I play online regularly. You'll want to focus on that magical friendship connection before the D&D connection first. Find or host a game with clear intentions and structure, so that you know what you are getting involved with. Find players who match a similar play style, attitude, and skill level as you. Get to know these people and have conversations with them; make friends. Once you aren't a group of random strangers, you'll be able to enjoy a richer experience in-game.
Take a look through the Play-by-Post board on this forum, you'll begin to see the differences between spontaneous games, and pre-planned ones. Shop around before you commit.
The medium you which to play on will also make a difference. You can play via forum posting, or perhaps graphical interfaces and voice chat, such as Roll20, Fantasy Grounds, Tabletop Simulator, etc. I've frequently played through a few different varieties while lounging on Discord for voice chatting.
Key has always been group cohesion above matching interests. Even in disparate parties, different types of players complement each other.
As they mentioned above: shop around and talk with strangers sitting in the (virtual) tables. ;)
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In the Light, we gather to empower our brother. In its grace, he will be made anew. In its power, he shall educate the masses. In its strength, he shall combat the shadow. And, in its wisdom, he shall lead his brethren to the eternal rewards of paradise.
If you are the DM make sure you are prepared, that includes testing the communication interface. Whatever system you are using set up a test session ahead of time to make sure your voice chat feature works. Also make sure all of your planning, maps, encounters are done ahead of time so the players aren't sitting idle. Can be very frustrating as a player when your DM is not prepared, can also be stressful as a DM if you have to make up too much on the fly stuff.
I've played a lot of Play by Post in my time, and the biggest thing is that unless you get a group you know very well, you're going to end up with a lot of people dropping. It happens. Play-by-post is low-effort, which makes it very attractive, but at the same time make it tough to retain players. If one player stops posting for a day or two because they got busy, another player might be waiting on them to post, and then suddenly you game grinds to a halt.
I've played a lot of Play by Post in my time, and the biggest thing is that unless you get a group you know very well, you're going to end up with a lot of people dropping. It happens. Play-by-post is low-effort, which makes it very attractive, but at the same time make it tough to retain players. If one player stops posting for a day or two because they got busy, another player might be waiting on them to post, and then suddenly you game grinds to a halt.
To this day, this is the highest challenge of PBP and PBM(ail).
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In the Light, we gather to empower our brother. In its grace, he will be made anew. In its power, he shall educate the masses. In its strength, he shall combat the shadow. And, in its wisdom, he shall lead his brethren to the eternal rewards of paradise.
I'm learning to use Roll20 now. It seems pretty cool, though less aesthetically pleasing than Fantasy Grounds. Unfortunately FG is hecka expensive at the moment and seems to have a much, much steeper learning curve.
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DM: The Cult of the Crystal Spider (Currently playing Storm King's Thunder) Player: The Knuckles of Arth - Lemire (Tiefling Rogue 5/Fighter 1)
I have only ever played online through Roll20. Much like in a table top setting it comes down to basically finding the right group. I was part of two different groups when I started. One I have stayed with and I could never see myself not playing with that group of people. They are super supportive and after our second session you could just tell that it was a good fit. We have players from three different countries in the group and it is just awesome.
That other group I mentioned..not so much fun. I could tell that it was a different vibe right from the start. Just not the kind of group I was going to feel comfortable playing with. I ended up leaving that group after the DM pitted the players against each other several times.
The main core group I play with has become a big part of my week. We have been playing for maybe 7-8 months now but it feels like we have known each other for ages. Sometimes you just get super lucky and fall in with a group of players like that. Honestly I am glad I met that group first. I would have probably given up and been turned off DnD after how the experience with the second group went.
So I guess it comes down to doing the leg work. Go through the forums over there. Talk to the people that have the listings and find someone you feel comfortable with.
I'm trying to find a few One-Shots to get my feet wet in it, before maybe finding a regular game.
There seems like there could be a lot of advantages to an online game, as long as people stay relatively focused. That's not an issue exclusive to online, in a meat-space game 1 player or another is on Facebook or Fire Emblem Heroes.
