Tabletop RPGs have given to me what Video Games couldn’t in 2020

[piratepwnsninja]

Fantastic thread!

I'm still tempted to build a tv into my gaming table to use for DMing games with my family (and friends once we're all vaccinated)

I should think about my actual use cases first though, and exactly how I'd run in person using it. It's one of those things I think would be neat, but maybe not?

 

[Portmanteau]

OP - when you're ready to try a new system, give Lancer and Blades in the Dark a shot. They're very different, but both are amazing.

 

[KomandaHeck]

I'm really going to have to find a way to give TTRPGs a try sometime soon. Seems like something I could easily fall in love with.

 

[Niosai]

Fantastic thread!

I'm still tempted to build a tv into my gaming table to use for DMing games with my family (and friends once we're all vaccinated)

I should think about my actual use cases first though, and exactly how I'd run in person using it. It's one of those things I think would be neat, but maybe not?

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I feel like live-updating dynamic maps with real game pieces on top of it would be incredibly awesome. Or even a touchscreen setup, if you wanted. Tabletop games would be super cool like that.

 

[IlGialloMondadori]

Running the Star Trek Adventurea boxed set right now. It's a blast!

 

[toadkarter]

What a wonderful write-up, and I definitely agree - I met some peeps on reddit through the lfg subreddit to play D&D and we all immediately clicked, have been doing Phandelver (the beginner campaign) over Discord (together with some homebrew one shots written by our DM) since August or so. There's really nothing else like it.

I have been playing some WRPGs / immersive sims recently and something that came to mind is that the western RPG design philosophy, with its emphasis on choice and consequence, seems to be focused on emulating the function of a DM. The best games of its kind (i.e. Deus Ex, Fallout: New Vegas) mold and shape the world based on your actions the same way a DM would depending on what what your party decides. We just accidentally killed a key NPC in our storyline, for example, so I'm super excited to see how our DM decides to deal with it for our next session.

Where there is a divergence, though, in my opinion, is that video games are inherently replayable - so part of the appeal is viewing the story again and making a different decision to see what would happen, and experiment with that - whereas with a tabletop RPG, it's all about maintaining the illusion of your actions being permanent and irreversible.

Anyway, that's just me rambling - just thought it was interesting seeing how D&D seems to have influenced a lot of video games that I enjoy!

 

[malingenie]

My wife is really into Gloomhaven right now, it's a definite entry point to D&D! It's a great adventure for two so far!

 

[Dr. Dr. Dogtooth]

Fantastic thread!

I'm still tempted to build a tv into my gaming table to use for DMing games with my family (and friends once we're all vaccinated)

I should think about my actual use cases first though, and exactly how I'd run in person using it. It's one of those things I think would be neat, but maybe not?

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A good and easy alternative is just hanging a small, wifi projector above your table and projection it on a white tablecloth, where you can write on it with temporary markers. I used it to DM different groups and it is extremely handy.

 

[aett]

My DnD group switched over to playing online in April, and we jumped onto Foundry over the summer and instantly fell in love with it. Well, I did at first, but getting the players to do something slightly new was like pulling teeth. And speaking of getting them to try something new, a couple months later, I really got into Pathfinder 2e and got a couple of them to try it with me. They said good things about it to the other players and they joined us. Once I ran that campaign for a couple of months I told them I didn't want to go back to 5e unless we went back to playing IRL, which is not likely to happen, especially as two of my players recently moved a couple hours away.

So yeah, playing tabletop RPGs online during the pandemic has been great. We've gone from playing once every three weeks at most to playing an average of twice per week, with occasional interruptions for stuff like holidays. Plus, three of my five players are coworkers, so it gives us a chance to talk about work stuff a little bit now that we're teleworking.

