I'm just gonna tell stories about playing on old BBS systems in the 80s.
And maybe a bit more. 😉
THIS IS A AN AUTOMATIC CAPTION TEXT from YouTube, so it’s not “perfect”.
My advice is to use it just to help people like me that are not english speaking, to understand the Video/Podcast
okay welcome to talks it’s a specialedition because today we are talking
about how to play dean the at home and
this is the thing we’re getting asked
about a lot lately and we have a lot of
experience with because we play beyond
hero’s from home and we have lots of
other friends who use different types of
software to play D&D from their house
but without having nether everyone in
their actual living room space this is
pretty common in Seattle already just
simply because of traffic even though
you live in the same city doesn’t mean
that you are necessarily anywhere close
to your friends geographically and
timewise so well joining me today is
Lauren urban as well as our actual video
producer what’s your name will he’s
hiding oh they’re here as well
that’s true yeah so he will have his his
excellent sage advice as well as to all
those stuff so first off Lauren what’s
the key
what’s the key how do we make this
happen you you figure out the best way
for you and your group to get online and
you do it it’s it’s actually really easy
you don’t need that much you can I’ve
been playing by posts since the eighties
so we can do this it’s it’s actually
mostly how I play D&D because for quite
a while
there were not a lot of people locally
in my life who wanted to play and so the
only way I could find people who were
willing to play was online through a lot
of the other fandoms that I was a part
of so the very basics are pretty easy
it’s you need some way to communicate
online and then you just need to all get
together and do it I was when we started
to do my podcast we were just using
Skype that was it we just played over
Skype these theater of the mind we
rolled our own dice I mean basically we
did what beyond Heroes does except we
use zoom yes we were just using our
crappy little cameras and the
microphones that are on the computer and
just a headset jacked in and that’s it
because the the barrier to entry if you
just want to play with your friends is
super low once you start about start
talking about streaming that’s when you
want to consider things like you have a
good mic do you have good sound do you
have good video do you have a producer
like will who can do awesome things but
if it’s just a bunch of you getting on
discord and playing like it’s in your
living room that’s really all you need
but we’ll go into more details yeah it
weird new rooks well because you I mean
you might not think that initially but I
mean obviously you’re probably playing
with your friends so people are gonna
hopefully be honest about dice rolls I
don’t know who’s taking each other’s
dice rolls at a table in the first place
yeah but other than excitingly like
looking at roll yeah celebrating
together mocking people from are mocking
a one
but because so often you you probably
won’t play theater of the mind I
typically play theater of the mind
though I’m getting into mentors actually
always to use mentors as well as the
Dungeon Master you could set up a second
camera and easily have a shot of the
board and move your like whatever minute
miniatures you have across the board to
show where everyone is that’s totally
possible something I’m actually kind of
investigating right now for beyond
heroes using real real managers during
the game because I just modified fog
machine so and as far as four second
camera people tend to forget we have
second cameras in our lives yeah a lot
of people that that’s when you’re
thinking about oh I need a webcam and
then I need another Kameny yeah use your
phone just set up the phone in that way
if you’re the one who’s got the battle
map at home the cameras most people have
a modern-day video camera on their
phones that’s way better than anything
right you had an experience and it’s
great for streaming most most of the
video software that’s gonna be on there
like Skype like discord like zoom are
going to connect to your phone really
well it’s gonna show off things it’s
easy to move about and people are gonna
be really forgiving because it’s not a
stream you know we’re kind of used to
see heads and boxes and like
professional streams but when it’s just
you and your friends as long as they
know what’s going on that’s the
important thing so if the camera is you
know shaky or if someone has to be like
hey can you move this or something like
that no one’s gonna care so yeah you’ve
got google hangout you can have a number
of people in any kind of hangout though
I believe like the format I don’t think
you can always see everyone at the same
time so well there’s ways there’s ways
of setting that up so you can yeah you
can switch that up you and I have found
not only for the livestream but just for
playing DD in the first place we used to
use V mix and it might have had to do
something was like doing the optimal
video quality and actually the
to a little bit of lag and that can
interrupt Indy a lot because number one
I think I kind of feel like audio is
your number one best resource for any DD
whether you’re live streaming or if
you’re doing it just for funsies you
know to understand what people are
saying gets you more into the game and
it’s more like a podcast and and you
don’t necessarily need great visuals to
understand someone’s face but that said
we did find issue with vmix where there
was lag and that caused people to
crosstalk a lot that interrupted the
flow of the game and the enjoyment of
the game and also didn’t look great on
stream either either but we’ve moved to
zoom and they’ve got several different
price points I believe and it’s really
really great because these download the
software and you all you do this click a
link and everyone joins and that’s it
you’re done you’re like it’s it’s about
as simple as it gets
and most laptops have a web camera built
into them you can get a logitech webcam
or a Microsoft webcam or I believe razor
even made one but I don’t know if
they’re still selling that lots of tech
does seem to have like the exclusive
rights to making webcams for some reason
I don’t understand but there’s a little
you’ve got a lot of video options as far
as that goes but I have to say the thing
that I’ve enjoyed the most is zoom right
now so what are the price points on Zoom
Zoom starts off free the you can have a
bunch of people in a zoom room you don’t
even have to download the software you
can use it natively through the web
there is a limit to meetings to be 40
minutes or less so if you’re needing a
game is a little longer than that which
most of us we go low longer than 40
minutes you’ll have to restart so but
it’s free to to use and free is good and
then if you do want to pay for it I
believe it’s $14.99 a month and that
gets you not only unlimited meetings but
it gives you a whole suite of other
