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.
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 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.
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...
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.
@@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.....
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.
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
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
"...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.
Ginny is filling a great need in the UA-cam 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
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 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
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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!
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 think its really nice that you talked about etiquette, social dynamics, etc. as that tends to be the make or break for me. One of the huge differences between an Online Tabletop session sucking and one going smoothly is having clear standards for etiquette during the session. While in person my games tend to be people just jumping in wherever, when I do an online game I find that giving people each a clear turn to speak or act or what have you really can help. The DM calling out each person with 'And what is your character doing right now?' or 'How does your character react to that?' may give up some of the fun spontaneity but it really does help things go way smoother in my experience. Also it helps get everyone contributing and involved :)
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).
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..
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!
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. 😁
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)
Very well done Ginny. Our group has been playing Humblewood online for a few months now, and we learned many of the lessons you listed the hard way. You also had a couple of new ones I'm going to try to use on my Traveller game that starts Saturday (insert pre-game judge panic here.) I would add one addition. Think about playing with narrative combat. Back when the sun was dark, dinosaurs walked the earth, and AD&D 2nd Ed was the game of choice, none of my group used combat grids or miniatures. Combat was handled by collecting everyone's actions, rolling all the results, and then describing the full round. No tabletop (virtual or physical) needed. It's a style choice that doesn't work well for everyone, but it can make online play easier.
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.
Great video on a topic that is not covered enough from this POV, most tech or mechanic based issue are usually easy to resolve but more social issues like these require more "mental elbow grease" to fix. One thing I love about you channel is that you present things that can be or are issues...but you ALWAYS suggest ways to fix them to provide ideas for fixes. So many RPG channels only state problems as if stacking them in piles resolves them. So as always, great video and great ideas, Ginny. Oh and online play makes it MUCH easier to find people to try out non-D&D RPGs, that is one if the biggest advantages I have found since the pandemic hit.
My friends and I are students with limited transportation so moving the campaign online has honestly made coordination easier for everyone . Great advice!
First off, thanks for putting out such great content, it is really appreciated. My group has been playing online for 6 years now and I just smiled at all the examples offered, we went through every one of them. My group spans the entire Eastern part of the US, and this is our only option. We went through the growing pains of it all, but at the end of the day, it's just great to be able to get together and share some good times. One thing always mentioned in these videos is "It's just a game," and it resonates just as well with the experiences online. Have fun and you've already won.
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.
My group was new and we had JUST started playing in person together when the pandemic hit (literally, two in-person sessions in.) So it was interesting to develop a group dynamic over Roll20. We had major lag issues, so switched to audio-only for awhile. Luckily, the DM and I upgraded our internet, so we were able to switch to video again (which we vastly prefer.) I think these are GREAT tips and ones we've learned over our 30 sessions!! I hadn't thought to create space for the hang-out time, although we kind of do that naturally, but I think it would be a great idea to make it more intentional. Personally, I deeply miss in-person D&D, but there are definitely conveniences to online for our players who have to drive to the session. Similar to your group, we've met more frequently because it's online and it's been such a joy to have this thing to look forward to every week!
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.
This is a very well-thought out and put-together video. My group and I have been struggling with these issues, and this video was very helpful in incapsulating the essence of our issues and suggesting how to solve them. I am now a subscriber. Keep up the great content! Thank you!
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 ✨✨✨
A lot of this is stuff my group learned well before the pandemic, as we are an old group of friends, and have through life been scattered to different places and even different cities. Having a friend group discord with pages for each game we're playing has been a huge benefit. I'm running a game right now, and it lets me post handouts, gives a room for text based side conversation, and questions about things.
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.