 

[Boat Times]

I've had an online DnD 5E game running for going on 4 years this April, but this past year with the quarantine has had our group playing more than ever. We went from a monthly group to a weekly group starting in March and that lasted till around September, now it's back to being monthly or at least twice a month. Love DnD and I've been very interested in exploring other TTRPGs and also "OSR" (old school revival) DnD games. I first played DnD back when I was in high school or middle school, my best friends dad was our first DM and he only had the old 1E AD&D books so that's what we learned on. At some point we transitioned over to 3E, but since I inherited the DMing responsibilities I kind of made it a weird mash up between 1E and 3E. Those were really fun times, and I think that's why I now have a longing to explore some of those OSR games.

In regards to Foundry VTT, how is it for just theater of the mind? My online group has played on Roll20 since we started, but I don't use maps or grids, it's all theater of the mind and I'll put up art work where the "maps" should be. Would that work well in Foundry, or is it really only worthwhile if I'll be using it for battle maps?

 

[GearDraxon]

In regards to Foundry VTT, how is it for just theater of the mind? My online group has played on Roll20 since we started, but I don't use maps or grids, it's all theater of the mind and I'll put up art work where the "maps" should be. Would that work well in Foundry, or is it really only worthwhile if I'll be using it for battle maps?

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From my (super-limited) Foundry experience, I don't see why it would be much different from Roll20, for your use case. I'm sure posters who have been running Foundry for awhile will have more to say, but given how flexible it is, it seems to be a "make it what you want it to be" solution.

 

[Boat Times]

I'll have to look into it a bit more, but yeah not sure if it's worth making the switch over if I won't be using the battle map features.

 

[Chromie]

Well, travelling is tough. A lot of systems and older modules try to give you a very simulationistic approach - calculating distances, changing travel time by terrain and so on. My approach is this: travel should be what it needs to be based on the genre of the campaign. Currently we play in a high-fantasy campaign with a global scale. So airship it is and just wing it with the true travel times. Everbody will soon have teleport anyway.

When you are playing a more down-to-earth-campaign, my concept is somewhat different. Travel CAN be important, if that travel is important to the story. Not every travel action should be complex and deeply described, but if the travel is story relevant, it should be an adventure in itself.

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I had a player miss the session this past Sunday, personal reasons so I actually changed the whole thing up a bit. I decided to play up the travel from Triboar to Yartar, about a 3 days journey. I ended up using this homebrew supplement, Darker Dungeons 5e. I LOVED it. It took us about 90 minutes or so to go through just the 3 days of traveling. This is something that's just going to take my time to improve. But I also brought in a new player just for a short while, she'll be with us while they're in this city and then that's it. How many sessions that is? No idea.


But one thing to understand, this was all made up on the spot. My travel encounters. One thing I did say, the druid player decided to turn into a horse to help pull their carriage along. She would stay behind always with their supplies while the others ventures off if they wanted to check out anything interesting.


My players

• Gork - Half-Orc Fighter
• Grimski - Half-elf Druid
• Rags - Halfling Monk
• Vashta - Wood Elf Ranger
• Veshtra - Half-Elf Paladin, temporary PC

Day 1 on the Road

• Uneventful morning and early afternoon
• Rags scouts ahead, a burst of light comes from a cave just over the horizon and catches his attention
• Go to cave, adds 2 hours to their travel time
  • Inside cave, they see a pile of gold and a chest across a bridge. Wary, they inspect for traps, throw rocks, the whole shebang. Nothing throw a rock under the bridge and here like a sludge, almost like mud.
  • Gork bites the gold to see if it's real. It's legit. Rags tosses a dart at the chest to see if it's a mimic. It's just a chest.
  • Find 300 gold in total, Clockwork Amulet, Trickey Lock, and a Angling Rod.
  • Gork decides to walk back to watch for the mystery man, oh no! The bridge is a mimic! That sludge? It's two large black puddings!
  • Gork gets caught in the mimic and dragged into the puddings, violently. His skin is burning from all the acid. Roll initiative.
  • Parts defeats the enemies but sustains serious wounds. Use up some resources for healing.
• Angry about it all, decide they want to wait for the mystery man.
  • Decide "let's wait outside the cave just in case"
  • Skill challenge to hide all signs of trespassing, carriage and calm horse down, while they hear movement of something approach very fast
  • Horse is neighing like crazy, something is distressing it. Rags, clothes ruined and smelling of acid causes the horse to start bucking.
  • Vashta calms the horse down using her Beast Bond
  • Gork quickly moves all their gear and carriage into a shrub, does his best to hide it all.
  • Rags sets up traps near their area covered by foliage.
  • They wait another few minutes and then they hear this whooshing coming from clearly large wings and overhead a large shadow. A young red dragon flew over them, landed, and turned into a human. A few moments later they saw another burst of light and loud roaring.
  • They hauled ass while remaining hidden.

