If you enjoy tabletop games but find them tough to manage, especially if you’re playing a long campaign, you should try Roll20. This website provides an ever-expanding and improving set of tools for managing tabletop games, ensuring that you can keep things easy no matter how complex your game develops.
With all that Roll20 can do, it’s easy to overlook elements that could improve your game. Here are some of the better aspects of the site that you can implement into your next session.
1: The Token Marker Library
Tokens are used on the game map to track the impacts of characters and items. The Token Marker Library from Roll20 includes over forty markers and an easy way to create markers from uploaded images. In addition, most expansions purchased from Roll20 include additional NPC markers.
Using Roll20’s digital maps to manage your game sessions, you can quickly place the markers on the maps and interact with them electronically. If you prefer tangible maps, the Marker Library can be used to create templates for printed tokens on your tabletop. You can also design distinct marker sets for each game to keep them unique.
The Token Marker Library is also accessible through the Tools dropdown menu.
2. The Compendium
The site’s digital reference collection is Roll20’s Compendium. The Compendium isn’t just for Dungeons & Dragons. Over forty tabletop and role-playing games are on the site, including Marvel’s Multiverse Role-playing Game, Vampire: The Masquerade, and Warhammer Fantasy Role-play.
The way you use The Compendium and how much access you have depends on your relationship with Roll20. For example, the Dungeons&Dragons compendium can be searched for basic spells, items, monsters, and other information.
However, purchasing extensions from the site’s digital Marketplace is required to access more particular content. Expansions normally include:
- At least one playable campaign and distinct maps.
- Markers.
- Character and items sheets that can be used throughout Roll20.
Over time, the content management system has dramatically improved. Each page from a resource opened in its window in the early days of Roll20. Since then, a PDF viewer has made the site’s material much more user-friendly.
The Compendium is the first item in the Tools dropdown menu from the page’s banner. The Marketplace is a separate dropdown menu. To learn more about this tabletop gaming companion, read our explanation of what Roll20 is and how to use it.
3. The Character Vault
Characters can be moved between games users manage on the platform using the Character Vault. This tool is handy for users that manage various games on Roll20 and have multiple expansions, especially if they like to employ consistent and pre-built non-playable characters.
The Character Vault (or, at least, the free edition) is less robust than other character builders. Hence it’s less effective for making playable characters. As a result, if you and your party already use other critical tabletop tools for character creation, Roll20 is unlikely to replace them.
The Character Vault is directly below the Compendium in the Tools dropdown menu.
4. The GM Hub, Blog, and Forums
Whether your group plays on the platform or not, the GM Hub is another Roll20 tool that’s handy. This website contains tools for creating maps and encounters, staying organized using calculators, managing game rules, and general advice.
Some resources are within the Roll20 ecosystem, while others are links to external tools and websites. Spending time at the GM Hub outside of a game can be a terrific way to learn new tips and tools that you can use in games that aren’t based on the Roll20 platform.
Roll20 can also be used to learn from other enthusiastic gamers. The website has a blog that contains a combination of site updates and gaming advice. There’s also a forum where users may discuss and answer questions regarding how they use the site, such as troubleshooting and novel approaches.
The GM Hub may be found at the bottom of the Tools dropdown menu, while the Blog and Forum can be found under the Community dropdown menu.
5. Join a Game
The Join a Game feature on Roll20 enables players and game masters to share the platform’s resources. That is true whether you are playing together at a physical table or remotely, relying solely on the platform.
If you know the game master, the game, and the other players, this is true. However, this is equally true if you feel the need to play between meetings of your political party.
Thanks to a “Pick Up Games” list that updates every minute, the tool also allows you to browse open games from anywhere. You can certainly find a group of new people to join in their session, whether it’s a one-shot story or an ongoing campaign, no point where you are or what time it is.
The Join a Game tool can be accessed directly from the homepage, Games, or Community dropdown menu.
Keep Tabletop Games Simple and Easy to Run
The complexity of role-playing games is what makes them so appealing. The beauty of Roll20 is how simple it makes them. The platform is created to play an entire game with nothing else.
Whether you play that way or not, the site will certainly have tools and resources to help you improve your game.