Ginny, Thank you for encouraging people to keep playing D and D even if it can't be in person. Our group has taken a lot of inspiration from your videos. I just wanted to tell people that if virtual table top is intimidating you from playing please don't give up. We looked into virtual options but for reasons of cost and outdated tech it just wouldn't work. So we did a live game. Everyone in our group is experienced with d and d My husband runs the game and I cover for anyone that can't make it by playing that character as well as my own. We started up the group in early April 2020, with just 3 people, my husband and I on our end and a local friend from the Bay Area. I told another friend about our game and she joined us from Los Angeles. Another month and a half in my cousin joined us from Boston. Our set up is simple. We use a dry erase grid mat, some dry erase pens and a few minis. We have 1 dedicated mini for each character ( the paint job is color coded to make it easier to identify the main characters) but the rest or the monsters are random minis( Warhammer 40k space marine becomes a kobold!) My old cell phone that no longer works as a phone has become "sky cam" for a birds eye view of the action. And my husband's laptop and my actual cell phone are our cameras. For pillars , tables walls etc we bought a knock off Jenga game, dominos and wooden cubes from our local dollar tree. We have invested in a clamp to the table cell phone holder for sky cam but initially it was taped to a board sticking out over the table. We held out for 6 months coming up with stranger and stranger components including at one point a really long shoehorn before buying it ! We play via Google duo. And have a group chat via text on the phone between sessions. One of our members has been writing the adventure down ( from the things her character witnesses) as the characters dear diary. She texts us the update weekly with what happened according to her, not very intelligent or wise Dragonborn fighter with his bad spelling and misunderstanding of the situation included , written on paper in blocky messy printing. Now that we have started an alternate campaign, ( same group but someone can only play 2 hours max because of work) she has a different character and is writing in beautiful flowing cursive and flowery language as letters to her character's sister and included asides such as " please do keep the more exciting parts from Mother". It has been a labor of love and a challenge to create spell effects and condition modifiers that could be seen. Hot glue + acrylic paint is great for reminders of Bless,Fairy fire and Hex. Red yellow and orange yarn some wire and a dog brush makes a great flaming sphere.
Lots of this makes lots of sense. It's clear that you've been playing online lots, and have learned from alllllll the awkwardness! Putting your thoughts in such a clear, accessible way is a joy to watch. I relate to all of it SO hard - it's helpful to have all of it in one place. I will share this with the groups I'm playing with right now. Nice one!
Your videos just keep getting better. Your presentation, poise, editing, information, pace... everything! is great. Thanks for being so fantastic Ginny!
This is exactly the video I needed to see today! I’ve been having a bit of a difficult time feeling unsatisfied with my online games for some of the reasons you put in the video, so it is really helpful and comforting that I’m not the only one going through it, and that there are solutions to these problems! Thank you! ❤️
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
Had refrained from doing online games except limited stuff with family. Think your tips are totally on point with the experience we had. Also tried the Shard Tabletop character builder and am liking it so far. Thanks for great ideas (as always)!!!
Something many of my games do is a rp channel! Where inbetween sessions or during background talks, characters text-rp! It great, you come to get to know eachothers characters, keep the hype up inbetween sessions and avoid long necessary talks like plan-talk having to be over voicecall! Definitely recommend
Ginny DI! This was so so helpful! I'm running the first session in my adventure for my group THIS Saturday so I'm extremely stoked this video came out before then. Thank you!
Thanks so much for this Ginny! I have been having issues with a player not understanding social cues in game and it has been frustrating me (because of dnd romance haha), but you make a really good point that it might just be really difficult for them to adjust to online social cues! Thanks for the reminder to not assume the reason for someone not understanding something
These are really good tips. My group has been playing virtually since 2007 or so, because we all moved and now live in different states. We went through all of this, the biggest thing I think is having a webcam. Not seeing your friends while you are playing is probably the biggest thing that will make your campaigns end.
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.
Great video! We have started playing DnD over Discord, it's not as great as playing it irl, but it does the job and at least gives a bit of very welcome change to the weekend compared to doing nothing. Discord actually is a pretty great platform for that, we have PnP Bots like Dice-Rolling, several channels for the game (for example one for general stuff, one for rolling, one for the combat log, one for pictures/descriptions of NPC's the players meet, one for maps - it keeps the game organized quite well!). Also having a music bot is great for the background music. If your DM has maps, handouts etc. in digital form also helps a lot.
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.
This video expresses so much that I couldn't articulate about playing DnD from a distance. Such a good video! Thanks Ginny Di! (Also, I actually did get a real notification for this video, so hopefully that's a good sign for your engagement. Fingers crossed for you!)
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.
Thanks for touching on those issues! You're putting words on a lot of the stuff that I've been feeling ever since moving to online play. Excellent video!