Day 2 on the Road

• Uneventful morning and early afternoon
• Rags scouts ahead, seeing smoke rising over a hill far off in the distance
  • Have him roll a stealth check, rolls high enough that I actually swap over to a new scene/map that only he can see. I allowed him to look around for 30 seconds and relay that information back to the other players.
  • This was the map.

• Rags walks back and tells his party that there are a dozen or so people in the village, blood on their swords, dead bodies all around
• They decide to wait and would check the village for survivors, valuables, etc.
• I told them they waited 3 hours or so and made a small camp away from the main road and they were talking. Completely unprompted, one player asks the others "Do you think the barbarians are working with the dragon?"
  • And just like that I wrote a note down 'Dragon and barbarians in league with each other, develop further?'
  • They started talking about the events of the past couple of weeks. Vashta, the ranger, especially remarked how it looks the immediate area had been burned down. "Was it the fire giants from Triboar that did all this?" she asked, I asked her to roll an insight check and with her roll, I said she pondered that while walking around and stumbled upon a very large foot print after pacing for awhile, large enough for a giant.
• They made their way to the ruins of the village later that day, nearly night by now.
  • They tried to find anyone to help or things they could take, nothing.
  • An idea dawned on me right then. I let them know they heard something fall, almost like furniture collapsing under the weight of something on top of it. Immediately they go and check it and after 10 or so minutes, they cleared the debris and found a cellar door. Inside would be the other player, Veshtra the paladin. I had originally planned for them to meet in Yartar but this was far better.
• Vestra asked them who they were, scared, and not trusting of them. They spoke for a bit and let her know they meant no harm and let them know of what they saw.
  • Vestra told them she was here to see her parents, having heard of fire giants attacking the town and she wanted to see if they were safe/alive. She found them dead in their home and hid when the group of barbarians came. She had been hiding for a long time and now all the players have found each other. I loved this, completely unprompted and all coming from this new person. It fit so well too.
• That night, they sat around a campfire, away from the village, and talked to each other about their history. Veshtra told them she was a City Watch Investigator from Yartar and let them know of some trouble brewing in the city but right now she wanted to bury her parents. It was a great moment.

Day 3 on the Road

• Packed up their camp and back on the road.
• Early dusk, I had Vashta roll a survival check, it was her watch at latenight into morning.
  • She was wolves, clearly malnourished and hungry. She gathered everyone and hurried them to move along. Not wanting to fight the animals, clearl the fires from the giants has disrupted the natural ecology of the area.
• Midday, they hear a kind of chat getting louder as it seems to be approaching them.
  • Turns out to be a captain from Yartar and a bunch of trainees out for drills. They heard something of a military cadence.
  • Vestra recognizes the captain. They talk for a little bit and she introduces the players to the captain. He asks the strongest one to give a smiple demonstration of their martial might.
• They continued on for a couple of hours, finally reaching Yartar.
  • Thanks to having someone of the city watch, they easily got through the checkpoint but noticed hundreds of people waiting to enter the city. All of them carrying a lot of stuff, clearly uprooting their lives for the walled port city of Yartar.

