Advice for Remote Play
When I was recently at Ravenwood Castle, it occurred to me that I am well into my second year of running roleplaying games almost exclusively online, a fact that I reflected on in a previous blog entry. I was speaking to a new friend about how running games in-person is so different from running games remotely and that got me thinking about how I had to learn to run my games differently when I began running sessions remotely. Being the naturally curious and research-driven person that I am, I began a deep dive into the web to discover the best way to translate the excitement of roleplaying from the tabletop to the digital realm when I decided to begin running games online. Here are some resources and tips that I have found useful.
The first resource I recommend checking out is a video by D&D Content Creator Ginny Di which you can find here. In the video, Ginny Di talks about all of the challenges your group will likely face when taking your game online. It is a fantastic place to start and I recommend having everyone sit down and watch the video before you set up for your first game. It is a great conversation starter for your group and gives a lot of great advice. Watching this video and then discussing with your players how you want to handle the potential stumbling blocks of online play is a great place to start.
The second reference I would recommend is Sly Flourish who has a fantastic article about how to integrate Discord into your roleplaying game and a short, but very helpful, video about calling on individual players during your session to avoid those awkward points in the game when no one wants to step over one another to act. As Mike mentions in the video, instead of describing the scene and asking what the player does, ask “What does your character think of this situation?” This gives the player agency and allows them to be reflective of their character’s inner thoughts without all of the characters stumbling over each other to act. Also in order to make sure that all of your players feel safe I also recommend making use of the safety tools provided in this article by Sly Flourish. Finally, if you want to set up your own Discord Channel, Mike from Sly Flourish put together a fantastic guide you can watch here.
One of the biggest hurdles noted by both Ginny Di and Mike from Sly Flourish is that there are no sidebar conversations in a remote game–anyone who is talking has the floor or is talking over other players. It is important for your players to be mindful of this. I personally recommend creating several lines of communication for your players to use. This is especially easy to do in Discord and I recommend making use of the following text channels.1) A main communication channel where all of the important information is kept. 2) A feedback channel where your players can make suggestions or voice their opinions. 3) A memes/jokes channel where your players can be silly or humorous without distracting from the main conversation. I really recommend this channel as your players always want to make jokes and you need to give them a place to do so.
I could also see the need for some groups to make use of a scheduling channel if they do not have a regularly scheduled game. Iif you are running a handout heavy game, you could also make use of a “Media”, “Handouts” or “Clues” Channel. And finally, I recommend having a Voice Chat and a Private Voice Chat. This way you have options for when you need to have a private conversation with a player in order to give their character a secret mission or such.
I hope you find this helpful when running your online games. If you want to see some of this in action sign up for our next session here or catch our stream!
Take Heart!
Karington Hess
Game Master and Founder of Open Heart Games