I started an in person campaign two weeks before the lockdown orders. We had one session together and had to switch to online. It’s coming up on a year now. We have experienced every one of the things you mentioned. It’s getting better over time, but nothing bets sitting around the table. Thanks for the great video. I’m going to send it to my players.
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"
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 UA-cam for background ambience or combat scenes and for other general improvements. Plus you can use voice mods to have a cave echo etc 😜
Such a great video! My group has been playing for about 2.5 years, and we used to play irl. But, we had a couple players move away before the pandemic, so we had figured out hybrid irl & online for games and when the pandemic hit, it was really helpful in easing the transition to full online games. While we miss hanging out in person for games (& the dnd night potlucks we'd have) some benefits of online has been that we've been able to keep up the campaign, and have plenty of instant hilarious memes.
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.
Ginny, great video, and I saw Professor Dungeoncraft picked up on what you were dropping down! So ur word is reaching the people! lol Anyways, gotta say, I'm a mini/terrain centric DM who puts more weight on being at the table and the tactical advantages of using terrain and miniatures. Thus, the online DND game has been a hurdle to overcome over the past few months. Currently, I am running an online game, and all the issues you bring up--I too have felt. Another aspect I've been personally struggling with is describing combat. A large reason why I use miniatures is to avoid the "how far away" "can I see?" "wait how many goblins are left?" "which one was already hit?" "I'm going to use this spell...am I in range??" It's something that slows the game down to a halt, and does make me miss "the old way" of getting together! Anyways, thanks for sharing!
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. ???
Video made SUCH a difference to me as GM. Being able to read people's reactions, and see that people were listening or thinking and not just... gone... when they weren't taking was game changing.
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.
I’m a professional dm and since the pandemic forced everyone into lockdown back in March 2020 I’ve been running 10 games a week online and I have to say every single thing you just brought up has been a fantastic idea. Thankfully a large group of my players have picked up on these naturally but there are a few that probably need to see this. Also, don’t forget to talk to your players, get in their heads a little bit. Some players have a hard time recognizing when they are talking over others (they get excited) and cameras definitely help but some can’t afford them. Getting comfortable with awkward silences is also important, but it’s ok to ask them if they heard you or if they’re planning out their action. I have a few players that tend to be slow to act and have to mentally walk through what they are about to do before doing it. Usually when they do they come to some truly brilliant conclusions. I could probably ramble on and on about this and discuss more in detail but I did just want to say thank you very much and I am showing this everywhere now.
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
11:18 this is really important even for an inperson group, one of my two groups really struggled with the lore distinction between devils and demons which tbf is very confusing. So when I figured out a solution, I just put in the discord "we are calling dnd demons voidsent (Thank you ffxiv) now so that its more distinct who is who."
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.
Great advice. I like that you leaned into the interpersonal etiquette and even reminded me of some things my 7-player game has struggled with. The section on interuptions and back-off mechanisms was the highlight to me. This is a good primer video for people considering online roleplaying for the first time (if there are any left).
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
The more I hear about other D&D groups, the more I realize how amazingly lucky I am to have the group of friends I play D&D with. We've been doing online D&D for about 3-4 years now, over about 6-7 campaigns, and all of these things you listed are things that I assumed everyone already did. Sorry you've had some bad experiences with online D&D. These are great tips for any group just getting into online D&D. Hopefully you're able to pick back up some more games to fill the 2 that didn't survive.
Thanks for the tips! Our group actually started out playing online and never met in person, but we still run into a lot of the obstacles you mentioned, and I'm definitely gonna try out some of your solutions! One of the biggest things for our group so far (which might seem trivial, but was a game changer for us) was deciding to roll actual physical dice instead of virtual ones. We're all super haptic little dice goblins, and I trust my players to not fudge their rolls off-camera. Just the feeling of a d20 rolling around in the palm of the hand makes it feel much more real for me.
