Moving Your Tabletop Games From the Physical Realm to the Virtual

Hello there!  Several of you out there are new to playing online tabletop games, some of you are seasoned pros. I would love to make sure that some of the great advice and suggestions out there for moving from in-person games make it into everyone’s toolkit.  A few handy resources: The extremely long and VERY useful Roll20 tricks thread The Roll20 Crash Course over on the Help Center The Pro forum post that originated this (it is locked to Pro users though, so hopefully I can get folx to repost their advice here!) The Roll20 YouTube is chock full of guides, tutorials, walkthroughs, actual plays, GM preps, and more for a variety of systems as well as Roll20 features. The TTRPG Safety Toolkit curated by Kienna S and Lauren Bryant-Monk Do you have suggestions for those coming in and playing for the first time at a virtual table? Drop them here!  Is there a best practice you wish you’d known when starting out on Roll20? Please share!   From the more tech-heavy advice to focusing solely on navigating the virtual social interactions, anything that could help make playing online easier and more fun is fair game.

My top tips: 1) if you get technical glitches, or some feature is not working right or as expected in the middle of the game, fall back to an easier, quicker method. Don't try to troubleshoot in the middle of a game. DL giving you headaches? Switch to regular fog of war and keep the game going. It's simple, but almost completely bulletproof. Problems connecting through video chat? If you can't resolve that in 5-10 minutes, switch to Discord or Skype. Just keep playing, and don't frustrate yourself in the middle of a game. Roll20 depends on a lot of pieces working together, a good number of which they have no direct control over. If something breaks, fix it between games if you can. 2) Take time to find or develop some good macros or API tools that fit your needs. Keep a notepad near your computer at game time and jot down any pain points as they occur. Then in between games try to figure out how to avoid them. Ex. A character decides to switch from a torch to a bullseye lantern they found, and you spend 10-15 minutes in game looking up the rules, and then how to implement them. A good lighting macro with labeled buttons or drop down choices can help there, or an in-game link to the lighting rules. By the next game, you are ready. 3) Ask questions: The forums or the Roll20 Reddit or its Discord are great places to ask how to do something, or why isn't something working the way you'd like. There are lots of folks who are eager to help. The Wiki and the Help Center are also great resources, both available in the header of the site.

For GM's: 1. While marketplace modules are huge time-savers, consider taking the time to build at least a little bit of a module first (perhaps a one shot, or a single dungeon) before running a complete campaign. Taking the time to build something yourself and then seeing what happens when you run it is one of the best ways to learn the various parts of the platform. How does Fog of War (or Lighting on plus/pro) work? You'll learn it. How do you size a map to the grid? You'll learn it. How to set up mooks (hey, why does it subtract health from all of my goblins when I change it on one?) and characters in the journal and as tokens? You'll learn it. How does the art library or compendium work? You'll learn it. 2. Session zero is especially important when moving online from an in-person game, because you need to talk about expectations and the digital learning curve. If you have someone in the group who already knows the platform, have them take a little bit of time to walk through the various player functions of Roll20 so everyone understands how to play. Talk about how the first few sessions will be different than what you are used to in-person, that even with video body language and social queues are different, and that it will take getting used to. And talk about how you as GM are learning a new system, so please understand there may be a few technical glitches here or there as you play. 3. Don't compare yourself to anyone else's games. Remember that the best gaming is the kind where everyone is having fun. You don't have to have all (or any) of the bells and whistles to play a great game session. Roll20 gives you lots of tools, but you don't have to be a master of them all at once or try to make the most amazing game ever. Keep it simple to start, and add things as you get comfortable with them. 4. Run Roll20 in an incognito window. This often makes it run better. Make sure you and your players are only using Chrome or Firefox as your browser, these are the only officially supported browsers on the platform. 5. At some point, people in your group will question the randomness of the dice. Show them this page to help understand what is happening. 6. If you are playing the Forgotten Realms, this map might be helfpul. After years of running online games, quite a bit of work editing work, and tons of research, I made an updated version of the free Sword Coast map that WotC made available here . This new version of the map is spoiler free and suitable for players, while providing DM's (especially VTT DM's) the ability to easily add spoiler locations through transparent png files. In addition, it significantly expands the locations included on the original map to include more locations in the Moonshae Isles, Amn, The Nelantehr Isles, Cormyr, The Dalelands, Cormanthor, the Dragon Coast, and more. You can learn more about it here:&nbsp; <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/DnD/comments/gabiey/map_map_of_the_sword_coast_5e_revised_and_expanded/" rel="nofollow">https://www.reddit.com/r/DnD/comments/gabiey/map_map_of_the_sword_coast_5e_revised_and_expanded/</a>

