Hey, so considering the circumstances, I've been moving my games online now with Roll20, but I'm faced with a completely unfamiliar toolset and I'm looking for advice.
I have faith that the mechanics of Roll20 will click eventually, but it's just not what I'm used to. Describing environments and monster actions feels like I'm talking to myself, I get caught up in elaborate descriptions and feel like I'm boring my players half the time. I can't use my playlists on spotify and I just feel kinda boxed in about the whole thing.
additionally not all my players have webcams, which just increases the disconnect.
Does anyone have any ideas on how to solve these problems? some tips on convenient roll20 functionalities, or ideas to make the game flow better?
I guess I'm not the only one struggling with this, so maybe we can figure something out together :-)
Taking 20 is a really good Youtube channel with lots of videos on how to use Roll20. As for immersion it's a little tough, background music, detailed descriptions and lots of opportunity for the players to interact can help. I almost never run my online sessions with video and haven't found it to be much of an issue.
Truthfully you can just use Roll20 as your "shell" to show where things are on the map for combat/exploration and use DnD Beyond for everything else using the beyond20 chrome extension, it's quite awesome.
My advice is to not use Roll20's video and voice options. Opt for something like Discord to handle voice instead. You can also use Discord's chat functionality as needed. The group I play in use Discord chat to type out of character comments without speaking over each other or disrupting the narrative in the game, post memes and make jokes as the game play unfolds. It shows people are participating, invested and having fun.
Use the chrome browser, the Beyond 20 chrome extension, DnDBeyond character sheets and you can use Roll20 as a shell to show maps and move tokens around.
My own experience has echoed users above. We found the Roll20 chat to be very unstable so we disabled it and used GoToMeeting instead. Zoom is fine or discord. Whatever you want. Since i have a full membership here at D&D Beyond, I just had people install the Beyond20 Chrome plugin and we were able to do nearly all the mechanics through the plugin. We just had to make tokens for each player and that was that. The rest of it was me spending hours and hours by choice setting up maps because i enjoy it so much.
Our group has used Roll20 for many years and as others have pointed out you can use Roll20 as little or as much as you desire.
Mapping: Start with a map, then black it out and reveal parts as the adventure continues. Or even just use it for big battles where character positioning is important. Incorporate the other features when you're comfortable.
Video and voice chat: This has come a long way but we also use hangouts and discord, and all allow for virtual dice rolling. Discord allows you to play music too.
Character sheets: Again you can go all in or not. Our group has character sheets on paper, in Roll20 and in DnDBeyond with Beyond20 integration (and not).
Dice Rolling: Again your call but I would recommend everyone agrees on one method. You can use Roll20, your video/chat solution, or something like https://rolz.org/ which lets you generate a chat room with the ability to "roll" dice.
Roll20 scales with your knowledge, start small and incorporate additional features as you gain confidence. You don't need to use all the features right away or even at all.
None of use use web cams and it generally goes well. I'd suggest running a session then at the end talk to your players to find out what worked and what didn't. Don't try and replicate playing around a table. That's not going to work. Instead, recognize that you're playing online and that it's going to be different. Experiment with different configurations and you'll find something that works for you.
I can only give advice as a player as I have many questions as well. As a player, we use Zoom for video and talking, disabling Roll20's. Roll 20 chat is kept so we can share copy-pasted information in-game. We use Beyond20, which is nearly flawless. Having a large monitor helps as I like to have the map up large (70% of screen.) Zoom about 30%, and my character sheet just behind both or mainly behind Zoom, so I can quickly click between the two...
Specifically at the 2 min and 6 min mark, for easy and pretty seamless ways to share images to your players. It will take time to find artwork that matches what you are describing, but I think it's worth it. Playing online has shifted how I build my homebrew slightly, in that I start by finding some cool pics, then build an encounter around them (or the map). That way, I know I have some multimedia flavor to help descriptions.
my current setup is discord for combat using the avrae bot, dnd beyond for sourcebooks/adventurebooks, and owlbear rodeo for maps. was thinking of moving to roll20 and discord setup. can i access maps and rules from my books from d&d beyond on roll20? a couple of my player are using there phones, is roll20 usable on Android or iPhone? is there another vtt that works better with dndbeyond or discord integration? owlbear works ok, i just have issues with aligning the owlbear grid with the dnd beyond sourcebook map gifs.
my current setup is discord for combat using the avrae bot, dnd beyond for sourcebooks/adventurebooks, and owlbear rodeo for maps. was thinking of moving to roll20 and discord setup. can i access maps and rules from my books from d&d beyond on roll20? a couple of my player are using there phones, is roll20 usable on Android or iPhone? is there another vtt that works better with dndbeyond or discord integration? owlbear works ok, i just have issues with aligning the owlbear grid with the dnd beyond sourcebook map gifs.
Roll20 doesn't work well with mobile, if you have players using only that, I woudn't recommend.
The integration with DnD Beyond is fine, using the chrome plug in Beyond20. The maps are fairly easily input on Roll20, but it is not automatic, it requires some legwork (You need to download them from Beyond, upload them on the Roll20 game and align the grid). For Mobile, I honestly don't know any good VTT - generally people do Theater of Mind or use the setup you are currently using for that.
