Roll20 Tips (or other online gaming tools)?


Advice


Heya. My group are going to try using online tools to continue to play while we can't meet face-to-face. We're going to try out Roll20 tonight, but we're open to other ideas if there's something better.

Does anyone have any tips for using online gaming tools?


My group has been using roll20 for a few years now, for odd historic reasons we use a seperate program for audio. We set up journal tabs for each character so they can keep online notes if they want, as well as a loot list. One thing I found real useful was to go to the settings menu and change to display to not show player avatars, or half the map will be covered by them.

There is so much that can be done with this I'm not sure what else to say or where to start.


Yeah we already had trouble with audio, we're using zoom for audio and Roll20 for the game.

Thanks for the tips =)


For my gaming group, when we log onto Roll20, we use Google Hangouts to do the video call (we generally switch the visual off and keep the mics on) since the audio for Roll20 can be problematic/lagging at times. I still use Roll20 for any music backgrounds/sound effects.

Roll20 has a learning curve and the more customization you want to add to the sheets (such as macros and token actions), the more time you have to spend into it. It also depends on if you are using the official PF sheet or the community-sheet; I use the latter because I have been using it for much longer than the official sheet and it has more options for customization.

One thing I try to remind my players to do before every gaming session is to enable the private mode (they just have to simply type in /talktomyself in the text chat box) and go over their sheet(s) to refresh what their pcs are capable of and equipment they have - with the private mode, they won't spam the group chat screen. To exit the private mode, they just have to type in /talktomyself again to disable it.

Setting up maps can be a pain if you are using older maps (especially ones that have grid lines already - many of the older maps' grid lines are actually not perfect and so they won't align properly with the enabled grid lines in Roll20). I recommend disabling the grid in Roll20 in such cases and uses the map as it. Otherwise, it may be very frustrating.

Another suggestion is that even if you have token actions set up for a character sheet, tell the players to keep their character sheets opened up as a separate browser window that can be minimized. There will be times when you need to reference something in the sheet that you did not create a token action for. Loading up a character sheet each time after you had closed it can be a bit time consuming, ESPECIALLY the character sheet is for a spell caster.

Speaking of which, for spellcasters, my recommendation for those who have a lot of spells is to avoid having each and every spell created into the sheet. Instead, either list all the ones the pc will likely use on a daily basis (but the more spells you have there, the slower the loading time for the character sheet) OR just create ONE spell per spell level, and on each description box of that spell, have a link to each spell the pc knows for that level. That way you drastically cut down the amount of data stored into the sheet.

Mind you, my recommendations above are for using the community-sheet version for PF.

There are other suggestions, but they are more specific for GMs and honestly, it depends on how much time/customization you want to have.

When I first started Roll20, I did the bare minimum, but as we spent more time with Roll20, the more customizing I did. There is a lot you can do with the PF sheets and the community forums on Roll20 are the perfect place to ask for additional assistance with specific things.

I wish your group good gaming online. :)

Cheers!

CB

Liberty's Edge

Roll20 audio/video works sometimes, but our group has had better luck with Skype and now Discord.

Our current game is being done with JUST Discord... images can be sent to the channel. A map on the table can be viewed through the video or a cell phone pic taken and sent. It works pretty well.

What Roll20 adds is that you can get the maps set up in advance and then reveal portions as the party moves through it. They also have built in dice rolling and some game rules. Ironically, they didn't really support Pathfinder 1E much until just before 2E came out, but they're starting to have a pretty good library for it.

The number one thing is the audio. Use whatever tool gives you the clearest most consistent audio connection for the whole group and everything else can be worked around.


Roll20 audio has always been problematic... it works for some people, provides input or output only for others, while a few can’t get it to work at all... so it’s highly recommended to just use an external source for audio, my group has been using Discord for the longest time now...

You will most likely want the DM of the game to have a pro subscription to unlock all of the features for your game, such as dynamic lighting and API script access for ease of use... that said though, be careful if using API scripts. There are several out there that are outdated and are just as likely to slow down the game than to make things easier, adding too many will absolutely slow things down as well.

A very big tip for the DM with map creation, only upload what is needed for the upcoming session when it comes to maps. If necessary create a second copy of the game simply to make maps on and then transfer them to the live game as needed. A while back roll20 changes their code for how the game loads assets to players, and now it attempts to load every single map and asset attached to the launched game instead of only the active map and assets. When building maps and placing tokens always drag from the art library or use copy paste once an asset is uploaded, otherwise you will end up creating duplicate assets in the library adding to the load.


Awesome thanks guys!

We did a test last night, and decided the audio was rubbish, so we're using Zoom for that. We ran through a few things, got the hang of macro's and a few other things. Seemed to work pretty well. I imagine we'll get more complicated with it as we go along.

One question for the dice-roller, is there a way for a player or the GM to add modifiers to another player's dice rolls? I play a Bloodrager, but there's a bard and a wizard in the party, so between Rage, Inspire Courage, Heroism and Haste I have a lot of variable buffs that I need to keep adjusting. If there's a way to slightly automate that process I feel like it'd speed up my turns a lot (if not I'll probably roll actual dice with some paper prompts for all my buffs).

Thanks guys I really appreciate the tips, I'll copy the link to this thread to all the players. Anything else you think of would be great =)


I don't know for the Official Pathfinder Sheet on Roll20, but I do know that the community-created Pathfinder Sheet allows for adding modifiers to just about most things you can think of for pcs.

If you look at the top of the community sheet, you should see near the very top a drop-down button called Set Buffs. If you click on that, it reveals options where you add a common buff (it has its own drop-down menu) or create your own (for whatever the common buffs doesn't cover). Once you added a common buff or created your own, you have to toggle them on to make them active. Sometimes you might have to press the Recalc to refresh the sheet.

If you want to add a modifier to a specific skill or exact attribute (for example, a bonus that adds to a class feature's effective caster level) that the drop-down menu named Bonus (not to be confused with Bonus Type) does not cover, the options labeled customa1 to customa12 can be used for a specific skill or exact attribute. You have to make sure that custom buff is toggled on AND you called the custom buff into the skill or attribute.

For example, if you created a buff with customa1 for a modifier from a disposable source (like a spell, magic item, etc., basically any modifier that could be taken away) that applies to your Bluff skill, you have to add @{buff_customa1-total} in the Misc Macro field. So when you have buff_customa1 toggled on, its value will apply to the calculations for the total skill modifier for Bluff. If you toggle buff_customa1 off, its value will be nonexistent for the calculation purposes.

I personally create a buff macro for every source that provides a bonus simply because it is easier to track of things that way and if something gets dispelled or taken away, all I have to do is toggle it off. The benefits of fighting defensively and total defense are good examples of this kind of circumstance.

For modifiers that come up often in combat and applies directly to attack rolls and the damage rolls, I use either the All Attack Macros fields or the Add-to-roll Macros within each individual attacks. It is going to depend on your preference and type of character. As an example of this, for my "fighter types" characters, I use Queries Macros and put them into the Add-to-roll Macros.

Trust me, read the Help Wiki at Roll20, check out the Pathfinder Macro Examples and the guide for the pathfinder community sheet. It goes into more depth than I possibly could here.

Cheers!

CB


In two of the campaigns I've used roll20 for there has been a seperate game created (once by the GM, once by a player) to load a regional/national map to. This lets the players consult said map at anytime and make notes and markings on it. We only recently implemented dynamic lighting, but it has been a big hit with my players, they dig the added immersion.

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