Realm Architect looks like an awesome modern VTT

Quoting: 14Even though I play board games with a couple friends on a routine schedule, they will never play a pen & paper RPG again. We did it long ago with a DM that we didn't enjoy, and they're stuck with that memory and won't ever try it again. So, programs like this would be a hopeless, disappointing waste of time and money for me.

/saltiness

Sad. But I could see this happening for sure. Sometimes the RPG experience is just a reason for friends to get together. Boards games work as well, but I think the advantage of RPGs is you don't have to learn new rules every time you get together (unless of course you play the same board games over and over.)

Quoting: denyasisThese tools seem really interesting to me, but also seem very overwhelming. Like the amount of "pre-work" and setup and learning just scares me off of trying.

It definitely can be. You kind of have to put in the work to get the most out of it IMHO. I have been using FoundryVTT in the past and the best feature was the DnDBeyond importer addon. With that and a search plugin you can hit a shortcut to get a textbox to input something to search. That is a godsent for looking up spells and monster sheets and whatnot on the fly.
I'd argue that being a DM is overwhelming anyways even when playing fully analogue. I would rather put in the effort before the game starts and then have a smoother session as a result.
For instance I had it setup to automate attack rolls. Select a Goblin, mark a player, click on the weapon and it rolls it all. Attack roll, checks the targets AC, handles advantage/disadvantage, damage, checks resistances of the target, hell I even had it setup to play a little sound and animation in case of shooting an arrow :D

Oh, yes, the setup and getting to know the tool is quite a lot of work. The learning curve of FoundryVTT is steeper, too. On the plus side, I have far more control over it and I can change things. That's what annoyed me with roll20, for example, that I can barely do anything there.

Now that I know my way around it, though, it really takes a lot of load off my back.

Quoting: HolzkohlenI'd argue that being a DM is overwhelming anyways even when playing fully analogue

Yes.

You still need to prepare the actual meat of the session and stay nimble to improvise, that doesn't change.

You still need to create maps. Just that instead of a combination of drawing them wet-erase mats, using pre-printed battlemats, various tiles and printing stuff, it's now a combination of using the original maps from various sources (pre-written modules, PDFs of pre-printed battlemats and tiles, patreons), drawing them with Dungeondraft or Dungeon Alchemist.

Tokens are easier now. I don't need to print cardboard ones or paint minis. On the other hand, a lot of my minis now go unused :(

The dice rolling and maths is mostly taken from you. Which simplifies things, but on the other hand, it takes away from the physical dice rolling that you might enjoy.

All in all, I think the actual effort I put in playing digital is about the same as analogue. There's a bit more of a wow-factor with effects you can achieve, but the social aspect it less playing online. Swings and roundabouts.

Quoting: DrMcCoyQuoting: Holzkohlen
I'd argue that being a DM is overwhelming anyways even when playing fully analogue

Yes.

You still need to prepare the actual meat of the session and stay nimble to improvise, that doesn't change.

Agreed!! I think the system can also really play a role there in prep time. My group moved away from maps and minis, which helped out a ton prep wise. I can put a good session together on one page of notebook paper, compared to proper DnD style, which always seemed to take a lot more prep.

Although, to be fair, the end result does look and play a lot different. I always enjoyed the tactical aspect of map based play, but building good tactical encounterd takes a lot of time (and I'm the only one in my group that really enjoys that)

Quoting: DrMcCoyThe dice rolling and maths is mostly taken from you. Which simplifies things, but on the other hand, it takes away from the physical dice rolling that you might enjoy.

A friend of mine bought this snazzy set of dice where you roll the things and they export the die roll to Roll20 (presumably also to FoundryVTT etc). We were all really impressed and thought it was major cool. Unfortunately, they didn't work worth a damn. He would roll 3d6 and half the time only 2 dice would roll . . . which meant you had to look carefully, because he did get a result. Or they would trigger without him doing anything. They were a pain and he sent them back. Pity, because it seemed like such a nice idea.