For players moving online: Finding a game as a player can be difficult because there are significantly more players than there are DMs. It can be incredibly competitive to get into a game because of this imbalance. And many DM's have made application processes more thorough because of this deluge of applications. Here are some ideas on how to try to stand out. Apply for games that are (a) either newly posted with few applications or (b) scheduled for several weeks out. It is very unlikely that DM's who have 25+ applications will even take a look at your application if you are applying the same day as the game. They already likely have talked with applicants and narrowed it down to a shortlist, and aren't likely to add you to that list. Follow application instructions as closely as possible. DM's put time and effort into their games, including the application process (because trust me, there are some truly terrible players out there, and having an application process helps weed out a lot of them). Usually the hoops they are asking for are to show if you are someone excited enough about the game to actually take the time to care about what you are doing. If you can't take the time to complete an application, then most DM's don't see you as a type of player who will take the time to do other things for the game once it gets going. DM's want buy-in to the hard work they are doing, and this is your first chance to show that you are happy to do your part. Write in complete sentences, and be clear with your answers. This is kind of a second part of the previous answer, but demands it's own call out. You would be surprised how many complete applications come in, but are just one word answers, short sentences, or just generally grammatically poor. Think of this like a job application almost, and put your best face forward, including being on your best writing behavior. Be interesting and succinct. DM's may ask for a lot of information in an application, including perhaps a character concept. Be creative with this, but don't go overboard. A strong three sentence paragraph that is evocative will likely get much more traction than a huge backstory dump of multiple paragraphs. This is your time to pitch the character, not fully explain it. You don't even know if that character will work in the campaign, so don't waste everyone's time by fleshing it out beyond making it an interesting idea to explore. Don't be annoying. There are a bunch of ways this can happen. For instance, don't private message the DM asking for special treatment (caveat: if you have a private situation such as a medical condition you would prefer not to discuss on a public message board when applying but would like to alert the DM to). Don't post an application that looks nothing like what the DM asked for. Don't lie on the application or in follow-up conversations. In general, follow the rules as outlined by the DM. Every time I (as DM) have allowed a player who asked to bend my rules into a game, I have regretted it almost immediately. As a result, I now have a zero-tolerance policy for this, and will instantly choose not to invite that person into my game based on past experience with other players. Be prepared for there to be multiple steps to the application process and for it to possibly take several days or even weeks. A DM might want to do a voice call over Discord to discuss the game if they are considering you to be one of the players. Be open to this process - the DM is trying to put together a good game, and if you make it into the game this work was for your benefit. Be prepared to have to apply to lots of games. The odds are against you, but the more you apply, the better your chances of getting into a game. Check both the LFG Tool and the LFG forum. Watch for pickup games on the LFG Tool and try to jump into one of those. Check out reddit (r/lfg r/roll20LFG r/lfgpremium) as other sources for searching for games. If you get into a game, be a good player! Be on time, know how your character works, be respectful of the other players, engage with the story, and be excited about being at the table. Be aware that even if you get into a group, there is still the chance for it to have issues. Most groups will lose at least a couple of players within the first couple of sessions. It is also not that unusual for a DM to decide to cancel a game if they aren't having fun or feel that it isn't living up to their expectations, or if unexpected life things happen. Sometimes group dynamics just don't work and personalities never mesh. Sometimes people ghost, sometimes people will give notice. Sometimes there is a bad player who ruins it for everyone. Sometimes the game will be great and go on for the next two or three years. Just be ready to roll with the punches and be watchful for people you would like to play more with. Bonus - Become friends with them, and eventually you'll have a full group from people you have met as you've played. Some other options to think about: Consider paid games. There are usually less applicants to deal with, and the players who are willing to pay are usually also into a game for a long haul, making a generally steady gaming group. If you go this route, look for games that either offer a free session so you can meet everyone and get a feel for what the game would be like, or that have videos or audio that you can watch so you understand what you might be signing up for. Consider game systems that are not D&amp;D. Smaller game systems are more niche and there are less players, so DM's are often looking to fill their more unique game with players. Consider being the DM. As the recurring theme suggests, there is a shortage of DM's, so players would be happy to play with you, even if this is your first time doing it. Choose something fairly easy like Lost Mine of Phandelver (the D&amp;D starter set) which is built to help DM's learn how to DM. It might take some time to learn what you are doing (both as a DM and the functionality of Roll20), but most of your players will be new too and will be excited to be playing.