options and I’ve been using zoom with a
couple different groups including my
podcast for a couple years now and it’s
totally worth it I’m a free drunks yes
dungeon drunks my podcast hi guys so
that
I I highly recommend it but if you’re
looking for the free or low-cost option
you can use free you can use Skype you
can use discord discord has both video
and audio options I’ve even played over
Xbox Live everybody who has Xbox Live
has a headset and that’s how people
communicate you get into a party chat
together there you go you’re you’ve got
the audio that you need to play so weird
I didn’t even think about that oh yeah
yeah we’ve I’ve gone and played other
games while chatting with people and
then we’ll we’ll finish a raid in
destiny and then everybody will just sit
on the dashboard or you know there used
to be like webcams that you could use
with Xbox Live and we’d play D&D so
there’s there’s a bunch of different
options I also do like discord I think
the the latency is really low and I
think the the sound quality is pretty
good and if you do a private chat you
can do video as well and the DND beyond
this Court has game rooms set up that
you can use that has the better audio
quality so if you’re looking for really
high quality audio that you don’t want
to pay for come join or discord we’ve
got a place for you to play yeah that’s
a great place I mean this is it’s a
great opportunity to like find other
players also like if you’re if you’re
bent on not being physically in a
location with a lot of people and
playing D&D then you can absolutely like
going onto discord and finding other
people who are interested in the same
type of adventure is like we’ve never
had that moment in history right like
early you know when we were a kid when I
was a kid playing D&D it was like just
desperate to like either teach someone
Dean D or get someone to run D&D for you
yeah there’s a love a la Dungeon
Master’s or frustrated players because
of the Hat they’re just just spread dean
d so that maybe one day they’ll get to
play so yeah those are all fantastic
options we’ll are there is there
anything that you’ve noticed that’s been
like a hurdle for like quality and stuff
like that no I was just kind of
commenting on what Lauren said about
zoom being good and vmix has higher
video quality but a more lag
and that’s why you get the higher video
quality Skype I’ve used in the past and
it’s Skype it is free like the free
options for streaming software same
thing like OBS is free that’s good
xsplit cost a little more money VA maybe
mixed costs even more money I wouldn’t
suggest that unless you needed it but
yeah like the zoom I could show you like
it just it’s just a you you know this is
what you guys see I’m seeing the two of
them on the chat if a third person
joined in it would just you know add a
third person to the camera and you never
know like their cameras look really good
right now but sometimes you know they
don’t always look good but for zoom and
you know because they’ve got good
cameras on their end yeah well once
again we’ve were set up for streaming
we’re set up for a show the people that
what we’re talking about are your home
games in where all that really matters
is that you can play and you don’t have
to worry about it being broadcast
quality so yeah both Skype and zoom will
give you the option like Skype because
you can have individual chats open you
can talk individually to people and and
zoom does the same thing zooms chat will
let you say hey I want to talk to just
my DM or HOH I just wanted you know talk
to Lauren or just Todd or something like
that it is kind of good because you’re
not missing the messages in zoom you use
get this little like icon like sometimes
their players will ask me question it’s
like will I destroy the game if I do
this I’m like of course not how can how
could you we’re cautious about that kind
of thing so you know needlessly so
because when have I not rolled with the
punches that’s a discussion for a
different time we’re talking about how
we go about doing this yeah having it
was a good way to communicate during the
game
and it’s nice having everything just
there and TV beyond that you know it’s a
good resource to have also on your
computer while you’re doing it you got
you got your character sheet there you
can see the monster examples if you want
to look at them I’ve had players that
don’t want to see what the monster looks
like
they like them only being described and
they felt actually that describing the
monster outside of the theater of the
mind I mean not describing it into
showing a picture actually can’t took
I’m out of Dean D which I found kind of
interesting I don’t react the same way
but yeah if you’re playing theory of the
mind it doesn’t take much it’s different
for everybody and certainly you can also
screen share with a lot of these options
with zoom with Skype with vmix I don’t
know about this chord but screen sharing
is great for for those moments if you’re
using the D and E beyond the encounter
builder and you’re running you know now
that we’ve got initiative tracker it’s
sometimes helpful for your players to
see the initiative order so right yeah
they can be prepared in play and so
being able to have that up if you want
to share your screen if you do want to
share what the monster looks like if
your players want that you want to share
your screen to show off maps instead of
having the second camera somewhere if
you just want to share your screen and
have your battle map up there for
everybody to see so you don’t even have
to have a second camera showing off we
do have a couple of questions from the
chat that are related to some of this
and I do eventually want to get into
like tactics for theater the mind versus
playing yes but we’re kind of talking
technical right now we have a question
from yogi armadillo are there any
recommended site apps to start online
for those who’ve never played online so
we’ve just mentioned a whole bunch of
them definitely for D&D beyond come to
our discord come to our forums there’s a
lot of people there who who are able to
help
there are virtual tabletop simulators
there’s roll20 there’s NSE grounds
there’s a bunch of different ways out
there it’s going to depend on what’s
good for you and your group and how much
money you want to spend and and all of
that so right yeah there’s a lot of good
options out there
so we got puff Moogie how do I do an
elaborate camera setup for my battle mat
through discord or other apps which we
kind of talked about there’s a lot of
great ways certainly gonna run into with
like web cameras you’re gonna run into
sometimes the software will get a little
confused if you have more than one going
into a single computer I have a computer
where my wife and I stream I’ve got two
up cams hooked up to the same computer
and I can stream out of that okay but
you know what’s great about those wool
webcams is they have very forgiving
focus and they also are have extremely