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Hey, so considering the circumstances, I've been moving my games online now with Roll20, but I'm faced with a completely unfamiliar toolset and I'm looking for advice.
I have faith that the mechanics of Roll20 will click eventually, but it's just not what I'm used to. Describing environments and monster actions feels like I'm talking to myself, I get caught up in elaborate descriptions and feel like I'm boring my players half the time. I can't use my playlists on spotify and I just feel kinda boxed in about the whole thing.
additionally not all my players have webcams, which just increases the disconnect.
Does anyone have any ideas on how to solve these problems? some tips on convenient roll20 functionalities, or ideas to make the game flow better?
I guess I'm not the only one struggling with this, so maybe we can figure something out together :-)
Taking 20 is a really good Youtube channel with lots of videos on how to use Roll20. As for immersion it's a little tough, background music, detailed descriptions and lots of opportunity for the players to interact can help. I almost never run my online sessions with video and haven't found it to be much of an issue.
Truthfully you can just use Roll20 as your "shell" to show where things are on the map for combat/exploration and use DnD Beyond for everything else using the beyond20 chrome extension, it's quite awesome.
Stalking this for Roll20 input as well.
My advice is to not use Roll20's video and voice options. Opt for something like Discord to handle voice instead. You can also use Discord's chat functionality as needed. The group I play in use Discord chat to type out of character comments without speaking over each other or disrupting the narrative in the game, post memes and make jokes as the game play unfolds. It shows people are participating, invested and having fun.
Use the chrome browser, the Beyond 20 chrome extension, DnDBeyond character sheets and you can use Roll20 as a shell to show maps and move tokens around.
My own experience has echoed users above. We found the Roll20 chat to be very unstable so we disabled it and used GoToMeeting instead. Zoom is fine or discord. Whatever you want. Since i have a full membership here at D&D Beyond, I just had people install the Beyond20 Chrome plugin and we were able to do nearly all the mechanics through the plugin. We just had to make tokens for each player and that was that. The rest of it was me spending hours and hours by choice setting up maps because i enjoy it so much.
"Not all those who wander are lost"
Our group has used Roll20 for many years and as others have pointed out you can use Roll20 as little or as much as you desire.
Mapping: Start with a map, then black it out and reveal parts as the adventure continues. Or even just use it for big battles where character positioning is important. Incorporate the other features when you're comfortable.
Video and voice chat: This has come a long way but we also use hangouts and discord, and all allow for virtual dice rolling. Discord allows you to play music too.
Character sheets: Again you can go all in or not. Our group has character sheets on paper, in Roll20 and in DnDBeyond with Beyond20 integration (and not).
Dice Rolling: Again your call but I would recommend everyone agrees on one method. You can use Roll20, your video/chat solution, or something like https://rolz.org/ which lets you generate a chat room with the ability to "roll" dice.
Roll20 scales with your knowledge, start small and incorporate additional features as you gain confidence. You don't need to use all the features right away or even at all.
None of use use web cams and it generally goes well. I'd suggest running a session then at the end talk to your players to find out what worked and what didn't. Don't try and replicate playing around a table. That's not going to work. Instead, recognize that you're playing online and that it's going to be different. Experiment with different configurations and you'll find something that works for you.
I can only give advice as a player as I have many questions as well. As a player, we use Zoom for video and talking, disabling Roll20's. Roll 20 chat is kept so we can share copy-pasted information in-game. We use Beyond20, which is nearly flawless. Having a large monitor helps as I like to have the map up large (70% of screen.) Zoom about 30%, and my character sheet just behind both or mainly behind Zoom, so I can quickly click between the two...
For your tips on convenient Roll20 functionalities, check out this video: https://youtu.be/sjbgkCDCW88
Specifically at the 2 min and 6 min mark, for easy and pretty seamless ways to share images to your players. It will take time to find artwork that matches what you are describing, but I think it's worth it. Playing online has shifted how I build my homebrew slightly, in that I start by finding some cool pics, then build an encounter around them (or the map). That way, I know I have some multimedia flavor to help descriptions.
my current setup is discord for combat using the avrae bot, dnd beyond for sourcebooks/adventurebooks, and owlbear rodeo for maps. was thinking of moving to roll20 and discord setup. can i access maps and rules from my books from d&d beyond on roll20? a couple of my player are using there phones, is roll20 usable on Android or iPhone? is there another vtt that works better with dndbeyond or discord integration? owlbear works ok, i just have issues with aligning the owlbear grid with the dnd beyond sourcebook map gifs.
Roll20 doesn't work well with mobile, if you have players using only that, I woudn't recommend.
The integration with DnD Beyond is fine, using the chrome plug in Beyond20. The maps are fairly easily input on Roll20, but it is not automatic, it requires some legwork (You need to download them from Beyond, upload them on the Roll20 game and align the grid).
For Mobile, I honestly don't know any good VTT - generally people do Theater of Mind or use the setup you are currently using for that.