At the end of the session, I asked them for feedback. They liked it and enjoyed how it made the world feel larger. I tend to not roll for encounters randomly so I was bit nervous on relying my own improv since it's something I know I need to work but this helped and it felt good. I use gritty realism for resting so it makes traveling feel just a little more dangerous.


Ooof, that was a lot of text.

My concept for a KOTOR campaign is based on the idea that fragments of the Star Forge were thrown into the galaxy. In the present day (post-Endor), a new secret cult takes hold among imperial remnant troops and even droids. The power behind the cult is, of course, the slowly-expanding consciousness of the star forge.

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I love this! I'm not sure if I'm ready to homebrew a whole story so I might just keeping learn the system and eventually try one of the pre-made adventures. I learn by best playing so I wanna hold off on all that.

 

[Chromie]

I've got my eye on Foundry for when I might want to take a stab at hosting a game. It seems quite overwhelming, but I'd love to try creating something from scratch, maybe in a sci-fi setting... Are there any (preferably free) asset libraries or templates out there that are useful for setting up your own game?

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Thanks! I also started DMing this year in the same way, it really is an incredible adventure for learning and I encourage everyone to try it.

I simply use reddit. I get maps from there, I've bought stuff through patreon too. I also just google for monster tokens when necessary. Again, like I said in the OP, I'm willing to share my content with people on D&D Beyond, which you can export to Foundry.

Foundry is very very easy to learn. I tried for awhile to find a a virtual tabletop I like. Foundry proved easiest to learn with an intuitive interface. Also no subscription is nice.

In regards to Foundry VTT, how is it for just theater of the mind? My online group has played on Roll20 since we started, but I don't use maps or grids, it's all theater of the mind and I'll put up art work where the "maps" should be. Would that work well in Foundry, or is it really only worthwhile if I'll be using it for battle maps?

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It's great. I've had theater of the mind maps set up. I had the scene with the guard captain mentioned above in a theater of the mind style. I had NPC tokens out but it wasn't overly detailed.

Check out this guys stuff too for ideas.

 

[Comrade Grogu]

That's awesome man. I'm glad you're enjoying it so much. 2020 was the year I got obsessed with Arkham Horror the card game - it's amazing. And in turn, it made me want to learn the Call of Cthulhu tabletop game. I've run two campaigns and it's been a great time. Wonderful combination of mechanics, sorrytelling, and group dreaming. Nothing quite like it, really.

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I probably should try out a card game sometime...

 

[Mr. Gold]

That sounds awesome! Honestly the barrier to entry always seems to be time, very hard coordinating schedules, almost impossible now. With remote social hang outs a thing, I've finally been able to play some games with friends on boardgamearena. Getting one off's is very easy while a continual pace of games is very challenging. But seriously that looks amazing. Great post.

 

[GearDraxon]

Me a few days ago: "guys, I don't see why Roll20 isn't good enough for you! Foundry VTT just seems like a lot of work."
Me today, after setting up Foundry on an AWS instance with a custom domain: 🤡

Reiterating my offer - if you're interested in playing through the D&D 5e starter adventure with a first-time (but enthusiastic!) GM, DM me. Complete beginners welcome.

 

[Deleted member 76797]

I always wanted to try one of these but my friends would not be into it lol

 

[Comrade Grogu]

Me a few days ago: "guys, I don't see why Roll20 isn't good enough for you! Foundry VTT just seems like a lot of work.
Me today, after setting up Foundry on an AWS instance with a custom domain: 🤡

Reiterating my offer - if you're interested in playing through the D&D 5e starter adventure with a first-time (but enthusiastic!) GM, DM me. Complete beginners welcome.

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Foundry VTT?

 

[GearDraxon]

I always wanted to try one of these but my friends would not be into it lol

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That was me, a year ago. A friend had bought the D&D Starter Set and expressed interest, but it never happened. I thought the pandemic would a good chance (since we all live relatively far apart), but they all had kids and have no free time now. I ended up joining a group online and it's been a blast.

Foundry VTT?