Finding ways to help you and your group communicate is key. Expectations up front are best for everyone. Some people want to game and just game, others want to chill and hang out before, during, or after. Sessions zeroes (as everyone else has said) are KEY but so are ongoing check-ins. Sometimes a campaign or story will start taking a turn different than what tone you all agreed on at the beginning and it's important to keep that communication open so the game continues to be fun for everyone. And with the state of the world, a topic that had been totally fine to dive into weeks ago may be a no-go zone now for someone at your table. There is a curated TTRPG Safety Toolkit that has a large number of resources for various safety systems, if you'd like to find one that works for you.&nbsp; NOTE: anyone can bring up safety tools to try, not just the GM. It's YOUR table, no matter your role at it. Landing pages are dope. Landing pages can be campaign overviews, they can be places for the players to draw a mess on, or even virtual "snack" table. These aren't necessary, but I find them 1. incredibly fun to make and use 2. great to help set the tone. If it's a "snack table," people know they can just hang out and chat, maybe play a card game or something. If it's the campaign overview or the opening of a new quest or mystery, that can help people get into the game headspace. You don't need to use every feature . For real, you don't. Use what works for you. If it's just the whiteboard and dice roller -- great! If you try out one of the free modules (like The Master's Vault for DnD5e, The Lightless Beacon for Call of Cthulhu, Torment and Legacy for PF2e, etc) and decide you love having all that info set up for you -- also great! I do highly recommend trying out one of the free modules just so you can get a better idea of the possibilities for those games. I actually make splash screens for the non-movement tracking games as well. So my Kids on Bikes game has some random pictures combined with specific playlists for each page to help set the scene, even though the players won't be moving tokens. Theatre of the mind is surprisingly easier for some people when they have atmospheric input. There are a serious number of amazing features at your fingertips, and while I hope you get to try them all out, go at your own pace.

I make sure to have everyone do a microphone check so they can adjust their mic volume if it is too loud for others, and discuss microphone etiquette, because, if more than one is speaking at a time, or someone is chewing on crunchy food, nobody hears anything. Also, part of the sound check, if you use background music or sound effects, is to make sure the volumes of the jukebox tracks aren't overpowering (except for the ones that should be, like a bomb or explosion - but they shouldn't hurt anyone's ears).

I have really enjoyed starting with games like For the Queen , The Quiet Year , Fiasco , Dialect and some homemade board game conversions because its taught me how to navigate around Roll20 without feeling the pressure of impacting a longer term campaign. Video chat etiquette articles have some nice reminders too- I don't consider them hard and fast rules, but it's nice to be conscientious of things that might distract your fellow players or improve their experience like wearing headphones, muting, not multitasking.