wide Ingle so if you did want to show
something off that’s always a good
option but like Lauren said using your
cell phone and connecting it to zoom and
just lowering lowering yours you can
even do dramatic pans with your cell
phone understand like if you want to
make something super cool you could join
the zoom stream with your phone and just
lower it down you could see like the
giant you know dragon that is sitting
there and and get tab like and almost
like cinematic like look if you have the
patience to learn that kind of thing I
mean if you want to go crazy I even have
a gimbal for my phone okay that wait
alright so I gotta ask what’s the
difference between a gimbal for your
phone and a selfie stick yeah so selfie
stick is just a cell phone and stick and
cell phone cameras already have a lot of
compensation when it comes to in kind of
shake a gimbal will make it look like it
is on Rails especially a cell phone so I
had a cell phone that was very video
focused it was actually really great for
actually doing real shooting on hey I
don’t think they make it anymore but I
actually when I was down in Los Angeles
actually visiting friends there I
Gimbels for it and it was fantastic I
ran across the beach holding it and
everything was smooth and you could do
the same thing with mentors while can I
get your Wi-Fi and it would look super
cool actually so
I’m tempted to do it during this now I’m
kind of I wish I had done it I wish I’d
like joined with my cell phone yeah yeah
but certainly like oh yeah I can’t grab
my own so for wondering it what about
the video quality at home that’s
happening right now is I am on a
actually rather expensive production
camera it’s a it’s a sony a7s mark – its
wide typically shoot my interviews with
with Wizards of the coast and it’s going
into a cam link 4k and it’s not we’re
not broadcasting 4k but that’s the only
option you have and so i use a little
bit higher end cameras when I’m doing
live streams it’s not necessary Lauren
what what camera are using right now I
just have a logitech I forgotten the
name of it
probably yeah just the basic webcam it’s
the one I’ve had forever it worked great
it just clips to the top of my monitor
and yeah it’s it actually comes with a
little piece of software so that I can
do some editing not editing I can I can
do a little bit of zoom and pan and
stuff so that you can’t see say the so
are we are we are we going to mess up
our own cameras on purpose of the people
I’m just screwing up
I mean hey every once in a while the
nice thing about this camera is because
it’s it’s small and it’s easy to just
grab a hold and move so if I ever need
to just like grab it and show off
something like a dice roll I can yeah
they’re super cheap they’re easy to use
they’re basically plug and play and then
once in a while I have had to use I have
a laptop that I this whole thing is
being run off of and my laptop is a
pretty good camera and it’s definitely
good enough for playing D&D online with
friends I would not probably want to
stream with it but yeah for for clear
quality of on my laptop it’s just fine I
have also a really nice microphone this
is an MX l 770 but I am a professional
musician by trade and that’s why I have
this um your heads
kamme your headset microphone is gonna
be just fine
it’s gonna work great if you want to
upgrade a little bit I do recommend the
snow balls those are usually very
inexpensive and they have very good
audio quality if you want to go a little
bit better than that blue yeti does make
a very nice microphone now you’re
talking about it like a hundred bucks so
so you can go from super inexpensive to
like thirty to forty dollars for the
snowball to about a hundred bucks for
the blue yeti and honestly that’s gonna
be more than you need once you get up
into blue yeti then then you’re being
serious about your audio quality for
more than just playing D&D online yeah
and we have more questions unless there
was more that you want to talk about no
no I mean I I do like solid audio
quality I’m using a rode my rode mic
right now it’s more than you need but
there is something about dungeon
especially for the dungeon master –
really so you just can’t hear that voice
in your head yeah it’s again the most
important thing whether it’s live
streamed or not the audio audio quality
is always like the most important thing
and Allah gave me mics are perfect for
it
I’m telling you that my xbox headset
would work just fine it did for a little
while – speaking of audio we have a
question from Stephen baguette is there
a way to share music easily I like using
ambient soundscapes and music for
battles that’s something I typically do
but yeah there is yeah siren scape has
ways of doing that um I know roll20 has
ways of doing that I know a lot of the
video and audio that we’ve talked about
have ways of inserting other sound in
but I also don’t use that much myself
because I get distracted trying to pick
music tracks and then I only listen to
the music and then I’m not playing the
game I’m going oh I like that part of
Tchaikovsky so I can’t I can’t
I’m not everyone’s like you’re a
classical musician you must have the
best recommendations I’m like I do but
not for my games because I want to pay
attention what people are saying not to
what the New York Philharmonic is doing
right now it’s a lot to ask of a DM I am
going to try something right now and
they’re switch my camera there you go so
this is Serdar from firm C and this is
why you play D & E unlocking so that you
can see what other people’s life is are
like yeah what’s on your desk
okay I got my mic wreck cracking skull
my wife gave me for Christmas
but okay the funny story behind this
though I’ve got my D&E so the
interesting thing is like I actually got
two of these for Christmas because my
family and my wife know me so well
better than one crackin skull – yeah and
then that’s that’s my entire messy setup
right now
but anyway so you see you have you you
do have options for like showing the
battlefield and you could put a webcam
like right down there and then have
everything you know show off your minis
and stuff like that you would want light
better than this is lit right now
obviously but it’s just fine if we were
playing online I can see that just great
yeah I’m gonna move me back but now I
know that we’re gonna be facing down
heroes okay yeah you’re gonna be
fighting serger surprise
so voice-over-ip and theater the mind is
cool but what about virtual tabletops
for players who enjoy the strategic
elements absolutely I I’ve used those on
a regular basis because I have players
who when we get into more complex
battles they appreciate having at least
a frame of reference so it’s just kind
of which works for you and once again
price plans for all of them or like todd
was just showing off yeah again those I
think the two big ones are all 20
fantasy grounds I’ve seen kick stars for
other things that work really well I’m
very curious about where they go with I
me up my current obsession is I want if
