I want to start playing dnd with other people, but don't want to do it in real life

[Slix]

None of my friends play tabletop games and I wouldn't even think of of going outside to play with real people and don't want fo play the video games based on either system . what are my options?

 

[buru5]

Fantasy Grounds through Steam.

 

[buru5]

Fantasy Grounds through Steam.

Is it possible to try and play fatal with it? I want to go full on autism mode

Idk.

I used this thing called Google.

 

[Darth Roxor]

internet pnp newfag starter pack:

- irc
- servitroll dice roller
- roll20

 

[Luckmann]

I've played games through Roll20 for years, and although it's browser-based (with all potential issues that entails) I can only say that it's solid as fuck. My group(s) run all games through Roll20 and Discord (https://discord.gg/BVdnhZ), these days (not that we've got many games running at the moment).

 

[Darth Roxor]

Personally, I hate the Roll20 interface, I prefer to just roll the dice on IRC and leave Roll20 only for the combat map placement and navigation. Maptools from RPTools is like ten times superior, but unfortunately getting anyone to connect to it is a huge bitch :/

 

[Wayward Son]

Personally, I hate the Roll20 interface, I prefer to just roll the dice on IRC and leave Roll20 only for the combat map placement and navigation. Maptools from RPTools is like ten times superior, but unfortunately getting anyone to connect to it is a huge bitch :/

Yeah, on the GM side it can be kinda wonky, but it's still definitely a solid system. I usually make muh maps in mspaint and paste them in for non dungeon maps.

 

[Luckmann]

Personally, I hate the Roll20 interface, I prefer to just roll the dice on IRC and leave Roll20 only for the combat map placement and navigation. Maptools from RPTools is like ten times superior, but unfortunately getting anyone to connect to it is a huge bitch :/

No doubt, Roll20's shitty interface is by far the worst thing about it. It's slow and it always feels like it's in the way, but I'm also not a fan of the idea of juggling different applications altogether, and the way you can handle handouts, journals and other information is quite nice in Roll20. We usually have a "main display" up for everyone too, outside of combat, which is pretty nice, such as the map of the setting (or wherever we happen to be).

Roll20 could really use having a completely standalone application, with all the functionality and GUI condensation that could entail, with the browser stuff mostly being account/asset management or something, the forums and shit.

Given how big Roll20 has gotten and how increasingly obvious it is that a lot of stuff is moving online to stay there, even if you meet in person (I know people that handle handouts and rolling on tablets via Roll20 even when playing around a table), I'm surprised developers like WotC or FFG hasn't started doing "DLC" stuff via Roll20. The asset system is great, but it suffers from a lack of quality content. If Paizo commissioned proper art and maps (as they already do) for use as assets and sold it for Roll20 use, it'd sell like hotcakes.

 

[Wayward Son]

The asset system is great, but it suffers from a lack of quality content

Here here.
I once had to substitute orcs for goblins, derelict ships for ones sitting in harbour, and a satyr(iirc) enlarged for a hill giant. I don't even give a fuck if they look bad or cartoony, I just want the resources for the campaign.
Edit: Another complaint that I have (won't necessarily affect OP, but still) is that as far as I've seen, there's no way to copy-paste a map from one campaign to another. With the way that I use the same homebrew setting for most of my campaigns, it gets pretty annoying to copy square for square, tile for tile the maps over instead of copy-pasting and doing some editing (removing tokens, etc.)

 

[Darth Roxor]

Just upload your own tokens. I have a fuckhuge gallery that I've been collecting since Maptools (RPTools also used to have a really really big and cool token library, don't know if it's still online) and I uploaded it wholesale to Roll20 when we switched to it, but you can just as well use anything you find in google.

 

[Wayward Son]

Just upload your own tokens. I have a fuckhuge gallery that I've been collecting since Maptools (RPTools also used to have a really really big and cool token library, don't know if it's still online) and I uploaded it wholesale to Roll20 when we switched to it, but you can just as well use anything you find in google.

I do upload my own world and city maps.