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.
ahhh!! this advice is soo great! and there are so many videos about the same stuff over and over and it's this sort of awareness that really makes a game great! so thankyou very much, starting my first online game this week with new players and this video is perfect, thankyou :)
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
My D&D group transitioned to online a long time ago when we all graduated from college and moved to different parts of the country, and I can certainly say a lot of these are important. The two biggest things I heavily recommend are turning on video and hanging out before and after the game. Turning on video helps people get more connected to the roleplaying aspect of the game because roleplay can be so much more than just talking and hanging out outside of the game just helps you get comfortable and familiar with the online dynamic. My group and I would often play tabletop sim games or just watch youtube videos on Watch2Gether (which is what we use for music as well, so people are usually getting on that site anyway when we play). Both of these things seem subtle and not that big a deal, but they have a big impact on making online play feel more natural.
I have a D&D group, and it's online only. We started up during quarantine, some of us had never really played before, but we all wanted to, so we found a time and we did. I didn't even realize how much of that advice I'd been following since I didn't know any of them (besides my twin) IRL. We have a group chat and do all of our sessions on zoom. We'll never do anything in person (Since we don't know anyone else's addresses and at least 2 of them live on a different continent then me) but so far, online has worked out pretty well for us. Anyway, that's all great advice and this is an amazing video!
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.
Thanks for the ad now I know an alternative to roll20
Nice video as usual
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.
The problem with being problem solvers is that we focus on problems.
"Rogue, we can't hear you."
Advantage on Stealth went a bit far
If you knew thieves' cant, you could....
The rogue on my party mutes himself all the time, and this is the running joke
Why do all rogues in d&d have stealth skill 1000 in real life
@@necromancer9829 It comes natural and we are rogues irl, were do you think our backgrounds come from.
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.
Thiiis lol took my group about a year before we all got our own setups and WiFi that are at least consistent (decent laptop and WiFi at best)
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.
@@aceofspades9503 This is too F'ing real. Nailed it
THIS arghrgrhh
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 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.
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...
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.
"That is ninety-twelve million damage" almost made me spit-take
Rogues, man!!
@@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!
paladins though... smites have routinely nuked things around our table.
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.....
@@GinnyDi now you have to do a build break down with your min/max stats, haha
Ginny: talks about getting distracted during online play
Me: get's distracted by the spooooky earrings
Spooky scary skel-earings
I have only ever played D&D online as our campaign started in 2020 and I feel all of these so much. Great tips and suggestions there!
Same here as well. :) We started back in 2018 on roll20 with audio from discord
I have also started in 2020 and have only ever played online.
Same
Same though :)
That's a shame. Playing around a table with friends is a unique experience.
Remember when Ashley's Skype calls kept dropping? Now it's everyone's reality.
Remember when they roleplayed her being skypecalled by calling her an astral projection? Just imagine that being done to a group.
"You will run into tech obstacles"
Ah, cool. To demonstrate, Ginny muted the right stereo channel. Nope? Ah dangit, my audio jack is fudged again...
I got a brand new super expensive mic for a bit of self care. First stream with it, did exactly that... nobody told me
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.
This vids audio is completely fucjed with my headphones too.
When I take them out its super quiet
Im on my phone.
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.
@@mauricewalshe8339 many people can't use desktop PC setups, not only for economical reasons
Ginny: People can easily go online and get distracted
Me, writing down literally every single thing that happens: You guys have time?
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
Haven’t noticed the earrings til I read your post. 😳🙂
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
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
I run 2 campaigns, the first with 9 people, the second with 7. Very rarely do we interrupt one another. ^-^
@@DMVoidKitten good for you sweetheart, now sit in the corner
@@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
@@DMVoidKitten thank you for the advice, why don’t you sit on the floor until you have a tip to say
@@chocomiso6641 but I have already said the tip. My advice is learn better table control. Then you don't have these issues.
"...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.
Ginny is filling a great need in the UA-cam 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
Thank you so much, Nathan!!
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.
Those are all totally fair points! Definitely one of those things that may vary from group to group.
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.. :)
@@preacherjohn the game my group just started uses discord for voice-only chat and roll 20 for maps and junk. Been working so far....
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"
_yep, COCK_
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
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
WE DO THE SAME!
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 ^-^
Same, it is honestly something I look forward to each week
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.
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.
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.
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...
@Jep Sep Me neither, since the game doesn't take place in my living room at all. We're playing remotely, on an online server.
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.
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.
I find I've been making memes about the events that happen in my games for my groups. Bizarrely, my attention has gone *up* this way.
