I spend a decent amount of time discussing the more granular points of tabletop roleplaying games: how to prepare, structuring your play, and prioritizing your learning. Today, however, I want to take a few minutes to step back and address the global pandemic in the room.

Given all that’s been happening across the world these last few weeks—and the developments of the last few days—many of us are going to be spending a lot more time at home for the foreseeable future. If, like me, you’re part of one or more tabletop gaming groups, this poses a problem. After all, it is significantly harder to play a collaborative storytelling game alone in your house than it is at a table with friends.

As Sarah Ruhl points out in a recent opinion piece in the New York Times, when bubonic plague swept through London twice in the span of twenty years and the city was essentially under quarantine, William Shakespeare wrote love poetry while the theaters were closed. One poem, “Venus and Adonis,” stands out:

Long may they kiss each other, for this cure!

O, never let their crimson liveries wear!

And as they last, their verdure still endure,

To drive infection from the dangerous year!

That the star-gazers, having writ on death,

May say, the plague is banish’d by thy breath.

Plague brings quarantine, and quarantine brings isolation. The greatest cure for isolation is human connection and intimacy, be it romantic or platonic. Historically, this has been a paradox: what is safe preserves the body, but it may destroy the spirit.

Thankfully, technology has greatly improved since Shakespeare’s time. We no longer have to choose between safety and intimacy. This is true even for the games that we play; it has never been easier to play tabletop RPGs with your friends online, and there are as many options for you as there are colors under the sun. Virtual tabletop programs abound, along with video conferencing and text chat software. With many of us diving into the online tabletop world for the first time, there has been a proliferation of questions about remote TTRPGs in forums and subreddits. I have compiled some of my research here in order to help those just starting out.

I must stress that this article is not meant to be exhaustive or authoritative. If you want a thorough breakdown of most of the remote tabletop apps and programs available, this community-edited compilation document should be right up your alley. If, however, you’re looking for something a little less involved to start out, I’ll endeavor to give you the short version below. I will link to any program, application, or website that I reference so that you can continue to do your own research and come to your own conclusions about what will work best for you.

Virtual Tabletops

Virtual tabletops (or VTTs) are exactly what they sound like: programs that allow a GM to share online versions of their locations and battle maps with their group and move “pieces” around in real time. There are a number of different virtual tabletops available online. Roll20 is by far the most popular option, followed by Fantasy Grounds. Astral and d20Pro have smaller but significant user bases as well. Pretty much every virtual tabletop includes some maps, a dice roller, and voice/video/text chat functionality.

There are different bells and whistles available with different programs—plugins for music, dynamic lighting and environmental effects—but the factors that will most likely affect your choices are pricing and optimization.

Pricing

Pretty much every virtual tabletop has a free tier and one or more paid tiers. Different systems will give you more or less functionality with the free tier. For example, Astral provides a full client for free, while Fantasy Grounds’s “Standard” level is $3.99 a month. Roll20 falls somewhere between the two.

People who use virtual tabletops frequently will often choose to upgrade to a paid version, as these usually provide more storage and more visual functionality. If you plan on gaming remotely for the long term, you will want to consider how to get the best value for your money. If you’re looking for a program to get you through the next couple of weeks, and you don’t necessarily want to pay, choose the VTT that’s going to give you the most of what you want for free.

Optimization

There are countless RPG systems in the world, and though most of them can be run on a virtual tabletop, different programs are optimized for different systems. This means that the rule sets, source books, and character sheets for certain systems are integrated into the program itself, or are at least available for purchase. Most VTTs are optimized for, at a minimum, Dungeons and Dragons Fifth Edition and Pathfinder, but Call of Cthulu and Vampire: the Masquerade are also popular. If you play an independent RPG like Reign or Stars Without Number, you’ll certainly still be able to play, but you may have to do a little more legwork to get your game up and running.

As with anything that you may be spending money on, do your research, and make the choice that’s right for you.

Voice and Video Chat

Perhaps you don’t want to go through the hassle of setting up a virtual tabletop, or your game doesn’t particularly need one. If you do decide to use a VTT, you may find that the voice chat functionality is subpar. A lot of playgroups decide to use a freestanding voice/video/text chat program either instead of or in addition to a VTT. One big benefit to these programs is that they’re either completely or mostly free.

There are a number of these programs out there as well, and I have a decent amount of experience with several of them, so I’ll give you a brief comparison of some of the most popular ones.

Discord

Discord is designed for gaming; as such, it’s meant to be lightweight and intuitive, running in the background while you play. In my experience, it mostly succeeds. The voice quality feature is fairly high-quality, and is definitely a step up from some of the in-app voice features in VTTs. Discord also has a video chat feature that accommodates up to ten people, which is more than enough for most tabletop playgroups. There is a significant community of GMs and players running their games either partly or entirely through Discord, so you won’t be alone if this is the path you choose.

If you haven’t considered using Discord for your own games, I suggest you give it a serious look.

Skype

I’ve never tried running a tabletop playgroup through Skype, and I don’t intend to. Even talking to one person over Skype can result in serious lag and dropped calls; I can only imagine what it would be like to bring five extra people into the conversation. If everyone in your group is really comfortable with Skype and is a frequent user, then it may be worth trying out, but it would never be my first choice for playing remotely.

Google Hangouts

I’ve used Google Hangouts for a few games of Monster of the Week and it’s…fine. It lags, but not as badly as Skype. The video and sound quality isn’t great, but neither is it terrible. There’s just something about it that feels clunky and old; perhaps it’s the grainy video. Like with Skype, if you and your group are already comfortable using Google Hangouts for whatever reason, then go for it. One benefit is that it’s completely free and you don’t need to install a freestanding program to use it, so the barrier to entry is rather low.

Zoom

If you’ve been on a corporate conference call in the last few years, particularly if you’re anywhere near the non-profit sector, you’re probably familiar with Zoom. For the uninitiated, Zoom is a free/low-cost video conferencing platform that can accommodate a large number of individuals. The platform allows for screen sharing, virtual whiteboarding, and other corporate technobabble that makes me want to scream “synergistic management solutions” until my brain melts.

I’ve used Zoom a lot for work. It’s a fine system, but it never seems to work 100% correctly. As a good friend of mine says, “Zoom is really good at mediocre connections.” Organizations use it because it’s an inexpensive solution to a common logistical problem, but just because it’s popular doesn’t mean it’s good for your group. Additionally, the “free” version charges for meetings over 40 minutes in length, which makes it unworkable for pretty much any playgroup that wants to keep costs low.

If you already have a Zoom subscription, then go ahead and use it. Otherwise, I think that your efforts are better spent elsewhere.

These are just some of the more popular of the literally dozens of options available to you when you’re deciding how to run a game remotely. Pick the program or programs that work best for you and your playgroup. The most important part is that you are together and building community through play; whatever best facilitates that for you and your friends is what you should use.

So speak. Laugh. Let your joy banish the plague of loneliness from your hearts. We’re all going to get through this.

It will be easier if we do it together.

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