Thanks everyone for your thoughtful comments so far! I just want to mention that I totally recognize there are a lot of positives to online D&D (in fact, I say that at the end!) but since this video was aimed at solving problems, it was mostly focused on the problems. I don't in any way mean to invalidate your experience if you LOVE playing D&D online!
I think every point you made was valid and while I don't necessarily agree with all of them I know that they are true for some people and experiences online vary wildly depending on groups and this is super helpful for somebody out there I'm sure and a lot of the suggestions to make things better would indeed make things better even for groups that are already doing good.
I'm glad you've noted this, and spoke about this at the end, but it still seems jarring to me to name the video 'how to make online D&D suck less' because that implies that it does ultimately suck when it doesnt. Both online and in person D&D have their drawbacks, but it isnt fair to categorise one as superior to the other. Not only does online DnD save travel time, but it allows you to play with people from much farther away, and it's easier to get into online D&D - not everyone has existing friends who would be interested, or a nearby gaming cafe. The ability to play online makes the game far more accessible in that sense (heck, I met my now best friends via roll20 looking for players, and we're from four different countries!), but also accessible in that it caters better to those who may dislike or be generally uncomfortable about in- person D&D. One of our players has ADHD and struggles to concentrate on the game if he isnt playing another game in the background - this wouldn't be possible in person, and even if we accommodated it to work, he would feel like he was being rude playing another game at our table, and it would distract the DM. By playing online, he can keep his controller and the other game off his webcam so it doesnt distract us, and he can keep playing without feeling rude, allowing him to focus on DnD. Meanwhile I'm incredibly introverted and become exhausted after 1 or 2 hours when playing in person. Playing online allows me to set up my space in a way that makes me feel comfortable without exhausting me. We regularly play for 6-7 hours every week! (We do take a 20 minute break in the middle through and occasional 5minute breaks, they are very useful and I'm glad breaks were discussed in this video!) Also, I recently started DM'ing for our group, and found online dming incredibly convenient. I could instantly google things without my players being able to tell, I could have all my necessary tabs open, have name generators to hand, etc. Granted, this is still possible in person, but dependant on your device, it may be difficult to have a laptop up alongside your DM screen and books and still see your players, and when online you dont have to share your space. I can have all my books splayed across my study, whereas at a table I'd be encroaching on a player's space. Ultimately, it's great that you've given players genuinely brilliant tips and solutions for problems which, I will admit, my group has come across a few times. However, the overarching sentiment that came across at least for me was that online is inferior and ultimately problematic, which just isnt the case! Itd be great if you could do a more in depth pro-online video at some point to perhaps balance this out? Plus it could include tips to further enhance an online experience that arent necessarily fixing a problem (e.g having atmospheric music, if in a discord server you can do this via DJ-bot which can play youtube videos, or in roll20 whicu has an in built music system). Sorry that this was such a long post, but having played online DnD (via discord for voice and roll20 for everything else, including video) for 6+ years, 3.5 of those years being with my current group, it honestly hurt seeing such an influential creator (who I really look up to, I love your content!) brand it as 'sucking'. I hope this hasnt come across as abrasive, as that really wasnt my intent - I just wanted to share the positives of online play which I hope you, and many other DnD players, grow to love.
@@GinnyDi I was about to say the same thing. I have never played a single session, only watched other play. but I have never found a community that I feel more at home in!
I've got a bless, a bard D8, a sneak attack bonus, a prone bonus, my "it sucks to be you" bonus, and a pocket nuke. Did you make your save? ooohhh... to bad.....
As regards to side-convos, I've found encouraging text RP helps with that a lot, either through the VTT you're using, or making an RP discord text channel. That way people can have a separate, quick conversation between their characters while the main focus still stays on the important stuff. I've felt it helps a lot with immersion.
The game I run is 100% online and always has been! We did have a period of awkward when we first started ( audio issues, talking over people , etc. ) When we first started, but we stuck with it and now it works great! Just remember that there's always trial and error at the beginning of things ! Also shout out to all my fellow women DMs , you guys are amazing ✨✨✨
This was a great video! Before the pandemic I never took the time to learn how to do anything online for D&D, now DM three games on roll 20, One for my parents and my brother, and one for friends that live in Ohio (far from me!) So it's super cool that I get to play D&D with people very regularly that I wouldn't normally get to play with at all. I think we kind of just got lucky and have been doing some of this stuff naturally. But you put a lot more thought into it than us and I think it'll help me be more intentional about it! Thanks 💙
Another great video. The "You First" thing happens a lot during regular sessions too. Even among veterans. It's been my experience that D&D players often only have an established turn order during combat. Personally I run my games a lot like they're always in combat. You take turns saying what your characters are doing and then it all kinda happens at the same time. It has its problems but, once everyone gets into the groove, I've found that it can completely eliminate problems with who gets to say what and when. :)
Thanks Ginny! Our group is actually thriving, but our DM put so much effort into making the TTS environment for us. Only thing that has suffered is note taking! Luckily the DM pastes alot of info in the All Chat so we have an easy way to catch up
My top tip is that if you’re moving to an online tabletop like Roll20, don’t let that make you more reliant on maps and battlemaps than your players actually enjoy. It can be really tempting to stock your game with a dozen battlemaps for each session, be the players sitting in their favourite tavern or travelling. It can also force players who prefer a more “theatre of the mind” imaginative fight to sit there thinking about cones and distances rather than the plot of a battle as they might at your actual table. Instead, just set up a nice landing page, and if you like, find a few bits of cool concept art to set the scene in the background for some of the key scenes you think will come up. If you find some perfect concept art (or near enough that you can change things around), you may even find that the players integrate it into their plans as they would a battlemap - interacting with props in the image, or choosing a window of a house to go through based on it not being lit etc.