As to the maps and stuff . . . I used to break those out for big fights, but not bother and just keep it abstract with small ones. Especially since often the small fights just happened because the players did something interesting and unexpected, not because I had anything planned. When I did break out the maps, often as not I'd just use dice and coins and things to represent opponents. At some instinctive level, on average I'd rather they were listening to my descriptions than looking at the map.

Don't get me wrong, I quite enjoy the tactics of a solid fight, and I do value the tactical information from that spatial representation. I just feel that the bare bones, just sparse lines and an arbitrary representation of combatants, are what give the information, and everything beyond that is just pulling you out of the imagination level by getting you to look at the map.


Last edited by Purple Library Guy on 21 May 2023 at 5:25 pm UTC

Friends of mine put money on the original Bluetooth dice Kickstarter. Which still hasn't delivered and now they've been beaten by others to the punch. Though hopefully, once they do deliver, they're going to work better, what with them putting so much more work into it.

With maps, yeah, I now do need way more maps, because my players are accustomed to having maps for everything. And I often do now, except for situations that are totally off the cuff.

Though I realize, I now don't do any in-session live drawing of improvised maps. I either have something prepared or we're doing it completely "theater of the mind". In Foundry, I could probably create a new scene and draw the map with the drawing tools right there, but I never have.

Quoting: Purple Library Guy

Quoting: DrMcCoyThe dice rolling and maths is mostly taken from you. Which simplifies things, but on the other hand, it takes away from the physical dice rolling that you might enjoy.

A friend of mine bought this snazzy set of dice where you roll the things and they export the die roll to Roll20 (presumably also to FoundryVTT etc). We were all really impressed and thought it was major cool. Unfortunately, they didn't work worth a damn. He would roll 3d6 and half the time only 2 dice would roll . . . which meant you had to look carefully, because he did get a result. Or they would trigger without him doing anything. They were a pain and he sent them back. Pity, because it seemed like such a nice idea.

As to the maps and stuff . . . I used to break those out for big fights, but not bother and just keep it abstract with small ones. Especially since often the small fights just happened because the players did something interesting and unexpected, not because I had anything planned. When I did break out the maps, often as not I'd just use dice and coins and things to represent opponents. At some instinctive level, on average I'd rather they were listening to my descriptions than looking at the map.

Don't get me wrong, I quite enjoy the tactics of a solid fight, and I do value the tactical information from that spatial representation. I just feel that the bare bones, just sparse lines and an arbitrary representation of combatants, are what give the information, and everything beyond that is just pulling you out of the imagination level by getting you to look at the map.

Wait, what? There are physical dice that'll upload to a VTT? If they can get that to work, that'd be pretty sweet! The Projector / FoundryVTT set up I currently have is pretty sweet, and now I've added a conference room style microphone / speaker to the mix, so that if people can't show up locally, then I can still have them join the game via Discord.

This here is the Kickstarter campaign for the Bluetooth dice, that's still in development: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/pixels-dice/pixels-the-electronic-dice

Quoting: DrMcCoyThis here is the Kickstarter campaign for the Bluetooth dice, that's still in development: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/pixels-dice/pixels-the-electronic-dice

ouch, 200 bucks per set... granted doesn't look like you can get in on them now.

I'll have to check 'em out, but it might be cheaper just to get some android apps. Granted rolling real dice is fun...

Quoting: slaapliedje

Quoting: 14Even though I play board games with a couple friends on a routine schedule, they will never play a pen & paper RPG again. We did it long ago with a DM that we didn't enjoy, and they're stuck with that memory and won't ever try it again. So, programs like this would be a hopeless, disappointing waste of time and money for me.

/saltiness

Sad. But I could see this happening for sure. Sometimes the RPG experience is just a reason for friends to get together. Boards games work as well, but I think the advantage of RPGs is you don't have to learn new rules every time you get together (unless of course you play the same board games over and over.)

We used to learn a new game every time because one of my friends has a very large collection that continues to grow. Not too long ago, we switched to sticking to a new game for 2-3 sessions in a row so we get better at it. We've got a good thing going that I can't complain too much about.