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It's kind of like a self-hosted Roll20: you run the server software yourself, and your players connect to it via a webpage. You can run it on your own machine, put it on a remote server (like I'm doing with AWS), or rent a server for a few bucks a month from one of their hosting partners. Huge amount of game systems (D&D5e, Pathfinder, etc.) and a thriving community that makes "modules," which can adjust almost any aspect of running the game to your liking. Don't like the way the character sheets look by default? There's a module. Want mouse control that's a bit more intuitive for trackpads? Someone made a module. There's even a module for the awesome X-Card system.

 

[Comrade Grogu]

That was me, a year ago. A friend had bought the D&D Starter Set and expressed interest, but it never happened. I thought the pandemic would a good chance (since we all live relatively far apart), but they all had kids and have no free time now. I ended up joining a group online and it's been a blast.

It's kind of like a self-hosted Roll20: you run the server software yourself, and your players connect to it via a webpage. You can run it on your own machine, put it on a remote server (like I'm doing with AWS), or rent a server for a few bucks a month from one of their hosting partners. Huge amount of game systems (D&D5e, Pathfinder, etc.) and a thriving community that makes "modules," which can adjust almost any aspect of running the game to your liking. Don't like the way the character sheets look by default? There's a module. Want mouse control that's a bit more intuitive for trackpads? Someone made a module. There's even a module for the awesome X-Card system.

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Is there anything else like this? Or is this the best one? Because this sounds amazing AND I'd like to try my hand at being a DM one day so anything that's easier than Roll20 would be great.

 

[Kitaj]

Great thread, my GF and I have been wanting to get into this sort of RPG so we can take a break looking at screens all day at work and then when we get home for our hobbies.

We have been thinking about getting into Gloomhaven, any opinions on that one. How easy is to get into and does it have some staying power and variety?

 

[napk1ns]

I probably should try out a card game sometime...

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Try out Arkham dude, at least just the core set. It's like a cross section between an RPG, choose-your-own narrative game, and a deck builder. Easily my favorite tabletop game no question.

 

[Daniagatha]

It has been 3 years that I have been playing 5e. 2 tables. In one I am an Barbarian/Druid. In the other a Warlock/Paladin. In the middle of last year I decided to start DMing for a group of friend and it has been a blast.

DnD is awesone and I love it. Can't wait to buy Foundry. And to start DMing other systems (played FIASCO and Cthullu)

 

[GearDraxon]

Is there anything else like this? Or is this the best one? Because this sounds amazing AND I'd like to try my hand at being a DM one day so anything that's easier than Roll20 would be great.

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There's another one called Astral, which I have no experience with.

I'm not sure that I would characterize Foundry as "easier" than Roll20: the setup is definitely far harder, because with Roll20 you can basically make an account, buy the adventure/content, and get going. Foundry requires (at minimum) launching the server software on your computer, ensuring that your players can connect (possibly involving UPnP/port forwarding), installing the game system manually (the ruleset), etc.

 

[Deleted member 56803]

Unknown Armies, Delta Green, and 13th Age are wonderful games that I have DMed

 

[Comrade Grogu]

There's another one called Astral, which I have no experience with.

I'm not sure that I would characterize Foundry as "easier" than Roll20: the setup is definitely far harder, because with Roll20 you can basically make an account, buy the adventure/content, and get going. Foundry requires (at minimum) launching the server software on your computer, ensuring that your players can connect (possibly involving UPnP/port forwarding), installing the game system manually (the ruleset), etc.

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Doesn't seem TOO bad. I know shit about computers, but I can definitely do that. 😂

 

[GearDraxon]

Doesn't seem TOO bad. I know shit about computers, but I can definitely do that. 😂

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Oh, absolutely! I'm no HackerMan, but I know enough to SSH into a remote Linux installation and get package managers up and going, etc. If you're running the server locally, it's just an Electron app (appears to technically be a chrome-less Chrome window.)

