Roll 20 Online Advice Wanted

[HMS Invincible]

I got my cleric up and running for tomb of annihilation, but playing on roll 20 threw me for a loop.
Complaints
Couldn't get voice chat to work. We gave up and used discord instead.
Laggy, there would be a big delay between lots of clicks.
Combining voice chat and chat typing was awkward. Hope it gets more intuitive with time.
With 6 of us, all being on voice chat was really chaotic. I think we need a turn order system outside of combat.
It's annoying to cast spells since the automatic dice are mostly for physical combat.
It was a struggle to have enough screen space, I really should buy a second Monitor... And a new desk that can fit two monitors. I ended up printing pages and using my phone.
It's a real hassle as a Tempest cleric to remember all my skills and class features. I'll need to prepare for this one.

Pros
I liked the grid system with fog of war. It's nice to play d&d if the alternative is to drive an hour for a maybe game. It could work for long distance gaming.

Any advice to make this go easier?

[KorvinStarmast]

Make macros for your spell damage. put them on the bottom of your screen. That was a big help to me in our first 5e campaign on Roll20. (I was able to drag and drop the damage and attack rolls from the char sheet on the original version of the char sheet). Our group uses discord voice and in game chat/type. Works well.

There's a help page for the char sheet, I'd suggest browsing it a bit.

As for keeping track of where you are /were I tend to do a print screen and paste into a document and save as pdf. that allows me to not have to get out my graph paper and try to graph/map our exploration.

[Tboy1492]

You will definitely want to set up macros under the settings. My group never uses the voice chat or video in roll 20, we almost always use a push to talk app like discord or teamspeak. Also it may be using bandwidth for video, check under settings for that.

We started using the character sheets for 3.5, about to convert them to 5e. There should be some macros that let you call on stats and data from the sheet, which may help with streamlining.

[sir_argo]

My group has been using Roll20 now for a couple years and it works great after you pass the learning curve. Here's some of the practices we've settled on that seem to work well.

Use the Shaped Sheet. It has more features than the OGL sheet. Shaped has a cumbersome, manual installation but it's worth it.

Macros at the bottom of the page should be generic macros... usable for any character or non-character actions. For your cleric spells, those should be macros added on your character sheet's "Attributes & Abilities" tab and then flagged as token actions. This way, the macros only display on screen (at the top by default) when your token is selected.

Use the "Roll 2" for dice rolling. Makes life easier than manually toggling advantage/disadvantage.

Set Character name on all roll templates to "Yes". So people can easily identify to what character a roll pertains rather than trying to go by player name.

Turn off Roll20 chat and use Discord instead. Roll20 chat is buggy. We've had no luck with it.

Leave your character sheet open, but double-click the name bar. It should minimize and grey out. That'll save you screen space and keep it quickly available with just another double-click.

[Joe the Rat]

As much as I recommend the shaped (or the older community sheet, even), if they're playing a module they'll need to keep the OGL sheet, otherwise the NPC sheets don't work.

Drop Roll20's chat - and make sure you have it turned off (receive and send) to trim bandwidth. Getting everyone on voice would be helpful. text chat is for /whisper GM and /smartass. Chat turn-taking should develop for the group, or the DM can use initiative as a way to order things. And really that's going to be something the DM will need to get a handle on.

On the OGL sheet: I found it hard to set up, but easy to use in play. The cog is your friend. That's where you tweak things. For example, you can set a spell to show spell card rather than be an attack/heal - very handy for the non-fighting spells. Being able to drag things from the srd screen onto the sheet (did you know you could do that?) is very handy - particularly since you are a pick-from-the-list-each-day prepared caster.

Zoom out to about 80% - action takes up a bit less space, but you can still see closely enough for when details are important. I typically run at 50-70%, but I'm DM, so I need the wide view.

Plan ahead. As soon as your turn is done, start planning your next move. That way you can have the right tab/macro/function ready to go.

If you do get the double-monitor setup, you can have your character sheet pop out as a separate window. drop it on one screen, and keep the playfield on the other.

[Arcangel4774]

On roll20 you can type in /r nds + c where n is the number of dice, s the number of sides, and c is the constant modifier. Its especially useful id for some reason in the game you want something random from an unusual number.