@@bezerkoid I thought I was the only one. 😂
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!
Video idea: Mabey when being in person is ok, you could do a video on in-person and for players who may have stumbled on it during quarantine :)
Indeed my good Sir. Or Lady, or Whatever
She has several videos on those topics already. I recommend going through her playlists and channel to look through them.
@@noblesseoblige319 Good to know, thanks
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!
I really dislike the Roll20 + Discord combination; it's too clunky. Foundry VTT is the best so far. I am going to test out this new Shard VTT though.
@@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!
How to make it suck less: HAVE A SESSION
@ my group who hasn’t met in like 2 months
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.
I feel called out-
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).
@@kasane1337 I've been longing to find a DM for months. Any chance you'd like to get in contact? My discord ID is Socratoaster#6760
@@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 think its really nice that you talked about etiquette, social dynamics, etc. as that tends to be the make or break for me. One of the huge differences between an Online Tabletop session sucking and one going smoothly is having clear standards for etiquette during the session. While in person my games tend to be people just jumping in wherever, when I do an online game I find that giving people each a clear turn to speak or act or what have you really can help. The DM calling out each person with 'And what is your character doing right now?' or 'How does your character react to that?' may give up some of the fun spontaneity but it really does help things go way smoother in my experience. Also it helps get everyone contributing and involved :)
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 😅
@@Chelsey.A.L TRUE. DAT. 🤣 Also it is really fun for everyone to react together immediately at a Nat20.
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).
Our group uses a dice bot and that thing hates us 🤣
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..
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!
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. 😁
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 )
D&D text app?
You don't use the dice bots, built into the VTT?
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)
Very well done Ginny. Our group has been playing Humblewood online for a few months now, and we learned many of the lessons you listed the hard way. You also had a couple of new ones I'm going to try to use on my Traveller game that starts Saturday (insert pre-game judge panic here.)
I would add one addition. Think about playing with narrative combat. Back when the sun was dark, dinosaurs walked the earth, and AD&D 2nd Ed was the game of choice, none of my group used combat grids or miniatures. Combat was handled by collecting everyone's actions, rolling all the results, and then describing the full round. No tabletop (virtual or physical) needed. It's a style choice that doesn't work well for everyone, but it can make online play easier.
I watched literally half thsi video before noticing that Ginny's earrings were skeleton hands. They are FABULOUS, though.
I literally clicked on the video and went "oh those skelehand earrings are cool looking"
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.
Great video on a topic that is not covered enough from this POV, most tech or mechanic based issue are usually easy to resolve but more social issues like these require more "mental elbow grease" to fix. One thing I love about you channel is that you present things that can be or are issues...but you ALWAYS suggest ways to fix them to provide ideas for fixes. So many RPG channels only state problems as if stacking them in piles resolves them. So as always, great video and great ideas, Ginny.
Oh and online play makes it MUCH easier to find people to try out non-D&D RPGs, that is one if the biggest advantages I have found since the pandemic hit.
My friends and I are students with limited transportation so moving the campaign online has honestly made coordination easier for everyone . Great advice!
First off, thanks for putting out such great content, it is really appreciated. My group has been playing online for 6 years now and I just smiled at all the examples offered, we went through every one of them. My group spans the entire Eastern part of the US, and this is our only option. We went through the growing pains of it all, but at the end of the day, it's just great to be able to get together and share some good times. One thing always mentioned in these videos is "It's just a game," and it resonates just as well with the experiences online. Have fun and you've already won.
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.
I couldn’t play IRL, I’ve tried, it never goes well.
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.
My group was new and we had JUST started playing in person together when the pandemic hit (literally, two in-person sessions in.) So it was interesting to develop a group dynamic over Roll20. We had major lag issues, so switched to audio-only for awhile. Luckily, the DM and I upgraded our internet, so we were able to switch to video again (which we vastly prefer.) I think these are GREAT tips and ones we've learned over our 30 sessions!! I hadn't thought to create space for the hang-out time, although we kind of do that naturally, but I think it would be a great idea to make it more intentional. Personally, I deeply miss in-person D&D, but there are definitely conveniences to online for our players who have to drive to the session. Similar to your group, we've met more frequently because it's online and it's been such a joy to have this thing to look forward to every week!