 

[Luckmann]

Just upload your own tokens. I have a fuckhuge gallery that I've been collecting since Maptools (RPTools also used to have a really really big and cool token library, don't know if it's still online) and I uploaded it wholesale to Roll20 when we switched to it, but you can just as well use anything you find in google.

This. I've got .psd-files for generating tokens fast as hell, and while it sometimes takes some searching, it means my stuff more or less all fits together.

When it comes to assets, I was mostly thinking of consistent maps of the same style, and various doodads that all fit together and are relevant to various campaigns, for piecing together your own stuff.

Most of the stuff on Roll20 doesn't have a high production value, but a lot of developers such as Paizo, WotC and FFG (and many others, I'm sure) are already halfway there in terms of assets - while I don't play Pathfinder myself and think that Paizo are pandering faggots, I think they're a good example, because they already produce Map Folios for their Adventure Paths, have tons of art, and make neat "talking heads" that could easily be used for tokens or the journal/NPC section on Roll20, and if they could have the map artists draw doodads and thingomabobs for individual placement, such as carts and fountains or boxes and shit, as well as some no-name maps intended for customization that all fits the same style, it would be gold for anyone running a Pathfinder campaign.

They could essentially sell a full-on DLC for 10-20$ for each "Adventure Path", collecting all the maps and relevant assets (portraits, etc), along with a collection of potentially useful doodads, and boom, you've snared not just anyone that wants to run that particular Adventure Path, but also those that just want to have the assets for their own use, simply because "I could really use a lighthouse, at some point, I'm sure". I wonder if it's Roll20 themselves that are being stupid, rejecting business deals, or if the developers are merely myopic and regressive.

I honestly think that if your customer base is big enough, you could give away the books for free and support the business by selling assets associated with the products you put out. I've got no point of comparison, but I'd be surprised if the amount of people playing online hasn't already overtaken the amount of people that aren't, and developers trying to push their own in-house solutions are shooting themselves in the foot, since it reduces exposure to those that are already your loyal customers.

 

[Lithium Flower]

Roll20 is probably your best bet if you can learn how to be a part of that community without blowing your brains out.

Roll20 has some good people, but just like most communities (except, of course, for this prestigious video gaming news outlet ) there is a very large and vocal demographic of flakes, assholes, faggots, low-functioning autists, and super-retards. The amount of shit you have to put up with varies on your game of choice and whether you want to be a player or the GM:

-First of all, if you are actually looking for games in the D&D family, especially pathfinder and 5e, you should be good. That is most of the games that are out there so the variety of players and GMs is very good. If you begin to get weird vibes from someone, move on and find someone who appears to be relatively well-adjusted.

-If you are looking for anything other than D&D though, good luck. Scarcity depends on how obscure the system is, of course. For some of the more well-known indie stuff like Apocalypse/Dungeon World you might be able to find a few games, but for anything more niche than that your only choice might be running it yourself. In any case, finding players/GM for a non-D&D game is tough simply because there are less options and if there is only one group playing -insert game name here- then you have to put up with that group or run your own shit.

-Finally, if you are actually wanting to GM games with randoms, you gotta hustle, ESPECIALLY if you are running anything other than D&D for the reasons above. Some basic marketing sense and writing skills are pretty much a must as you should advertise your campaign in both the LFG (looking for games) forum as well as the actual LFG section of the site. You also have to create a description of the game that is short and to the point while going over the points that make your game unique (alternatively, try simply naming your thread "LGBT players welcome" or "Lost Mines or Phandelver oneshot tonight" and you will get dozen+ responses regardless of whatever else you write). Then prepare to sort out through a bunch of shitty applications to find some people who may or may not leave you a few sessions in. Ideally, you will start to assemble a Tarantino-style team of reliable players who share common interests with you, but such a thing can take multiple campaigns to put together, and more often than not real life understandably causes people to bow out of games.