So, I move several hours drive from where I previously lived back in early 2016, but I didn't want to stop gaming with the friends I'd been playing with for decades. As a result, I learned to play effectively online years ago. I think the comments in this video are spot on for the most part, but I do have some feedback based on my own experiences: 1) The worst scenario is when you have mix of in person and remote people for a game. If the people who are physically present aren't exceptionally careful, it is very easy for them to drown out the online players and leave them feeling left out. So, if you have (for example) two roommates/family members who are physically present each session and two players who are calling in remotely, everyone who is present needs to make sure to listen for the remote players and yield time to them when they speak or they get plowed over. 2) Except for a camera on the battle mat, I don't find video to be that useful. I absolutely get what you are saying about picking up on visual clues, but the logistics of having every player on camera (especially when they are using a cell phone as their communications device) is a pain and it's downright unworkable when you have a mix of remote and present players because you typically just have one connection for the people in the room. As a substitute, I suggest that the group establishes some social rules that encourage people to over communicate when they need to because someone is missing their point. 3) I find simultaneous text and audio to be incredibly valuable, especially for those side conversations you were talking about. It's common for several players to have a text conversation as an aside while I am playing an NPC who is having a one-on-one conversation with a player. Then, when I'm done, I can take a minute and catch up on the side conversation to know if there is anything I need to be aware of as DM/GM and answer any questions there. Also, being able to text the DM/GM privately to communicate anything the rest of the party doesn't know is super helpful. My players tend to be very party cooperative, but they all also like to have their secrets, so there are usually several simultaneous streams of conversation over the course of a game. 4) Everyone needs to be on the same page with communications. I had a player once who refused to communicate by voice for three straight game sessions and insisted on using text. The situation was complex and I'm not going into it here, but in the end, it was completely derailing the game, made all the other players unhappy, and ended up starting an argument that broke up real life friendships. Everyone wants to be nice, but if there is an issue that is causing stress, it needs to be discussed sooner rather than later before it snowballs into something bigger than it needs to be. 5) While everyone's mileage may vary, I've done quite nicely without using a VTT. We keep characters on Word documents so that player and GM can send them back and forth. We text documents back and forth as needed during the game, and we use a camera (or take pictures) for the battle mat to show the tactical situation. Once again, it's usually a mixed group of "in person" players and remote ones, so a VTT is a lot of overhead.
FYI, right now, we are using Discord for audio and chat conversations and it has worked really well for us. We've previously used Ventrilo and Skype and Discord seems to be easier and better all around.
I completely agree. It is usually better if all are in person or remote. It's just too difficult for the remote people to engage with multiple people in the same room.
That would be nice, but my wife almost always plays in any game I am in and depending on the game, one or both of my grown children might play (one of whom is in the Navy at the moment, so always remote), the other kid's finance might play, and I have several other friends who live back where I lived before who might play. I almost never have the option of having everyone be either all remote or all present.
I can read a friggin book in-between my turns. One of our guys takes sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo long to make his turns cause he just wants to reenact an entire movie during his turn
Mic cutting out, check. Bad lag, check. Weird echo, check. Had fun anyway? Check. The last and only group-chat-internet dnd session I was a part of last year. Half of us didn't have the bandwidth to handle video feeds, and we'd take turns inevitably turning into a robotic, distorted voice sounding vaguely like dial-up noises.
I just recently started playing D&D and I play online only (mostly because there is definitely no D&D groups that play in my language where I live and I'm quite self-conscious about my bad English) and I absolutely love it. Mostly because I can wake up 6pm (work night shifts) and be ready to play 7pm. We use online chat for some in-game roleplay when DM is focused on one player for some plot reasons and it sort of... Just happened? We have experienced DM and whole party of noobs playing D&D for the very first time and dynamic sorta figured itself out.
I can play online, doing it atm... but there is juat also a feeling i'm missing... not sure how to describe... it just isn't the same. I'm having trouble getting into character, staying in there and immafining the world and the characters propperly. Especially the face is missing... and even with face, you allways have to clarify for example, who you're talking to if in character... and the company also just feela different to me... online and face to face just still feels really different and i miss the face to face
Personally, as a GM: my biggest problem is voice acting, trying my best to say something in a (for instance) demonic voice and players asking if I can repeat it 3 times because my mic cut out or just because it is internet is just very demotivating.
