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Overwhelmed Roll20 Newbie GM

Hello all. Due to recent events globally, I am being forced to move my weekly D&D session online. I am a GM of 5 years, but this is all very alien to me. And I know there is TONS of resources, but I am overwhelmed with it all (and combined with me having a new job and a 10 month old baby). I own everything on DND Beyond, and share that with my players. My needs are specifically how to create encounters, maps, tokens, maybe scripts if Pro is worth it, getting more assets, etc. I am running a fully custom campaign for a world I have crafted, so no modules would be necessary. I have fiddled with the pages and maps, but it all seems rather simple. I might be over thinking it.  I would also like to stream our sessions via Twitch. So any advice there would be nice, as I want to use the Twitch DND extension. Simply compiling a  list of links to the most necessary tutorials may be enough, and I super appreciate anyone going out of their way to help. We haven't gotten to play in months. And if you are curious of the story of my campaign, I would be happy to provide a summary over a private message. I think it is rather unique, but I have never received any critique of it. I have used assets from not only WotC but also many other third party source books.
I think you should start by running the tutorial, then watch some of the You Tube videos. You are basically asking "I just learned to read, give me Western Literature." Nick Olivio's stuff is good, just search "Roll 20" on Y.T. and you will have weeks of content to watch, sample broadly and find people that make sense to you, then come back with specific questions.
1593950596
Magnar S.
Pro
API Scripter
I was in the same situation as you a few months ago. I learned a lot from CrashGem's tutorial, that you can find here:&nbsp; <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0VdUzyW14o&amp;list=PLaMDrDIHMitJd9u4V32GdDKwNIBeX_t1Y" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0VdUzyW14o&amp;list=PLaMDrDIHMitJd9u4V32GdDKwNIBeX_t1Y</a>
1593955174
keithcurtis
Forum Champion
Marketplace Creator
API Scripter
First off: Welcome to Roll20! If you are looking to dive on in I would recommend&nbsp; against &nbsp;taking the tutorial. It &nbsp;is very old and out of date. At some point it&nbsp; will &nbsp;break. My suggestion is to check out the&nbsp; Learning Roll20 &nbsp;Course&nbsp;on Youtube, or my own video,&nbsp; Starting from Scratch . &nbsp;Additionally, starting your own test game to play with different features and controls is a fantastic way of getting used to the software and layout! We also have a&nbsp; wiki &nbsp;and a Help Center where you can find answers to a lot of your questions! However, if you can't find an answer, feel free to post in our&nbsp; various sub-forums &nbsp;based on their particular topics. Good luck (and loot) on your adventures!
Thank you guys. Already helping. I've watched quite a few videos, but videos and actual application vary. I have begun a test game that I fiddle with. It just is a moderate learning curve.&nbsp; The more difficult side of it is just taking the extra time to really dive in right now. But that's nothing that can be helped by y'all. That's on me lol.
Figuring out things with a test game after watching the videos is the way to go imo.&nbsp; Keep in mind that you don't have to make use of all of the Roll20 features immediately.&nbsp; Keep it simple early on I'd say.&nbsp; You can get fancier over time.
1594077771
Gold
Forum Champion
in your situation in my opinion a great place to start is press the free "Create New Game" button. Look around everywhere at everything from there. Launch Game. Settings. Dice roller. Pages tool bar. Chat text.
No 10-month old but had the same problem as I moved group online. Let your players know the sessions will be a bit shorter while you learn the system. Then plan some very simple one-shots (just need one map) as you take the advice from above.&nbsp; Took me a few sessions to realize I could just have a themed shot on page 1 we could role play and then I only moved them to the map on page 2 when location and position were important then back to the themed background. Once you have the basics of map creation and navigation down you can do longer sessions. Themed background pages like the opening to a cave or a cityscape have helped me feel we have context while we roleplay and prevented me from mapping everything.&nbsp; Happy learning!
Mapping is the biggest time-sink when you're new.&nbsp; Carol has the right of it.&nbsp; Use a scene rather than a map for RP.&nbsp; Many times, players on a map will think they need to fight.&nbsp; Not putting them their makes them think of other solutions first.&nbsp; Then, when they choose to fight, move them to a map.&nbsp; So now you only need make maps for dungeon crawls and when you anticipate a fight will occur.&nbsp; Once in a while they take you by surprise and you find yourself drawing lines on a blank page like most of us used to do for everything on the tabletop.