I’m gonna do a tactical map I kind of
want to do it live right now because I’m
weird and I want to have those like fog
effects I want to see if I can make it
happen only probably mostly because I’m
like a videographer by trade originally
so I have a slight obsession with that
kind of stuff like I’m curious like what
I could do and watching critical role is
a great example of using cameras and
making managers look really amazing and
I would love to find a way to emulate
that for any live stream or just even
personal games yeah so they did a game
yesterday that did the one shot in
doom universe which it was awesome and
so much fun and I don’t know if anyone
noticed but the vast majority of the
fights in that game up until the very
end when Mercer put out the blueprints
was theater of the mind and um I think
whichever you want to do is awesome
but I am a I do believe in theater of
the mind for a bunch of different
reasons I think as a DM it encourages
you to be more flexible with what’s
happening on the battlefield to let
awesome happen I think it cuts down
especially online like this it cuts down
on the amount of time you’re spend
measuring things and deciding on things
yeah and for me personally it keeps my
battles super fast because it encourages
me to not make them complex like complex
battles are awesome and if you want to
get into that that’s great but if your
focus is this is a battle that’s telling
a story and I don’t want to go more than
three rounds then unless you’re unless
there are reasons to have the complexity
in the battlefield do you really need
the hill there do you really need there
to be half cover here do you really need
the you know do you need an effect to be
happening all over the place yeah um I
think keeping all of that in mind I
think if you can’t keep it all in mind
it’s probably good idea to get rid of
something and but that’s me personally I
I want super simple battlefields and um
and then I’m willing to what I tell my
players when I’m trying to wean them off
of battle maps into theater of the mind
is I say I’m going to default to what
makes sense and what is more fun for you
so just trust me that if you say hey can
I get two of these guys in this wall of
fire that unless I’ve already described
something that is totally in Congress to
that I’m gonna say yeah sure you can get
two of them you can go this way like I’m
going to help you make awesome things
happen in your own mind so I find that
just makes combat super easy and then
it’s fun and it’s fast and it’s still
just as dangerous because my monsters
get all those same perks that you do and
and then we get back to the role-playing
which is what is is in my opinion the
more fun
yeah and it of course it’s scary when
your character dies and
[Music]
so why why would you bring that up ty
don’t you bring that up at all scary
character dies yeah yeah I guess it’s on
my mind yeah under why yeah but like
tactical combat sometimes you know
obviously you definitely felt like you
earned your death walked into like eight
zombies and you’re surrounded on all
sides and we’re slowly torn apart but I
prefer theover the mind as well there’s
a couple of things to keep in mind is
for when you’re when you’re playing
online as well right with how you do
things you need to give each other time
to talk it’s not like sitting around a
table and yelling out whatever you want
to do I think there’s a lot more trust
that you know you have to exude
sometimes we sometimes you can run into
players that will interrupt another
player that’s the kind of thing you’ve
got to watch out for you’ve got to give
each other time to have their moment and
do their thing and
if they’re having like a conversation
with an NPC that kind of thing it’s it
can be very easy to interrupt somebody
and the other thing is I would say is
presence on camera is different than
presence around table so a soft-spoken
person who is in a like a game that is
you’re using web cameras may find
themselves kind of
not shouted out but like if everyone
else is being very very verbal
vocalizing very well it can be easy to
ignore the quiet player whereas when you
around a table you’re very aware that
someone is not talking right as a DM at
least you should be and so that I would
say the DM needs to really watch out for
a player getting lost in the fray of
everyone else’s role playing and
possibly even being more assertive and
that kind of thing
that I can come up I’ve seen players
like shut down who were not necessarily
that way around a table and vice versa
actually I’ve actually seen I’ve said
that wrong but I’ve actually had people
come over to the house and play tabletop
who then became quite quiet because they
became more shy so it really depends on
the player and you have to keep that
mind and that’s extra advice especially
if you are not using cameras if you’re
only playing audio is to keep in mind
who haven’t you heard from in a while
because it might not even be that
they’re being quiet some audio software
will prioritize one stream over another
so and that’s that’s dependent on what
software you’re using so it won’t let
all the audio through it’ll just pick
one usually the louder so it’s it’s
always a good idea to keep an eye if
you’re in the discord it’s a good idea
to keep an eye on who is trying to talk
you can see their name the little little
icon next to their name light up and so
you can see oh wait I got three people
trying to talk but I’m only hearing the
one and so it might be good to call on
those other two people and say what was
there something you were trying to say
so yeah definitely an audio situations
mean be mindful of that it’s something
I’m even more account to the point of
because I have a lot of screens up and
I’ve got a lot of things to keep track
of and we have a limited amount of time
look at the game ton my eye is not
always on everyone’s cameras and in fact
if my window is too small I thought I
won’t see their camera which happens
sometimes be Dave who is on our show
anyplace freely and he will very
politely hold up a finger letting me
know theoretically that he
would like to talk soon that he has
something to say and they will not see
him doing this and it will then make me
look like a giant jerk I’ll say that’s
on us to go and and not just our
specific game but also any games that
you’re playing at home this shouldn’t
just beyond the DM you’re all getting
together to play together everybody
needs to and this is good whether you’re
in person or online but it’s especially
important online if you’re not if you’re
only using voice be mindful of the other
people in the room with you virtually or
not let them play as well that somebody
might have something really brilliant to
say that you’re gonna have an amazing
response to so so yeah that’s a that’s
an everybody problem other advantages to
cuz I love having a microphone and I
love so I’ve got my my earbuds actually
plugged in directly to this microphone
and that actually allows me to do some
