How-Tos and beginner DM

Ok, so due to the coronovirus outbreak and state of emergency, my D&D group has decided to suspend playing our regular weekly game.  We're currently in the middle of Tomb of Annihilation and I'm using that book, plus some Adventurer's League modules, plus my own stuff. Anyway, a suggestion was made that we play our weekly games using Roll20 so everyone can stay home and be safe but we can still get our D&D fix.  I've never used Roll20 and my attempts to join someone else's game has been unsuccessful  so I'm struggling here. A lot of the documentation is of the variety: here's a feature and here's how it works.  There are very few "how-to" guides that I could find.  For example, when first looking at the sight, I was trying to figure out how things like vision and darkvision are implemented and it took a while to figure out that it's done with "Dynamic Lighting" and that somehow, the system knows what characters have darkvision and lets them see more.   But there's a LOT of stuff I'm trying to figure out and no "how-tos" that I can find.  It'd be really nice if there was documentation for people switching from live tabletop to virtual tabletop on how to do the things we normally do on the tabletop on the virtual tabletop.  For another example, it took me several hours just to figure out how to load a character sheet for a player to use and to populate it with information so the player could make rolls using their abilities. In any event, before I spend huge amounts of money to subscribe, buy the books I'll need and the ToA module, I'd like to play around with the system with real tokens, real maps, and a real "dungeon" and maybe offer something up to my players as well so that we can decide whether or not roll20 will be good for us to use.  But, I can't find anything like that.  As a free player, when I create a campaign, I get virtually nothing - a blank canvas.  There are no maps, no player tokens, nothing to experiment with to learn the system, figure out how things work, and decide whether or not to spend money. And no "how-to" documents for beginners - no step-by-step here's-what-you-do-to-get-started kind of document. I've found videos but they are pretty useless too - they are mostly, like the written documentation: "here are the neat features that exist" rather than "here's what you do to set up a campaign and play".  Or maybe I'm just missing it.  What exists for new players and new GMs to learn how to use the system and to "test it out" to decide if it's right for them?  How do I get started running a campaign?  How do I move all the things I used to do in live tabletop play with miniatures to roll20? Once I understand how this works, and how to set things up, maybe I'll be able to figure out how to create my own monsters, my own maps, etc. but right now there's just a whole lot of lists of features and none of it makes much sense. Thank you.

Hi Saul, Welcome. There is a tutorial campaign which can lead you through  some of the features, but it is very out of date and will likely break at some point. I made a video for total beginners, which you can find here . Also, if you want to play around with some full featured stuff, you can try creating a game and choosing a free module at creation time. The Master's Vault is very good for this purpose. You'll find it as an option on the game creation page. Finally, Roll20 has freed up some assets specifically due to the current situation you mention. You can find out more information on that by visiting the blog (link in the header above) I'd suggest walking through some of these options before deciding whether or not you want to subscribe for the use of the advanced features.

Also in light of Covid-19, Roll20 just tweeted this very useful set of beginners' links. The Crash Course looks helpful: Welcome, new users! Some FAQs to help you get started on Roll20: http:// roll20.io/CodeOfConduct http:// roll20.io/language http:// roll20.io/CrashCourse http:// roll20.io/AccountSupport http:// roll20.io/technicalhelp http:// roll20.io/PageSettings http:// roll20.io/MarketplaceCon tent … http:// roll20.io/SubscriptionFAQ