I think most things I mentioned in the thread on the Pro forum has already been addressed. I do want to emphasize what Bunny mentioned about not needing every feature. Back in my day... I started playing AD&amp;D with friends of mine when I was 12.&nbsp; All that required was dice, a couple books (that we shared), paper, and whatever you used to write your character out with.&nbsp; We didn't have character sheets, but we created them with whatever layout our minds could imagine in notebooks or on loose leaf paper.&nbsp; If you were being real fancy, you might write labels in pen and everything that might change in pencil.&nbsp; There were no miniatures, and there were no maps provided to use by the DM, unless there was a rough map of a world or region.&nbsp; Players never saw maps of dungeons and buildings, but we were expected to draw our own (at least a rough sketch) from descriptions we were given if we didn't want to get turned around in a large, complex place.&nbsp; The entire game was a few notes on paper, some dice for random chance, and whatever images our imaginations could provide.&nbsp; I should probably say that until playing on Roll20, I had never played/used any published adventure or used miniatures in any tabletop rpg. What has changed over time?&nbsp; Most of these games still only take dice, a place to hold character information, and imagination.&nbsp; Moving online hasn't changed that at all.&nbsp; In the end, we are still just playing games of make believe that have some rules for structure.&nbsp; How complex (and difficult) we make things for ourselves beyond that with images, automation, sound effects, etc. is totally on us and only "necessary" as a factor of the tastes of the people playing the game.&nbsp; It is totally possible to run an immersive and fun game using no tools but a character sheet and dice. Basically, don't make things so complicated that you lose the fun of running (or playing) a game.

Landing Pages I keep the date, time, weather and phase of the moon on the landing page and update it after every session. I also record the party's current location and objective. It's there for them to see whilst they are in the "lobby" waiting for everyone to arrive and the game to start and helps get everyone back on track. I also put visual reminders of the previous game on the screen - NPCs, monsters, treasure items, mini-maps, anything! Over time these overlap and the older ones get covered up in a growing collage. Finding out what new tokens/images I have put there is now almost a mini-game for my players, and helps remind them what happened last session. Player Journals I can't remember who originally posted this to credit them, but give your players their own journals with full edit privileges. Let them take their own notes and record them on Roll20. It will save you doing it for them! &nbsp;Especially if your game is role play heavy. Want to remember the name of that barkeep in the previous town - well did you write it down? I am currently running Waterdeep Dragonheist which is really content heavy. I warned the players up front that they would need to take good notes, and now they are. Much better than doing an intelligence roll or similar to see if they can remember something. Names etc can be initially sent to chat and copied from there, but of course Chat disappears off the page fairly quickly.

Ooo -- Owen H just reminded me of something else (thank you!). For every handout and character sheet and everything, there's a space for GM notes. I use that to include secrets about the players (either from each other or even themselves, assuming the player has asked for that), list out any rollable tables I want to use (say if it's a tower and I want a random puzzle or trap or reward for each door they ope, etcn). For NPCs I'll use the GM notes to put down any information, affiliation, loyalty, the character may have -- I even use that to track loyalty points if it's an NPC that's romanceable or adventurable so I can remember how that person was feeling about the party as a whole or individually. It's just a handy trick to keep track of the things you may not want players to know but would like quick access to. EDIT: Also by having those handouts accessible to every player, they can write their OWN notes on it with their perspective and what they remember.

One thing that made a huge difference to my online game after coming from in-person was encouraging people to use webcams. I get not everyone wants to be on display, but like in person, being able to see the other person and connect face to face makes a huge difference when it comes to interaction as a group. I noticed a huge difference in group engagement after encouraging it. I don't force any of my players to use it though and even have some that don't use it all because not everyone is comfortable with it online. To reiterate the stuff said above though, my other list of things that make online games better are Session 0. So much more important online. Please do it. You won't be disappointed and your players will all know what to expect. Landing Pages are an easy "default" page and a way for GMs to display info when needed without jumping from page to page. Skip over technical glitches. Deal with it later. Anything that slows the session down tends to be bad. The new thing you found might be cool, but if you've spent more than 2 minutes trying to fix it move on and deal with it later. Ask a player to help you outside the session if needed Finding APIs/Macros. There are loads and they help so much to smooth the game out. Use them. Post in the forums for help or Google. Make sure to test them as well. This links into point 3 above a little. Remember to also ask your players what would make their life easier. That question can sometimes add a whole bunch of stuff that makes life easier, or stop you from going down a rabbit hole for no reason.

