Hi everyone! I am doing a survey so I wanted to know what apps DMs use when making and playing campaigns? Is there an app out there that lets you track characters, as well as helps set the setting via ambience noises? Or do you use a lot of different apps?
I purchased a lot of content here on DNDB and then got a subscription so I could share content. A couple of my players already had content that I didn't buy and it is shared with the group. I didn't know it would that.
We had already been playing for about 18 sessions and I simply had them log into DNDB and reproduce their characters. Most of them still print them out and bring them.
I started the party at level 1 and everyone advances at the same time and stays the same level. I have a good group and I trust them to not fudge with their characters. And one of my players is really good and can tell if a character is built wrong. DNDB solved the issues with properly building and advancing characters.
For music and ambient sounds I use the built in ones on Roll20 if playing online, and for in person games I use the DnDify app. It's great if you have a Spotify account, and recent upgrades appear to make it work with Youtube also. The music and sounds are sorted very well for various occasions.
These are all amazing! Thanks to the initiative tracking beta I have been able to cut back on using 3rd party apps and sites, but I do have a couple of sites that I want to showcase.
I am about to start using Astral Tabletop. But I have not actually used it in a session yet so I can't say how it will go. Why are we using it? Right now Astral is giving full access to the paid/pro version for free until end of April. So this is our chance to try the full version and see if we like it.
We also use Zoom for chatting and seeing each other.
And D&D beyond for character sheets, and I also use the encounter builder and combat tracker here.
We roll our own physical dice -- I'm fairly adamant about that. I like rolling dice. Though if people prefer using the clickable dice in Astral I would not prevent them.
I use Dungeon Painter Studio (available on Steam) to make a lot of the dungeon maps... And Wonderdraft to make world maps.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
I use Google Docs to keep any notes I need. Encounters get built with links to the relevant monster pages here on D&DBeyond.
To run combat, I track initiative and HP on a notepad - haven't found a digital tool that's faster. I jut pop open tabs to all the monster sheets here and flip back and forth.
I use Roll20 for a virtual tabletop and Beyond20 browser extension so players can roll easily.
Discord handles audio for the session. Roll20's stuff always crashes for me.
I don't bother with ambient audio when playing online - it's already hard enough to hear everyone.
I just picked up ArkenForge for making maps. I'll probably shift to it for a live VTT when we get back to playing in person.
Haven’t seen it called out yet, but OneNote is my go to for world building and note talking. Create my NPCs and Encounters here but link to them from OneNote for ready access.
Inaddition, as someone already said, Wonderdraft for landscape maps and I am toying with their new Dungeondraft as well.
For game play itself, usually DDB and an actual tabletop for maps, dice, etc. During Shelter-in-place, DDB, discord for voice and Roll20 for tabletop and dice.
For prep and/or homebrew, I've used World Anvil, and that has some cool features, but I've found that almost everything I needed I felt more comfortable just using Google Docs. I've also used Wonderdraft for world maps, which is okay but limited. https://www.vulgarlang.com/ is great for generating a language for homebrew should you want to go that deep.
Edit: I almost forgot, this cheat sheet and dice roller thing I made last year: http://shmurp.com/ (mostly for when I need to make rolls I don't want players to hear)
Over the years, I've tried many things. Not only is 5E a good edition to be playing, but the tools that are available now are mind blowing.
As a DM, for prep I use Inkarnate and WorldAnvil (still getting the feel for this website... so many tools that you can get lost... it is on par with Roll20 for learning curve). And though I'm getting better at making maps in Inkarnate, I'm just as likely to use one that I can find online as I am to actually finishing a map. The learning curve is easy, the desire for perfection in my own artwork is a limiting factor... but soon...
I am a Legendary bundle owner on DNDBeyond and I use a lot of tools there. From Sharing to 5 campaigns to using the Encounter builder more and more. Once I realized the depth of the integration with Roll20 that Beyond20 allowed, I've cut out several other programs and a lot of time in Roll20. Now, I roll dice straight into the tabletop from DNDBeyond... both characters (villains and players) and monsters out of the Encounter builder. I selectively homebrew... primarily items to make the world better for my campaigns. I do prep my Encounters in Roll20 as much as possible too. I'll add HP and AC to the monsters before I hide them on the GM Layer. That way when I drop them in on initiative order, I don't have to keep that on scratchpaper or something else... it is right there on the token. I also let Encounter Builder auto-roll initiative and assign it to them as I bring them in. And if I have too many monsters, I'll start naming them. It's funny to watch your players choose a target based off of the more aggressive name versus the "cute" name, even though they are the same stats. And I prefer it to Orc A, Wolf 2, etc. It also spreads up the chance of the enemy / party attacks across the initiative order during play (and if you kill a token off, you don't have to remember the number that all the Orc B-Team or Wolves are on). In actual tabletop play, I don't know that I will keep doing that, but during this Online phase, I will...
