send you the link via personal message.