Some of this looks helpful and I'll check them out.  Thank you.  I spent many hours yesterday watching videos and playing around with things and I've learned a lot!  But, there's still so much to learn... this is a very complicated system, although once you begin using it, and use it for a while, it becomes simple (or at least easier :-).   On the other hand, some things that seem simple and straightforward don't appear to work as advertised... unless I'm not using them correctly.  As an example of this, when I click a token as GM and click the gear symbol, I get a page that lets me set up and edit bars.  I set up 2 bars on a token - one for HP and one for AC.  I set them to both "see" and "edit" because I want everyone to see them while I show my players what roll20 is about.  However, when I log in using another account, as a player, I don't see the bars even if i click on the token.  I only can see the bars if I (as GM) give me (the player on the other account) the ability to edit and control the character... and then I (the player) can only see the bar if I (the player) click on the token.  That's not what "see" is supposed to be, if I'm reading it correctly.  By clicking the "see" box, I (as GM) should be making that bar visible to all players regardless of anything else.  So, there's obviously either a bug, or I'm not understanding what "viewable by everyone" means. The system is both straightforward and confusing and it's difficult to tell whether I'm encountering a bug, or I'm just not doing it right, or the language doesn't do what the language says it does (which I classify as a "bug" but others often disagree).

It turns out that the "crash course" is totally and completely useless.  The text gives me no useful information, and the videos are too small to see.  When I try to view them in "full screen" mode, I get a message saying that "full screen is unavailable".  This usually means that the site (in this case roll20) has disabled the fullscreen mode.  It's certainly not on my end since I have no trouble viewing YouTube videos in fullscreen mode on other sites.

You are looking at an embedded YouTube object. They cannot be seen full screen. To enter full screen you need to view it on the YouTube site. Do this by clicking the YouTube logo in the embedded player (the hover text will say "Watch on YouTube.com"). Once you open up a window on the native site, you will be able to watch them full size.

Saul J. said: On the other hand, some things that seem simple and straightforward don't appear to work as advertised... unless I'm not using them correctly.  As an example of this, when I click a token as GM and click the gear symbol, I get a page that lets me set up and edit bars.  I set up 2 bars on a token - one for HP and one for AC.  I set them to both "see" and "edit" because I want everyone to see them while I show my players what roll20 is about.  However, when I log in using another account, as a player, I don't see the bars even if i click on the token.  I only can see the bars if I (as GM) give me (the player on the other account) the ability to edit and control the character... and then I (the player) can only see the bar if I (the player) click on the token.  That's not what "see" is supposed to be, if I'm reading it correctly.  By clicking the "see" box, I (as GM) should be making that bar visible to all players regardless of anything else.  So, there's obviously either a bug, or I'm not understanding what "viewable by everyone" means. The bars only display if there is a current and maximum value in the two corresponding fields. Without knowing those two values, there is no way to determine how long to make a bar. If you click "see", then players see bars of tokens they don't control, not values. If you want them to see the values, you will need to give them control of the character, or click the option to show number values in the bars. An AC bar makes no sense, for example, since there is no current and maximum, it's a static value. The confusion might be coming from the fact that bars <> bubbles (values).

Keith, thank you, you've been very helpful.  I wish I had time to join a campaign to learn from watching others but I'm trying to get things up and running so we can continue our weekly game in the face of the pandemic crisis. I just have one more question (or actually, a multi-part question): I know that when you set up a free game for D&D 5e you get the D&D 5e SRD.  I also know that I can buy the Player's Handbook (PHB), the Dungeon Master's Guide (DMG), etc. and share them with my players.  I also know it's "all or nothing" sharing - that is, if I share my compendium, my players get it all.  Here's what I can't find out easily:   - If I buy a module, and that gets loaded to my compendium, can my players see everything in the module?  Or are the modules set so that everything is GM only until I make it visible to players?  Or are modules kept separate from the compendium?  I wouldn't want them, for instance, to be able to look up creatures and other things.    - If I don't share the compendium, and I purchase the PHB or DMG, can they make use of spells, items, etc. that I drag&drop into their sheet?  Or is the system setup to block anything that they don't have access to themselves?  That is, for example, supposing I drag&drop a spell into a player's sheet that's not in the SRD from the PHB that I "own".  Can the player still see the details of the spell?  Can the player still use it? Or would I have to share my compendium to allow that?   Ok, one more question: how do I find out exactly what comes with a module?  When I view the modules in the marketplace, I get some generic highlights of what's included but it doesn't tell me *exactly* what's included.  For example, do I get all the monsters in the module, tokens to represent them, and all the handouts, etc.?  Or does it vary by module?  And, if it varies, how do I find out what's exactly in a module? Thanks again.

