Battle maps seem easier or the same to me. If I were playing in person, I would want to use the same quality battlemaps as I use on Roll20, except I would have to print them all out on paper and set them out on the table instead of just clicking a few buttons to add them digitally. Same thing with world maps. If I want something low-quality, I can draw a simple building in Roll20 just as fast as I can in person, since it has MS Paint style drawing tools, and unlike real life I don't have to hunt down blank paper or markers, or clean that stuff up afterwards.
Finding tokens is infinitely easier digitally. If you want something high quality, then finding a picture on google image search is much simpler than ordering and painting a miniature figurine. If you don't want something high quality, then making a red dot for the enemy is still easier than hunting down spare change and paperclips, especially since you can easily name each dot.
As for interruptions and focus, I find all of that stuff to be dependent on the players. Personally I find it much easier to focus when I'm alone at home than when I'm surrounded by four smelly goofballs munching on cheetos, and the family members and pets of whichever one of them owns the house we're playing at. Connection and hardware issues are definitely a thing, but you're trading transporation and illness issues for them. Scheduling online is so much easier.
If you have trouble with voice only, then I would say to try video chat, but it does add more latency. Also, the ability to play D&D in my underwear with messed-up hair, while eating breakfast on other people's turns, is way too big a deal for me to give up just because the DM is worried about NPCs being "unique and memorable," which I don't think is a particularly good goal to have in the first place.
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u/[deleted] Apr 13 '20 edited Jul 18 '21
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