-Few tips for new roll20 GMs:
1. Trust your gut and do judge a book by its cover. If a guy seems "off", don't. Unless you have no choice (for instance, if you need 3-players to get a game going but have narrowed it down to 2 non-wierdos and 1 potential-wierdo). Of course, there are some decent players who come across in a weird way, so I'm not telling anyone to never take risks, but rather not to take risks if it can be avoided.
2. Ideally, stalk whoever you can and go through their post history. Perhaps they have a history of being unreliable. Perhaps they once ran a game of pathfinder. Would you really want your GM to be someone who once ran pathfinder? Exactly.
3. Don't be afraid to be an asshole *if* the situation calls for it. Maybe you have a good group going but you've added a new player who is being obnoxious. It might be best to kick him in the middle of the game and try to salvage the rest of the session out of respect for the other player's enjoyment, rather than sit back and hope that the situation improves.

I actually contemplated starting a thread dedicated to Roll20 autism. I've seen some shit, men. I saw Coldsteel-tier edgy character bios that were several pages long. I read a thread where a guy begged someone to let him play a centaur in any game, "just let me be one". I even saw a fucking pony shadowrun homebrew once.

 

[Wayward Son]

2. Ideally, stalk whoever you can and go through their post history. Perhaps they have a history of being unreliable. Perhaps they once ran a game of pathfinder. Would you really want your GM to be someone who once ran pathfinder? Exactly

Hey!

 

[Alchemist]

I'm surprised developers like WotC or FFG hasn't started doing "DLC" stuff via Roll20. The asset system is great, but it suffers from a lack of quality content.

They could essentially sell a full-on DLC for 10-20$ for each "Adventure Path", collecting all the maps and relevant assets (portraits, etc), along with a collection of potentially useful doodads, and boom, you've snared not just anyone that wants to run that particular Adventure Path, but also those that just want to have the assets for their own use, simply because "I could really use a lighthouse, at some point, I'm sure". I wonder if it's Roll20 themselves that are being stupid, rejecting business deals, or if the developers are merely myopic and regressive.

You mean something like this? : https://marketplace.roll20.net/brow...ype=all&genre=all&author=Wizards of the Coast

 

[Lithium Flower]

Also, you guys are shitting on the interface but more specifically I would like to say that the single worst feature of Roll20 is its goddamn text editor. Trying to copy a few paragraphs of text into it is like grabbing your chode and slowly squeezing it into the electrical socket. Your entire body spasms with pain as you watch your manworm slowly reduced to a squished thing of gore and then take it back out, kneading the dead cockmonster with your hands in a futile attempt to restore it to its former glory. In other words, random chunks of the text will become boldened, italicized, even change font and color and you can pretty much expect your formatting to be fucked up.

Naturally this means that typing shit directly into the (very basic, slow, and buggy) text editor is your best bet, however that is a fucking trap if you happen to have side buttons on your mouse. There is no nifty automatic saving of drafts, so one slip of the finger and you've just went back a page and that's a caffeine-fueled, sleepless night's work gone in an instant because the site's degenerate commie administration didn't feel like implementing a basic feature. If you have such buttons on your mouse I suggest you remove them using a hammer and screwdriver and throw them into the trash. Then throw out the mouse and buy one without side buttons just to make sure.

 

[Luckmann]

I'm surprised developers like WotC or FFG hasn't started doing "DLC" stuff via Roll20. The asset system is great, but it suffers from a lack of quality content.

They could essentially sell a full-on DLC for 10-20$ for each "Adventure Path", collecting all the maps and relevant assets (portraits, etc), along with a collection of potentially useful doodads, and boom, you've snared not just anyone that wants to run that particular Adventure Path, but also those that just want to have the assets for their own use, simply because "I could really use a lighthouse, at some point, I'm sure". I wonder if it's Roll20 themselves that are being stupid, rejecting business deals, or if the developers are merely myopic and regressive.

You mean something like this? : https://marketplace.roll20.net/browse/search?keywords=&sortby=popular&type=all&genre=all&author=Wizards of the Coast

First, I wasn't aware that they had started doing that.
Second, I meant as open assets, which is why I've probably been missing that they were doing that. If I can't do my own thing with the material, it's useless.