Joshua G. said: One thing that made a huge difference to my online game after coming from in-person was encouraging people to use webcams. I get not everyone wants to be on display, but like in person, being able to see the other person and connect face to face makes a huge difference when it comes to interaction as a group. I noticed a huge difference in group engagement after encouraging it. I don't force any of my players to use it though and even have some that don't use it all because not everyone is comfortable with it online. To reiterate the stuff said above though, my other list of things that make online games better are Session 0. So much more important online. Please do it. You won't be disappointed and your players will all know what to expect. Landing Pages are an easy "default" page and a way for GMs to display info when needed without jumping from page to page. Skip over technical glitches. Deal with it later. Anything that slows the session down tends to be bad. The new thing you found might be cool, but if you've spent more than 2 minutes trying to fix it move on and deal with it later. Ask a player to help you outside the session if needed Finding APIs/Macros. There are loads and they help so much to smooth the game out. Use them. Post in the forums for help or Google. Make sure to test them as well. This links into point 3 above a little. Remember to also ask your players what would make their life easier. That question can sometimes add a whole bunch of stuff that makes life easier, or stop you from going down a rabbit hole for no reason. I agree with all the points! In particular landing pages are a great way of preparing content that will be made available to players throughout the game!

Flutters Guide to branching out: Playing PFS Online - Google Docs &nbsp;&nbsp; How to make a roll d20 table - Google Docs Written for pathfinder society but 99.44% applicable to any game. These can get you onto the learning curve.&nbsp;

Now that my group have been vaccinated they want return in person play but have some player are out state that still need to use roll20. The problem is have few people that want roll their own dice and return pen n paper (old school gamers). Is there a way manually input dice rolls to show in chat log.&nbsp;

cyd said: Now that my group have been vaccinated they want return in person play but have some player are out state that still need to use roll20. The problem is have few people that want roll their own dice and return pen n paper (old school gamers). Is there a way manually input dice rolls to show in chat log.&nbsp; You could just have them use this:&nbsp; [[ ?{What was the roll?} ]] You can get fancier than that and add queries to add text to label the roll, or if they have character sheets and tokens you could add this to the attack section so they can click on the button but still input the roll manually.&nbsp;

thanks.

Woah! I may be using this more often that's great.

Hey all, thanks for this forum. I'm new to Roll20 and I'm excited to be here. :) I'm looking at GMing the Dragon Age RPG, since I absolutely love the video games that the game is based on, but I can't find any groups of people playing the RPG. I got myself a copy of the official handbook and a PDF version of the GMs kit. There is a character sheet built into Roll20, but as far as I know, the integrated character sheet is absolutely all thats available to Roll20 GMS for this game. Ie: There are no Dragon Age city/ location maps, no monster or npc icons, etc. I'm currently creating handouts for my players so that I can avoid reading 10 pages of content to them during character creation/they don't have to spend $50 each for a handbook in order to create their characters. I don't mind making these things for my players, or uploading pictures and maps to use, but I'm wondering if I'm going about things the wrong way. Perhaps there is a tool I can use on Roll20? Maybe someone has already created a folder, etc with Dragon Age stuff in it that I can use for my game, or there is a way to share what I make so that future GMs can save time when creating their game? Thanks, Heather

Hey Heather V, The best thing you can do is reach out to Green Ronin and let them know you want to see the official Dragon Age RPG materials on Roll20! I agree that importing all of the materials yourself can be a bit of a pain, but at least you have the source material to work from. There are also some great screenshots from the Dragon Age website, and of course if you have the video games you could always take some yourself of the overworld maps. Those would be great jpgs to drop into the vtt. A friend of mine did just that as well as scanning things from the books for some of her games. Just so you are aware, if you're asking to share official assets from BioWare's or Green Ronin's Dragon Age products amongst others, that starts straying into the piracy lane, and piracy is strictly prohibited on Roll20. Selfishly, I would LOVE for Green Ronin to officially support the Dragon Age RPG over here so if you need more voices asking them about it, count me in!