 

[Comrade Grogu]

Oh, absolutely! I'm no HackerMan, but I know enough to SSH into a remote Linux installation and get package managers up and going, etc. If you're running the server locally, it's just an Electron app (appears to technically be a chrome-less Chrome window.)

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Huh. Do you need Linux? I have Windows 10.

Anyway, as long as there are guides, I think I'll be fine either way.

 

[GearDraxon]

Huh. Do you need Linux? I have Windows 10.

Anyway, as long as there are guides, I think I'll be fine either way.

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Nope, they've got apps for Win10, macOS, and Linux (and node.js as well, technically.) Tons of of tutorials out there, both on YouTube and written. Someone even made a deployment file for spinning up an AWS instance...which I found after setting it all up myself. :|

Let me know if you want to poke around on my server - might be good for me to learn some of the basics, since you'd likely end up having the same questions I had or will have.

 

[Comrade Grogu]

Nope, they've got apps for Win10, macOS, and Linux (and node.js as well, technically.) Tons of of tutorials out there, both on YouTube and written. Someone even made a deployment file for spinning up an AWS instance...which I found after setting it all up myself. :|

Let me know if you want to poke around on my server - might be good for me to learn some of the basics, since you'd likely end up having the same questions I had or will have.

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Sure, maybe send me the Discord link through PM and I'll join. Thanks!

 

[Ont]

I only got into DnD for the first time about year ago. The remote DnD sessions have been great during the lockdown.

Now I really want to get into Cyberpunk Red. But my core rulebook is stuck somewhere in Brexit/Covid customs hell.

SLA Industries second edition, and Alien RPG also look interesting.

 

[Kizuna]

I really should try watching those YouTube channels that stream tabletop games one of these days.
A number of friends are really into TTRPGs, some even DM those, but I never tried to get into them because I seem to have the perfect opposite of the personality of a good player, being shy, very self-conscious, somewhat passive and bad at generating spontaneous ideas. So I think it'd be more fun for me, and for other people if I stuck to watching games rather than participating in them.

 

[Chromie]

Me a few days ago: "guys, I don't see why Roll20 isn't good enough for you! Foundry VTT just seems like a lot of work."
Me today, after setting up Foundry on an AWS instance with a custom domain: 🤡

Reiterating my offer - if you're interested in playing through the D&D 5e starter adventure with a first-time (but enthusiastic!) GM, DM me. Complete beginners welcome.

Click to shrink...

It's a fantastic system isn't it? I'm considering just getting a Raspberry Pi as the server.

Great thread, my GF and I have been wanting to get into this sort of RPG so we can take a break looking at screens all day at work and then when we get home for our hobbies.

We have been thinking about getting into Gloomhaven, any opinions on that one. How easy is to get into and does it have some staying power and variety?

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The person I quoted is looking for players, ask them! But Gloomhaven is a fantastic game but a huge game. Check out Gloomhaven Jaws of the Lion. Excellent board game but you don't get anything that an RPG gives, everything is predefinfed.

 

[Chromie]

I really should try watching those YouTube channels that stream tabletop games one of these days.
A number of friends are really into TTRPGs, some even DM those, but I never tried to get into them because I seem to have the perfect opposite of the personality of a good player, being shy, very self-conscious, somewhat passive and bad at generating spontaneous ideas. So I think it'd be more fun for me, and for other people if I stuck to watching games rather than participating in them.

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Just please don't get the wrong idea. I've played in games where people expect this amazing table with a DM as versatile as Matt Mercer. He's a professional actor and well, trained in acting/improv.

Honestly, if you wanna play, it hard but once you really get comfortable and let yourself look silly. You'll find it's not a big deal.

 

[Smaug18]

In regards to Foundry VTT, how is it for just theater of the mind? My online group has played on Roll20 since we started, but I don't use maps or grids, it's all theater of the mind and I'll put up art work where the "maps" should be. Would that work well in Foundry, or is it really only worthwhile if I'll be using it for battle maps?

