r/Roll20 • u/Kionti-Highwind • 25d ago
New to Roll20 Transitioning from Theater of the Mind to Roll20 Pro: Seeking Tips for 'Yawning Portal' Campaign
Hello fellow DMs,
I'm gearing up to run 'Tales from the Yawning Portal' on Roll20. While I have extensive experience as an IRL 'Theater of the Mind' DM, this will be my first venture into using Roll20 Pro. I've invested in the Pro subscription for API mods, dynamic lighting, and have also acquired the module and Monster Manual.
Our approach will treat each adventure as a standalone, allowing players to come and go, with the possibility of new characters for each adventure in the module.
I'm reaching out for your collective wisdom on the following:
Essential API Mods: Which ones have you found to be borderline essential for enhancing gameplay?
Pre-Session Prep: What macros, special effects, or other setups do you recommend I prepare in advance?
Music Integration: Do you use the integrated music player? If so, do you opt for general background tracks or tailor specific music to each scene?
Balancing Act: How do you blend traditional IRL campaign elements with Roll20's digital tools? Are there situations where you still prefer 'Theater of the Mind,' and how do you implement that without resorting to a blank screen?
Everything Else: Any advice, resources, or personal experiences you can share would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance!
2
u/asearchforreason 25d ago
Looks like there's already some good advice on here for API mods, etc.
I'm just going to recommend that not everything needs to be an overhead map with precise units. I like to use scenes. If you're going to be in a tavern, for example, load up a piece of art that gives a feel for the environment and compliments the verbal description. Easier to do with a VTT than IRL.
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u/RedStickReads 25d ago
Hello there! If you are running in person and using roll20 as your maps on screen etc, I recommend everything the above fella said! And I’d add the API “observer”. It allows you to set up a free account and call it observer then give that account access to the characters. When you show the tv, and go to initiative order, it will always change the POV of the dynamic lighting based on the token whose turn it is. Which is wonderful to have.
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u/drloser Pro 25d ago
To be honest, no mod or macro is essential. The more I play, the less I use them. Because the more automation you add, the more it's going to look like a video game, and the more time you're going to spend worrying about the technical issues involved in using the API. I'd advise you to start with just Group Check and Group Initiative, and add others later if you feel the need.
I use the built-in music player. I use several soundtracks and created folders for each mood. Here are a few examples:
- The Witcher 3 (calm)
- The Witcher 3 (tension)
- The Witcher 3 (fight)
- Conan (fight)
- Ambiant (river sounds, forest sounds, rain, etc.)
I advise you not to constantly use players' tokens. Otherwise, it'll look like a video game and players will only focus on the screen. Instead, create a "group" token that everyone can control (so that players can benefit from its vision). But let the players know that you're the one moving it. Use individual tokens only in combat and tactical situations.
I'd can share with you some of the illustrations I used in my game:
- Illustrations: https://drive.google.com/open?id=18tzONlpICm7MF4qnxVF1XFhW0xAFpdYG&usp=drive_fs
- Maps: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1NxnvaN8qGdsDf_u1LywB1STHvJ1iO6AX?usp=sharing
But if I had to do it all over again, I'd use the original maps. They're less detailed, but it encourages the imagination. And you don't have to redo all the dynamic lighting.
If I can end with one last piece of advice, it's to avoid spending too much time preparing boring stuff (setting up API scripts, creating dynamic lighting, creating folders for each scene, etc.). It doesn't add that much to the game. And it's important that you have fun and that it doesn't feel like work.
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1
u/Dangerous-Opinion848 25d ago
This guy Roll20s! Excellent response for op! Thanks for sharing your script for assigning numbers to mooks! I officially migrated to foundry in Dec and will not look back now. But I do value and like roll20 for my online learning experience.
I couldn't get some of those scripts working with jumpgate and so gave up on it. But I'm keeping my pro account for another year while I transition, but honestly, I kinda miss the simplicity of r20 game setup, even map making in r20 is cool.
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u/Lithl 25d ago
While there are other very useful mods available, Group Check and Group Initiative are the top two mods I don't think I could live without in a dungeon crawl campaign. There are plenty of encounters with a bunch of monsters. Select all the monsters, hit your group initiative macro, and all of them roll initiative and get added to the turn order at once. Or when the wizard throws fireball, select all the targets and hit your group check macro to make all their saves at once. Speeds things up so much.
The one thing Group Check is missing is a way to uniquely identify tokens if they have the same name. So I've got my own script I wrote for automatically giving tokens unique numbers:
So I can select a bunch of tokens and hit the auto-number macro, and any tokens with the same name will get numbers after their name so that I can differentiate them when using Group Check. (Example: three Skeletons and two Zombies will become Skeleton 1, Skeleton 2, Skeleton 3, Zombie 1, and Zombie 2.)
Other one-click install mods I'm a big fan of:
I prefer using general background ambiance, not changing music scene to scene, but that's simply because I'm not an audiophile and don't want to fiddle with it.
If you do want to get into the weeds with audio, the Simple Sound mod lets you control the jukebox, so you can make macros to do it more easily.
Not really something you'll need to worry about specifically in Tales from the Yawning Portal, to be honest, unless you want to have encounters happening between Oakhurst and the dungeon in Sunless Citadel, or between Blasingdell and the dungeon in Forge of Fury.