Bunny said: Hey Heather V, The best thing you can do is reach out to Green Ronin and let them know you want to see the official Dragon Age RPG materials on Roll20! I agree that importing all of the materials yourself can be a bit of a pain, but at least you have the source material to work from. There are also some great screenshots from the Dragon Age website, and of course if you have the video games you could always take some yourself of the overworld maps. Those would be great jpgs to drop into the vtt. A friend of mine did just that as well as scanning things from the books for some of her games. Just so you are aware, if you're asking to share official assets from BioWare's or Green Ronin's Dragon Age products amongst others, that starts straying into the piracy lane, and piracy is strictly prohibited on Roll20. Selfishly, I would LOVE for Green Ronin to officially support the Dragon Age RPG over here so if you need more voices asking them about it, count me in!Thanks for the reply! I'll have to do some research to figure out the best way to contact them. It would be great if you'd contact them as well, since I think that hearing from you would mean more because of your affiliation with Roll20.&nbsp; I was looking at sharing things like stunt charts and a break down of actions that can be taken during combat. They came with the GM kit and are meant to be printed and given to players for sessions. Since we aren't meeting in person, I was thinking that people could print them on their end and have them out while we play. However, I can completely understand why your guys don't want us to share them. I don't want people to save them and start sharing them with others. That would cause Green Ronin to lose money. :( Sooo, I won't be sharing them with my players. Some of the other things I was thinking about are questionable. I basically took all the character creation info and changed the character creation process to make it easier/faster to get through. While a lot of it is in my own words, I obviously had to include information that was in the book. If Green Ronin doesn't work with you guys, I will read off my character creation information to players going forward and have people follow along. &nbsp;

I will do some research to figure out the best way to reach/approach Green Ronin, but if you could contact them as well, that would be wonderful! I think that because you are affiliated with Roll20, it would mean more.

I just joined Green Ronin's Discord page and found this information in their 2021 announcements. I'm super excited! I'll check your announcements to see if you guys have any information posted about when you'll be working with them/how things are going. They are currently doing a poll on the Discord page re what vtt people are using, and Roll20 is winning by a landslide, so if they haven't contacted you guys, it appears they may soon! "Virtual Tabletops I don’t know about you, but I’ve done a lot of online roleplaying during quarantine. While we have had Mutants &amp; Masterminds available on Fantasy Grounds for years, we now have a team that’s working to bring more Green Ronin titles to various virtual tabletops, including Roll20, Fantasy Grounds, and Foundry. We’re now working on getting some of our AGE games, including The Expanse, up for play. We’ll also be doing things like token and map packs."

Nice! I like the folks at Green Ronin. They pulled me out of a jam once.I'll be happy to see their stuff make the transition.

Helpful

Great how this developed... After starting the discussion in the post/thread&nbsp; <a href="https://app.roll20.net/forum/post/9858733/about-moving-from-tabletop-to-desktop-dot-dot-dot-experience-suggestions-advice" rel="nofollow">https://app.roll20.net/forum/post/9858733/about-moving-from-tabletop-to-desktop-dot-dot-dot-experience-suggestions-advice</a> &nbsp;I have to say that I am glad I stayed tuned and kept playing online. The new campaign is real fun. Thanks for all the advice and helpful suggestions. Moreover, thanks for this permanent thread that was set up in result of the discussion.&nbsp; Now I get the feeling we have to open a new thread: How to keep your players at the DeskTop and prevent them from going back to the TableTop ;-) Just kidding.&nbsp; At the bottom line I can summarize for me personally that it is a totally different feeling to play online. However, I must say that I now tend to like it better than playing at the table (after playing AD&amp;D for some decades at the table...). However, this is not the same for everyone as mentioned before. I really like the flexibility and to be able to play with many more and many different people.&nbsp; A final conclusion for me is that it is not helpful for a whole group to switch their game or campaign online. It is always very helpful to have experienced players with you. My advice would be to try to look for an existing group or campaign to join in order to get to know the differences and the relevant topics for an enjoyable online game.&nbsp; Keep playing!