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It works very well. I rarely use battle maps myself and greatly prefer Foundry to Roll20. I'll see if I can post some examples of how I set up the screen for my Campaign.

I mostly run Cypher System games. This year we played Numenera and I just ran a one shot of Predation. Another guy in our group is running a classic Shadowrun adventure using Cypher System rules.

 

[piratepwnsninja]

It works very well. I rarely use battle maps myself and greatly prefer Foundry to Roll20. I'll see if I can post some examples of how I set up the screen for my Campaign.

I mostly run Cypher System games. This year we played Numenera and I just ran a one shot of Predation. Another guy in our group is running a classic Shadowrun adventure using Cypher System rules.

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I'd love some examples, especially since I have been wanting to run some Cypher system stuff I have.

 

[GearDraxon]

It's a fantastic system isn't it? I'm considering just getting a Raspberry Pi as the server.

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Exactly. I thought about formatting a different SD card as a Foundry server and slapping it into my Pi-hole, but decided I didn't want to rely on my bandwidth.

Just please don't get the wrong idea. I've played in games where people expect this amazing table with a DM as versatile as Matt Mercer. He's a professional actor and well, trained in acting/improv.

Honestly, if you wanna play, it hard but once you really get comfortable and let yourself look silly. You'll find it's not a big deal.

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I'm just echoing these sentiments for everyone: know that *very* few DMs are as good as Matt Mercer...but that's ok! People have been having fun with not-Matts for decades.

I'm someone that tends to be reserved at first, and I found that I was at ease and acting "myself" within a session or two.

 

[Smaug18]

I'd love some examples, especially since I have been wanting to run some Cypher system stuff I have.

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This is an example of my basic setup:

Top left is the location or picture I currently want to show the players. You can quickly add some ambience to this by adding some light sources to the basic image in Foundy.

Below that I have the tokens of the NSCs and creatures currently in the scene. The translucent ones are currently hidden from the players.

Top right are the player tokens through which the players can access their character sheets. The bars display their three pools. Since Numenera has a system of awarding XP to players that they share with another player, I use XP tokens to simulate this handing out and sharing process. I like this better than only adding and subtracting a number from the character sheet. The players have chosen to have a group sum of their Shins (money), so I created a token that tracks the current number. This is linked to an actor and thus shows the same value when used across multiple scenes. I do the same on a seperate scene for the crafting Iotum.

Bottom right is a mini map of their current surroundings. Since the current campaign involves a fair bit of traveling I like to have that there to root the players in the world. We also use a seperate, dedicated world map scene to plan the travels.

Let me know if you are interested in any particular details and I would love to hear about other GMs setups too!

 

[BrassDragon]

If you don't want to get fiddly with battelmats and virtual rulers, I've run games on roll20 that just used a blank page with a few hand drawn squares to move tokens in and out of, labeled 'close', 'near' and 'far'. Those are the only ranges that matter in tabletop RPG combat anyway, anything else is just for fun with miniatures. As a GM, you just give a ruling on distances as they came up.

Works for any systtem... it doesn't look sexy but it's just enough visualization for online play and supports 'theater of the mind' perfectly.

 

[GearDraxon]

Great thread, my GF and I have been wanting to get into this sort of RPG so we can take a break looking at screens all day at work and then when we get home for our hobbies.

We have been thinking about getting into Gloomhaven, any opinions on that one. How easy is to get into and does it have some staying power and variety?

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So, I got Gloomhaven riiiiiight at the beginning of March, as lockdown began here in the States. My wife and I played exactly one session. For her, the roadblock was the amount of downtime - the rules are complicated, and because it's mostly tactical combat (at least at the outset), you spend a lot of time making sure you're doing things "right." With D&D or other more-traditional TTRPGs, I feel like you can fudge your way through, because breezing your way through the first set of goblins you encounter isn't skipping the whole point of the game. With Gloomhaven, it seemed like that *was* the content.