Or even just general descriptions- Our audio isn't terrible, but I often still have to repeat details and descriptions two or three times before everyone at the table seems to understand what is going on. There is nothing quite as depressing as finally revealing the big twist detail that will change everything in the plotline.....then finding out five minutes later that one player didn't hear it because the audio cut out, another player didn't hear it because they weren't paying attention, a third player heard it but didn't realize that it was important information, and the fourth player is the shy person who shows up to roll dice but never speaks anyway and wasn't going to acknowledge that anything was actually going on.
Ahhh. Wave files. Get the sounds you want and use them like other elements. Creaking door. Waterfall. Arrow thunk. Prerecord your npc monologues... I use a Stream Deck to automate functions and macros with a button. And the buttons are LCD lit so you can use any graphic to ID it. 1 more thing. Check out Tilt5. Holographic tabletop game board.
I started playing D&D in 1977 when I was a freshman in high school. Let me tell you, as a OG it really makes me happy to see that not only has the game survived, it has mutated and changed and shows every sign of thriving! That's all thanks to folks like YOU. So give yourself a pat on the back - from me and all the other Grampa Gamers.
I do badly miss in person dnd, but I will say two things: one, I get to play with friends and family who have moved away now, and two, it's way easier to make combat maps now
That's the good part about having very casual players - I nearly never used combat maps, or just drew a very simple representation of where obstacles and characters are on a 2D plane.
Totally agree on the battle maps part. Not only for creating maps, but also for moving tokens around and for measuring distances and ranges quickly and conveniently.
What do you feel os best way to game online? 1. Discord obs 2. Twitch? 3. Zoom I need a remote setuo for all players and i want good maps? Budget is moderste i. Might pay the 40canadian for zoom Sirry bug u just need input cause i dint wsnt to do r20 and realize i waiste time setting.up when i can.go right to twitcb or zoom etc? Thanks
@@bestlogic9543 Personally, I use Discord with Tabletop Simulator. I don't think that any one of these things is enough, and honestly, I think there's absolutely no reason to ever use Zoom. So if you want to choose any of these three, just go for Discord, that's the easiest, it's free and it allows screen sharing and video chat.
^this I ran the Stranger Things set for my sisters and brother-in-law that all live in another state. They would all meet at my sister's place, and then connect from their individual machines to a VTT. Turned out well enough that at the end we decided to run an actual game. They settled on Curse of Strahd...
Yeah same. Between taking notes, trying to figure out where the stat blocks for my Wildshapes went to before my turn and deciphhering the notes I took when we finally meet that one NPC again I wonder how anyone has the time
You sound like a fun player to have 😭 I gotta manually write notes down for my players during my campaign cuz they are too lazy to write their own half the time lmao
I’ve used everything from Skype, discord and roll20 etiquette is made easier when you’ve got a decent group of friends to play with vs a random bunch of people who’ve never met or played together before as well.
Just that most people don't know that much about how audio works - if you pre covid didn't do any video/audio calls at work you might have more problems. Also the trend to not have full fat desktop pc setups is problematic just using a phone is not good.
"...chatting with my friends before the session feels almost like stretching before a run." Well, with three or so hours of stretching, at least no one's likely to pull any social muscles in my group.
My favorite is the "we both try not to interrupt each other" stuff Me: "I want--" You: "I think--" Me: "Oh sorry--" You: "You go first, it's okay." Me: *delayed response because of slow internet* Third person: "I actually have a quick question--" Me: *finally getting to respond* "Oh okay I'd like to--" Me: "Oh, oh, uh--" Third person: "Oh woops, sorry. Just real quick. DM--?" And just on and on and on
@@ExValeFor I'm sorry you have poor table control. as long as you have good table control you can have as many people as you want without anybody over talking. It's a crazy thing I know
That may have been a joke, but you're not wrong that actually having a session makes it suck less. For so long, my brother refused to DM online, but then when he finally did, we all enjoyed the session.
2 months? Hah, we're talking about nearly 5 months now on my end! ...I really wish my players would find both time and interest, but whenever I ask them if there's something I could improve or if there's something that they don't like, they often don't have anything to say about it ._. I really miss these groups. And I really wish I could DM more often and wouldn't feel like I'm forcing it on groups that I keep asking over and over again and we never get a time and date (and extremely late responses).
@@HamsterPants522 Hey, I'd really like to help you out, but unfortunately, English isn't actually my first language, it's German ^^' Other than that, I probably should point out that I never actually hosted a DnD game, so I would have to start working from scratch there (especially since back when I played DnD our DM chose 3.5e, and afaik, most people prefer 5e nowadays). I only did complete homebrew or simple system that I found on the Internet. Sorry to disappoint you .__.