I also find that using vouce from somewhere else alongside the chat allows things to stay on track when jokes or other comments are kept to the chat window as apposed to be said out loud.

[Joe the Rat]

[[nds+C]] also works - and can be placed inside other text fields.

[HMS Invincible]

[[nds+C]] also works - and can be placed inside other text fields.

I didn't know that, thanks!
For those of you who don't use roll 20 chat, how do you roll dice over the internet?
What's Good macro example? Can a macro include text? Like can I make a macro to use wrath of the storm, and destructive wrath?
As a reminder, I'm a player, not a DM.
The mapping idea is good, I'll have to steal that.

[LordEntrails]

I didn't know that, thanks!
For those of you who don't use roll 20 chat, how do you roll dice over the internet?
What's Good macro example? Can a macro include text? Like can I make a macro to use wrath of the storm, and destructive wrath?
As a reminder, I'm a player, not a DM.
The mapping idea is good, I'll have to steal that.
So I've played using skype. We just roll in view of the camera and trust each other. I doubt the rolls can actually be made out, but since we trust each other never worried about it.

As for voice and talking over one another, it's no difference than a conference call when working (and not much difference from sitting around a table); when someone starts talking, they need to make a sort of intro sound. So rather than saying, it's my turn and start talking, you start, but listen for others and pause. Don't steamroll.

[Joe the Rat]

Just for clarification, I was suggesting dropping the Roll20 audio, and making sure everyone was mic'd. I forget that "chat" refers to the text run with all the dice rolls, etc. in it.

On simple macros: Wrath of the Storm


/em As HMS Invincible is struck, the air crackles as a thunderous bolt rebukes the attacker!
Reaction; Target must be within 5'
Opponent must make a DC [[@Cleric_Spell_DC]] Dexterity saving throw or suffer [[2d8]] lightning or thunder damage.

(Usable [@WIS_modifier] times per long rest)
Someone a bit more savvy could probably have it count its usage and deduct from a resource.

I use the "roll" function on numbers like save DCs because it formats it like a roll - in a yellow box, which makes it easier to find.
Doublecheck those "@_" elements - the names might be wrong. If you can't find them, just put in the values (DC [[13]] for DC 13), and update as you level.

[silvertree]

Couldn't get voice chat to work. We gave up and used discord instead.


Nothing wrong with using Discord, my group uses Skype. But if you want to give the roll20 audio/video another shot, I've found that Chrome tends to block access to your mic/webcam without you giving explicit permission, and the prompt for you to do so can easily be missed. If you click the little 'i' (information) logo at the beginning of the address bar, you'll be able to view site settings:

https://i.imgur.com/EpovZKC.png

The 2nd and 3rd items will likely be your camera and mic, and will likely show as being blocked. Unblocking those ought to do the trick:

https://i.imgur.com/S3sRoKK.png

I'm pretty sure roll20 defaults to using its own audio/video for chat, so no other options would need to be toggled.



Laggy, there would be a big delay between lots of clicks.


That could be the result of one or more folks using the more advanced dice stuff. If you aren't using that but someone else is, it may look to you like there's a delay between a click and a result, but for the person making a roll they are seeing dice scatter all over their screen. Those options are in roll20:

https://i.imgur.com/hH8S1so.png



With 6 of us, all being on voice chat was really chaotic. I think we need a turn order system outside of combat.


This might be improved if/when you get video working for each player, as visual cues sometimes make it easier for someone to insert themselves into a conversation. It's also something that tends to get better over time, but not always by itself. If you are otherwise strangers, it may be the case that one or more of the group lacks the social graces to know when they are hogging the spotlight and are oblivious to the problem. It's something to talk about with your DM for sure if it doesn't improve.

[Grod_The_Giant]

Use a more stable chat system like Discord, or at least cut the video chat part, and don't bother with macros-- in my experience they take way more time than rolling physical dice or typing "/roll d20+5"

[MrStabby]

I agree with most stuff said but would just add that moving to discord/skype is also likely to help with the chaotic group of 6 people speaking over each other. Where there is a 0.75 second delay between someone speaking and the sound coming out of someone elses speakers it is easy for a second person to inadvertently interrupt a first because they don't even know they are speaking. With 6 people you may have alittle chaos - but hopefully this will fix much of it.