Regarding TTRPGs for just the two of you, D&D 5e has introduced a few options for two-person play: D&D Duet is a site dedicated to the idea, and the official Essentials Kit has rules for "sidekicks," which are designed for one player and one DM. The newest sourcebook, Tasha's Cauldron of Everything, expands on these options.

It sounds like you're trying to avoid using computers for this, which is too bad - as OP mentions, I'm trying to get an online game going focusing on new players (including [hopefully] my wife) as well!

 

[GearDraxon]

I really should try watching those YouTube channels that stream tabletop games one of these days.
A number of friends are really into TTRPGs, some even DM those, but I never tried to get into them because I seem to have the perfect opposite of the personality of a good player, being shy, very self-conscious, somewhat passive and bad at generating spontaneous ideas. So I think it'd be more fun for me, and for other people if I stuck to watching games rather than participating in them.

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In one game I'm playing, my character has become the de facto "face" for the party: he's got the highest "personality / charisma / interaction" -type scores, so he should be the one talking to NPCs, intimidating the enemies, and so on. It was my first game, so I was very unsure about it...but I've definitely gotten better at it over time!

In the same game, we have a player who is likely, given what you've said, similar to how you'd be: plays the game well during combat and other tactical situations, but is very quiet and isn't the one who suggests where the party should go, or what they should do. He's having a ton of fun, but his fun isn't based on being the most "active" member. That's the beauty of it: there are 5 other players to do that, because they enjoy it. I tend to be very self-conscious like you, especially at first. Then I realized that the rest of the party wasn't constantly waiting for me to give my opinion, or lead the way, and that I was putting way more importance on myself than was necessary. A fun note: when this quiet player speaks up? Everyone listens. :)

 

[Chromie]

So, I got Gloomhaven riiiiiight at the beginning of March, as lockdown began here in the States. My wife and I played exactly one session. For her, the roadblock was the amount of downtime - the rules are complicated, and because it's mostly tactical combat (at least at the outset), you spend a lot of time making sure you're doing things "right."

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I love Gloomhaven but it is a very boardgamer ass board game. I think Star Wars: Imperial Assault is more like 'D&D-in-a-box', one player is the Empire which sort of serves as a DM. It's actually why I really wanted to try DMing for D&D. Don't get me wrong, Kitaj, great game just not at all similar to a traditional RPG.

That's the beauty of it: there are 5 other players to do that, because they enjoy it. I tend to be very self-conscious like you, especially at first. Then I realized that the rest of the party wasn't constantly waiting for me to give my opinion, or lead the way, and that I was putting way more importance on myself than was necessary. A fun note: when this quiet player speaks up? Everyone listens. :)

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Ayy, don't worry about it. If anything, I would expect you to get so immersed that eventually you'll just forget about your shyness but even so, you don't need the attention. I've had players before that would message me during their downtime (when we weren't actually playing) and they'd have a whole thing going on. One player in my current campaign is basically going around town, trying to find skilled laborers, artisans, and merchants while also securing contracts for the town she is helping to rebuild. This all handled over discord, in text.

Simple as this. Sometimes she brings stuff to the group and all the players agree to help her. It's awesome.


For example, this was done today even. She wanted to try using her alchemy jug to make wine and beer to entice people to her bar she owns now in the town of Triboar. A real piece of crap. She'd like to have some recurring income and I'm all for it, since she's putting the work into getting it up and running. She rolled a 13 for her persuasion, she has low charisma hence the -1. The college kids were happy for free booze but were so not going to work but it did prove fruitful.

 

[GearDraxon]

Update: I was able to get a group going, and we ran the first session of Lost Mine of Phandelver on Friday. I ended up setting it all up in Foundry, using Discord for the VOIP and Syrinscape for background audio, the whole shebang.

Short version? It was a blast. DMing for the first time was intimidating, but I (and hopefully everyone else) am having a lot of fun. The first session was a lot of groundwork, doing some character creation, talking about the house rules...but we were able to get the first encounter in as well.