Sitting down at a table creating characters, rolling dice, and playing with a group of friends is an experience that just cannot be replaced. It is something that brings people together in ways that we normally take for granted in our day to day life. So how do we move forward as a community of tabletop gamers? Many players will tell you that online games just are not the same. While in some ways I agree with that sentiment, I can honestly still say that playing with my friend online is still a really fun experience to have!
With the coronavirus (Covid-19) hitting the world in ways no one saw coming, it has forced everyone to start making changes in their daily lives. One of the biggest changes we face is the reduction of physical interaction with others. This social distancing is definitely having an effect on the tabletop community. For one it’s forcing mom and pop hobby stores to shut down there normal business. And two, it has many players avoiding their weekly groups to help prevent the spread of this scary virus.
Being trapped at an office Monday through Friday for 40 hours a week gives us all the reason we need to seek ways to vent and relax. But being quarantined in our homes now can definitely cause added stress while also providing fewer options to release those pent up frustrations.
What Are The Options?
As tabletop roleplayers what options do we currently have available to fill that void while the country remains in quarantine? The answer is online gaming.
And no, I am not referring to video games, (which can also be a great option) but rather tabletop games being implemented on a digital platform allowing groups to still get together and share in the fun and continue with their adventures.
Currently, there are two types of online play that players might be interested in trying. (if you know of more please feel free to share). The two options that I have found are online applications that allow me to run normal TTRPG games on them and play by posts (pbp).
To run normal games but on a digital platform, I can think of two potential options. Fantasy Grounds and Roll20. For pbp I have found two great choices. Discord groups and also Rolegate. All of these have their benefits and their issues.
Fantasy Grounds
Fantasy Grounds (FG) has been around for a long time. I remember stumbling across this application years ago when I joined the military and moved overseas. I was wishing I could still find people to play with back home FG provided me with that ability! It is an application that can be used through a monthly subscription or through a one time purchase. They have a couple of price options for players. There is a Standard version and there is also an Ultimate version which is more costly but also offers a monthly price. The best feature about the Ultimate package is it allows everyone else to use the free demo version to join in your games. To up their already great product they are currently in the middle of releasing an entirely new version of their application with way more options, called Fantasy Grounds Unity.
What I love most with them (being a UI/UX Designer by day) is how clean the product’s layout is for users. I feel that FG is very user friendly. This is important to offer to someone who is trying to learn how to transition from playing at a table to an online format. They have tons of free and paid content you can pick up and use. But unfortunately, you get bare minimum when you buy the app and if you plan to run an actual game, you are really going to want to pick up some of that awesome paid content they offer.
Most content for D&D and other TTRPGs has to be purchased individually to be able to access within the app. This has nothing to do with them wanting to take your money, but rather paying the creators of these games for the right to use their content. They work really hard to give their clients the best content and prices they can.
Roll20
It is in many ways very similar to FG but Roll20 requires you to spend absolutely no money to use their service to play. If you have the rules for D&D or another game at home already, then Roll20 provides you with a way to just play for pretty much any system.
Now, this doesn’t mean they include the content inside your campaigns for free. But it does allow you to access character sheets and a dice roller. If you want to access extra features or content, then you will still need to pay for it.
Also, while the basic stuff is free to use they do provide subscriptions for users which gives them access to many more features, like allowing more players to join a game. The only thing that Roll20 lacks, is that it is a bit more difficult to navigate for new players. Unlike with FG I found myself having to work much harder in figuring out how to do everything properly. With that said Roll20 is still an amazing product to use and I personally have the subscription at this time.
Discord
If you don’t know what Discord is at this time you probably use the internet for very little other than research and watching youtube. Discord is an application that allows you to create entire communities or small groups. It is quickly growing as a great tool for communication and creating guilds for online gaming. One of the best things they have is being able to add bots to your channels which give you cool things like dice rollers and a way to track a character right in the same chat window.
What’s also great is you can create video and voice calls with 1 or multiple people. And you can literally run a game right there. Oh did I mention this application is completely free to download? Since I have gotten this application I have joined some amazing communities and even started building a couple of my own.
But what I find most unique is the ability to run games through a style called “play by post” or pbp. This is where you guys can hop on and tell a story all week long little by little post by post. And do it whenever you have time to respond. While the games are often slower than a regular session you aren’t forced to play at a specific day or time. Allowing you and everyone else to respond when you can. It is a unique and fun way to still get your roleplaying on.
Rolegate
And speaking of play by post, I haven’t found too many other options as good as Rolegate for this style of play! This is a newer company that launched but they have built their entire product around play by post gaming options. It is also free to download and use, but like everything else above you get access to many more options if you pay for the service.
The only two things I have found challenging with this product is
- Because they are new it doesn’t have everything built out yet. They are still developing new features at this time.
- A lot of games can get ghosted. This is where right in the middle of the game people start disappearing or stop responding without letting others know. This sucks but in all honestly this is more on the community and less on Rolegate itself.
I think if you can find a solid group that communicates and stays honest about things you can build some incredible play by post games inside this app. Plus a lot of games allow people to step in and read what is happening. So you can literally get lost for hours inside the stories other people are building together.
Conclusion
With everything that is going on right now many players might be feeling like they won’t be able to play with their friends. But I promise you there are some great solutions right at your fingertips. It may not be the classic sitting at the table sharing Cheetos (puffs of course) and pizza with your buddies. But you guys can still have your laughs and you can still create some amazing adventures together. Plus now you don’t have to share your toilet paper with them!
