Tools for online gaming

General
#1

Continuing the discussion from Grand Experiments: West Marches:

I think that, during the lockdown, basically everywhere is having a discussion on how to keep playing, so, here are my 2 cents.

For the voice chat, I think there is some kind of consensus about the fact that Discord is the best option. I’ve been curious about Microsoft Teams, but it seems too much fuss to set up and configure, since it’s really business-oriented. Since I don’t do videocalls, otherwise my network will just abandon me, I haven’t explored any option in that sense (I would probably try first with Discord o MT).

I have some trust issues with Roll20 since they leaked my data (well, not just mine, but a lot of people’s data) some months ago, so I’ve been trying to replace its functionalities with other tools:

  • For the dice rolls, I’ve started to employ the DiceParserBot for Discord, but I have to admit that I needed a player to set up the macros for me.
  • For the sheets, we just use Google Drive/OneDrive/Dropbox (they are all equally uncomfortable to me), I would also suggest looking at Myth Weavers’s online sheets, but they don’t support every game.
  • For the maps, I’ve been really enjoying Shmeppy, which is free only for the time being and I have a strong feeling they still haven’t decided how much (or when) they are going to charge, because there is no pricing information anywhere on the website. It took me some time, but I found out there is a discourse forum (and there is a hint of a discord server somewhere too, but I didn’t find it) to chat with the one and only developer.
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#2

The nearest I have been able to find to using a printed character sheet has been to import the relevant sheet design into a Google Slide document as a slide background. You can then scrawl over it (or in text boxes) as you would a hard copy, and has the advantage of being easily shared and viewed by other people around the virtual table. There’s scope for having a slide for each character in a game and thus keeping all character sheets together - one more obstacle in the path of human disorganisation!

I put together a tutorial in as simple language as I could.

I’ve not tried to use Slides yet for maps, but I think there’s scope for it for use as a general white board and source of handouts. Combined with Discord (and a Discord dice bot) that would set most groups up with all the tools they need for an online game.

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#3

Never heard of Shmeppy, thanks for sharing! The UI looks really clean and less confusing than others I’ve tried.

#4

My office has switched 100% to Zoom, and I’ve found its reliability superior to Discord (security may be another issue). It also handles screen sharing from a peripheral, so I can load up a map on my iPad and draw on it.

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#5

I like using Miro as my one program supplementing Discord. It’s a whiteboard program that also lets you upload pdfs and jpegs and then draw on top of them, so I find it really easy to just upload people’s character sheets directly to the whiteboard and write changes as they go, and then have them incorporated into the sheet and reuploaded between sessions.

#6

My group has been using Zoom for a few years now with Roll20. However, as of a few weeks back we’ve been making some changes. I stood up a Jitsi server on a VPS in an attempt to move away from Zoom’s $15/mo subscription (otherwise you’re limited to 40min calls in the free version). Additionally, we’re attempting to drop Roll20 as well. Currently, we mostly use Roll20 for it’s whiteboard-like feature allowing the players to map out the dungeon as we go using the basic drawing tools. Starting this weekend we’re going to try having a player map out the dungeon using Dungeondraft while sharing their screen on Jitsi. During testing we’ve found using Dungeondraft to be far easier, and better looking, than doing the same in Roll20. Also, I’ll have a camera pointed at a table using minis and tiles the group has 3d printed and painted over the last couple years.
For character sheets, players do whatever is easiest for them, but I do ask them to have a relatively up-to-date copy available somewhere in the cloud that I can access if I need to. Dice rolls are done with physical dice. I can trust my group to not cheat so I have no concern with them not rolling on camera or anything.

#7

Here’s a massive guide to running online RPGs. It compares most of the major services.

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#8

I’ve also discovered this app: RoleEver. It’s still in beta and I fear it’s mainly in Italian, but it looks very nice for play by chat or play by post.

#9

I have been using roll20 at a really basic level for awhile. I just upload a map and turn on fog of war, then reveal as we go. Maybe an icon or a square to show where the party is. Some players use the dice roller macros (since my rules use d24s and d30s). They don’t have tokens.
I like the video hangout cause its nice to see friends’ faces. I did split screen and now I use two laptops.
I’ve also started running the 5e Dungeon of the Mad Mage for some of my students. I bought the full module and it makes things super easy. Everything is cross referenced with tokens of monsters already in the rooms. I sprang for the Plus subscription as well which does the dynamic lighting for the tokens, which is pretty neat. I still let them use their own dice if they have them.
Overall, online gaming’s pretty sweet. It’s actually less hassle than in person in a lot of ways.

#10

I’ve had a lot of success with Fantasy Grounds Unity. The basic CoreRPG ruleset works well and allows you to create custom character sheets for any system you want.

I’m not a fan of subscription fees and software-as-a-service so the fact it has a one-time purchase price made me choose it over Roll20.

I use Discord for voice/music and one of my players uses the screen sharing feature to show the other players a map he keeps. I also have a Bookstack wiki set up where I do my world building and keep a campaign diary for my players.

The above combo has been very successful for me.