weirder voices and be more comfortable
about doing them then if I had these out
I also have trouble actually with
enunciation sometimes when I get really
jacked up and excited or I just can’t
hear my own voice actually unless I have
headphones in it so we’re your thing so
actually helps me DM to be able to do
that and I think that improves the
quality of the characters sometimes as
well yeah and some people are just not
comfy on camera but they’re totally okay
on the phone so doing a game and where
you’re just listening to each other
they’re more likely to jump in and and
be more expressive some people only want
to play in text like let’s not forget
that you can just get into a discord
game and you can play by post yeah we
have tons of those right yeah oh you
have games on our discord right now but
our discord in our forums okay can you
tell us a little bit more about that
yeah come to either place and it’s just
like every other game it’s just it’s
gonna depend on some people set up games
in where it’s all narrative focus and so
you’re coming in it’s like alright
here’s my turn to talk and now I’m gonna
tell a little I’m gonna write out a
little scene of here’s what I
want to do in here’s what when my
character wants to say and here’s what
my characters feeling and the advantages
of that is you get a chance to really
think about what your character wants to
do you’re not having to feel like you
have to be an improv master and react in
the moment you have time to think about
and kind of craft your responses and so
maybe it’s not as immediate but people
who that kind of situation makes them
nervous
or they just enjoy kind of a slower
paced game or their lives are ridiculous
and they don’t have the time to spend
even playing for an hour or two this is
a good way for people to play in and
where they can get that role playing you
can even play combat it just it takes a
little bit longer you have to wait for
your turn but once again if if you and
your players have come to a decision
where this is what we’re gonna do and
this is how we’re gonna do it in order
to so we can all play you’ll be
surprised how easy it kind of is hey I
lost track of what our original question
no I
I’m kind of like down for that well I’m
kind of interested now in this challenge
and Will’s gonna hate me for this next
game but like like it would be fun to
show my dice rolls and it would be fun
to show my miniatures on my table and
what’s going on and switch my own camera
back and forth so that name there might
be something I explore and yeah be
curious not necessarily easy but I’m
curious whether you want to show your
dice rolls or not is is that’s a
philosophy not a technology thing yeah
yeah certainly but I mean the adds a
certain amount of drama right when you
it I’ll say my my podcast because we do
use a virtual tabletop for it and so my
roles are not private they can everyone
can see my roles which does add to the
drama but also take away some of the
drama and yeah so it’s something else to
keep in mind do you want your roles to
be private do you want if you’re gonna
use our discord we have an amazing bot
that’s the DD beyond every bot that will
pull from your character sheet and do
all sorts of wonderful math for you but
you kind of have
to decide do you want those to be
obvious to your players do you want to
hide those so that’s that’s something
else to keep in mind uh any more
questions in chat oh yes so a bunch of
people are asking about BT tees bunch of
people want the strengths and weaknesses
for them really in my experience it’s
what works best for you everyone that’s
out there has positives and negatives
and it’s it’s like asking what kind of
computer you like or do are you an apple
or an android user it’s well what do you
prefer what’s gonna be in your price
range what’s the format that makes it
comfortable so yeah I don’t know if
these warned were very theory of the
mind over here so yeah yeah well I’m
people were also talking about how do
you manage multiple people talking over
zoom or another software especially if
they’re having conversations unrelated
to the game oh well yeah shut that down
so that’s a conversation you have tablet
players and I’ve certainly had that
conversation before like you know don’t
interrupt each other
try not to showboat and honestly like I
showboat a terribly one episode I still
feel horrible to this day about it but
like yeah if it’s a player issues that
are talking too much if they’re
interrupting the nice way is always to
send an email to everyone saying that is
a D I’m not saying that like that’s what
you’ve done I’ve literally had to send
that email myself so yeah
yeah and now everyone’s gonna be aware
that they’re doing it like I make
mistakes all the time
all the time and no one calls me Alan
I’m a because they’re afraid I’m going
to kill the car their character but
everyone’s gonna make mistakes and so
yeah someone really just went on the
players just saying hey let let some
moments breathe there was a great
example even in critical role of letting
players have their moment and I’m not
going to spoil anything but several
members of critical role the characters
were
having in conversation with an entity
and everyone got their chance and then
someone else was and the everyone got so
afraid they almost interrupted that
character and one of the other players
that the table said no let her do her
thing
had had that intervention not happened
we would have not had like one of the
best moments in my the entire show yes
another player actually helped say hey
let’s just let this happen and see what
where he goes and I think that’s really
important for the narrative and and this
is a problem that is whether you’re in
person or online
yeah it just can be exacerbated by the
fact that yeah you you might not even
know it might be if you’ve got a little
bit of lag if you’re playing only with
audio if the if something goes wrong you
might not know I mean we just had will
on here talking away and we were all
chatting with him and had no idea that
nobody else could hear any of this audio
until someone told me so I mean it
happens yeah so it could be very a very
honest mistake another thing I think it
becomes even more important get off your
cell phone if your character she is not
on your cell phone
my Rondine didi beyond don’t take your
texts don’t check your email be there in
the moment with the rest of the players
listen when another character is talking
in the game don’t otherwise you’re gonna
make someone have to repeat themselves
they’re not gonna feel like they’re
getting energy from you this is like
basic acting stuff um you know if if all
the players are intently watching
everything you say it feels great and it
makes the entire game way way better
that’s even more important when you’re
doing do it playing a game online like
you wanna know your players are having
fun with you but if I’m looking at my
cell phone even as the DM because I’m
just like letting time go by and I’m
