New to Roll20 as DM and want to use API

Hello community! I came across this thing called API and I understood it's code which enables the use of macros in game to make everything so much easier.  Is there a website/page or something else that shows me step-by-step how I can create a neat page filled with macros shortcuts on my screen so I can focus more on the game instead of typing everything in during the game itself. We all know that's annoying and takes away the immersion for the players... Maybe there's a group of APIs I can load? Something like a "beginner's package"? lol I can try and ask right? Help! :) Thanks for reading and let me know, Greetings David

This is a good introduction to the API:&nbsp; <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jam2yx8btaQ" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jam2yx8btaQ</a> From there, you can watch several of Nick's videos on API use and creation. As for making groups of buttons, there's some menu tips in this thread:&nbsp; <a href="https://app.roll20.net/forum/post/5899495/stupid-roll20-tricks-and-some-clever-ones/?pageforid=5899495#post-5899495" rel="nofollow">https://app.roll20.net/forum/post/5899495/stupid-roll20-tricks-and-some-clever-ones/?pageforid=5899495#post-5899495</a> Selection of APIs will come down to what you're playing and what your'e doing.&nbsp; My standard starter set is TokenMod, GroupInitiative, MotD (Message of the Day), and Bump.&nbsp; All of those are in the 1-click. What sorts of games are you running, and what things do you see taking the most time out of otherwise productive playing?

I run D&amp;D5e and setting up Lost Mines of Phandelver now. I hope to speed things up in general. Make it easier for me, as a noob, to manage. Thanks for commenting!

GroupInitiative will give you a way to roll all your npcs into combat as one, rather than individually selecting each one. MotD is a great way to give players an update when they log into the game.&nbsp; It sends the contents (including image) them in chat.&nbsp; GMs also get the GMNotes, so you can use it to remind yourself of things the next time you jump in the game.&nbsp; It only sends automatically once in a 4 hour or so period, but it has controls to send again or request it again. Bump lets you push a token from the visible tokens layer to the invisible GM layer, but still manipulate it from either one.&nbsp; You'll be able to see and move your hidden creature (and add them to turn order with GroupInitiative), but your players won't until you pull them back again, also with Bump. TokenMod is a swiss army knife of things.&nbsp; Just about anything you can do with a token can be automated with it, and applied to many different tokens.&nbsp; There are hundreds of examples on the forum, but pretty much if you start manipulating a token and wonder "can I automate this with TokenMod?" the answer is almost always yes.

I would recommend giving Universal Chat Menu a try.&nbsp; Once you have a handle on it, you can set it up for any sheet or game system you are using.&nbsp; It isn't in the list on the api settings page, but you can search for it on the forum.&nbsp; There are examples of output for several different character sheets scattered through the thread. If you end up running anything with dynamic lighting that has a lot of doors, I would also recommend Doorknocker, which is in the one-click drop down list.

Thank you so much Aaron!&nbsp; I need to get used to the whole layer thing on Roll20 so Bump is also something new for me.&nbsp; I'll let you know how I'm faring :)&nbsp;

Essential Roll20 scripts for me: TokenMod ChatSetAttr GroupInitiative DoorKnocker (if you use dynamic lighting) OGL Companion Sheet (if using OGL sheet) Token Action Maker Supernotes Combat Master

Yep, my must-have starter kit looks a lot like the above lists: Token-Mod, Token Action Maker, GroupInitiative. ChatSetAttr can get you out of some jams, too. Definitely DoorKnocker if you do a lot of dungeon crawls. Powercards is pretty great for conditional logic capability without having to write scripts, but there's a learning curve so I don't recommend that right away - check it out once you get more comfortable with Roll20 macro limitations. I haven't used the Universal Chat Menus script, but standard chat menus (no api required) are extremely useful, described here . Also not technically api-related, but get comfortable with the various macro templates that your character sheet supports (e.g. 5e OGL sheet templates are here ). These make your macro output more presentable. EDIT - oh, and I'd recommend sticking with Legacy Dynamic Lighting (LDL) until all the bugs are worked out of Updated DL (UDL). :)

You folks recommend this "DoorKnocker" for groups playing the pre-built Dungeon Of The Mad Mage module? Is it fully compatible with the Dynamic Lighting door-walls there-in? Asking for my DM of DotMM. David M. said: Definitely DoorKnocker if you do a lot of dungeon crawls.

So when I load up these APIs , I need to create macros and “shortcut” them to my screen for easy access? Is that the right order/way? thanks all for helping me out!

@Toothless: Yes (usually). First you will install the scripts from the game settings page. Click settings drop drown -&gt; API scripts. There are many available via "1-click". Click the Roll20 API Script Library dropdown and browse or start typing the name of the script you want, then select and click install. If not on the 1-click, you will have to find the source code for the script (usually linked in the main forum post for the script), copy the code, click on "New Script", paste, and "Save Script". Once installed, the scripts will be waiting for input. Depending on the script, this will either be through passive "listening" for VTT events (like moving a token, turn order change, creating a token, etc.), or they will have to be called from the chat either directly in the chat window or from within a macro or character ability. E.g. "!token-mod --help". The specifics of the commands will be described in the main forum post for the script and/or from api script page if installed from the 1-click menu. I recommend going to the main forum page for each particular script regardless as it often has more comprehensive guidance for use. Just Google Roll20 &lt;scriptname&gt; and it usually gets you to the right place quickly.&nbsp; @Gold: I haven't seen DotMM, but the answer is... probably. There may need to be some setup. From the DoorKnocker description (emphasis mine) Using Door Knocker The script will move dynamic lighting lines used as doors to the map layer and make them transparent, opening the door. It determines what is a door and a wall based on the stroke color of the polygon and will only open doors within 1 square (default 70px) of the door knocker token. Hopefully, the doors are a different color than the rest of the DL lines (they probably are). If so, you will need to configure DoorKnocker for that color "door". It's described in the DoorKnocker page here , under "Setting up DoorKnocker". &nbsp;

It also depends on what commands from a script you find the most useful. Some you'll want to have as macro shortcuts on your toolbar. Some you may be content to access by running the config menu for a given script. For example, I use (and love) Combat Master, which is a large script with many different aspects to it. But I only have a few commands as macro shortcuts: one to bring up the main CM menu (!cmaster --main), one to advance to the next player's turn in combat, one to back up, and two to add or remove conditions. For InspirationTracker, I have the basic command (toggle inspiration) available as a shortcut, because it comes up so often. For DoorKnocker, I find it more convenient to have the toggle door command available as a token action (visible to me but not to my players), so whenever a character is near a door and their controlling player wants to open it, I just select the token and click the toggle door command. For Token Action Maker, I have a macro that brings up a chat menu with an option to run for PCs and an option for monsters. And so on. Play around with the scripts and try different setups. You'll start to figure out how you like things to be organized.