My game is not Dungeons and Dragons. it is not designed in the same way as D&amp;D either. In the 70s several game systems came out that were sued by Gygax then the Lawyer group that bought him out, for plagiarism, Savageland was sued by Runequest, and both Auduin and Chaosium's game of Demons and Tombs was sued by Gygax. So, my game is original I created it from the percentile method and researched a lot of history, and actually building things for years to include them in my game of a world 20,000 years from now on the other side of our galaxy - a place where magic permeates the planet, and 10,000 years ago settlers landed upon this world. inside of 100 years, these inhabitants were affected by the aftermath of a ruinous war, and civilization collapsed, and they lost the knowledge of the first settlers. ten thousand years later your character is born, and if you are Human this is Earth, if Bornian this is Rhiax, or Royant; Eroy. My question is will the javascript the character sheet is written in enable the somewhat complex combat system I use to reflect single choices instead of the old school penciled in percentile totals - you are 301% to 'hit' with a weapon, I don't know if the macro can present a choice to the player instead of them dividing their totals on the character sheet at 50% splits, or 20% splits for doing all parries versus a monster or demon, (you parry in this game so you don't take damage). &nbsp;And at first echelon, you can do three actions to parry and three actions to attack per round, (3 seconds). The javascript macro will take the total percentage divide by 2 or 3 and ask the player if they want to make full or 2-3 attacks and parries, all attacks or all parries, then roll randomly for each. The macro will have to apply a constant of whatever the opponent has for defense subtracted before the attack is made, then can add cunning per attack. Some defense totals zero out a lower percentage character's attack, and the rule that you always have 05% to do anything, all you have is the cunning added to each attack and to each parry, then roll combat. Parry is unaffected by defense unless a spell or curse is involved. The macros roll under each split, 100% to hit. The defense of the opponent is 75, so the macro would need to subtract this from the total. The macro would then roll under what remained plus the character's cunning, and roll under that. Is this too complex for Roll20 macros in javascript on the character sheet to accomplish?

This sounds like something that should be brought up in the Character Sheet forum instead of tagged onto a thread that is about how to transition from playing at a table to playing on a VTT.

NAMES. Just my personal opinion:- In physical games you often know your colleagues and can look/point at them or their characters. For virtual games you may be playing on a table top, with a server application and people you don't know. So you end up with a Roll20 account name, character name, Server account name, server nickname and your real name (what do you want to be known as). And you may well have several games on the go and several characters. Some times i have to play for a missing player. You can be tempted to create wonderful names such as "Cariodoc the Magnificent" or "Vialump the dragonslayer" but I find i then need to work out how all the names are connected to a person. I find this all confusing. If your a GM it must be a real annoyance. I adopted "Mel" as a common name and use it as part of all my names. You can see that my Roll20 account is Mel C. I have a server account that also starts with Mel and all my characters have names containing "Mel". Its pretty easy for some one to link all the names and as a default just say "Mel". If you have multiple characters on the go I find it useful to put a clue in the name for the character type. So a wizards name might include "Wiz" or just "W" or something you personally will recognize as&nbsp; a reminder that this is not ..."Fig"... the fighter or "Roger" the rogue. This may seem trivial but it would help me if others did it.

Good idea. I have been in groups that change their player named to include their user name: Marmaduke (keith)

I make a point of referring to everyone by their character's names once we start playing because that's what's in front of me all the time. My players make a point of doing as Keith's groups do above.&nbsp;

I made a rather long explanation of which game i am using. placing all the possible things that other people would bring up that don't apply but I did not reinvent the wheel. In playing once you type in the name of whoever, the computer has that set through the character sheet right? so why do you need to shorten a name? As for in play i use three encounters to give atmosphere to the run. This is what I mean: I use the past encounter what happened before you got there, then the actual encounter you are going to have to deal with, then the future encounter if you balk or run away from the actual one. ...to give atmosphere to the game So adding a past present future to your encounters makes the game easier to run, for the DM.

I appreciate the efforts of you all here, but I think some are missing the point. So much of the advice up there is for people who haven't played before, but the thread title is about moving (established) games to Roll20. Established (and successful) games don't need general rp advice. They need to know how to get their game onto Roll20 as easily as possible. They (we) were already doing rp successfully before. My experience is that there is a rather steep learning curve. Also, unlike using the paper (ok, pdf) products, you cannot just keep adding bits and pieces as you go. My advice would be to either go completely free and do as little as you must to make your game work, OR upgrade to pro and buy the compendiums and modules. You need them to make Roll20 work (easily) for a ongoing campaign, the sort of thing that runs for 10+ levels and 500+ hours. Adopting Roll20 is a binary decision for those kind of situations. It is unlike paper/pdf/tabletop, where you can be incremental.

Hay algunos juegos que serían increíbles para jugar en la vida real y en el juego