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Edited 1594390677
I'm in a similar situation.&nbsp; I like Carol's and Patrick's minimal map use idea. My question is a bit more pointed: I'd like a big selection of maps, of all different terrains and scapes (city, underground thieves guild, mansion, sewers, desert, aquatic, whatever), as well as a big selection of monsters (I purchased PhB, MM, Volos, and XGE for that).&nbsp; That way, in my custom open world, players can decide to go somewhere that I haven't planned for, and quickly be able to click on a map and toss active monster / NPC tokens onto it.&nbsp; Suggestions? Edit: I have been looking at these Marketplace map options which may suit my needs?&nbsp; Please toss other suggestions if you have em! - Tactical Maps Adventure Atlas&nbsp; <a href="https://marketplace.roll20.net/browse/bundle/4175/tactical-maps-adventure-atlas" rel="nofollow">https://marketplace.roll20.net/browse/bundle/4175/tactical-maps-adventure-atlas</a> &nbsp;by DMs Guild / WotC - Gabriel Pickard's "modular series for quick exploration mapping"&nbsp; <a href="https://marketplace.roll20.net/browse/publisher/64/gabriel-pickard" rel="nofollow">https://marketplace.roll20.net/browse/publisher/64/gabriel-pickard</a>
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Edited 1594474237
Elemental Flame
Pro
Marketplace Creator
I have read countless posts on DND subreddits that warn against over preparation. They warn against wasting time having maps your players may never use. I figured I would share that. i completely ignore it. I have dozens of maps archived in my game that my players haven’t and may never visit. But I like to have them ready to go. It makes me less anxious as a DM because one of my shortcomings is that my improv game is WEAK. i own almost everything made by Gabriel Pickard ( <a href="https://marketplace.roll20.net/browse/publisher/64/" rel="nofollow">https://marketplace.roll20.net/browse/publisher/64/</a> ), David Hemenway ( <a href="https://marketplace.roll20.net/browse/publisher/132/" rel="nofollow">https://marketplace.roll20.net/browse/publisher/132/</a> ), and Julien De Lucca ( <a href="https://marketplace.roll20.net/browse/publisher/431/" rel="nofollow">https://marketplace.roll20.net/browse/publisher/431/</a> ). I think their three styles work well together and I’ve built plenty of maps using pieces from all three. I even commissioned Julian to make a map for a key place in my campaign. All three of them have construction sets to build your own maps but they also have prebuilt maps that you can just throw down. There are other artists with great maps, like Chibbin Grove ( <a href="https://marketplace.roll20.net/browse/publisher/130/" rel="nofollow">https://marketplace.roll20.net/browse/publisher/130/</a> ), Forgotten Adventures ( <a href="https://marketplace.roll20.net/browse/publisher/294/" rel="nofollow">https://marketplace.roll20.net/browse/publisher/294/</a> ), and Mr. Valor ( <a href="https://marketplace.roll20.net/browse/publisher/417/" rel="nofollow">https://marketplace.roll20.net/browse/publisher/417/</a> ). They have a different art style than what I use in my campaign though. You can also find tons of free maps online from Mr. Valor from before he became a marketplace creator. Kris (Meanders) ( <a href="https://marketplace.roll20.net/browse/publisher/436/game-tile-warehouse" rel="nofollow">https://marketplace.roll20.net/browse/publisher/436/game-tile-warehouse</a> )&nbsp;is also relatively new to the marketplace but has uploaded a ton of content and his maps are modular so they work well together. They’re a bit more pricey so I haven’t bought many of them to try out though, but the catalog is impressive. I don’t know if that’s the advice you were looking for, but there you have it!
1594482592
Kraynic
Pro
Sheet Author
Master Targon said: I'd like a big selection of maps, of all different terrains and scapes (city, underground thieves guild, mansion, sewers, desert, aquatic, whatever), as well as a big selection of monsters (I purchased PhB, MM, Volos, and XGE for that).&nbsp; That way, in my custom open world, players can decide to go somewhere that I haven't planned for, and quickly be able to click on a map and toss active monster / NPC tokens onto it.&nbsp; Suggestions? I think Elemental Flame gave some pretty good suggestions (if you want a different style, just look through the marketplace), so I'm going to focus on something a little different.&nbsp; With all the map construction stuff available on the marketplace, I would suggest getting familiar (if you aren't already) with software for messing with images.&nbsp; Inkscape, GIMP, Photoshop, Wonderdraft, or whatever will allow you to use and manipulate the assets you get on the marketplace (or elsewhere in the web).&nbsp; Most assets are downloadable, so edit to your heart's content and then upload the final product as one simple image, which will make for a "lighter" game overall.&nbsp; It doesn't take much in depth understanding of these programs to assemble your own maps outside Roll20 (even I can do it).&nbsp; Since you have a pro subscription, store any maps you don't need "right now" in 1 or more map storage games.&nbsp; Make sure all DL, and basic dressing is all set up.&nbsp; Transmogrify maps into your active game as they are needed, delete them when they aren't.&nbsp; You still have the base copy in your storage game. Remember that map graphics are treated as tokens when they are first dropped in.&nbsp; The right click menu allows you to flip the image horizontally and/or vertically.&nbsp; Just don't do stuff like this after drawing all your DL lines...&nbsp; You can also add a tint color to individual graphics.&nbsp; Using those things can allow you to reuse assets and make them look different each use. Probably everything I have mentioned is in the stupid tricks thread, so if you haven't checked out that thread that is pinned in the Specific Use forum, do so.&nbsp;&nbsp;