I still write too much in Notes / Notepad. I intend to use Obsidian Portal and WorldAnvil to build in... but I find that I now use Obsidian Portal more for doing Adventure Logs as a Player in my campaigns than I do in planning out campaigns. I've put a lot of specific data into WorldAnvil, especially for places and linking locations together. I still struggle with doing Encounters there though. So... in the end, a lot of my sequencing to get to and from encounters and the in-betweens ends up being in Notes / Notepad.
I used to have a different binder / spiral for every campaign (player or DM), but, I have gradually replaced that in time with all electronic tools. The only thing I miss currently is rolling dice at the table (I have way too many), but when we are all playing Online... I do find that when we all use the integrated dice tools (especially rolling straight from the Character Sheet in DNDBeyond into the tabletop (Roll20)) that combat is significantly speeded up and more of the odd modifiers are used than forgotten like we would at the table.
For Music, I mix Amazon music (Thanks Prime) and long play Ambient tracks from YouTube. I need to spend more intentional time here... but I'll get caught up in writing story and forget about the music.
For the actual play of the game we use Roll20 (with cameras turned on in a couple of campaigns so we can make gestures and smile at each other... but turned off in at least one because video is a bandwidth hog) for Maps, Tokens and effects on my left (largest) monitor. We use Discord for voice communications and for spamming GIFs at other players (if you are the DM, you learn quickly to avoid the discord chat) on my laptop in the middle. And DNDBeyond on my right monitor. So the right monitor has each character of the Campaign pulled up, the Encounter builder and either WorldAnvil or Notes (depending on where relevant detail currently resides for this campaign). I need to move my WorldAnvil to the left monitor, but I keep forgetting to. I tend to keep Notes up in the middle (on the top of Discord... and positioned so I can see the speakers but not the chat) and use it to keep any extra notes to myself for the parts that have to be made up on the fly.
Hi everyone! I am doing a survey so I wanted to know what apps DMs use when making and playing campaigns? Is there an app out there that lets you track characters, as well as helps set the setting via ambience noises? Or do you use a lot of different apps?
I do either manual or DnDBeyond for character tracking and monsters, but for world/city building and combat maps I do use a few websites.
Multi-purpose fantasy elements generator: https://donjon.bin.sh/
Token maker: http://rolladvantage.com/tokenstamp/
City map maker: https://watabou.itch.io/medieval-fantasy-city-generator
Short dungeon maker: https://watabou.itch.io/one-page-dungeon
Just dndbeyond and pencil and paper. YouTube for music, yes the ads ruin the immersion lol might get Adblock just for that.
I use Encounter + (iOS only) and DnD Beyond.
DnD Beyond and Kobold Fight Club. If we're going online then Roll20 and Discord for the VTT but everything else is through Dnd Beyond.
I purchased a lot of content here on DNDB and then got a subscription so I could share content. A couple of my players already had content that I didn't buy and it is shared with the group. I didn't know it would that.
We had already been playing for about 18 sessions and I simply had them log into DNDB and reproduce their characters. Most of them still print them out and bring them.
I started the party at level 1 and everyone advances at the same time and stays the same level. I have a good group and I trust them to not fudge with their characters. And one of my players is really good and can tell if a character is built wrong. DNDB solved the issues with properly building and advancing characters.
For music and ambient sounds I use the built in ones on Roll20 if playing online, and for in person games I use the DnDify app. It's great if you have a Spotify account, and recent upgrades appear to make it work with Youtube also. The music and sounds are sorted very well for various occasions.
These are all amazing! Thanks to the initiative tracking beta I have been able to cut back on using 3rd party apps and sites, but I do have a couple of sites that I want to showcase.
Rules Quick Reference: https://crobi.github.io/dnd5e-quickref/preview/quickref.html
Faerun Map Tool: http://loremaps.azurewebsites.net/Maps/Faerun
Sound Board with Ambient Music: https://tabletopaudio.com/soundpad.html
Digital Battlemat with Ambient sound built-in: https://www.patreon.com/dynamicdungeons
Using two apps. Discord for voice and a program I wrote to do everything else. Makes it all nice and clean on the desktop.
This is also a big help, especially if you need something fast:
https://donjon.bin.sh/
Also has a dungeon maker and stocks it with monsters appropriate for your party's levels and numbers.
I am about to start using Astral Tabletop. But I have not actually used it in a session yet so I can't say how it will go. Why are we using it? Right now Astral is giving full access to the paid/pro version for free until end of April. So this is our chance to try the full version and see if we like it.
We also use Zoom for chatting and seeing each other.
And D&D beyond for character sheets, and I also use the encounter builder and combat tracker here.
We roll our own physical dice -- I'm fairly adamant about that. I like rolling dice. Though if people prefer using the clickable dice in Astral I would not prevent them.
I use Dungeon Painter Studio (available on Steam) to make a lot of the dungeon maps... And Wonderdraft to make world maps.
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
I use Google Docs to keep any notes I need. Encounters get built with links to the relevant monster pages here on D&DBeyond.
To run combat, I track initiative and HP on a notepad - haven't found a digital tool that's faster. I jut pop open tabs to all the monster sheets here and flip back and forth.