The lag + timing issues of talking over people gives me just... all the social anxiety.
Or as a game master that silence after you pause or ask an open question.
I wish I could like this statement more than once^^
Omg I feel that so much
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 thought I was the only one who experience this!
This is a very well-thought out and put-together video. My group and I have been struggling with these issues, and this video was very helpful in incapsulating the essence of our issues and suggesting how to solve them. I am now a subscriber. Keep up the great content! Thank you!
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 ✨✨✨
A lot of this is stuff my group learned well before the pandemic, as we are an old group of friends, and have through life been scattered to different places and even different cities. Having a friend group discord with pages for each game we're playing has been a huge benefit. I'm running a game right now, and it lets me post handouts, gives a room for text based side conversation, and questions about things.
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.
Ginny, Thank you for encouraging people to keep playing D and D even if it can't be in person. Our group has taken a lot of inspiration from your videos.
I just wanted to tell people that if virtual table top is intimidating you from playing please don't give up. We looked into virtual options but for reasons of cost and outdated tech it just wouldn't work. So we did a live game. Everyone in our group is experienced with d and d My husband runs the game and I cover for anyone that can't make it by playing that character as well as my own.
We started up the group in early April 2020, with just 3 people, my husband and I on our end and a local friend from the Bay Area. I told another friend about our game and she joined us from Los Angeles. Another month and a half in my cousin joined us from Boston. Our set up is simple. We use a dry erase grid mat, some dry erase pens and a few minis. We have 1 dedicated mini for each character ( the paint job is color coded to make it easier to identify the main characters) but the rest or the monsters are random minis( Warhammer 40k space marine becomes a kobold!) My old cell phone that no longer works as a phone has become "sky cam" for a birds eye view of the action. And my husband's laptop and my actual cell phone are our cameras. For pillars , tables walls etc we bought a knock off Jenga game, dominos and wooden cubes from our local dollar tree. We have invested in a clamp to the table cell phone holder for sky cam but initially it was taped to a board sticking out over the table. We held out for 6 months coming up with stranger and stranger components including at one point a really long shoehorn before buying it ! We play via Google duo. And have a group chat via text on the phone between sessions. One of our members has been writing the adventure down ( from the things her character witnesses) as the characters dear diary. She texts us the update weekly with what happened according to her, not very intelligent or wise Dragonborn fighter with his bad spelling and misunderstanding of the situation included , written on paper in blocky messy printing. Now that we have started an alternate campaign, ( same group but someone can only play 2 hours max because of work) she has a different character and is writing in beautiful flowing cursive and flowery language as letters to her character's sister and included asides such as " please do keep the more exciting parts from Mother".
It has been a labor of love and a challenge to create spell effects and condition modifiers that could be seen. Hot glue + acrylic paint is great for reminders of Bless,Fairy fire and Hex. Red yellow and orange yarn some wire and a dog brush makes a great flaming sphere.
I feel like playing D&D with Ginny would be super fun.
Lots of this makes lots of sense. It's clear that you've been playing online lots, and have learned from alllllll the awkwardness!
Putting your thoughts in such a clear, accessible way is a joy to watch. I relate to all of it SO hard - it's helpful to have all of it in one place. I will share this with the groups I'm playing with right now. Nice one!
I really like the little example scenes!
Your videos just keep getting better. Your presentation, poise, editing, information, pace... everything! is great. Thanks for being so fantastic Ginny!
me: has first session of the campaign irl
life: yeah let's keep it at one
This is exactly the video I needed to see today! I’ve been having a bit of a difficult time feeling unsatisfied with my online games for some of the reasons you put in the video, so it is really helpful and comforting that I’m not the only one going through it, and that there are solutions to these problems! Thank you! ❤️
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
Had refrained from doing online games except limited stuff with family. Think your tips are totally on point with the experience we had. Also tried the Shard Tabletop character builder and am liking it so far. Thanks for great ideas (as always)!!!
I haven't played D&D since the 80s and I can still say this is great advice.
Something many of my games do is a rp channel! Where inbetween sessions or during background talks, characters text-rp! It great, you come to get to know eachothers characters, keep the hype up inbetween sessions and avoid long necessary talks like plan-talk having to be over voicecall! Definitely recommend
I’ve been playing online Dnd since before the pandemic. Sometimes it’s rough but I still enjoy it
I've been running D&D longer than a decent chunk of you have been alive, and this video still had tons of insightful advice that I found very useful.