I recently paid my last payment on my car. After wanting to become a patron for like two years now, I will finally have the extra cash each month and was just looking over your patreon to decide which level to sign up for. I was not expecting the top tier to be called "Di's Nuts." Well played Ginny. Well played.
My group purely meets online as we met in a discord group and live around the world. Pre-session we are chatting and talking about life, and normally Critical Role as we meet the next evening. After the session we are all on the call, chatting about whatever happened and making a shit ton of funny ass memes. XD it's a great dynamic.
I'll echo this - most of us met in Discworld Conventions so we're also all over the place - we get to catch up before we start a game and try to play every week (doesn't always work - Life happens) but it's a lot of fun and we use our Discord group to do the talking. We have a few people who wouldn't/couldn't play if we were video - for us audio only is the way ALL of us feel comfortable to play. But some great tips in this, Ginny, thank you ^-^
That's what we do. We have one player that comes in just to game. They don't show up early or stay later and you can definitely feel the lacking comradery because of it. The rest of us do before and after call sessions and make memes about game and such and it makes it so much more fun.
We do exactly the same thing too! We started online and we hang out before and after taking about our lives, CR and video games usually. I've actually played two campaigns this way so far and we're just about to wrap up the second one and do one more. And we found each other through our lovely DM and Critical Role. We're thinking about possible doing video for the next campaign and I hope we do because of the social things Ginny talked about.
You know that obligatory rule every DM has, "don't be a jerk?" This video is the long and polite version of what that rule means. Well done! (Also those eyelashes are ON POINT!)
Exactly, these aren't issues with "playing online". These are issues with people thinking it's okay to be jerks online. I think a lot of people have been for the first time realizing that people online are actually real people in the real world. And thus that it's not okay to be casually rude to online people. Some need a little more help getting that.
If I could just say this, there's one particular person in my dnd group online who... is actually really good at recognizing when someone was talked over and asks them what they were about to say so everyone is included in the story.
We're very fortunate that the person in our group who is most likely to talk over people is also very quick to catch himself and back himself up. It's not a common dynamic found.
I can't convince my players to use video, so it's voice only. I've learned to describe the actions of my NPCs. Something like; "He timidly puts his hands together in front of his chest, his face cast downward and he looks up at you with pleading eyes, and says"
I kinda like that though. I’m not a good actor, I struggle to keep my face in-character (if I find something cool but my character should be horrified etc.) so the ability to describe what I want to show has been so helpful to me. I also like how you’d described that
I was in a group that was only Audio, and another that was video too. I basically convinced everyone to use video in the first group and it's been great!
Yeah same. What stinks the most is I'm the only one who actually uses my camera, so the players have an unfair advantage when they can see my small facial ticks when something is about to go terribly wrong for them, but I can't see when they've thought up a good idea to counter me
To help with my focus during games, I've increased my note-taking by a wide margin. Like, almost prose. I bought new notebooks just to record session details, and I find that holding myself to that task makes me less likely to lose focus on twitter.
The greatest thing about online dnd is being able to play together with friends who live in cites 1000s of kms away. Online platforms aren't perfect, but it's better than not playing at all, especially within a context where all our social lives are taking a hit because of the pandemic.
I was primarily online before Covid, as life has it, my party is in three different countries across Europe even though we were all born in the same country.
@@TalesLord Started playing again because of Covid. We had talked, years before of trying online, but once tabletop games started getting cancelled because of restrictions, my old GM asked me if and other old buddies if we wanted to play a Gamma World campaign. It's fun, in spite of the fact we aren't all the same room and have to quit sessions early because of 3 hour difference in time zones...
Yeah it's great, I have a twice monthly game run by a librarian in Illinois and we have people from all over. I couldn't be able to play otherwise. It's also really cool that some libraries run campaigns. My man even uses up some of his lunch break DMing for us to get extra time.
Amen. When me and my friends play dnd its often a saturday, 1.5h travel to get there so we try to play for about 6hours then travel 1.5h back home. Its so nice to be able to every now and then play for 2-3h online and 'be done with it' without it taking an entire day.
Ginny is filling a great need in the RU-vid D&D sphere. Her content is so good and practical and her being someone somewhat new to the game like so many of us gives a perspective that is so awesome and relatable. I’m a huge fan
It's also prudent to remember that the word "Distraction" is different for everyone. People without mental disorders will be distracted by everything, but people with them will usually be able to handle combat, a video game, and a youtube video all at the same time. So if someone with ADHD or Autism is doing something while waiting for their term, don't assume they're not paying attention. They just need something to do while waiting, but that doesn't mean they're not having fun or just ignoring everyone else's turn.
This can be a tough one, because doing something at the table (virtual or not) outside of the game is often rude to the DM. But you have a valid point as well, which I can confirm on a personal side since I have ADHD. The best solution I've found is just have a conversation, if I see a player not paying attention then I find it disrespectful, but if we have a conversation where they inform me of their problems, then it's absolutely fine! Heck, a player in my current game draws on her tablet whenever she's not involved b/c she suffers the same thing. That being said, it's also up to you as the player to keep track of the situation, if you come into an encounter not knowing what was going on because you weren't paying attention, that's on the player.
