What is your favorite Online Video Conference tool to play TTRPGs virtually?

[Scalenex]

I have avoided this because I really like face-to-face interaction but most of my friends are geographically removed from me, so this is my only feasible option to get my RPG fix.

I suppose it's not a giant stretch because for years I have used a laptop full of notes instead of a DM screen, and now I got World Anvil to help me keep track of my world building and campaign notes.

For those who are experienced at virtual TTRPing, which network programs do you all endorse and why?

[Pex]

Discord for voice. Roll20 for virtual tabletop. D&D Beyond for character sheet.

I also like Tabletop Simulator for virtual tabletop, but it's quite complicated for a DM to set up. If you have the patience and time you can set up beautiful scenery and have special effects for spells and environment. You can do dungeon crawls, urban, wilderness. It's 3D. The downside is it takes a long time to set up. There's also a bandwidth issue for computers that can't handle it well. It's really amazing and awesome once it is set up, but as DM you need that patience and free time to do it. Roll20 is a lot easier to set up a game session once you learn the mechanics of doing so.

[Batcathat]

I haven't played virtually that much, but when we did, we used Discord for sound and video. It's free, has decent quality and is pretty easy to use (plus there are a ton of bots that can be added for extra functionality). We were pretty low-tech, so we didn't use anything extra for rolls, sheets, etc.

[TaiLiu]

I love Google Meet. You gotta pay for the premium version to get access to 24-hour group meetings, but luckily I have access to it. The automatic captions are incredible and probably the best I've encountered in an online video conference tool.

We do everything else manually, e.g. dice rolls, character sheets, and so forth.

[MoiMagnus]

The only setup I've tried is:
+ Discord for voice, text messages and rolling dice (with a bot). Sometimes video too, but bad connections of some players meant that we tried to avoid it.
+ Some online shared notepad for public information, including a short version of every character sheets. (I cannot link it since it's a resource from one of the player's university)
+ Switch to TotM playstyle so no need for grids or battle maps.

[Eldan]

Discord works.

With the caveat that I never use battlemaps and miniatures to play, and I've known all my players for ten years or more and I know they know the the rules and don't cheat, so I don't need virtual dice or sheets.

[Kurald Galain]

Discord for voice. Roll20 for virtual tabletop.

This has been the gold standard for online organized play for at least two years now.

Roll20 also has some excellent and easy-to-use character sheets (and also, some horrible ones, so choose carefully )

[Rynjin]

Discord for voice. Roll20 for virtual tabletop.

This has been the gold standard for online organized play for at least two years now.

Roll20 also has some excellent and easy-to-use character sheets (and also, some horrible ones, so choose carefully )

Both services are also free.

It's hard to beat free. Mmmm...freeeeee...

[Xervous]

Foundry VTT. Pay once for a license because subscription services are in the same category as FATAL.

PRO

+ pay once for a license
+ your hard drive is your storage space
+ massive community support for popular systems
+ if you know how to program sky is the limit
+ baseline functionality + universal plugins slaughters what free roll20 is capable of
+ opens in a browser (clients)

CON

- requires someone to be hosting the server (running the program) for others to access
- wasn’t mobile friendly last I checked
- costs money (one purchase)
- not advised for computer illiterate

[Scalenex]

I did a test session on Discord and it went very smooth, considering that this was the first time we ever tried a virtual TTRPG session. It only took us 15 minute to get started. There was one screen freeze but a quick hit of the refresh button fixed it in less than a minute.

It was only a solo session, I'm guessing with a larger group would have more technical difficulties.

I didn't use a dice roller, we used physical dice and the honor system.

In any event I'm using a homebrew variation of White Wolf's d10 system. I am unlikely to find an efficient dice program for that, but I'm okay with the honor system.

[Pex]

This has been the gold standard for online organized play for at least two years now.

Roll20 also has some excellent and easy-to-use character sheets (and also, some horrible ones, so choose carefully )

My issue with the Roll20 character sheets is you need to type in everything by hand. It's not different than Ye Olde pencil and paper, but D&D Beyond spoiled me. There it's point and click with all the necessary text and math done for you. There are some issues with new subclasses, so it's not perfect, but for the most part everything works. They allow for customization to create your own subclass, skill, spell, and magic item. There's no onus of blame on Roll20 character sheets. A D&D database is not their focus nor should be. This is only a personal preference.