like think about what groceries I’m
gonna buy later in two hours then you’re
not really in the game and and that’s
that’s problem yeah
yeah and it’s also just easier to look
like you’re not in the game even when
you don’t mean it that’s also true you
may have like a legit but you may be
actually looking up a spell but that’s
something maybe you need to keep him in
mind if everyone’s on camera the moments
to do that and when not to do that and
how often but luckily I have a bunch of
players who are like always in it all
the time so it’s it’s great we enjoy it
and and now I’m gonna turn away from the
camera so that I can read more question
yeah I’m not breaking the room I’m
taking your advice which is I’m only
looking when I absolutely have to we’ve
got a question from Roger bear what are
your thoughts on level 11 through 20
battles long drawn out or short big
bangs suggestions for handling high
level players this is less about playing
online and more of a general question
but what do you think Todd we haven’t
quite gotten up to level 11 just yet but
I’ll confess I slowed our level
progression of down a bit because it
wasn’t ready to say goodbye to anyone
because when he hit level 2 honey that’s
it well is it doesn’t have to be but
still so higher level combat gets can
get quite complicated but I think
there’s a difference between the
baldie of the villain that you’re
fighting and the quantity so if you are
playing a game online and you’re worried
about eleven you know level eleven to
level 20 gameplay and that’s slowing you
down doesn’t necessarily have to if
they’re fighting one villain that’s just
great
right a really powerful villain like
feckner things like that but if you
throw a 100 skeleton you know literally
a hundred skeletons at them that can be
laborious at best so so maybe keep in
mind I think by the time you get to
those levels or if you’re currently in
those levels but you find yourself not
being able to play a tabletop you know
around the table game right now and you
want your you’re going to have to do
have to use the Internet
you’ll feel your way out and figure it
out but for me villains are best again
quality over quantity really helps um
and something with legendary resistance
it is always fun that’s my answer and if
you do want to throw quantity I suggest
taking a page from the fourth edition
handbook and throw millions of people
minions literally are there all the same
stats they just only have one hit point
so as soon as you hit them they die so
if you want to have that epic moment of
the horde of zombies make sure they all
want hit point and then maybe don’t
worry about the do they get back up
again afterwards
we’ve just yeah we put a lot of big
combat scenarios where you know it’s
pockets of action yes because you’re in
a fight doesn’t mean you’re in the
entire battle or the entire war so you
can isolate things and still make them
epic and if you’re thinking about moving
from a battle map to theater the mind
but you’re afraid about having those big
epic battles go away because of that
trust your players to ask the questions
they need in order to still be effective
at those higher levels because they know
what they want to do and trust yourself
to be able to keep a vague enough map in
your head you’d be surprised people are
worried that like I’m not gonna be
keep this Matt Mercer epic battle map in
my head
well no but what you can keep is basic
distances and you can have a piece of
paper with some numbers or you can you
be using the combat tracker with the NDB
on so everybody knows alright this is
what we’ve got so it it’s definitely can
happen if you want that that giant horde
and you want that experience you can
absolutely do it it can still be just as
visceral without having 20 wolves and
certainly a built haven’t gonna have a
perspective on things if you’re moving
that way but like there was an example
where I put them up against a head like
creature in a lake and I’m like you know
she points her finger at you like right
in your face and she’s like and the
other Kircher being played by ten
Kretschmer was like I’m actually like a
hundred and twenty feet away I’m like
yeah it does not anymore notes over to
you and it’s arm it along gates and it’s
finger all the way to your your forehead
and that was way more upsetting than
getting it wrong absolutely where people
were on a map and then it provided a
moment under creepiness because my
imagination was a little bit different
than Jen Kretchmer some imagination at
that moment and when you me in the
middle you find something way more
horrifying
I imagine battle scenes so thoroughly in
my head it’s not been an issue for me to
be completely honest I know where
everyone is my brain I’m pretty good
about it
and then when I’m the DM as I said
before I’m I’m more likely to just go
alright we’ll just let that happen
I’ll just mentally move this character
five more feet and then great you know
yeah it’s not the most important thing
until someone’s like in trouble right
you know that’s that’s when you get a
little bit more
careful yep and even then if at least
for me I found if I err on the side of
the players when there is a question
when when our mental maps clash and
going on their side is at least going to
give them a chance to survive just go
with your players it’s fine
you know it’ll be fine we have more
questions
oh Jesus so many these questions are not
so we are talking specifically about
playing online but now we’ve got look
just general questions we were asked how
do you deal with character deaths or the
like while playing online in person you
may have a backup sheet for them for
example I don’t deal with character
sheet well or declared your death well
and that’s that’s that’s a that’s a
general question I mean certainly if
you’re playing on I’ll say if you’re
playing online it’s just like playing in
person in where everyone’s gonna feel
differently about character death and
you just you need to talk to your
players you need to talk to you your DM
and you need to figure out if it happens
what do you do next and you talk to each
other
yeah character death is never ever going
to not be horribly upsetting
[Music]
and character death can happen a lot of
different ways sometimes I’ve actually
felt like a character should die and I
was ok with it but when it happened
suddenly I like to know that the roles
had been made and I had put myself in
that situation right and and so I really
had characters die and I was like well
yeah that’s fair I said the wrong thing
don’t you know don’t talk crap to a
dragon though you know I reckon like
sticks is thorny claw right through your
chest then that is on you but if it was
in character and that’s who your
character was they were gonna talk crap
and that’s great that’s a good death for
that character they did the right thing
and you know sometimes the roles are
just the roles as well character just
sucks it does I have a character that I
have kept immortal for all time only