What you mean is the person is selfish, rude and lacks any ability to control themselves becuz they are so undisciplined and spoiled they can't go without entertainment for 5 minutes.
Hahaha, I feel this. I'm still a young teen so every other saturday my parents just hear an old dwarf yelling from their introverted son's room while various levels of terrible microphoned voices are talking .
@@grimmer-rd1mm well, for the microphoned voices, I use a headset... but yeah, I play in the living room, which is in the middle of the whole house, so everyone can hear my elder lady voice, as well as my cocky know it all voice and a few other odd, cringeworthy voices! hahaha
See I find playing online helps with the social anxiety side. As in person I'd just get talked over, now other players will be like my bad what were you going to say? And I then can speak up and have become better at communicating in the group as a whole.
I’ve actually found audio only to be a better experience than video. Trying to focus on so many faces just ends up being a lot, and I don’t get the same nonverbal responses as I would in real life and it ends up making people feel awkward when they don’t always get the emotions and reactions they’d expect. I’ve found I can just focus better with audio only, and the group tends to talk over each other less as we’re so focused on listening on the speaking part. Also, video chats with big groups often just constantly causes worse lag issues, and sometimes people freeze or drop from zoom calls and it can kinda ruin a session Edit: this comment blew up a bit and has lots of comments. One thing for sure, is that every group functions differently! I myself have preferred video over audio in one of my groups because of the players. In groups where there is no video, we often have a map or something up at all times, and I’m usually checking/writing notes, looking over spells, and looking over my inventory, so I tend to stay pretty engaged. I will say, that those audio only groups are all smaller, and people aren’t bad with talking over each other.
You're lucky. We play only audio atm and our group keeps talking over each other and we've had plenty of audio issues. We tried with video in the beginning but kept losing connection or lagged so we just dropped it.
Zoom is pretty overrated. Discord does it better and has built-in video, audio, and text chat. It's also highly customizable and chalk full of useful bots. Not to mention it's basically taken over VOIP as we know it and most other services are trying to emulate Discord rather than the converse.
I DM using Discord [DiceParser bot ftw!], and due to variably flakey internet I've found the need to either drop the video feed to 18Mbps or just to switch to Audio / Text / Pictures / Maps Only, depending on the tech situation on different sessions.. Probably doesn't help that my players tend only to be available during peak-internet-use-time, but it's all good, we made it work.. :)
I started playing online when my first kid was born. I was preparing to go back to in person when the pandemic hit. I've definitely had enough of this shit.
Interesting. I actually found the earrings super-distracting. Great topic, though, and the discussion in comments has been enlightening, especially the post exploring the pros and cons of audio-only.
Re: side conversations - In addition to text chat... Discord, Ventrilo, Mumble, and other voips (used for years by online gamers) have multiple channels. The people have the sidebar can simply duck down to one of those channels to talk. They'll miss the main conversation, but they'd largely miss it irl as well. Re: distractions - My group has a 5-10 minute break for each hour of play. That's bathroom, grab food, let the dog out, check on kids, etc. This really minimizes distractions, because they're scheduled into the game. (Typed, unpaused, then heard Ginny say the same thing. Cool.) Re: wonky YT algorithms - Subbed long ago, watched and liked this video. So there's at least a little love.
Bathroom breaks.... omg going online has made that so much easier. It always sucked to be the one who was like I need to get up from the table to pee but every one was full in... and now it's easy to slide out with a brb bio and pop back on when you are back, less interruptions for the table as a whole. We do take a group break for food, stretch, ext (we had a smoker but they left the group back in like 2015 so no more smoke breaks). And I'd say all the puppy / kitty pictures in the discord chat is worth it as well.
@@FluffieXStarshine - God, I'm so glad smoking is dying out. Luckily I've never played D&D with anyone that smoked but back when I played MtG there'd be a couple smokers who'd take breaks during Friday Night Magic and you'd just sit in stale cigarette stink for the next half hour after they got back inside. Yuck.
Setting aside time to chat before session has been super important to my group! If we don't do that our game devolves into side stories that no one is willing to stop, and we all participate in, because we all miss each other so much. So we now make time before session to chat and we schedule other times to talk too.
I envy you. Online gaming pretty much killed all our war story telling, our catching up on what everyone has been up to, or any real conversation outside of gaming. I try to get a conversation going at the start of each game session before we start playing, but it almost always fizzles and dies and I wind up starting the game out of sheer awkwardness.
i can't stand playing online, people constantly talking over each other, cannot really pickup social queues of people trying to say things, dealing with technical issues/disconnects... also 2 of the players in my ongoing game will sometimes go for a walk mid session or decide to run some errands while just have discord open on their phone, forcing us to tell them where they are in combats. You wouldn't get up and go for a walk mid session in a live game why is it acceptable for them to do it now doing remote play? many other things that really drive me out of the game in online play. I can't wait until it's possible to play around a table again, even if we all have to wear masks.