[Rynjin]

My issue with the Roll20 character sheets is you need to type in everything by hand. It's not different than Ye Olde pencil and paper, but D&D Beyond spoiled me. There it's point and click with all the necessary text and math done for you. There are some issues with new subclasses, so it's not perfect, but for the most part everything works. They allow for customization to create your own subclass, skill, spell, and magic item. There's no onus of blame on Roll20 character sheets. A D&D database is not their focus nor should be. This is only a personal preference.

The 5e sheets on Roll20 ARE semi-automated, actually.

Weirdly that's what I don't like about them myself.

[Pex]

The 5e sheets on Roll20 ARE semi-automated, actually.

Weirdly that's what I don't like about them myself.

Some of the math part, but you still need to type in class abilities, starting equipment, spells. D&D Beyond does that for you. When leveling you have to type in new features. While creating or leveling your options are not on the screen. You still need to have a physical copy of the rulebook or a digital copy on another screen to sift through.

D&D Beyond can afford to be so detailed on creating and updating a character because that's all it does. It's your character sheet. You don't play the game on it aside from rolling dice. If doing Theater of the Mind sure you can play on D&D Beyond. If you need/want maps, a grid, tokens, etc. you need something else like Roll20. As I said, it's only a preference for me to use D&D Beyond for my character sheet needs. Roll20 is fine for those who don't mind doing the typing.

[Telok]

In any event I'm using a homebrew variation of White Wolf's d10 system. I am unlikely to find an efficient dice program for that, but I'm okay with the honor system.

What are your requirements? I can probably whack out a webpage roller in a day or two of lunch breaks.

[Batcathat]

In any event I'm using a homebrew variation of White Wolf's d10 system. I am unlikely to find an efficient dice program for that, but I'm okay with the honor system.

While I haven't really looked into it, I'm fairly sure the various dice rolling bots on Discord can be customized quite a bit, so unless you need something really weird, I would think they can handle it.

[Scalenex]

What are your requirements? I can probably whack out a webpage roller in a day or two of lunch breaks.

It's ALWAYS d10s and only d10s. It is a more than a little wonky because "1s" have special property and also Willpower expenditures can add bonus. The full explanation for the system is here.

There are also a bunch of ways to get bonus dice or dice penalties.

But I guess all a system would need "How many dice are you rolling and what is the target difficulty" as long as there are a bunch of special case rules for rolling 1s.

[NRSASD]

Discord for voice, Roll20 for the game. If we want to use video, then Zoom. It’s not nearly as flexible or quick to set up as in person, but Roll20 is pretty good.

[GentlemanVoodoo]

Use mostly Tabletop Simulator. Can be a beast to set up but depends on how detail you are making your areas. You can get as simple as loading one of the custom boards and throwing pre-made maps in it. Also with Steam Workshop you essentially have access to anything you really want regarding map and player pieces. Only real complaint is the fog of war feature is a bit clunky and doesn't work all the time.

Chat preference is Steam as well simply because it is included. Group likes to use Discord but I have never been a fan of it.

[Grod_The_Giant]

Others have mentioned roll20, which is the standard for a reason--it's annoying and jenky sometimes, but it works right out of the box--so I'll get obscure and toss in Owlbear.rodeo, which is a virtual battlemap and nothing else. There's a map, which you can scribble on with markers and add sticky notes. You can place round tokens (but only round) and move them around/lock them in place. You can hide or reveal parts of the map. You can roll virtual dice, but it's glitchy and doesn't do any math beyond adding together all the dice you just rolled. There's a laser pointer. There's an extension that adds some basic initiative and health tracking, but it's pretty minimal.

It's not fancy, but it's probably as close to a dry-erase-map-and-minis setup as you'll find.

[Telok]

But I guess all a system would need "How many dice are you rolling and what is the target difficulty" as long as there are a bunch of special case rules for rolling 1s.

PMed link. Was fast & easy. May try to use it for passing custom die roller page results into roll20 now that I found the beyond20 plugin source on github.

Others have mentioned roll20, which is the standard for a reason--it's annoying and jenky sometimes, but it works right out of the box--so I'll get obscure and toss in Owlbear.rodeo, which is a virtual battlemap and nothing else. There's a map, which you can scribble on with markers and add sticky notes....
...It's not fancy, but it's probably as close to a dry-erase-map-and-minis setup as you'll find.