because more because they never got to
die anything and then they became
immortal functionally because of it
because so many games got ended you know
over and over over again that and so
many people need a different class to
play I kept on changing the characters
class literally to help the group like
we need a wizard we nee a cleric we need
a rogue we need a fight like whatever
they need I’m like well just make him
that I still do it like I what I was
playing a game with some friends in los
angeles los angeles this year and they
need someone to be cleric so i’m like ok
cool he’s a clerk now we so and I made
it kind of this stupid thing about that
character I made that they were immortal
and functionally not very equipped for
anything
became like the comp plot device for
that character but for other characters
I’ve lost it has always sucked absent I
had a great Chris a character named
Tristan don’t judge me on the name I
lost him in a game Star Wars game and
that that sucked
I had a great character in for the
masquerade and cyberpunk and they all
died and it’s always a bummer but then a
week or two later
or even a day later you come up with
another character concept and you start
learning to love again so that’s my
advice I think that’s good advice we’ll
move on yeah we’ve got a question from
ether dark my group has been playing
over discord for several years now how
would you talk to a player about their
connectivity issue causing problems for
the whole game and at one point do you
say come back when your situation is
better bad about it yeah this is a
uniquely online situation I think you
first off you just have to talk to them
about it because maybe they don’t even
notice they up speed and down speed is
different they might be receiving all of
you great and then they’re just
broadcasting like shit and you need to
let them know yeah let them know you
need to talk to your group as well how
much it’s actually detracting cuz just
because you feel that way doesn’t mean
everyone else feels that way I have an
issue that cannot be figured out right
now even for our livestream where
everyone’s well my video freezes and I
have the fastest internet that Comcast
can provide in Seattle Washington and is
more than capable of handling a web cam
feed to zoom it could handle probably 80
at the same time by its technical specs
yet somehow my video still gets
interrupted randomly as if my internet
connection is unstable my entire living
is uploading 4k video so in vast
quantities and and it’s strange like you
continuously have this issue it does
interrupt the gameplay we make fun of it
just like we make fun of meat okay if
someone’s muted like say will your video
producer for some reason doesn’t know
they’re muted when they’re talking you
say that they were silence was cast on
them and it’s a joke you know when I
freeze it’s almost always because I say
the word mind flare and it was for a
while for a while everything just went
it was looked at three times in a row
yeah it’s always even when it hasn’t
been on mine floor it has always been a
dramatic moment we’re waiting for you to
say something like it’s always the worst
until the point where I’m going to start
doing it
on purpose yeah so that’s my choice yeah
I agree with all that and I mean you’re
only gonna be able to do as much as you
can do but you definitely have to talk
to them because as we said they may not
know and there may be something they can
do about it maybe they’re on Wi-Fi and
they need to be hardwired in maybe they
need to just call their uh their service
provider and say hey I’m having these
issues and have someone come out and you
know we there was once we had to call
for them to come out for an unrelated
issue and they found out that oh yeah
someone was tapping into our internet
and stealing internet from us oh that’s
a thing you know because we also pay for
incredibly fast internet because that’s
we work from home and streaming and
things so fortunately that it hadn’t
caused too many problems with me but
yeah some one some some awful person in
this area was stealing some of our
internet so definitely I think just be
honest with them because that is
something that they are the only people
that can fix and until they know it’s a
problem and it’s it’s probably making a
problem for them in other places like
they probably are having a hard time
watching YouTube videos or browsing
reddit or whatever else they’re trying
to do so it might be a problem that they
want fixed yeah tall ways talked about
to help them troubleshoot it do what I
have to do yeah and if if that’s still
causing a problem if you’re not able to
fix it right away look at ways of
reducing the amount of internet usage
you need look at of if you’re doing
video and audio think about playing a
few games just audio if you’re doing if
you’ve got battle maps and minis and all
kinds of extra cameras going on pare
back for a couple of games see if using
less will help and you know maybe that’s
what you do until the problem can be
fixed yeah it’s a great opportunity by
the way once you get used to do playing
D&D this way I mean
McCrea now
actually think of more more games I can
play in because there are people I wanna
play with that I live across the country
right now I would love to play D&D with
but I sometimes I get too wrapped up in
the concept that I have to be at the
same table with them mm-hmm and I also
really love the idea of playing D&D not
while streaming so I can just you know
and I’ll think about things all the time
my job is literally to think about
things all the time so being able to
just think about the game is super
exciting and who you get to play with
yeah the only person I have a limitation
was I want to play with Marc Humes but
he’s in London I’m not wanted Bazin and
he’s in England
and that’s that’s yeah I’m going to
sleep when he’s waking up kind of thing
you can still make it work I’ve used
awake across the pond before
that’s why weakens were invented so you
can find those times where are I’ll get
up a little earlier and you’ll stay up a
little later or vice versa it’ll it’ll
work out yeah it works let’s see uh
tavern fire is asking what lighting do
you use for streams okay so that is a
big deal because if you’re looking at
Lauren’s video right now I am using a
camera that is essentially three
thousand dollars it’s very low light I
initially started using this camera only
because I wanted to use hum well AI was
already shooting with it a videographer
and I wanted to use like candle light
and stuff to light me and that was
really fun but I eventually got very
tired of doing that every stream but I
used to Elgato he lights right now
they’re LCDs they’re on Amazon
they’re really great I don’t use them
directly on my face I’m actually
bouncing them off a wall right now I
think a little bit of light goes a long
way
well Lauren’s camera image is amazing
plus she’s using a background
backgrounds can get really messy
if you’ve got like all of your books