You will see EVERYTHING in the library and they will see nothing unless you share it with them one item at a time. I'm not sure about the compendium questions because I give full access to all my players for that.  I don't worry about them looking up monsters. In every module I have purchased I get tokens, stats, maps, handouts to show to players, instructions on how to use each section of the module, etc.  Very complete.  If you'd like, pm me and come look at my campaign.  I'll make you a GM and you can see what it all looks like.  Take a look as a player and then you will see the difference when I make you GM.

Omegaman has a very full-featured campaign with many bells and whistles. :) If you buy an item that lists itself as having Compendium features, then your players will have access to everything in the compendium, if you turn on sharing. If you turn sharing off, then they will only have access to the SRD. This is not that big a deal to allow access, though. There are so many ways to look up information about a monster (or even physically use one of those things made of paper... um... books! ) that if they really want to do that, you cannot really stop them. The advantages to compendium sharing are many: They can create and manage their own characters, spell lists and equipment, for instance. However, even if you don't share, once something is on their character sheet, it's as if you typed it in manually. Nothing retroactively checks or hides anything. Modules give you everything that is in the printed book, right down to the funny little disclaimers that WotC puts on the credits page. Every map, every monster, every note, every illustration. Some of them even come with rollable tables or card decks. Check the description. Modules are pre-rigged for Dynamic Lighting, but you will need a Plus or better subscription to "turn it on". I spent my first year or so on Roll20 using only the simple manual blocking of Fog of War, it's actually pretty easy.

Ok, well, um, I guess styles differ and things differ online. No, there's no way to stop them from looking up a monster in a book.  I know that.  At the real table, I have a rule that says "no looking things up".  First, it sort of breaks the immersion in the story for players to look up monsters and know what weaknesses and strengths they have, and second, I want to eliminate rules arguments and rules lawyering at the table.  At the table, I can see when they pick up a book, or their phone to look things up and stop it.  I can't do that online in roll20.  My biggest fear about it, I guess, is that if I buy a module to use, then if that's part of the "compendium" that gets shared, then they can look up maps, see where hidden doors are, traps, hordes of treasure, etc. and I would have to spend time going through all that to change it all so they can't use it.  My feeling is why play the game if you can look up the whole story and see where everything is, what all the monsters are, where all the treasure is, etc., but some people just like to  "cheat".  I find myself varying things substantially to get around that in some games. Anyway, thanks guys for all your comments and help!

If "cheating" is such a problem in your games, have you considered just running your own content?  After all, pretty much everything published is available somewhere on the internet these days (legally or not).  Hard for people to look up a module when you aren't running any pre-published material.  Adapt monsters/foes from other games, books you have read, etc.  It is more work, but if the alternative is giving you problems in-game, it might very well be worth the effort.

Hi Saul, Yeah, the contents of a module are safe from player eyes. You should be fine there. I hope none of my post came off as negative, I just wanted to be thorough, since there can be a lot of confusion between compendiums, add-ons and modules. The easiest way to imagine it in tabletop terms is if you had a stack of books on the table. Players can open the Player's Handbook and the Monster Manual, but they can't look at any of the pages of Curse of Strahd.

