Anyone have experience with roll20?

[Tindomul]

I've never played any tabletop games online, but I've recently been intrigued by the idea of using roll20 to play with some old gaming friends from school that have moved to other states over the years.

Has anyone here used roll20 for Call of Cthulhu? Is it hard to adjust to when your use to an actual tabletop experience? Anyone have any links to resources to get started with trying to run a game on roll20?

[nclarke]

I've used Roll20 and it's good for CoC. It supports handouts and you can upload maps and the like to show players. It's a bit of overkill if you play Theatre of the Mind (no minis or grid for combat) but does everything else just fine.

Google Hangouts has been my app of choice for on-line gaming but that's going corproate so isn't as useful now.

Skype works OK and do any number of orher collaboration tools. Twiddla is a whiteboard app with a die roller for example. 

[joggiwagga]

There are a bunch of Cult of Chaos ppl who are doing A Time to Harvest via Roll20, seems to be working out well for them.

[Numtini]

Roll 20 works great, the character sheet does auto-rolling complete with bonus/penalty dice and success levels. I think the best way to learn it is to jump into a one shot. Having used it a couple of times as a player, I had no trouble running a game. I used the "table" for maps, but just as a visual aid, not for a "miniatures and grids" thing. It's really helpful to just be able to ping a spot and say "I'm hiding there" the way you would with a handout face to face.

I didn't find it hard to adjust at all and I was particularly unsure about how I would deal with all the dice as I really really love dice. But the auto-rolls (you click on the skill and it just rolls for you) are easy and it all feels like a real game. I've had good luck with the built in audio and video as well.

[Insanity]

I've used Roll20 for other games, but not Call of Cthulhu.  It can do quite a bit, grids for maps, hidden/reveal areas, share images, some macros as well.

It be fine for Call of Cthulhu, probably wouldn't use most of the features though really.

[Baron]

I use Roll20 for my old school D&D campaign, and I played in a demo game of Bethorm there, too. You can easily play any rpg on Roll20, the rules you're using won't matter. It's simple, free, and can handle just about anything you need or want. Check their site for info, there are also videos on YouTube.

Edited August 27, 2016 by Baron
typo

[CryAxe]

Fantasy Grounds has official support for Call of Cthulhu.  You can purchase the rule system and many supplements there for use on their platform.  The rules are all automated and implemented into the software.  They have had 6th edition for years and 7th Edition is currently being built.  I suspect that it will be ready before the end of the year.

http://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?30596-Will-there-be-a-full-CoC-7e-ruleset

[Tindomul]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I think I'll give roll20 a shot and see how it works for me.

Edited August 28, 2016 by Tindomul
Typo

[Mordrid82]

I personally like Roll20 because it is easily adaptable to any ruleset you want to play. 

I love the layout and design of Fantasy Grounds but the pricing is far too high in my opinion. 

[CryAxe]

The subscription for Fantasy Grounds is the same price as the subscription for Roll20.  However, with Fantasy Grounds you also have the option of making a one time purchase for lifetime access.  You can also use FG to play any rpg that you want, but they offer enhanced, rule system specific automated features and the platform virtual equivalent of core books and supplements for the game lines that they officially support, already implemented into the VTT and ready to play.

[nclarke]

Err you can use Roll20 for free unless you want the extra bells and whistles that come with a subscription. It's misleading to say otherwise when only a GM needs to pay for those extras anyway. Fantasy Grounds has no single player free option and only if a GM buys an Ultimate license can their players play for free. Stopping a FG sub removes your ability to play the game on their platform. Stopping a Roll20 sub means you continue with the free option.

YMMV depending on what you want from a VTT so take a look and make sure you check out the costs before coughing up lots of money.

[CryAxe]

13 minutes ago, nclarke said:

Err you can use Roll20 for free unless you want the extra bells and whistles that come with a subscription. It's misleading to say otherwise when only a GM needs to pay for those extras anyway.

I never said otherwise.  

Ultimately, it's a matter of what you want out of the vtt.  If cost is a major factor than you can't beat free, but you get what you pay for.  That is good enough for a lot of people.  If your not committed to one platform or another then trying out different ones might be a good idea before settling in.  Some people like to use Tabletop Simulator, as well. 

[Numtini]

Quote

Ultimately, it's a matter of what you want out of the vtt.  If cost is a major factor than you can't beat free, but you get what you pay for.  That is good enough for a lot of people.

I think that's a bit misleading. Money was only an issue for me in that people tell me there's something really great about FG, but with the demo (which claims to let you do everything but invite other players), all I've seen is a cluttered, confusing, outdated interface and a lot of paywalls. Maybe there's something more there, but I'm not going to pony up to find out. Roll20, to me, was very intuitive to start with. There's a grid, there are drawing tools to use it like a battlemap or I can drop a graphic on it, there's a dice roller. There are character sheets and you fill them out and click on skills and it rolls for you. You can import things to the grid tabletop to use as maps or visuals. You can do handouts that are visible to some or all of the players. It has built in audio and video.

People may prefer one or the other system, but this is not simply that some people are too cheap to pony up for the "good" system and are making do with something lesser.

[CryAxe]

6 hours ago, Numtini said:

I think that's a bit misleading. Money was only an issue for me in that people tell me there's something really great about FG, but with the demo (which claims to let you do everything but invite other players), all I've seen is a cluttered, confusing, outdated interface and a lot of paywalls. Maybe there's something more there, but I'm not going to pony up to find out. Roll20, to me, was very intuitive to start with. There's a grid, there are drawing tools to use it like a battlemap or I can drop a graphic on it, there's a dice roller. There are character sheets and you fill them out and click on skills and it rolls for you. You can import things to the grid tabletop to use as maps or visuals. You can do handouts that are visible to some or all of the players. It has built in audio and video.

People may prefer one or the other system, but this is not simply that some people are too cheap to pony up for the "good" system and are making do with something lesser.

That isn't what I was suggesting.  I was saying that the free version of Roll20 meets the needs of many people looking for a way to play online.  It's a blank canvas to play your game on.  However, the pay versions of either platform offer more features and make it even easier.  That is all that I was attempting to convey.  I didn't intend to seem disparaging of Roll20.  I'm not going to attack or defend any of the vtt's.  They are just tools for us to use to enjoy our past time.  

Finding the system that works best for you is great.  However, the consumer has to be aware of the options to begin with.  Luckily, we do have some options when it comes to playing online with friends, or strangers for that matter.  All of the vtt's are steadily improving over time, as well, so things should just get better for us in online play.

I'll recuse myself from the conversation since some people are taking my comments in a negative context. 

[NotRussellCrowe]

On 27/08/2016 at 5:22 PM, CryAxe said:

Fantasy Grounds has official support for Call of Cthulhu.  You can purchase the rule system and many supplements there for use on their platform.  The rules are all automated and implemented into the software.  They have had 6th edition for years and 7th Edition is currently being built.  I suspect that it will be ready before the end of the year.

http://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?30596-Will-there-be-a-full-CoC-7e-ruleset

There's actually a really great community of CoC players over at Fantasy Grounds. They're the ones who got me interested in CoC in the first place. Definitely worth checking out.