Next once you enter your game, you can create a map. Create a front page for your game that includes a message board. Next once your game is created, you can schedule games so players know when they play next. Custom character sheets are a premium feature, and not EVERY character sheet will be available, but there's a LOT. There's a TON! And different versions too! You want 3.5 D&D? It's there. Once you pick the game you want to play, you can select character sheets to host in your game. (There's more to it if you want to do it well, but more on that later) Hosting a game is as easy as picking which game you want to play. Game hosting is really where roll20 shines. And you can search for games accepting new players (also for free). You can check out this thread by TanklyT on some of the shenanigans Dynamic Lighting has caused for her in-person group, or take a look at David’s amazing set-up for his players.Well, put very simply, it's a site that combines matchmaking with a virtual tabletop. It’s incredibly fun to sit back and watch them go back and forth in character while huddled around my laptop, and inevitably decide that splitting up is the best idea and then oops we’re back to that split-the-party scenario I mentioned in that second paragraph.Īnd honestly? There’s so much more. Instead of describing the run-down windmill, I can grab a map from the Marketplace, and set up Dynamic Lighting and the GM layer so my players can be a little more strategic about their approach. Many of my games are theatre of the mind, so having access to the amazing work done by Marketplace creators has been game changing for immersion. I can simply upload the image into a handout and include all of my private notes about the item without having to worry about my players accidentally seeing the Secret Notes™. No more lugging around my sketchbook, or worse, forgetting it at home with the latest NPC doodle the crew is about to meet. It gives me one less (or many less, depending on the encounter) thing to keep track of so I can lean in on encouraging the style of creative play my group wants and help out my players that are new to RPGs with their own actions.Īs a visual person, I love using pictures to help set the scene, or show the true epicness of items. I used to jot down the page number for the probable creatures for each section and go look it up as needed, but instead, I can just make sure they’re in my Journal tab, and all of the work is done for me.

Hands down, being able to roll directly from a character sheet with the modifiers accounted for is amazing. Here are three of my favorite parts about using Roll20 in person. Being able to do a quick compendium search for information is often way easier than flipping through my DMG, then my Monster Manual, then my PHB as I try to remember where the rule I’m looking for is. I have the ability to set up some scenario maps to use on-the-fly and create random NPCs and encounters to pull out at a moment’s notice.

But when my players decide to split the party and two level 3 squishies are up against a CR 2 enemy – not having to pause, find the NPC’s stat block, roll their attack, add their modifier, then roll and add up their damage heightens the tension and puts the drama and spotlight back where it should be: In my players’ hands.Īs both a prep and improv GM, using Roll20 in person is a dream. I glance to my left for a moment, beautiful dice of all shapes and hues and sizes glittering back at me before I lower my hand… and click on the Bandit Captain’s “Scimitar,” watching the 3D dice roll onto the virtual tabletop.ĭon’t get me wrong, I love my dice.

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