Hey, just dumping some tips that made my life easier: I do run official content, but I often bolt onto it add enemies, move enemies, tweak stats in subtle ways. I also really like to use a paper module and do my own twist on the original content, sketch my own maps- this prevents people from looking things up, which they totally do Making maps can be SUPER easy, use shift (or maybe its control?) with the polygon drawing tool to snap your drawings to grid. Only draw a room at a time. Copy and paste your doors around so you dont have to keep making that same shape over and over. Use different colors to suggest different things. Use plain-old fog of war, and (this is crucial) reveal it with the polygon tool, so you get nice crisp reveals so nobody can tell if there's hidden doors and such. Use control-L when on a token to see what a player can see. When adding monsters, set one up the way you want (re: bar placement, hp totals, etc) and copy/paste it as needed from there. Change names to number the combatants after. Do all your work on the object layer, and then select it all and move it to the map layer. Work on a different layer than what you intend to modify, and move the item. Do the GM layer last. Simple maps are great - imagination is what this game is all about. Adding some fancy graphics do not add a ton of value. Nobody but the GM sees the GM layer, keep your notes here, label areas, mark what things are, mark hidden doors, keyed doors, etc. Don't jump right into dynamic lighting, its kind of obnoxious to use and that's after having played with it for a while myself - the premise however is some tokens give light (this can include characters and torches) and the map is otherwise dark lest you set an ambient light source. The dynamic lighting layer defines what boundaries the light passes through or not, it also acts as a barrier of sorts, it's a little annoying to work with but a decent compromise solution to accomplish the lighting effects. Play with shapes like X's and triangles to get various lighting effects - they work in surprising ways. Be VERY careful to seal up corners, be VERY sparing in your use of windows, and keep your monsters on the GM layer if you enable dynamic lighting - people move their tokens and peek (sometimes accidentally sometimes intentionally). You either need to be prepared to maul their characters, or handle the mistake without them seeing anything. Again, use control-L when on a token to see what a player can see - vital to testing dynamic lighting.

Hi, I'm not sure where this question should go actually; am completely new to this and in dire need of clear answers. My situation (again, corona) is thus: I want to GM a campaign, either a self-written Dragon Age RPG campaign, or a Numenera campaign which mostly will consist of modules I've purchased from Monte Cook Games. The group will have my friends as players (I'll invite them by email). What kind of subscription will I need to be able to a) host this at all with myself as GM and 3 players? b) upload my .pdf files of rule books and accessories (purchased, i.e. legit) so that they are viewable for me as GM in Roll20? The players also should be able to view some resources... (I guess this is referred to as "Compendium".... Am I restricted to use the resources you have listed on that page? In that case, can I play DA or Numenera at all, really...?) I've looked at both this and Fantasy Grounds; does Roll20 have pre-implemented Numenera rules like FG? If not, can I either upload them (using the purchased .pdf from Monte Cook Games) or create them myself (which will take a lot of time, but if that's the only way....)? The same goes for the DA rules, of course. We haven't decided whether we want to play DA or Numenera just yet, but the problem remains the same: what do I need to actually be able to get this to work?

Here is the list of all Compendiums available on Roll20. Dragon Age is not one of them. The Age system does have a character sheet. I'm not familiar enough with Dragon Age to know if that is quite the same thing, but you can easily set up a game for free using that sheet and check it out. Roll20 does not accept PDF uploads. Even if they did, there would be no usable functionality from it, no integration with the system. You might as well just use a pdf reader. It costs you $0 to set up a game. Your only limitation would be storage space and lack of Dynamic Lighting and automation. Unless the module is arleady available on Roll20, you would have to do all of your own setup anyway. Those are really basic answers. Le me know if you need anything more specific.

Thanks, Keith. I suspect the problem here is that I have expectations (based on what I've seen in FG) that Roll20 doesn't meet. Neither the Dragon Age nor the Numenera rulesets seem to be available as compendiums, so basically with Roll20 I can run the session, and players can roll dice and such on the VTT, but otherwise I have to refer to my own .pdf's outside of the Roll20 interface proper, and all game rules must be applied in advance - such as making the characters that my players shall use? The easiest thing would be to make them using pen and paper, and then transfer them (manually) into Roll20? I am per se not concerned with costs (hey, this is a service, and good services cost money!) but I want to make sure I don't start a subscription that won't meet my expectations/wishes anyway.

Loremir, I get what you're saying about Dynamic Lighting.  Fortunately, my players right now are all outdoors so Fog of War is sufficient but once they get into a dungeon, I'd really like to use the dynamic lighting.  I should have plenty of time between now and then to experiment with it and understand it before I need it. To everyone: you've all been super helpful!  I'm looking forward to doing this now when I was very apprehensive beforehand.  Thanks!

