Noob question about game organisation

Is it possible that a game is ongoing indefinitely even if the GM isn't logged in, so that the players come when they are available, share their move and actions and go? Kind of foeum play I guess... Or does the party have to be gather at the same time around the table? Thanks for you interest

What you are referring to is known as "Play-by-Post" and it's a very real thing. Typically they are played on forums with something for maps, a place to keep characters sheets and let players roll dice. Roll20 happens to work well for the later three, you could use threads in a Roll20 game for Play-by-Post, but to be honest setting up a free forum for it works better, easier to manage and change stuff. So no, they don't have to gather around all at one time if you and they agree not to, people used to Play-by-Post by mail/e-mail way back when. Hope this helps, have fun! :D

Hello all, im trying to understand how to use roll20 to entice my two 13 yr old children to play. I have a group set up and with them it would make 7 players. That said, I was thinking of using roll20 and purchasing the LMoP pack, but I have a number of questions (not the least of which is that I feel very overwhelmed by roll20’s ability to share maps): 1. If I pay for roll20 will that open up the LMoP or do I have to purchase that campaign as well? 2. Is what roll20 offers the whole campaign? It seems like it’s been broken up but I’m not sure if it has all the text I need to read to the group or if roll20 is centered around map Sharon FB only 3. Roll20 seems like there’s so much in it that it’s overwhelming. How can I set up roll20 so that it’s “easy to use”, what I mean is if I want to set up LMoP is there much to do in the way of setting things up or is it already pre generated? 4. i would like to run this campaign this weekend but it seems that I will have to spend a few hours playing around with this thing to understand it, an I right with that assumption? 5. I’ve read that only one person need a paid subscription to unlock use for other players to use roll20 on their tablets/iPad, that true? im basically feeling very overwhelmed by all this and wasn’t sure if anyone can point me to a step by step guide one how to set up LMoP so I can get to understand how this thing works thanks

Hi Ulrich. I got you, with some tips, answers, and offer I suppose. In the future probably start your own question thread, and not to just add onto Clem's question. Yes Roll20 is a bit confusing and overwhelming at first. That is why I always recommend starting with the blank, basic, free tabletop (no paid sub, no modules). This way it has the fewest features enabled and you learn it like your kitchen table: Here is paper, here is color markers. Here are dice. Here is text chat. Here is where you can draw or put a map. Here are the Players entering. For your first game session or meeting, have only this.  I understand they are just 13 years old. On the first day with the blank map, you can have a Dice-Rolling and Colorful Drawing challenge on the blank map. (You can admit, "hey we are testing this not playing D&D yet" or run it as D&D but just draw some X's for Goblins on that day). 1. If you subscribe to Roll20 it will NOT open-up most Modules. You'll get a couple of free ones, demo and intro modules. You do not need to subscribe or buy a module at first. I recommend you don't, at first.  Try the basic free version then decide if the extra features are needed to purchase. They are nice to purchase but it's best to learn the Roll20 interface without extras added at first. 2. Yes roll20 modules contains all the Text of the module (including what you might read to players). Most of the text will be under the JOURNALS tab in Handouts. Most of the Maps will be on pre-made Pages in your Page toolbar, once you buy and load a module. 3. LMoP is highly set-up and generated, once you buy it and make a game table with the module. It will save you a lot of set-up time. It's a great product and adventure. It's a good starting adventure. It would be fun for your group of mixed kids and adults. I bet you'll be ready to buy it after running one blank/empty game table session just to get all your troops logged-in for the first time with fewer bells/whistles at first. Second week, start on the module. 4. Yes you should spend a few hours play-testing and learning this website. It's easy but it has a lot of options, and some of the interface buttons are counter-intuitive. There are some common mistakes and pitfalls. Since you're going to be the leader and teacher of the group at first, you want to understand the site. On the other hand I bet those 13 year old kids will have a natural ability to notice the buttons of this website. They will probably be teaching you how to roll special dice and other tricks. 5. Yes and No. In your situation & given the purpose and current state of the iPad / Tablet App, I wouldn't recommend it at all, unless necessary. Would be much better for each 13 YO player to have a computer or laptop.  If necessary they run on iPad, only you (the Creator and GM) needs to be a subscriber. The tablet users in your game, do not need to pay, just you the game owner creator. Hope this helps. Happy adventuring. Ulrich said: Hello all, im trying to understand how to use roll20 to entice my two 13 yr old children to play. I have a group set up and with them it would make 7 players. That said, I was thinking of using roll20 and purchasing the LMoP pack, but I have a number of questions (not the least of which is that I feel very overwhelmed by roll20’s ability to share maps): 1. If I pay for roll20 will that open up the LMoP or do I have to purchase that campaign as well? 2. Is what roll20 offers the whole campaign? It seems like it’s been broken up but I’m not sure if it has all the text I need to read to the group or if roll20 is centered around map Sharon FB only 3. Roll20 seems like there’s so much in it that it’s overwhelming. How can I set up roll20 so that it’s “easy to use”, what I mean is if I want to set up LMoP is there much to do in the way of setting things up or is it already pre generated? 4. i would like to run this campaign this weekend but it seems that I will have to spend a few hours playing around with this thing to understand it, an I right with that assumption? 5. I’ve read that only one person need a paid subscription to unlock use for other players to use roll20 on their tablets/iPad, that true? im basically feeling very overwhelmed by all this and wasn’t sure if anyone can point me to a step by step guide one how to set up LMoP so I can get to understand how this thing works thanks