Enticing!

I have about 3gb b&w spaceship maps up around 500m on length* that would ideally be hex gridded. I saw it does the hex grids and proper distance calculation, but how well does it deal with those sorts of large map areas? Roll20 seems to start having issues with stuff over 200 feet in 5x5 squares, but the DM uses full color medium or high res maps for it.

* yes, groups fought their way over half that length several times across such maps. The erasing & redrawing was annoying. PCs without vacc suits punching each other in the head over melta gun holes in the hull was funny every time though.

[Grod_The_Giant]

Enticing!

I have about 3gb b&w spaceship maps up around 500m on length* that would ideally be hex gridded. I saw it does the hex grids and proper distance calculation, but how well does it deal with those sorts of large map areas? Roll20 seems to start having issues with stuff over 200 feet in 5x5 squares, but the DM uses full color medium or high res maps for it.

Tbh I have no idea.

[Kurald Galain]

My issue with the Roll20 character sheets is you need to type in everything by hand.

That depends on what sheet you're using.

There are some really bad sheets that are commonly used, where everybody ignores the sheet and writes their own macros. I'm frankly baffled by why people insist on this, because there are also some really good sheets out there that straightforwardly do all the necessary text and math for you.

[Grod_The_Giant]

there are also some really good sheets out there that straightforwardly do all the necessary text and math for you.

I'm playing in a PTU game right now, and my GOD does everything become ten times easier with the roll20 character sheet doing all the math and working out attacks for you.

[Pex]

That depends on what sheet you're using.

There are some really bad sheets that are commonly used, where everybody ignores the sheet and writes their own macros. I'm frankly baffled by why people insist on this, because there are also some really good sheets out there that straightforwardly do all the necessary text and math for you.

Point. My pre Virus Apocalypse Pathfinder group got back together. Everyone moved, so we're playing online. I have to type in equipment and some statistical numbers for the Pathfinder sheet, but playing a spellcaster I learned it's possible to port in spell text which helps a lot. I do notice some math is done for me, especially in skills where I only need to type in the ranks. The DM has done the work to give people macros for their common buffs depending on class. In a different campaign for 5E, for that sheet I have to type everything. Fortunately I can still use D&D Beyond, but the DM wants a basic sheet to keep track of the important stuff.

I'm not trying to say Roll20 is bad for character sheets. I just got spoiled and prefer D&D Beyond.

[animorte]

I have the exact same concern. Really been wanting to play with my best friends but we live far enough apart that in-person is extremely rare, and when it does happen we just hang out and talk mostly. This thread has been very helpful.

[MrStabby]

So Roll20 works well for me and Microsoft Teams for voice/video (and scheduling and tracking sessions as well). Also, Teams has a transcription ablity so you can use it to automatically make notes and look back later if you need to check things.

[Grod_The_Giant]

Point. My pre Virus Apocalypse Pathfinder group got back together.

"Virus Apocalypse Pathfinder" would be a decent name for an RPG system.

[Tawmis]

Discord for voice. Roll20 for virtual tabletop. D&D Beyond for character sheet.

This, pretty much with two notes.
Most of my game is theater of mind, unless it's a dungeon or complex cave. Then I use Roll20.
The other additional piece I'd add is using the BEYOND20 add-in.
This was a literal game changer for me.

[Xervous]

"Virus Apocalypse Pathfinder" would be a decent name for an RPG system.

At least until they release Virus Apocalypse Pathfinder: Immortal Dynasty.

[Draz74]

I like Discord for voice/video, but tbh I haven't given other services a super fair chance lately; Discord is just the bandwagon option for gamers

Foundry VTT. Pay once for a license because subscription services are in the same category as FATAL.

PRO

+ pay once for a license
+ your hard drive is your storage space
+ massive community support for popular systems
+ if you know how to program sky is the limit
+ baseline functionality + universal plugins slaughters what free roll20 is capable of
+ opens in a browser (clients)

CON

- requires someone to be hosting the server (running the program) for others to access
- wasn’t mobile friendly last I checked
- costs money (one purchase)
- not advised for computer illiterate

QFT all around. EDIT: Actually, it's mostly just the GM that needs to be computer literate; the players can mostly just sign in on their browser and coast along.