I use Roll20 for a virtual tabletop and Beyond20 browser extension so players can roll easily.
Discord handles audio for the session. Roll20's stuff always crashes for me.
I don't bother with ambient audio when playing online - it's already hard enough to hear everyone.
I just picked up ArkenForge for making maps. I'll probably shift to it for a live VTT when we get back to playing in person.
Haven’t seen it called out yet, but OneNote is my go to for world building and note talking. Create my NPCs and Encounters here but link to them from OneNote for ready access.
Inaddition, as someone already said, Wonderdraft for landscape maps and I am toying with their new Dungeondraft as well.
For game play itself, usually DDB and an actual tabletop for maps, dice, etc. During Shelter-in-place, DDB, discord for voice and Roll20 for tabletop and dice.
For prep and/or homebrew, I've used World Anvil, and that has some cool features, but I've found that almost everything I needed I felt more comfortable just using Google Docs. I've also used Wonderdraft for world maps, which is okay but limited. https://www.vulgarlang.com/ is great for generating a language for homebrew should you want to go that deep.
Edit: I almost forgot, this cheat sheet and dice roller thing I made last year: http://shmurp.com/ (mostly for when I need to make rolls I don't want players to hear)
Character building and tracking : D&D Beyond
Tabletop : Roll20
Voice and chat between players : Discord
Recording : OBS
Sounds : Syrinscape
World building and session planning : OneNote
Over the years, I've tried many things. Not only is 5E a good edition to be playing, but the tools that are available now are mind blowing.
As a DM, for prep I use Inkarnate and WorldAnvil (still getting the feel for this website... so many tools that you can get lost... it is on par with Roll20 for learning curve). And though I'm getting better at making maps in Inkarnate, I'm just as likely to use one that I can find online as I am to actually finishing a map. The learning curve is easy, the desire for perfection in my own artwork is a limiting factor... but soon...
I am a Legendary bundle owner on DNDBeyond and I use a lot of tools there. From Sharing to 5 campaigns to using the Encounter builder more and more. Once I realized the depth of the integration with Roll20 that Beyond20 allowed, I've cut out several other programs and a lot of time in Roll20. Now, I roll dice straight into the tabletop from DNDBeyond... both characters (villains and players) and monsters out of the Encounter builder. I selectively homebrew... primarily items to make the world better for my campaigns. I do prep my Encounters in Roll20 as much as possible too. I'll add HP and AC to the monsters before I hide them on the GM Layer. That way when I drop them in on initiative order, I don't have to keep that on scratchpaper or something else... it is right there on the token. I also let Encounter Builder auto-roll initiative and assign it to them as I bring them in. And if I have too many monsters, I'll start naming them. It's funny to watch your players choose a target based off of the more aggressive name versus the "cute" name, even though they are the same stats. And I prefer it to Orc A, Wolf 2, etc. It also spreads up the chance of the enemy / party attacks across the initiative order during play (and if you kill a token off, you don't have to remember the number that all the Orc B-Team or Wolves are on). In actual tabletop play, I don't know that I will keep doing that, but during this Online phase, I will...
I still write too much in Notes / Notepad. I intend to use Obsidian Portal and WorldAnvil to build in... but I find that I now use Obsidian Portal more for doing Adventure Logs as a Player in my campaigns than I do in planning out campaigns. I've put a lot of specific data into WorldAnvil, especially for places and linking locations together. I still struggle with doing Encounters there though. So... in the end, a lot of my sequencing to get to and from encounters and the in-betweens ends up being in Notes / Notepad.
I used to have a different binder / spiral for every campaign (player or DM), but, I have gradually replaced that in time with all electronic tools. The only thing I miss currently is rolling dice at the table (I have way too many), but when we are all playing Online... I do find that when we all use the integrated dice tools (especially rolling straight from the Character Sheet in DNDBeyond into the tabletop (Roll20)) that combat is significantly speeded up and more of the odd modifiers are used than forgotten like we would at the table.
For Music, I mix Amazon music (Thanks Prime) and long play Ambient tracks from YouTube. I need to spend more intentional time here... but I'll get caught up in writing story and forget about the music.
For the actual play of the game we use Roll20 (with cameras turned on in a couple of campaigns so we can make gestures and smile at each other... but turned off in at least one because video is a bandwidth hog) for Maps, Tokens and effects on my left (largest) monitor. We use Discord for voice communications and for spamming GIFs at other players (if you are the DM, you learn quickly to avoid the discord chat) on my laptop in the middle. And DNDBeyond on my right monitor. So the right monitor has each character of the Campaign pulled up, the Encounter builder and either WorldAnvil or Notes (depending on where relevant detail currently resides for this campaign). I need to move my WorldAnvil to the left monitor, but I keep forgetting to. I tend to keep Notes up in the middle (on the top of Discord... and positioned so I can see the speakers but not the chat) and use it to keep any extra notes to myself for the parts that have to be made up on the fly.
In prep for my games, I use everything.
At the table and during the game, I remove 90% of it, using -
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