Clem G. said: Is it possible that a game is ongoing indefinitely even if the GM isn't logged in, so that the players come when they are available, share their move and actions and go? Kind of foeum play I guess... Or does the party have to be gather at the same time around the table? Thanks for you interest There is play by post which is what you are describing. There is what is sometimes referred to as asynchronous text which players log in when they can and make a post but it happens in the game room and not the forums. There are also live sessions that function just like voice games but use text instead. Knights of the Written Word 2 community is a roll20 text community. The lfg link is in my profile. Ulrich said: Hello all, im trying to understand how to use roll20 to entice my two 13 yr old children to play. I have a group set up and with them it would make 7 players. That said, I was thinking of using roll20 and purchasing the LMoP pack, but I have a number of questions (not the least of which is that I feel very overwhelmed by roll20’s ability to share maps): 1. If I pay for roll20 will that open up the LMoP or do I have to purchase that campaign as well? LMoP is a module that you would need to purchase. It is separate from Roll20's subscription cost for pro or plus tiers. You can run the LMoP on your current account tier with ease. 2. Is what roll20 offers the whole campaign? It seems like it’s been broken up but I’m not sure if it has all the text I need to read to the group or if roll20 is centered around map Sharon FB only Not sure what you mean by this but modules are complete by themselves. Each module has all the text, maps, and tokens that a physical copy has but it is just set up for use on Roll20. This means minimal prep work for the GM. 3. Roll20 seems like there’s so much in it that it’s overwhelming. How can I set up roll20 so that it’s “easy to use”, what I mean is if I want to set up LMoP is there much to do in the way of setting things up or is it already pre generated? 4. i would like to run this campaign this weekend but it seems that I will have to spend a few hours playing around with this thing to understand it, an I right with that assumption? There is a learning curve to Roll20 and how things work. LMoP is all set up for the GM to hop in read over the material so they are familiar with it, just like you would do if you purchased a physical copy. All you would need to do is get the players to generate their characters, set the tokens up (if you were a paid subscriber and used dynamic lighting or other features), be slightly familiar with the included material. It is generally recommended that you would spend a few hours or a day going over the module so you would know or be familiar with it. 5. I’ve read that only one person need a paid subscription to unlock use for other players to use roll20 on their tablets/iPad, that true? Yes. Only the Game's creator needs to be a paying subscriber for the players to have access with their tablets/Ipad. More info can be found here . Understand that this is accessing the game with a mobile browser and not the app. The app is different and was created for use during a face to face game so it's of limited use. It is also broken and out of date.

Thank you all for your answers (and questions :D ) I fear that asynchronous play on a forum is less visual and adaptive as Roll20 UI is. I'm really fond of this Tabletop look you have with this app... Thus the perfect solution for me would be a Asynchronous Roll20.

Clem said: Thank you all for your answers (and questions :D ) I fear that asynchronous play on a forum is less visual and adaptive as Roll20 UI is. I'm really fond of this Tabletop look you have with this app... Thus the perfect solution for me would be a Asynchronous Roll20. Go for it! you can do it with the basic free Roll20. In time, if you subscribe as Pro and get the API scripts, that lets you do more specialized things like LOCKING everyone's token except for the person who logs in to do their turn (token map movement and chat dice rolls, RP, actions typed).