behind you in all of your minis that’s
visually very much clutter especially DD
books are all got that red spine so
you’re just like River River river all
the way across I know I know you’re
right you’re right you’re right yeah so
um but like Lauren’s image is perfect
she’s got like a photo backdrop
background right now I don’t know what
she’s losing for liked I’d have a cheap
little ring light I got off of Amazon
ring lights are amazing there yeah but
you don’t need to spend very much on it
and I think this was like 25 bucks yeah
it does the thing in where it gives you
a couple different kinds of light and so
I don’t have to because I’m a pale
person and so if you just put white
light on me I just become snow so it’s
nice to have a little bit of color I am
facing a window which when it’s sunny is
super nice but I live in Seattle and so
that’s and then also the time changes
and so I might be streaming at the
beginning of a stream I got plenty of
Sun and by the end of the stream there’s
nothing so I find it easier to just have
a static light so a nice thing to look
for is the gleam in your eye you know if
your eyes are reflecting the light
that’s always really compelling you know
if you’re watching movies you’ll notice
that you almost always see a gleam in
people’s pupils that’s super interest I
never thought about that and I was just
watching a video the other day about how
to make CGI realistic characters and
they were talking about it the exact
same thing that like they’ll put fake
light into their eyes to get that
reflection because that’s one of the
things we cue off of that makes them
look like real people with real real
human emotions is light in your eyes so
yeah and and that’s someone a
cinematographer issue bail so like if
you’re facing a person in real life and
you’re in the presence of someone you’re
probably exactly positioned see a gleam
in their eye but you can shoot them not
that way so yeah so the gleam in the eye
and ring lights are pretty amazing and
was using a ring light forever and I’m
not now because I just felt like in
these two different key lights to light
me and even then I’m hitting the wall
from me with the light and letting it
bounce back because I very
light-sensitive so I have trouble with
that kind of thing all right we got one
more question one more for Rory and and
this is this this is not gonna be a
quick question to answer but it’s
important
so from Crowell I have or I’m about to
do my first game at the end II oh crap
congratulations my players are all
seasoned players I’m worried I will
spend too much time referring back to
the adventure what kind of tools do you
use to prep your sessions I just picture
my desk to be full of post-it notes
trying to keep the story flow okay I’ll
answer really quick I I have a lot of
anxiety having to do with I’ve been
running the game currently now in wild
mount
I don’t know wild mount backwards and
forwards what’s been nice is I am
reading the crap out of it and sometimes
I will bother the creator itself to get
certain answers as to certain weird
weird things but I recently made the
choice not to watch the show where the
city that we were about to go to takes
place where they actually go to that
city and critical role for example I
read about the city over and over again
in the book and that was enough is
almost thee it’s not the same adventure
that they went on but I can’t believe
how similar it was for all kinds of
weird reasons everyone one knows what
party gnome is I guess in their DNA
deeply so what I would say is raise many
notes as you can read the adventure
module they don’t know what’s in the
adventure module and if they do they
shouldn’t be talking up make it up make
it up make it up make it up if you don’t
remember where strods
tomb is then just decide this decide
where it is decide that there’s an inn
where there shouldn’t be an inn decide
that there’s a room where there
shouldn’t be a room it’s your adventure
as the DM The Improv improv will save
you every time I have this exact amount
stress when I run any official adventure
I have let myself get completely wrapped
up in the adventure that was set out for
me
cursive straat for example I became I
became almost too focused on trying to
get exactly right to be honest and that
took the person I was playing with out
of the game and I realized I isn’t he
improv this I just need to do it I just
need the structure the skeleton of what
should be that’s my answer I’m sorry
hard core real quick I use D&D beyond
Google Docs and the sly flourish lazy
Dungeon Master prep that’s basically it
I run mostly homebrew in in established
worlds so I I tend to run on the sword
coast and I like the sword coast and I
like faerun because there’s a ton of
information out there about it so if I
need to pull information from an
official source I can find something and
then I do what Todd doesn’t just make up
stuff as I go along I use Google Docs to
keep track of NPCs adventures anything
that’s going on and then my my tip from
sly flourish is your prep for the next
game if it’s more than a page it’s too
much yeah first yeah first I’ve got I’ve
got mine down to about a half a page
it’s like what happened immediately in
the last session what are the immediate
goals or the immediate things I need to
know about the world and no I don’t
really prep anything more than just
here’s what in general is going on in
the sphere of influence of the
characters and in general what’s going
on in the world and then I can figure
out what everybody’s doing from there on
the fly I do everything so no Pat
there’s actually a notepad function on
my Windows machine where you have a
little yellow sticky note I write down
names of characters I write write down
plot points that need to be visited I
write down really important things like
spells and what they’re saved ECR
because this has come has come up a lot
recently so that I know exactly how
things come out because four things do
realistic sometimes every role matters
so
keeping track of those things especially
when you make a convoluted plot say like
I always do know it’s important to stick
here stick to the rules format magical
spells and know the how long they last
and all kinds of things so nope little
bold points will save you um so that’s
about it make your own DM screen yeah
and finally just do it and mess up and
it’ll be okay because everybody wants to
play D&D much no no one you’re gonna
make a mistake and it’s gonna be fine
it’s gonna be totally fine everyone’s
just gonna go oh yeah okay and move on
because it’s a game and everybody wants
to play with each other and that’s the
most important thing and that’s the most
important message so thank you so much
for watching Todd talks I hope this was
helpful at all for anyone if you would
like us to do it again let us know and
thank you so much for watching
— Lauren (Oboe) (@OboeLauren) March 17, 2020
How to Play D&D Online!
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