Also, you guys are shitting on the interface but more specifically I would like to say that the single worst feature of Roll20 is its goddamn text editor. Trying to copy a few paragraphs of text into it is like grabbing your chode and slowly squeezing it into the electrical socket. Your entire body spasms with pain as you watch your manworm slowly reduced to a squished thing of gore and then take it back out, kneading the dead cockmonster with your hands in a futile attempt to restore it to its former glory. In other words, random chunks of the text will become boldened, italicized, even change font and color and you can pretty much expect your formatting to be fucked up.

Naturally this means that typing shit directly into the (very basic, slow, and buggy) text editor is your best bet, however that is a fucking trap if you happen to have side buttons on your mouse. There is no nifty automatic saving of drafts, so one slip of the finger and you've just went back a page and that's a caffeine-fueled, sleepless night's work gone in an instant because the site's degenerate commie administration didn't feel like implementing a basic feature. If you have such buttons on your mouse I suggest you remove them using a hammer and screwdriver and throw them into the trash. Then throw out the mouse and buy one without side buttons just to make sure.

I consider the text editor(s) to be part of the GUI, and yes, it's really fucking awful. I've learned to work with it, and while writing I usually write it in Notepad/Notepad++ and then just copy-paste it into them, but they're still slow and clunky and with an awful layout.

Again, I really wish there was a Roll20 standalone, with some proper functionality.

I also have a mouse covered in side buttons, and the insanity here is your own - remap that shit to something useful and fully customizable. Having the browser do Back-Forward on them is the real trap here, whether on Roll20 or anywhere else; most places don't save your shit like the RPGCodex does, and even the RPGCodex saves slowly..

 

[Alchemist]

I'm surprised developers like WotC or FFG hasn't started doing "DLC" stuff via Roll20. The asset system is great, but it suffers from a lack of quality content.

They could essentially sell a full-on DLC for 10-20$ for each "Adventure Path", collecting all the maps and relevant assets (portraits, etc), along with a collection of potentially useful doodads, and boom, you've snared not just anyone that wants to run that particular Adventure Path, but also those that just want to have the assets for their own use, simply because "I could really use a lighthouse, at some point, I'm sure". I wonder if it's Roll20 themselves that are being stupid, rejecting business deals, or if the developers are merely myopic and regressive.

You mean something like this? : https://marketplace.roll20.net/browse/search?keywords=&sortby=popular&type=all&genre=all&author=Wizards of the Coast

First, I wasn't aware that they had started doing that.
Second, I meant as open assets, which is why I've probably been missing that they were doing that. If I can't do my own thing with the material, it's useless.

Ah, yeah I have no idea if those are open or not - I just remember seeing WotC pimping them at some point. I've never used Roll20 myself, and would probably never buy those overpriced things they're selling.

Again, I really wish there was a Roll20 standalone, with some proper functionality.

I also have a mouse covered in side buttons, and the insanity here is your own - remap that shit to something useful and fully customizable. Having the browser do Back-Forward on them is the real trap here, whether on Roll20 or anywhere else; most places don't save your shit like the RPGCodex does, and even the RPGCodex saves slowly..

Sounds like some bad coding on Roll20's part. There's no need for lost text entry in a web app in this day and age, especially one where lots of text is entered such as this..

I have thought about tinkering around with making a standalone virtual tabletop at some point. Fantasy Grounds is good but seems a bit dated and a bit convoluted to make custom rulesets.

 

[Lithium Flower]

I also have a mouse covered in side buttons, and the insanity here is your own - remap that shit to something useful and fully customizable. Having the browser do Back-Forward on them is the real trap here, whether on Roll20 or anywhere else; most places don't save your shit like the RPGCodex does, and even the RPGCodex saves slowly..

Yeah I'm aware that this problem is easily remedied, I was exaggerating for effect. Incidentally, my left mouse button keeps either double-clicking or ignoring a click while one of my side buttons stopped working outright. So I am in a weird position where my RMB is now mapped to be my LMB and the functioning side button is my RMB.

 

[lightbane]

Lithium Flower , you should make that thread, it sounds like truly the Codex's alley, if only for some laughs.

Reminds me of that webpage someone posted long ago about a bunch of dudes doing everything that's not supposed to be done in any pnp game, with weird shit like that guy nicknamed as "El Disgusto" who was all about ninjas (and only ninjas).