Remote GM; local players

Hi, My group of friends has one member in law school out of the state and he's looking to GM a game, but we still want to keep the local feel, so we're all converging in one place with the exception of the GM. Has anyone done this? Any tips, pitfalls, etc.?

Hi Aaron. Sure, good question, others will come along with more tips. It has been done. You could get some relevant tips from previous threads that were about using Roll20 in-person. Many people send Roll20 to a TV for larger viewing by a group. If everyone shares one wireless mouse to control the Player's side, then a tip is for the GM to set every character's token as able to be controlled by all players.  Again, there are many ways, so you have options, but one possible set-up is: Have the game running with just 2 accounts logged in, the GM on their end, and all the Players sharing one account ("The Players").  If you do video, this will have the GM casting his face in one video box, and all the players sitting around the table looking very small in the other video box. Or you can have the GM's video turned on, and disable the Player-side video, just showing a picture in the video box instead. Probably one of the biggest issues to resolve in your set-up would be audio, making it so that everyone can hear your GM over open-air speakers in the room, yet also so the Players can speak back to the DM (a mic that can pick up everyone, or a separate mic for each person) and having the Mics NOT pick up the sound of the speakers which would cause a feedback loop. There are many techniques to address this, depending on your gear, your room, and whether you want to use Roll20 voice or an external voice program like Discord or Skype.

The first few months that I used Roll20, I had my Players still meet in the same place. It was better for organization and it was easier than passing dice around all day. I don't see how it would hurt anyone to do that, and if anything a computer would act like a GM screen and make it easier for the GM. Be sure to have some sort of area pickup mic (too many headset mics near each other can cause feedback loops if not setup properly). Setup either a Webcam that can view the Players all at once, or each Player with a web cam. This way the GM can still "feed off your reactions" to direct the game play. Be patient when there are server issue (and they will happen). Even though you will be using a computer to have the GM remote, do not use this as an excuse to browse the internet while it isn't your direct turn. This can be viewed as rude (to the other Players and if the GM has to get your attention). That is all I can think of right off the top of my head.

Good news on the audio front, that's what my career is, so I'm pretty set there. I'm kind of thinking I'll be kind of the master of the main interface. Did you find it better with everyone having their own connection, or just 1 or 2 on the player end?

Either way honestly can work, everyone in the room looking at one (this would preferably be a TV, or at least a laptop that can be passed around), or multiple people having their own laptops/computers or even tablets. Roll20 specifically offers a tablet app that is optimized for this. &nbsp;The app is ideal for sitting around together, since each person with a tablet (or passing around the tablet) can do features like roll dice, write in chat room, and view your character sheet. &nbsp;An excellent setup would be to have yourself running the main display on a TV the group can see, but also have 1 or more tablets running the app to pass around amongst players in the room. Roll20 app wiki, <a href="https://wiki.roll20.net/Roll20_for_iPad_and_Androi" rel="nofollow">https://wiki.roll20.net/Roll20_for_iPad_and_Androi</a>...