Fourth in a series. The main reason to use grid maps is for situations where positioning and spatial relationships really matter, primarily combat. There are some well-understood ways to handle this when you don't want to use grids, but simply keeping track in your head gets to be too much or you just think a … Continue reading Roll20 Optimal Series – Zones
Month: April 2019
Roll20 Optimal Series – Tokens
Third in a series. Even if you're going with scenes and backgrounds, you still may wish to have tokens on the page. It gives players a helpful way to represent their characters and a graphical tool for tracking core statistics (in D&D, mostly HP) without going deep into character sheets. Tokens can look different ways … Continue reading Roll20 Optimal Series – Tokens
Roll20 Optimal Series – Scene setup
Second in a series. Assuming you don't want to use a tactical grid with 5' squares or similar, you still likely want some graphical representation of your scenes. About two-thirds of the population consider themselves "visual learners", and an even larger majority at least appreciate having visual media available. Of course, I recommend using this … Continue reading Roll20 Optimal Series – Scene setup
Roll20 Optimal Series – Game setup
First in a series. I've previously written a little bit about the idea of "going optimal" on Roll20: the idea of using the basic functions that you can't really do well with other tools (sharing maps, handouts, and tokens), but sticking with what works on the things you can (your existing dice and character sheets). … Continue reading Roll20 Optimal Series – Game setup
Communities are what we make them
Adults often have trouble making new friends. We don't necessarily have pre-generated social situations like when we were in school (and that's before I even think about the hellscape that school is for many kids). Marriage and children create another block for many adults, because suddenly our free time dwindles drastically and our lives focus … Continue reading Communities are what we make them
Using DW style prep in D&D
Chapter art for Level 11 Troglodyte Warrens I recently ran Level 11, "Troglodyte Warrens", from Dungeon of the Mad Mage for Variant Roles. You can watch the first of the two sessions below (I will add in the second when it's posted). Spoilers follow, obviously, at least for that level of DotMM. https://youtu.be/8XA2JN8DunM?t=673 In this … Continue reading Using DW style prep in D&D