Anybody have tips for starting online play? How has it gone? I'm worried that magical D&D connection between players if it's online
I play online regularly. You'll want to focus on that magical friendship connection before the D&D connection first. Find or host a game with clear intentions and structure, so that you know what you are getting involved with. Find players who match a similar play style, attitude, and skill level as you. Get to know these people and have conversations with them; make friends. Once you aren't a group of random strangers, you'll be able to enjoy a richer experience in-game.
Take a look through the Play-by-Post board on this forum, you'll begin to see the differences between spontaneous games, and pre-planned ones. Shop around before you commit.
The medium you which to play on will also make a difference. You can play via forum posting, or perhaps graphical interfaces and voice chat, such as Roll20, Fantasy Grounds, Tabletop Simulator, etc. I've frequently played through a few different varieties while lounging on Discord for voice chatting.
I'm just recently getting into online play that isn't just forum posting. Gonna be setting up something nice using Roll20 :)
Fantasy ground is really well done. Maybe a bit expensive but you really enjoy playing.
Key has always been group cohesion above matching interests. Even in disparate parties, different types of players complement each other.
As they mentioned above: shop around and talk with strangers sitting in the (virtual) tables. ;)
In the Light, we gather to empower our brother. In its grace, he will be made anew. In its power, he shall educate the masses. In its strength, he shall combat the shadow. And, in its wisdom, he shall lead his brethren to the eternal rewards of paradise.
If you are the DM make sure you are prepared, that includes testing the communication interface. Whatever system you are using set up a test session ahead of time to make sure your voice chat feature works. Also make sure all of your planning, maps, encounters are done ahead of time so the players aren't sitting idle. Can be very frustrating as a player when your DM is not prepared, can also be stressful as a DM if you have to make up too much on the fly stuff.
I've played a lot of Play by Post in my time, and the biggest thing is that unless you get a group you know very well, you're going to end up with a lot of people dropping. It happens. Play-by-post is low-effort, which makes it very attractive, but at the same time make it tough to retain players. If one player stops posting for a day or two because they got busy, another player might be waiting on them to post, and then suddenly you game grinds to a halt.
In the Light, we gather to empower our brother. In its grace, he will be made anew. In its power, he shall educate the masses. In its strength, he shall combat the shadow. And, in its wisdom, he shall lead his brethren to the eternal rewards of paradise.
Roll20 has been especially good for new players. There are a lot of great features, and you can talk instead of type, if that helps.
I'm learning to use Roll20 now. It seems pretty cool, though less aesthetically pleasing than Fantasy Grounds. Unfortunately FG is hecka expensive at the moment and seems to have a much, much steeper learning curve.
DM: The Cult of the Crystal Spider (Currently playing Storm King's Thunder)
Player: The Knuckles of Arth - Lemire (Tiefling Rogue 5/Fighter 1)
I have only ever played online through Roll20. Much like in a table top setting it comes down to basically finding the right group. I was part of two different groups when I started. One I have stayed with and I could never see myself not playing with that group of people. They are super supportive and after our second session you could just tell that it was a good fit. We have players from three different countries in the group and it is just awesome.
That other group I mentioned..not so much fun. I could tell that it was a different vibe right from the start. Just not the kind of group I was going to feel comfortable playing with. I ended up leaving that group after the DM pitted the players against each other several times.
The main core group I play with has become a big part of my week. We have been playing for maybe 7-8 months now but it feels like we have known each other for ages. Sometimes you just get super lucky and fall in with a group of players like that. Honestly I am glad I met that group first. I would have probably given up and been turned off DnD after how the experience with the second group went.
So I guess it comes down to doing the leg work. Go through the forums over there. Talk to the people that have the listings and find someone you feel comfortable with.
I actually just joined Roll20.
I'm trying to find a few One-Shots to get my feet wet in it, before maybe finding a regular game.
There seems like there could be a lot of advantages to an online game, as long as people stay relatively focused. That's not an issue exclusive to online, in a meat-space game 1 player or another is on Facebook or Fire Emblem Heroes.
I've signed up to Roll20, but it's hard to find a game that will fit into my time zone (GMT +12, I'm basically from the future)