As a DM, I'd give them a warning and then kick them if they repeated. That's seriously rude. D&D is a commitment. Remote play doesn't mean you get to multitask. I realize life happens, but that's very different than just being inconsiderate.
@@TeekOfficial i cant really do that.. These are guys ive played with for years but we transitioned to remote play during covid. Our live games were always fine
@@billthecanuck Something about actual friends is that you should be able to tell them when they're being jerks. I love all my friends I play with, but if they started doing that stuff (and I've had similar conversations with a few of them). I'd do exactly what I said. They'd have to catch the next campaign whenever that happens. It's not being a jerk, it's asking for commitment. If they can't make that commitment, then they should probably take some time off.
I sympathize- I freaking hate online play as well. I had a player who was late getting off work and joined the game while driving home. On one hand, it was a nice gesture for him to actually connect in on time, on the other hand...watching him drive was somehow a huge distraction for all of us. We have another player who is working insanely long hours for her job. Since we are gaming online and since she has been working from home...She has been logging into the game on her personal laptop while still working. Its hard to say that this isn't acceptable- she is making an effort to meet both obligations and its really hard to tell someone they shouldn't be prioritizing their job- but if we were playing in person, this would be a non-issue, because she would HAVE to chose between staying at work or coming over to play. These are good people and good players, but damn the whole situation is massively frustrating.
These were great tips, Ginny! I have a real love hate relationship with online D&D. On the one hand, online D&D has allowed us to play more often. On the other hand, I really miss in person sessions and rolling real dice.
I have several online groups who still all roll real dice! I figure it's just as much on the honor system as in-person play, and keeps my click clacks from getting too grumpy from disuse. 🤣
@@jengroves4475 I have so many dice that have never seen any action, they must be furious at me! 😆 Also, I'm sure my DM would let me roll them if I asked. However, the instant results and minimal math are sort of appealing 😅
Sharing snacks is out. Bummer. But my "table" still rolls physical dice for the feels (even though there's dicebots and whatnot available if someone's cat runs off with their D20 - looking at you, CC). Heck - for a long time I had a webcam pointed at a physical battlemap just to keep that same analog feel (it worked but eventually I decided it wasn't worth the effort and a digital battlemap brought more to the table).
These are really good tips! I tend to get distracted if I can't keep my hands busy, so I've been working on simple crafts like crochet while I listen to the rest of the group and it's helped a lot, both with not getting distracted and with not feeling like I need to speak every quiet moment.
Friend of mine has actually blossomed playing her character since we shifted online. Sure it's not for everybody (as we did loose a player who enjoyed face to face action with minatures) but for players who enjoy a story based D&D it worked a real treat (we play using a D&D text app and take photos/videos of dicerolls )
I know that this is not the subject of your post, but I totally get your friend who lost interest when they didn’t have the tactile feedback of miniatures. Miniatures and terrain are the main draw for some. If you are still in contact with that friend, you might be doing them a real favor to tell them about Talespire. It is a vtt that is being released in beta next month which recaptures that experience in an online environment.
@@agsilverradio2225 We take photos of the dice rolls. The app is mRPG and while it does have dice rolling in it, we couldn't figure out how to set it up, let alone get the character sheets transferred into it without some level of confusion, so we still use our trusty paper character sheets, pens and dice. Currently have a solo game of Oracle of the Last War going in the app and it's been going great, we're up to starting teir 2 the city of Ashes.
@@andrewjohnson6716 we do, they're actually a partner of one of my players who's still playing. I don't mind using minatures but I honestly only throw them on the table if Visuals are needed as I only own Warhammer ones and they're not exactly representative of the creatures my players are fighting all the time (my husband and I also play warhammer fantasy, but I honestly only own Skaven Minis.). I do tend to prefer mind theatre as I started DMing via World of Darkness with Forsaken and that game is more story driven than combat so going over to 5e has been a learning curve for me as well as there's way more combat encounters than I'm used to running. We're trying to organise an in person one shot adventure again to bring that player back into the game with everyone (different characters ect) just got to wait until school holidays finish and my kids go back🤣 (it's why playing via the computer via skype or something is off the table. I can't DM with my 2 yr old trying to constantly turn off the computer)
11:54, I definitely feel for groups that miss the in person experience, but, as DM/a person who usually has to travel upwards of 15-30 minutes to play in person, the online experience has been fantastic! Using Discord and Roll20, I've evolved my system for running campaigns and my combat encounters have never been better. I'm blessed with a excellent players as well, so our games have been able to thrive despite the pandemic. So grateful for this outlet 💛 Great video!
@@andynonimuss6298 I've not had much issue with it, but I'm always happy for innovation. I'll give Foundry a try. Thanks for the suggestion. Please lemme know if you end up enjoying Shard!
