I was wondering if people here did games over discord/skype etc? I have tried looking at reddit but the RPG group pages there are about what you would expect, and seem to be a little elitist with regard to gaming experience. I'd like to find a game but between my real world location and the lockdowns the pickings are slim.

Try the Roll20 game directory. My own game there is full, but there are lots of open games. Mostly 5e, but a few for other systems.

Quote from: Cigalazade;1142626I was wondering if people here did games over discord/skype etc? I have tried looking at reddit but the RPG group pages there are about what you would expect, and seem to be a little elitist with regard to gaming experience. I'd like to find a game but between my real world location and the lockdowns the pickings are slim.

Start a YouTube channel. Players will come to you.

Yeah, playing and running on Discord/roll20 (discord for the speaking, roll20 for the maps & dice rolling. Works well for D&D5E, D&D3.5, CoC - some people use it for pathfinder too but I haven't tried that. I'm playing mostly with people I know (3 groups) but I'm also running a couple of convention games online at the end of August.

Personally, I'm not into all that d20 lark. I find it a lot of hassle.

We use google hangouts and an honor system, when it comes to people rolling their own dice.

There's a good lot of guys and gals on Facebook, in groups dedicated to online gaming. There's a wide variety of games too and not just D&D.

I've used Discord, Hangouts, Zoom, and even messenger for chat. In some cases Discord for dice, but usually we just roll our own dice. I don't play grid-combat games, so no virtual tabletop.

For me it would be better than no gaming at all, but not even in the same league as in-person games.

When I moved, I found Meetup was helpful in finding the local gaming semi-organised group.
Found they are a decent bunch of people with a wide range of RPG interests.

They use Discord for a common meet.  Nice thing about discord and 5e is the tie-in with Avrae dice roller and D&D Beyond so it automates a lot if that's your thing, but can use it for the story or other RPG's and just pull up a VTT for combat if you want.
Also, the game channels are setup in the same discord group so easy to setup and go.

A benefit right now with covid is almost all these gatherings are online so easy to join and participate.
Then, at some point (who knows) when they go back to physical meetups you will already know them and they will know you so no awkward introductions.

Or you could just go Roll 20 and DM a game:  Instant guaranteed players.  Not sure what caliber you might end up with but will probably be able to whittle down a good group.  Plus, if you feel you can't DM and screw it all up:  who cares?  It's online!  Learn from mistakes and start again and get another guaranteed set of players and do better every time.

Eventually you're going to get some players who also DM and you can be players in their games.

Some other LFG forums:
http://www.penandpapergames.com/forums/forum.php
https://rpol.net/display.cgi?gi=16&ti=989&date=1178463136

Wish this forum had a LFG forum but I think the closest is the Play by Post section.

It's clunky as hell, but since I wasn't feeling Roll20, and want to use my physical -stuff- I've been doing it over Discord.

Dice roller in one window: https://rolz.org/

Rough test of what I'm using here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvMehQzzF5I I've since 'refined' it with a second camera for my ugly mug ($9.99 for a PS3eye)

The Exploited probably has an easier solution with Google Hangouts.

With my having to do so much alt-tabbing, players having MORE distractions at home, and the lack of face-to-face, we're getting less done.

I do this a lot. Been playing online for maybe 10 years or so. I full time in a RV so local groups aren't an option for me.

What seems to work best: Pick your game and find the Discord server for that game. It seems like rpg forums and reddit are dead and now everyone is just chatting about their favorite game on Discord these days. The game's Discord will likely have a LFG section for putting together and finding online games.

For playing the game, Roll20 + Discord for voice seems to be the popular combination. Fantasy Grounds works well if you want to purchase official modules/systems and like automation. Foundry VTT is the way to go if you want to self host on the internet your own virtual tabletop or you're a little more technical in general. Roll20 for now is still the most popular platform though.

I've never played online before.  Do any particular RPG rules sets work better than others when it comes to online gaming?  Are rules-light rules sets usually better for online gaming, or not necessarily?

I've tried, but I really hate some of the limitations of the tech. People talking over each other, can't see facial expressions or body language, technical issues with sound quality and volume. The host software glitching out.

I wish I could get into it, because as you say, the Covid situation makes it the only real venue for RPGing right now.

I've played in a few online sessions. It's okay, but I find it to be a lesser experience than face-to-face, and I haven't gone back to it because of that. Not saying I never would, but online is definitely a tougher sell, for me.

FWIW, I'd say 1e AD&D is one of the better D&D rules sets for theatre of the mind combat. Most of that is the very abstract way it handles melee, by default. There's a kind of "cloud" of melee with position in the melee assumed to be fluid and changing. If you're within 1" (10 ft or 10 yards outdoors) you're within melee engagement range. If you're farther away than that you need to either "close to engage" (move up and start fighting, but you don't get an attack roll this round, and neither does your opponent unless they've charged) or "charge" (aggressively enter combat, getting an attack roll the same round) to enter the melee. There's the "Who Attacks Whom" rule that can be applied (often ignored when positions are more defined, but perfect for an abstract "cloud" of melee). The round is a full minute, and an attack roll isn't a single swing/attack, but just your "best opportunity" during the round of melee. Et cetera.

I've been playing a 5e D&D Roll20 game since the playtest of 5e began 6 years ago, every week on Wednesday with a brief break one time. It's been a blast, and a godsend these days with the quarantine. It's kept our old gaming group together after people moved. I am in Los Angeles along with one other player,  and then we have players in northern California, New Mexico, Colorado, and sometimes in Oklahoma/ sometimes California.

I now have a second Roll20 game to replace our lost in-person game going as well. Different group of players mostly, and one is on the east coast.

Quote from: Crusader X;1142774I've never played online before.  Do any particular RPG rules sets work better than others when it comes to online gaming?  Are rules-light rules sets usually better for online gaming, or not necessarily?

Only systems that can have an issue are ones that use card handouts, like Torg or Savage Worlds(Adventure deck). But those can be well supported on certain virtual tabletops. Popular systems tend to have better supported rulesets though. Like I can easily scrape DnDBeyond character/NPC/spell stats into Foundry with a browser addon.

Quote from: Philotomy Jurament;1142782I've played in a few online sessions. It's okay, but I find it to be a lesser experience than face-to-face, and I haven't gone back to it because of that. Not saying I never would, but online is definitely a tougher sell, for me.

FWIW, I'd say 1e AD&D is one of the better D&D rules sets for theatre of the mind combat. Most of that is the very abstract way it handles melee, by default. There's a kind of "cloud" of melee with position in the melee assumed to be fluid and changing. If you're within 1" (10 ft or 10 yards outdoors) you're within melee engagement range. If you're farther away than that you need to either "close to engage" (move up and start fighting, but you don't get an attack roll this round, and neither does your opponent unless they've charged) or "charge" (aggressively enter combat, getting an attack roll the same round) to enter the melee. There's the "Who Attacks Whom" rule that can be applied (often ignored when positions are more defined, but perfect for an abstract "cloud" of melee). The round is a full minute, and an attack roll isn't a single swing/attack, but just your "best opportunity" during the round of melee. Et cetera.

Agree with this. It's particularly good for play by post as the DM can handle so much of the crunch that in say 3e-5e would take days of back and forth posting.