Frank K. said: Thanks, Keith. I suspect the problem here is that I have expectations (based on what I've seen in FG) that Roll20 doesn't meet. Neither the Dragon Age nor the Numenera rulesets seem to be available as compendiums, so basically with Roll20 I can run the session, and players can roll dice and such on the VTT, but otherwise I have to refer to my own .pdf's outside of the Roll20 interface proper, and all game rules must be applied in advance - such as making the characters that my players shall use? The easiest thing would be to make them using pen and paper, and then transfer them (manually) into Roll20? I am per se not concerned with costs (hey, this is a service, and good services cost money!) but I want to make sure I don't start a subscription that won't meet my expectations/wishes anyway. You can create handouts (that can be indexed and cross linked) with common rules your players may need to reference.  It just takes time. As far as the characters go, you should probably just create a game and look at the sheets.  Create a character on that sheet and see how it works.  See how the rolls for various things work.  Creating characters once is probably easier than creating them on paper and then putting them on the digital sheet.

Kraynic said: You can create handouts (that can be indexed and cross linked) with common rules your players may need to reference.  It just takes time. As far as the characters go, you should probably just create a game and look at the sheets.  Create a character on that sheet and see how it works.  See how the rolls for various things work.  Creating characters once is probably easier than creating them on paper and then putting them on the digital sheet. *** Much obliged. :-) As I've said, much of my confusion here is that I have expectations partly based on functionality in another product (which I unfortunately cannot get to work). As long as I have clear understanding what Roll20 is capable of/has support for, and most of all - is a product that suits my needs - I am eager to give it a go. I do not however have much time to do research around how these things work, unfortunately. I need clear answers about how things work. Specifically I guess what I am asking is whether Roll20 has built-in support for (my games). I am willing to pay, as long as I know I need a payable product/version to get things working properly. And would like to be advised on which subscription to choose, if that is the case. I am completely new to this. I do understand the interface of the VTT well enough (I believe); what I need is to know how we can get things running quickly, and what I need to make sure that I do not do anything "illegal" (neither in the normal sense of the word nor break any Roll20 specific rules). For example, is it OK if I link to my personal OneDrive for my players to find rule books (purchased from the publishers of the games)? Can I set up my game so that my players can download character sheets, and then upload again them once they're finished editing them?

The thing is, most of us don't play the same games you do.  I don't know the rules of that game, how well the sheet was written to use those rules, how much info you would need to copy/paste from your reference pdfs to put in handouts for player reference, etc.  You will need to put in some time. No one else can do this for you, because we don't run your games or know how you run things. This is a fairly complex website with a lot of moving parts that will require time to learn to use.  You aren't going to learn everything in a short period of time.  I expect that is true of most VTTs.  You may be able to run a game with a relatively short amount of time spent poking around, but it will take time an practice to run one smoothly.

Kraynic said: The thing is, most of us don't play the same games you do.&nbsp; I don't know the rules of that game, how well the sheet was written to use those rules, how much info you would need to copy/paste from your reference pdfs to put in handouts for player reference, etc.&nbsp; You will need to put in some time. No one else can do this for you, because we don't run your games or know how you run things. This is a fairly complex website with a lot of moving parts that will require time to learn to use.&nbsp; You aren't going to learn everything in a short period of time.&nbsp; I expect that is true of most VTTs.&nbsp; You may be able to run a game with a relatively short amount of time spent poking around, but it will take time an practice to run one smoothly. I understand that, I apologize if I sounded impolite. First off, English is not my first language (so I might choose words that not are the best, now and then), and second I am no programmer - so I have to rely on what clear, concise knowledge I can get hold of, before making moves to purchase anything. I cannot make things myself (well, not advanced things at any rate). Yesterday I almost spent 50 euros on a product which it seems I cannot run properly on my computer... While that most certainly won't be the case here, I do not want to spend loads of money on a product I have no hope of being able to use to its full extent (many of the features in the "Pro" subscription look really cool, but will I have the skills to use them? How easy is it actually to make my own character sheets, for example?). Fortunately I finally came across <a href="https://roll20.zendesk.com/hc/en-us" rel="nofollow">https://roll20.zendesk.com/hc/en-us</a> which to some extent answers my questions in a way even I can understand. :-) It's been established that Roll20 does not have built-in support for the games that I play, but it seems I can do things more or less how I wanted anyway, so I am in the process of setting things up on my free account now. I might go for a subscription, and again ask for some advice on which might suit me best. Note that that is a question which might be easiest for a Roll20 employee to answer, so if these forums are NOT frequented by such folks, I might not get the answers I'm looking for. Any nudge in the right direction to get them if that is the case, is much appreciated. :-)