"CHANGE YOUR DAMN SMOKE ALARM BATTERY!"
BEEP
BEEP
Ginny DI! This was so so helpful! I'm running the first session in my adventure for my group THIS Saturday so I'm extremely stoked this video came out before then. Thank you!
3:25 Those "you first" moments are called a "Canadian Standoff"
Thanks so much for this Ginny! I have been having issues with a player not understanding social cues in game and it has been frustrating me (because of dnd romance haha), but you make a really good point that it might just be really difficult for them to adjust to online social cues! Thanks for the reminder to not assume the reason for someone not understanding something
so the class outfits are back what a great use to separate each version of Ginny we are looking at
These are really good tips. My group has been playing virtually since 2007 or so, because we all moved and now live in different states. We went through all of this, the biggest thing I think is having a webcam. Not seeing your friends while you are playing is probably the biggest thing that will make your campaigns end.
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.
Great video!
We have started playing DnD over Discord, it's not as great as playing it irl, but it does the job and at least gives a bit of very welcome change to the weekend compared to doing nothing.
Discord actually is a pretty great platform for that, we have PnP Bots like Dice-Rolling, several channels for the game (for example one for general stuff, one for rolling, one for the combat log, one for pictures/descriptions of NPC's the players meet, one for maps - it keeps the game organized quite well!). Also having a music bot is great for the background music. If your DM has maps, handouts etc. in digital form also helps a lot.
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.
Why not just have everyone on a laptop and use a VTT?
This video expresses so much that I couldn't articulate about playing DnD from a distance. Such a good video! Thanks Ginny Di!
(Also, I actually did get a real notification for this video, so hopefully that's a good sign for your engagement. Fingers crossed for you!)
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.
@@TanisAnnicchiarico you do how I want or you keep playing with your crappy friends. Period
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.
@@JS-ys2uk - Wasn't expecting to see such blatant ableism in a Ginny Di comment section. Disgusting.
That depends
Thanks for touching on those issues! You're putting words on a lot of the stuff that I've been feeling ever since moving to online play.
Excellent video!
Oh my GOD the nose rule is brilliant!
But only if you are using video. Many groups opt for audio only (bandwidth issues, video shy, etc, etc) so you can’t see people’s noses. 👃
I started an in person campaign two weeks before the lockdown orders. We had one session together and had to switch to online. It’s coming up on a year now. We have experienced every one of the things you mentioned. It’s getting better over time, but nothing bets sitting around the table. Thanks for the great video. I’m going to send it to my players.
So we just gonna ignore how she totally slaughtered that shrub
#ShrubLivesMatter.
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"
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 UA-cam for background ambience or combat scenes and for other general improvements. Plus you can use voice mods to have a cave echo etc 😜
Such a great video! My group has been playing for about 2.5 years, and we used to play irl. But, we had a couple players move away before the pandemic, so we had figured out hybrid irl & online for games and when the pandemic hit, it was really helpful in easing the transition to full online games. While we miss hanging out in person for games (& the dnd night potlucks we'd have) some benefits of online has been that we've been able to keep up the campaign, and have plenty of instant hilarious memes.
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.
Ginny, great video, and I saw Professor Dungeoncraft picked up on what you were dropping down! So ur word is reaching the people! lol Anyways, gotta say, I'm a mini/terrain centric DM who puts more weight on being at the table and the tactical advantages of using terrain and miniatures. Thus, the online DND game has been a hurdle to overcome over the past few months. Currently, I am running an online game, and all the issues you bring up--I too have felt. Another aspect I've been personally struggling with is describing combat. A large reason why I use miniatures is to avoid the "how far away" "can I see?" "wait how many goblins are left?" "which one was already hit?" "I'm going to use this spell...am I in range??" It's something that slows the game down to a halt, and does make me miss "the old way" of getting together! Anyways, thanks for sharing!
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!
I feel like that would be very distracting and not necessarily reflecting of each character's own flair.
@@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. ???
