How to Play Dungeons & Dragons on Zoom

Because of social distancing, thousands of Dungeons & Dragons players are continuing their campaigns on Zoom and other video conferencing software. Dungeons & Dragons and other tabletop roleplaying games are incredibly versatile, to the point that they don't even need a tabletop to get a full gaming experience. After all, all you need to play Dungeons & Dragons is a character sheet and a way to talk to your fellow players, whether that's through Zoom, Discord, Google Hangouts, or one of the many other video conferencing software available for free. And because everyone is stuck indoors, now is the perfect time to give Dungeons & Dragons a try, especially as Wizards of the Coast is making a ton of resources available to fans for free during the pandemic.

The "easiest" way to play Dungeons & Dragons on a video conference software is to use the "theater of the mind" technique of play, in which the DM describes the players' surroundings and NPC actions instead of using miniatures or other visual cues. Most streaming games already use some variant of "theater of the mind" to play, and official adventures provide plenty of vivid descriptions through boxed text that should help both DMs and players skip using a maps. DMs will want to be as descriptive as possible during combat, and they may want to take notes about the approximate position of their players when they're fighting foes.

When using theater of the mind to run combat, DMs will also need to be both flexible and try to help players as much as they can. Since there's no map to provide players with exact measurements for movement or spells, you may want to "fudge" distances to keep combat from lagging and warn players when they're about to cast a spell that would inadvertently hit an ally or if they're going to run into a non-hidden hazard.

Another tip for playing via video conferencing is to try to limit table talk. Everyone loves to joke and goof during a Dungeons & Dragons session, but video conferencing makes it hard for a DM or players to focus on the action if everyone is talking. Most video conferencing software comes with some sort of chat feature that you can use to joke around with other players or ask the DM questions without messing with the flow of the game.

If you feel like you need a map to effectively run combat in Dungeons & Dragons, you still have a few options. Most video software comes with some form of screen sharing, so the DM can pull up a visual description or a pre-made map to players. I like the Bluejeans video conferencing system for this reason, as I can both screen share with players and use a white board to give them a rough layout of a room and where the enemies are.

You can also use a virtual tabletop system like Roll20 to give players a more traditional grid map. Roll20 has some great abilities, such as letting players move their own tokens during combat and a way to virtually roll dice for everyone to see, but it's also a complex interface that is incredibly intimidating to new users. While I personally use Roll20 in one of my games, it's only because one of my players had the time to learn the system and is proficient with the web tools you need for it to be effective.

To help maximize your Dungeons & Dragons experience when playing virtually, I also recommend doing your research on which video conference software to use. Each has its perks and detriments, and you'll also want to make sure that you're not getting an echo from your speakers. A headset or earphones usually takes care of the echo problem, but you'll at least want to make sure that your speakers aren't too loud when you're playing.

Dungeons & Dragons is a great way to get in valuable social time in during this pandemic, and it also provides some much needed escapism from the real world. Check out the D&D website for more details on how to get started!