Been preaching this to all my friends since playing D&D, especially the side convos. Damn, I miss organic side roleplay conversations so much. 😭. Adds so much to the realism and immersion of the group roleplay..
I am in a group that was playing online long before panicdemic hit and we are still going strong. Great points though Ginny! Most of the points we have already been doing. Keep up the good work.
Same here as I live in a small town so no place to really try to drum up a D&D campaign so thanks to a friend have been with a fantastic group for 2 years with one campaign being fairly new and another inching closer to endgame against the BBEG and hoping my half orc druid boy's healing skills can prevail [a few other games too that are pretty fun]. Discord and roll20 have been a godsend and looking forward to future games to come.
The online etiquette is definitely a learning curve. Also, as DM, I’m still struggling to find ways to make the experience immersive for the players. I’ve started using music (only for certain scenes), but the biggest help has been adding visual context to the maps. I’ll expand out a map to allow extra room for a photo or painting that portrays the setting or mood I’m trying to create. It helps a lot. Thank you very much for this video, Ginny; it’s an instrumentally helpful one!
I don't have friends who play dnd. well, I didn't have, so i meet them online. We live in diferents citys, we cannot meet in person. So, I've never play dnd in a real table, and I think I never will (because I will never have the oportunity, not because I don't want to give ot a try). I don't feel sad about it, but I would really like to try playing in person, just to compare... And I bet a lot of people are in the same situation.
I used to play in person and moved online, not only did my group survived the transition to online play, I met two more groups online. Playing in person is great and the tactile experience of using dice, figures and maps is truly one of a kind, but online play can be just as engaging honestly, I even get to practice my english with one of the groups, it's been great!
Its kinda over rated. I don't like being around people who don't have basic hygiene while they all try and awkwardly hit on the only lady at the table.
That's how it is for me too. I started playing D&D in a tabletop club in college but i graduated right before the pandemic hit and moved back to my home city after i graduated. All of my friends who I play with are in the city i went to college in or near it. If i want to play, my only option is online unless i go out and find new people in the city i live in.
Me and my friends actually started playing a wildemount campaign last year because of the pandemic. We don't use video chat because not all of us have a web cam. It is mostly theater of the mind with some maps I draw for them. I am actually pretty impressed by us that we habe been doing most of these, that apply to us at least. Discord is usually quite stable for us when we use it. Thanks for making sich a great video that most people will get something out of. 😁
One of the nice things about online dnd is that my cousin is playing and is in another country and one of the people just left for college and is still playing with us!
We had the same, my players were at the age where they were going in to 6th form and although most were staying at school one was going to 6th form college and therefore leaving the group. The shift onto online play has allowed him to keep playing.
I want VR D&D. Everyone sitting around the table, vr table with fog-of-war maps, simple character animations, and the ability to pop in and out of FP character view. I’d spend $1000 on a headset for that experience!
@@TalesLord I don’t understand what you mean. You’d see the characters on the map, just like IRL. You’d see your friends, just like IRL. Only no one would need to travel or build terrain or paint minis. ???
My game's group chat has been such a wonderful addition to our game! We've made it a tradition to make memes, jokes, and commentary in our chat and then sit and listen while our DM goes through it at the end of the session!
Oh gods! The number of times I've had to remind people NOT to bring their cell phones or GF/BFs to a game because of distractions over the years; no way in the nine hells am I going to deal with that over Discord.
After about 4 meeting in Roll20, I gave my group an ultimatum: Come over and play like real people, or drop the campaign. I just can't deal with online D&D. Roll20 isn't bad, but online play just take the willingness and ability to DM out of me.
My friends and I are students with limited transportation so moving the campaign online has honestly made coordination easier for everyone . Great advice!
My personal rule for myself to avoid the awkward "you go" "no you go" is that if I notice, I stop and offer for them to go ahead. If they offer the "no you go" I'll thank them and speak, and then if it accidentally happens again I'll say "nah, I went first before you go ahead"
I just miss using my dice hoard :( i finally have enough to have different groups of sets for different characters' aesthetics, and now i can't use any of them because all the sites have built-in dice rolls :( at least one of my games that's about to finally start up again is on a site that has virtual dice that i can customize lol
There's definitely something special about meeting together in the same room, but I absolutely love the way that fog of war and line of sight work in online games.
I have SUCH a hard time with online DnD... I haven’t been able to play since my DM cancelled our irl campaign, she runs an online one, and I’ve tried to play I just... it kills me. It feels so much more empty to me, which is a personal thing ofc. I just miss playing, and ADHD makes it impossible online 😅. Anyway sorry for ranting.
Yep I got one player with 3 young kids and I know I can't just say "hey make your kids shut up" because that wouldn't work and likely cause trouble. I either make jokes about their distractions or ask him to mute.
