How do I use my DnDBeyond.com character sheet on Roll20?
As long as you have:
- the Beyond20 extension installed in Chrome
- the Roll20 game open
- your DnDBeyond sheet open
You should be able to click on the relevant skill on your sheet in DnDBeyond (ex. Acrobatics) and a window will open on DnDBeyond with the Beyond20 button. Clicking this button will roll the dice in Roll20. Please see attached screen capture.
What if you don’t have a staff member who can act as a dungeon master?
This is how I got into D&D in the first place. As a teen librarian at the Goodnow Library in Sudbury, I couldn’t find anyone to serve as a Dungeon Master, so I started to do a lot of online research. I listened to many “actual play” podcasts and eventually started to play at Excelsior Comics and Games in Maynard on Monday nights.
What ages and how large (or small) the group should be?
Currently, I try to limit my players to ages 11+. There are systems for younger kids that I’ve been wanting to try out. The one that looks the most interesting is Hero Kids, for ages 4-10. The online aspect may be problematic, though.
I also try to limit games to fewer than 7 players, but that rarely happens–it’s more like 10 these days. When you get more people than that, it gets unwieldy, particularly online. Kids talk over each other or they get bored waiting for their turn. The only real solution to this is to start up a new group. I’m currently running 2 groups for patrons on Saturdays.
You’re just shutting off voice chat, not text chat?
Text chat on Roll20 cannot be shut off, because that is where all the dice rolls happen. As a side benefit, it also allows the players to chat with each other without interrupting the flow of the game.
I’ve been told you have to buy all the starter books to use D&D beyond. Otherwise you can’t do anything.
Buying books on Roll20 certainly adds to the available options, but you could most definitely play without buying anything. What you get for free are all the core options from the SRD (Systems Reference Document) which is part of the open gaming license. This is plenty to get anyone started.
Buying books gives you access to more “official” races, classes, campaigns, etc. One of the historic attractions of D&D is that many people “homebrew,” that is, write their own adventures, which is certainly doable on all Virtual Tabletop platforms.
Does Roll20 show status effects automatically or are there tokens to show such things?
There are a variety of status badges and color you can add to tokens.
Do you prefer to use just Roll20 alone, or do you use other methods to chat in addition like Discord or Zoom?
I use Discord or Google Hangouts for audio. I prefer the Discord interface.
Can you fill out character sheets for your players and give them pregenerated characters?
I let players who are comfortable filling out their own sheets do so. Otherwise, there are plenty of pre-generated character sheets available online, including at Wizards of the Coast.
Do you know of any online resources we can use to better learn how to play D&D/how to be a DM?
DnDBeyond.com is a wonderful resource for creating characters and reading articles.
There are also plenty of “actual play” podcasts, YouTube and Twitch videos. An extremely popular one is Critical Role, run by a group of professional voice actors.
Reddit contains a wealth of information, especially the subreddit r/DMAcademy.
Of course, the best way to learn is by actually playing.
Is Roll20 only for D&D? Can you use other systems like Pathfinder, Dungeon world etc? If it is just for D&D, which editions does it support?
https://wiki.roll20.net/Category:Games
I’m only familiar with whole numbers for Initiative. Where did the decimal points come from? Is that something specific to Roll20?
“The decimal added is equal to 1/100th of the character’s Dexterity score, not their dexterity bonus. The “12.14” represents an initiative roll made by a character with a dexterity of 14. The intent is to indicate a difference in initiative bonuses, as the decimal, to break ties.”
Are there any communities you can recommend to gain experience finding D&D games to join as a player?
I’d start by contacting your local gaming store. Mine is Excelsior Comics and Games in Maynard.
You could also try to find games on Reddit. r/roll20lrg, or on Roll20 itself.
Warhorn.net is a worldwide listing of games.
Does Roll20 work on all browsers? Is it friendly to both Macs and PCs?
Roll20 should work on any modern browser, including the one on Chromebooks.
Are the spells in the module, or would you need to plug the information of the spells?
Only the spells from the SRD are included for free. You can either type in the rest manually, or buy modules from the sourcebooks, also available on an individual basis.
Can you export the D&DBeyond character to Roll20?
Unfortunately this feature is only available to premium subscribers. There is a Chrome extension called Beyond20 which will connect your DnDBeyond sheet to Roll20, but your DM will not be able to see your sheet.