D&D and many other role-playing games will soon be even more accessible via Discord. Artwork: Wizards of the Coast
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Soon you will be able to easily play Dungeons & Dragons, Fallout Pen & Paper and many more rules with your friends via Discord.
Nothing new, some of you might say now, because many groups of course already use the program to go on adventures together and coordinate – but it will soon become much more convenient. Because the large virtual tabletop tool Roll20 is officially integrated into Discord.
We explain what this means in concrete terms, how you can easily transfer your rules and campaigns into the tool and what else you should know. And if you've never heard of Roll20, you'll get the most important information right away.
Roll20 on Discord – what does that mean exactly?
What is Roll20 anyway? One website, where you will find many tools for VTT (Virtual Tabletop) if your gaming group is spread out. For example, you can buy digital rules for D&D and Co. there, walk around together on digital maps and find game groups. Roll20 has experienced huge popularity, especially since the Covid period.
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What's changing on Discord? Roll20 is integrated as an activity. This means you have access to all important functions directly with your Discord account:
- The complete VTT including maps, tokens and so on.
- Integrated character sheets, animated dice, compendiums.
- All your campaigns, assets and marketplace content.
- Access to the official modules for D&D, Pathfinder, Fallout and many other rule sets.
- Integrated video or voice chat via Discord.
How does this work? To use Roll20 in Discord, you simply have to link your two accounts. Since the activity is initially launching as a beta for Pro users, at least one of the group must have a Pro subscription in order to invite the others to the activity.
This is what the Roll20 activity looks like on Discord.
When does it start? The beta for testing purposes begins on April 30, 2024 and is initially open to Roll20 Pro users (and non-Pro friends who invite them). After a while the activity will be activated for everyone, but there is no release date yet.
In the official announcement Roll20 founder Riley Dutton explains the reasons for the cooperation:
We know that many of our users use Discord as a social hub for roleplaying, gaming, and more. We hope that Roll20 as a Discord activity will make it even easier to manage and play your games.
Roll20 on Discord is supposed to work on Windows, Mac and Linux. One less barrier if you have friends on different systems. In addition, the often annoying window switch between Discord and Roll20 is no longer necessary, as both run in the same program.
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Ready to Roll: The first episode of our Pen & Paper campaign – Noise in the Museum (ad-free)
The integrated voice and video chat at Roll20 is therefore expressly not being removed from the program. So you can still play completely via the website as usual if you don't feel like using Discord.
Pen & paper role-playing games have been experiencing a new upswing in recent years. Of course, among other things because of the famous role-playing group Critical Role and other streamers who broadcast their rounds live to a huge audience. But D&D was also introduced to many people through the Netflix hit Stranger Things. So it's no wonder that there are more and more practical tools for virtual tabletop!