Video made SUCH a difference to me as GM. Being able to read people's reactions, and see that people were listening or thinking and not just... gone... when they weren't taking was game changing.
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.
@@CobaltContrast god, that sounds so awkward and uncomfortable. I hope you find a better group to play dnd with!
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.
@@inmajina1312 yeah online!
I’m a professional dm and since the pandemic forced everyone into lockdown back in March 2020 I’ve been running 10 games a week online and I have to say every single thing you just brought up has been a fantastic idea. Thankfully a large group of my players have picked up on these naturally but there are a few that probably need to see this.
Also, don’t forget to talk to your players, get in their heads a little bit. Some players have a hard time recognizing when they are talking over others (they get excited) and cameras definitely help but some can’t afford them. Getting comfortable with awkward silences is also important, but it’s ok to ask them if they heard you or if they’re planning out their action. I have a few players that tend to be slow to act and have to mentally walk through what they are about to do before doing it. Usually when they do they come to some truly brilliant conclusions.
I could probably ramble on and on about this and discuss more in detail but I did just want to say thank you very much and I am showing this everywhere now.
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
11:18 this is really important even for an inperson group, one of my two groups really struggled with the lore distinction between devils and demons which tbf is very confusing. So when I figured out a solution, I just put in the discord "we are calling dnd demons voidsent (Thank you ffxiv) now so that its more distinct who is who."
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.
@@TeekOfficial Somethings tells me your turnover rate for players doesn't look good.
Great advice. I like that you leaned into the interpersonal etiquette and even reminded me of some things my 7-player game has struggled with. The section on interuptions and back-off mechanisms was the highlight to me. This is a good primer video for people considering online roleplaying for the first time (if there are any left).
"Kids, daddy's gonna be real busy for the next few hours. Good luck!"
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
The more I hear about other D&D groups, the more I realize how amazingly lucky I am to have the group of friends I play D&D with. We've been doing online D&D for about 3-4 years now, over about 6-7 campaigns, and all of these things you listed are things that I assumed everyone already did. Sorry you've had some bad experiences with online D&D. These are great tips for any group just getting into online D&D. Hopefully you're able to pick back up some more games to fill the 2 that didn't survive.
I hope I’m not the only person who is worried about what this party is doing to that poor Awakened Shrub.
At least nobody tried to seduce it.
Not until now!
Thanks for the tips! Our group actually started out playing online and never met in person, but we still run into a lot of the obstacles you mentioned, and I'm definitely gonna try out some of your solutions!
One of the biggest things for our group so far (which might seem trivial, but was a game changer for us) was deciding to roll actual physical dice instead of virtual ones. We're all super haptic little dice goblins, and I trust my players to not fudge their rolls off-camera. Just the feeling of a d20 rolling around in the palm of the hand makes it feel much more real for me.
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.
ahhh!! this advice is soo great! and there are so many videos about the same stuff over and over and it's this sort of awareness that really makes a game great! so thankyou very much, starting my first online game this week with new players and this video is perfect, thankyou :)
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
Honestly, I play with regular groups and I trust them enough to have told them to use dice if they wanna.
My D&D group transitioned to online a long time ago when we all graduated from college and moved to different parts of the country, and I can certainly say a lot of these are important. The two biggest things I heavily recommend are turning on video and hanging out before and after the game. Turning on video helps people get more connected to the roleplaying aspect of the game because roleplay can be so much more than just talking and hanging out outside of the game just helps you get comfortable and familiar with the online dynamic. My group and I would often play tabletop sim games or just watch youtube videos on Watch2Gether (which is what we use for music as well, so people are usually getting on that site anyway when we play). Both of these things seem subtle and not that big a deal, but they have a big impact on making online play feel more natural.
Me who hasn’t played D&D in person for 5 years: I’m five parallel universes ahead of you
I have a D&D group, and it's online only. We started up during quarantine, some of us had never really played before, but we all wanted to, so we found a time and we did. I didn't even realize how much of that advice I'd been following since I didn't know any of them (besides my twin) IRL. We have a group chat and do all of our sessions on zoom. We'll never do anything in person (Since we don't know anyone else's addresses and at least 2 of them live on a different continent then me) but so far, online has worked out pretty well for us.
Anyway, that's all great advice and this is an amazing video!