Frank K. said: I understand that, I apologize if I sounded impolite. First off, English is not my first language (so I might choose words that not are the best, now and then), and second I am no programmer - so I have to rely on what clear, concise knowledge I can get hold of, before making moves to purchase anything. I cannot make things myself (well, not advanced things at any rate). Yesterday I almost spent 50 euros on a product which it seems I cannot run properly on my computer... While that most certainly won't be the case here, I do not want to spend loads of money on a product I have no hope of being able to use to its full extent (many of the features in the "Pro" subscription look really cool, but will I have the skills to use them? How easy is it actually to make my own character sheets, for example?). Fortunately I finally came across <a href="https://roll20.zendesk.com/hc/en-us" rel="nofollow">https://roll20.zendesk.com/hc/en-us</a> which to some extent answers my questions in a way even I can understand. :-) It's been established that Roll20 does not have built-in support for the games that I play, but it seems I can do things more or less how I wanted anyway, so I am in the process of setting things up on my free account now. I might go for a subscription, and again ask for some advice on which might suit me best. Note that that is a question which might be easiest for a Roll20 employee to answer, so if these forums are NOT frequented by such folks, I might not get the answers I'm looking for. Any nudge in the right direction to get them if that is the case, is much appreciated. :-) Messing with things on the free account is probably the best way to start.&nbsp;&nbsp; One piece of advice for running "non-supported" games:&nbsp; create a base game for each system.&nbsp; Then, when you want to run a game, create a copy of your base game.&nbsp; That will bring all your handouts, global macros, rollable tables, npcs, etc. into the new copy that you then use to run a campaign.&nbsp; If you do that, it will cut down on prep time for new games if you have a good base to copy from.&nbsp; If you have a lot of house rules, it isn't bad to do the same for a more supported system either. As far as making your own sheet, that depends on a few things.&nbsp; How comfortable are you with HTML, CSS, and (if you want some automation in the sheet) javascript?&nbsp; How complicated will the sheet need to be to do what you need?&nbsp; Is there an already existing sheet that is similar that you can use as a starting point and alter to fit your needs?&nbsp; Are you just going to use this for yourself, or are you planning on submitting the sheet to be in the drop down list for anyone to use in their games?&nbsp; If you end up going with a pro subscription and wanting to do your own sheets, you probably want to start here:&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href="https://wiki.roll20.net/Building_Character_Sheets" rel="nofollow">https://wiki.roll20.net/Building_Character_Sheets</a> There are more pages devoted to character sheet related info, but that is the start. One thing to keep in mind (as far as money goes) is that while it is cheaper to subscribe for a year at a time, it is fairly cheap to just do a month.&nbsp; I'm not a real big API script user, but a couple of them have become something I would not like to go without.&nbsp; Once you have several games going (or have updated something in your base game), the transmogrifier to move handouts, characters, and maps pretty freely from one game to another is very useful.&nbsp; But you can do quite a lot with a free account.&nbsp; I think I mostly got my base game set up on a free account.&nbsp; I mainly got pro for being able to work on a character sheet, and don't expect I will give it up even if I get to a point where I'm not doing any character sheet work.&nbsp; It does spoil you, especially when running a game without official support.

Just wanted to say - Dynamic lighting is very easy to use (easier than fog of war IMO). It is best in dungeons, castles, etc.&nbsp;