Clem said: Thank you all for your answers (and questions :D ) I fear that asynchronous play on a forum is less visual and adaptive as Roll20 UI is. I'm really fond of this Tabletop look you have with this app... Thus the perfect solution for me would be a Asynchronous Roll20. When I run games it is a hybrid style of live sessions (every other week) with asynchronous text between sessions. This allows the game to run 24/7 at a slower pace between sessions. I have a google document of an old game log for one of those games. It was143 pages long before the game was canceled.

Thank you all for your answers. I've set up such a game : here is the link, in case someone is interested <a href="https://app.roll20.net/campaigns/details/6979597" rel="nofollow">https://app.roll20.net/campaigns/details/6979597</a>&nbsp;

There are three kinds of game links here at Roll20. The first is the campaign link, which takes the form of <a href="https://app.roll20.net/campaigns/details/1234567/" rel="nofollow">https://app.roll20.net/campaigns/details/1234567/</a>... and links people to the 'Game Details' page for your game. By default such a link is only visible to players already in the game, and only Plus and Pro subscribers can make their games visible to the public .&nbsp;&nbsp; No one can post to your game forums unless they're already in your game. The second link type is the LFG Listing link, which takes the form of <a href="https://app.roll20.net/lfg/listing/1234567/BlahBl" rel="nofollow">https://app.roll20.net/lfg/listing/1234567/BlahBl</a>... and links people to the LFG Listing for your game. You get this link by creating a LFG Directory Listing . This is the desired link to share for pretty much every purpose one can think of. Even if you do not enable it for viewing in the LFG Directory you can share the link with others and have a separate Listing Discussion forum just for those potentially interested in your game. As a bonus, anyone who posts to your game's Listing Discussion forum will have a big blue button by their username and all a GM has to is click 'Invite to Game' and an invitation will be sent their way. An example of a game that is not enabled is <a href="https://app.roll20.net/lfg/listing/100394/testing-mctesterson" rel="nofollow">https://app.roll20.net/lfg/listing/100394/testing-mctesterson</a> Finally, we have the 'open join link', also known as the 'Player Link' which takes the form of <a href="https://app.roll20.net/join/1234567/alphanumericg" rel="nofollow">https://app.roll20.net/join/1234567/alphanumericg</a>... and anyone who clicks on this link automatically joins your game. This is useful in private messages and other direct one-to-one communication methods. However, if you use it in a more public forum, you have no control over who is clicking it, no way to prevent griefers from filling your chat logs with nonsense and/or vandalizing whichever map page the Player Ribbon is set to, and no way to tell who has been drawing on your maps. If you do kick someone the join link changes and requires you to edit your post with the new link. This is why it is strongly discouraged to post open join links. I hope this helps :)

Yes, i does help a lot. Thank you very much. I'll shafe the LFG link soon then&nbsp;

I've just figured out I had already done it : <a href="https://app.roll20.net/forum/post/8488576/ad-and-d2-experimental-asynchronous-permanent-game-looking-for-testers" rel="nofollow">https://app.roll20.net/forum/post/8488576/ad-and-d2-experimental-asynchronous-permanent-game-looking-for-testers</a>

Clem said: I've just figured out I had already done it : <a href="https://app.roll20.net/forum/post/8488576/ad-and-d2-experimental-asynchronous-permanent-game-looking-for-testers" rel="nofollow">https://app.roll20.net/forum/post/8488576/ad-and-d2-experimental-asynchronous-permanent-game-looking-for-testers</a> Glad I came back to this. Just now seeing your LFG link. Since AD&amp;D 2E is my favorite, I'll send an application to try your experimental run.

Thanks ! You will be welcome in the game Gold said: Clem said: I've just figured out I had already done it : <a href="https://app.roll20.net/forum/post/8488576/ad-and-d2-experimental-asynchronous-permanent-game-looking-for-testers" rel="nofollow">https://app.roll20.net/forum/post/8488576/ad-and-d2-experimental-asynchronous-permanent-game-looking-for-testers</a> Glad I came back to this. Just now seeing your LFG link. Since AD&amp;D 2E is my favorite, I'll send an application to try your experimental run.