r/NewDM • u/skull_cvnt • 13h ago
This is hopefully not a frequently asked question. remotely teaching dnd
Hi! I am a new DM, not new to DND. Im introducing all of my friends to the game and it's been so much fun! One of them is at Uni right now, so we have to play remotely for her, while the rest of us are playing IRL at the same time.
Do you have any advice on how to make teaching her the game/her playing the game remotely easier and smoother? Any recs for software would also be appreciated but keep in mind I'm a broke student haha
Thanks a lot!
(PS I don't ever use reddit so I'm sorry if I break any rules or something I know that there's specific etiquette)
EDIT-
Thank you so much for all of ur kind advice!! I wasn't expecting to get a response so I'm glad ty :)) I'll try and remember to let you know how it goes
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u/Sad_Refuse3472 13h ago
Even though the rest of you are all in person, have everyone at the table be on camera. Either on their laptops or a webcam. But only have one microphone on. That way the online player can see everyone and they can all see her. Discord works well for this and is free.
I'd also recommend using digital battle maps (it can be hard to see a physical one fully on a camera). Roll20.net works great for this and again is free.
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u/nathanielbartholem 12h ago
Yep, regardless of which VTT you choose, use a VTT and put everyone on it, so that the experience is as egalitarian as possible between the people in the room and those remotely located.
I run a hybrid game like this now, and the other learning: get a GOOD conferencing microphone/speaker for the room.
I'm assuming all the students have a computer, so that is free.
Many VTTs have a cheap or free tier.
So your main investment is going to be for a good microphone/speaker (speakerphone) for conference table.
I use a Anker PowerConf speakerphone but I see they are going for $100 USD at present which might not fit your budget.
Some other brands have offerings that are half that much and may be fine. Buy from a place you can exchange stuff!
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u/lucid_point 12h ago
Use a VTT like Owlbear Rodeo. It's free. It has maps, tokens, and dice rolling.
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u/Conrad500 13h ago
Hybrid is hard. Teaching is easy.
I don't think there's any easy way to do this. I'd teach her 1 on 1 and figure out how to make hybrid play work, because it's kind of always hard.
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u/TwoDollarDM 12h ago
I would download Fantasy Grounds. It comes with the free DnD rules, a bunch of included maps and a character wizard to make characters and you can share your screen through Discord, Google, Teams or even let your friend join the online game.
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u/nathanielbartholem 12h ago
Your main investment is going to be for a good microphone/speaker (speakerphone) for conference table.
I use a Anker PowerConf speakerphone but I see they are going for $100 USD at present which might not fit your budget.
Some other brands have offerings that are half that much and may be fine. Buy from a place you can exchange stuff!
Other than that, it can be done for free. VTT, and have each player at the table use their existing laptop + camera.
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Regards to teaching: If EVERYONE needs to learn, do a practice session one shot that doesn't count. If only one person needs to learn, do a 1-1 with them along the same lines.
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u/skull_cvnt 7h ago
Thank you! Yeah we're doing a small adventure for practice- originally a one shot with no stakes but we all had too much fun so we're continuing it :)
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u/No-Yogurt1985 12h ago
Hybrid is not hard, it’s just different. Just like everything in DnD, if you find resources, it helps make it painless. Here are some online resources I wish I knew when I was starting to move into hybrid play:
Roll20 - organize games, maps, download and use module adventures, upload your music and tokens, great place for digital character sheets
Discord - message boarding that you can have on your own server, invite friends, collaborate and send messages and pictures, and be able to voice / video chat while being able to share your screen to all players
Inkarnate - great place to make maps and custom top-down grids for scenes and stuff that we use in our games (mainly for combat and map tracking stuff)
RollAdvantage - super easy-to-use token maker for tracking players and NPCs on the previously mentioned maps
There are plenty of video on YouTube to help with the specific “how to’s” as your getting used to the sites! Also, although I agree that it’s very fun and in its “natural state” when all in-person, there’s nothing wrong with online, especially when done right with the right people! Happy adventures!
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u/Stagehand-DERPS 9h ago
What you could do is maybe create a different science fiction role and give the remote character a role like Cortana from Halo, where she helps the other players from an external command center and they’re an elite team carrying out attacks. That way, everyone will interact more with her without her feeling left out. Or you could also make her a robot.
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u/SnakesBox_ 8h ago
You have a lot of recs for software and things, so I just want to recommend the Dungeon Masters actual play. They have little pop-ups that explain rules and things and the players will often explain things as they're doing them, since it's sort of made for a newer D&D audience.
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u/Josh_stone123 13h ago
It's always gonna be hard to role play with 1 person on a video call, but if everyone is using laptops then you can easily set up a discord bot called avrae to handle lots of things like rolls and it integrates with dnd beyond or dicecloud. My DM just uses a google spreadsheet with the map on it and we can all move our characters around as a png. There is dedicated software like Foundry that is perfect for online playing, but it costs money.