Online dnd was kinda hard at first plus our dms were getting burn out from dming, so we took a break but recently everyone at the table has started to try dming and we started to turn on are cameras and just have fun no matter where it goes even if that's off of dnd. its gotten so much better and even more fun
I am so glad not to be the only one feeling like my interactions with friends I used to get along with well are falling flat. It's slowly improving with time, but I appreciate the reference!! Loved the video and also those EARRINGS!
Some things that I’m doing with my online games that I’ve found work well: first I dedicated my first “session” towards making sure my players understand the platform we’re using and to check that their internet, mic and camera all work well. For my first two players we did this as a session 0/1 but I also do something similar with players I intend to add to the game. For them I also run a private session zero for them to check that they know the house rules and that their internet mic and camera all work. The next thing I’d mention and is a mostly preference based thing is using theatre of the mind rather than maps and minis. Ik that it’s not for everyone but you can’t deny the fact that when done right it can work quite well and with much much less effort or technical problems from online platforms and it doesn’t require a whole learning curve on how to use some new program for online use. Lastly is (though others work as well I’m Sure) I use a discord server as it lets me have set chat rooms and I can add bots that can play music from RU-vid for background ambience or combat scenes and for other general improvements. Plus you can use voice mods to have a cave echo etc 😜
I've been playing online since the beginning of 2020 and my dog always says hello to my friends whenever we play to the point where she's kinda our mascot
tried it for about a year, never again. There were so many salty players, and hostile DMs. it's better to invest the time in putting together a solid crew of 3 or 4 players, and play every two weeks, instead of every night. My table games feel fun, jovial, rewarding, all of that good stuff. Online games were just awkward.
So I've only ever played online, because all of my dnd friends live all across the country. Time zones become an issue, but a lot of the problems become less so over time, as you get to know everyone's mics and tech and situations. Also, you don't have to video call. A voice call is perfect, less lag in my experience. Everyone should try to get a headset and headphones, or a microphone of some type, because your laptop/computer microphone suuuucks. Trust me it does. And headsets aren't very expensive.
7:16 well, my players do have phones, cause we have only one book, and it's kinda easier to look at spells (in my second jokepaign (joke+campaign) 3 of 4 of my players are magic users (artificer, druid and wild sorcerer). Then we play at the table I have other option - shotgun by my side. I load it up and my players are fully in the game.
I struggle with getting the courage to play online cause I have anxiety around my voice and speaking in general. It's not as bad with people irl but phone calls/voice calls on discord make me very anxious. Do people not care that much? Could it just be in my head that I sound like a child?
I have been playing TTRPGs for more than a year now and I have never in my life before played a game in person. I mostly hang out with my buddies on discord and we play video games together. Many of them are on the other side of the country, and that's the way we connect to each other. When we tried out D&D, we played it on Tabletop Simulator, a Steam game where you have a simulation of an actual table to play with. And since then I have become a DM for multiple games and I play it all with my buddies, all online. All Discord + Digital Excel Character Sheet + Tabletop Simulator. And to be honest I couldn't imagine playing D&D in real life. I'd have to print out my colorful and huge maps using tons of ink, I'd have to buy expensive miniatures, I'd have to write character sheets on paper instead of digitally (how do you even write your HP down into that small box? Do you strike throught the old value and write a new one? Do you use an eraser until your paper tears???), I'd have to pay tons of money for props, while on a VTT I can just make my own Pictures, Paintings and 3D Models and use them there. The way I play online is just so much easier than in real life, or how I imagine D&D is played in real life. Feel free to change my mind.
I personally despise online play due to a lot of the factors Ginny brought up, I play Adventures League and going to online epics is the worst especially if they're timed events too which most are. Thankfully I live in Australia where Covid-19 has been largely controlled and I can play/dm in person! Quick edit: Roll20 is the worst online platform for DnD that has ever existed
You are, like, an icon to me. I thought that it was weird to want to draw and dress as the characters I’ve made. You really lifted my confidence while playing D&D.
For years, I've just had a problem with things like Roll20. If given the option I would much rather play in person. I really enjoyed your video but it made me think of one of the reasons my group, whether I play or DM, prefer in-person games. Also I guess you could call it technology because it is definitely an advancement over the years and wasn't in the original design. My group, by and large, enjoys seeing the minis on the table. At least a couple of my players started in that realm and while I'm terrible at distance sometimes and would love to just wing it, they have to see it laid out because they're largely combat-oriented and rather specific about distances. Even their magic items revolve around combat more than anything flavorful or character-driven. What do you usually work with: minis and graph grids or theater of the mind? Personally it gets to me sometimes when my group wants physical distances outside of combat with or without the map. It gets annoying sometimes but I try to oblige because it does feel easier, or does it feel easier because that's all we know?
The DnD Campaign I am in is all online, no video chats, just voice chat, and the program our DM uses. It is a learning curve. I would rather be learning in person other then learning online.
Anyone else get distracted by Ginny's earrings in that vid? Feel like they have a personality of their own. Thanks for this Ginny, given me some great ideas to improve my game for my players!
