Original subtitles

sure

okay so uh good afternoon everybody I'm

Francesco from metacoprativa and this is

the fourth webinar

in five webinar that we are running

regarding uh the role-playing game uh in

general

and in particular today we're going to

talk about RPG online and how to deal

with it and how what are the platforms

what are the tools what are the tips and

tricks to run a smoothly campaign

and um I'm not alone today I'm with the

helias that support us for the technical

part and uh I I'm also with the Barbara

uh who will talk uh and uh will share

some knowledge uh for us today

uh so

um

before starting actually uh some of you

might uh also have joined the other

webinar

and we'll leave some assignments uh I

don't know if some of you uh tried or

wants to share some of the knowledge

experience uh how it goes so it was

about if I'm not mistaken

implementing a role-playing game

activity

and so I'm wondering any of you

um

I don't know tried anything want to say

something about this

can I share sure

I am Natasha and I'm representing the

team called the RPG Lodge

okay we're based in Thessaloniki

and yes it's really nice to to listen to

this webinar like our main activities

practically to making some Gathering

events for RPG

so once a month

we meet and we play several games

and we have done some like online

talking

I can show you later the links about our

Facebook that's great thank you

um did you tried something recently or

um it's about a properly table top

airplane game it was about a board game

so it's about a LARP experience what

it's about if you want to share

uh before kovid we were only playing

um

like we were gathering and playing a

tabletop but then we we hosted also some

online events

that's good and uh what platform did you

use for uh the online things

uh

talking and chatting and Gathering up we

used Discord

and then we use the roll 20.

that's great sometimes Google Hangouts

that's great and uh how they went uh

were you happy about those experiences

and feedbacks were you satisfied

we were not expect

we don't need to meet people that are

not in our city also I'm not living in

the same city with my let's say Partners

in the team

so it was nice to do something together

even if we don't live in the same place

and also like people participate there

as well

that's great yes I agree I think that

the Gen the digital think uh allows a

lot of freedom in order to gather people

even uh from distant places or uh during

the pandemy of course uh when uh it

wasn't possible to go out it was

uh a huge opportunity for some of us in

particular actually I take the chance to

talk about uh

this uh digital thing the the tabletop

role playing games during the uh the

pandemic uh were used a lot in our

Cooperative the metacoprativa and

it was great because it was a really a

fundamental tool to keep in touch with

the youth and allowed us to uh to link

the people during that uh period of time

it was uh a great opportunity I think so

thank you for your sharing

so

um if

um some of you wants to share something

some thoughts otherwise we move on

and I would like to I will leave Barbara

introducing some aspects uh she will

talk about and so

let's start

all right guys hello uh in Barbara and

I'm representing Inspire from check now

I'll be sharing my screen

uh if there is some any issue and you

cannot see my screen

please let me know I can adjust it

we will

now

so let's start from the beginning uh

what different kinds of RPG can you

implement online I will be interesting

as you can see on the outline uh text

RPGs audio video call executed RPGs and

Game books which are also called

hyperlink fictions and then there will

be a quick discussion about what you

think what uh would be your preferred

style of RPG if you have any experience

with any of them and so on so

xrpgs are in general uh the most

comfortable one for most people because

you have a time

and your own piece and Pace in writing

what your character is doing I have a

uh this is RPG we are playing with my

friends uh excuse me uh I'm sorry it's

in check only I do not play any English

RPG but this is what text RPG looks like

each of the player has their own

character and they are writing what

their character is doing what they are

saying and this way we are creating a

story uh it is kind of like co-creating

of fan fiction or a book or just a

written story

uh there are two main times one of them

is RPGs in real time when all of the

players are sitting at their computers

or wherever they are playing and the

same time and they are responding uh

immediately as the message from the

previous player arrives now this in real

time uh kind of takes RPG uh is the best

for the immersion you are in the moment

it's you as if you are reading a book

you are just going through the story you

are in the character you feel the stuff

it's really

I love it it's my favorite I grew up on

text RPGs but on the other hand you have

to reserve a certain amount of time and

it can be really exhausting because you

are reading and writing for I don't know

from one hour up to four hours depending

on how intense the scene is how much

time you and your party uh have and so

on so it can be exhausting

but for me it is better experience a

more intense experience now the Forum

style it's about longer chunks of

descriptions of what your character is

doing

and they are posted over a longer period

of time for instance uh I write what my

character is doing on Monday when I get

off work and another player writes what

their work their character dates in

response in Wednesday when they are on a

trend or something so the pace is so

slower and the information in a text

there is more information in text

and in general you have more time to

think through what you want to do what

would the really the character how would

they respond and also it gives you the

advantage of extreme freedom in

character creation because you are not

so much limited by what you as a player

know and no not uh what you can do it

can do not uh so for instance if I who

do not know anything about biology would

like to play uh

I don't know uh PhD genetics I could do

it in foreign style because I would have

time to look up the smart words on

Wikipedia and I could sound smart which

I could not do in a real time or in real

time played game so

there's this then there are audio video

calls I guess that's the most uh used

and known kind of online RPG playing

uh I'm mentioning both of those because

they are different uh

first I will start with audio visual

audio visual is

kind of easier because you have a lot of

means by which you can express yourself

and express what your character is doing

you can not only talk and use your face

look who use what you are trying to say

what your character is feeling you can

also uh

you know use costumes for instance this

is one of our plays with my friends and

the costumes do a lot because you know

it looks it gets you in a mood and they

are fun

and they are fun actually that's the

skirt I have at my head it's a skirt I

just oh my head and

uh

you can use movements even though you

cannot touch other players as you would

in in real life uh game you can still

use your hands and try to uh show what

you are trying to do because a lot of

time it's easier to show than tell or

describe

also a connection to others is better in

general

this is the

easiest way to connect to the game the

story

uh when you are drawing only audio uh

there is a bigger challenge in trying to

express yourself in voices and sounds

only you can also use music it's a nice

uh touch to it it can be more fun and

can be more interesting and it can

definitely be more comfortable because

when you are doing in real life meeting

or online with video call you have to

look like a

something all the time because people

are seeing what you are doing

uh that can be some time problem also

when you are online I right now can see

my video here and it's making me super

nervous which is distracting me and if I

would be playing it would be distracting

me enormously from being my character

because I'm seeing what I'm looking like

and I might not like it and I might

start acting differently in a voice

calls or audio only calls this is not a

problem also it can be more comfortable

that you can be lying in a bed and just

listening to it as a podcast and

reacting when you feel the time

Bob

it can be hard to keep your attention

because you are not so forced to listen

uh you are not uh

people do not see when your mind or eyes

are drifting away so there can be a

movement when you just are staring in a

blank space and thinking about what you

will have for a dinner and then you find

out that instance if in it being a thin

Tavern you are already fighting a dragon

and if anything it's really rude to not

listen what your players are what your

co-players are doing are you talking for

personal experience Barbara

yes for the dragons in Tavern I mean I

have a great problem with keeping my

attention and online role-playing is

super hard on me in this case it's

really challenging to keep my attention

so me and my party we decided for my own

sake to make a regular breaks after one

hour so I can I don't know just clear my

head a bit do something else uh go

outside or something and then we come

back and then we are playing again it's

not ideal because we are breaking the

role play but it's better because then

I'm not

you know they are not missing important

parts

and the last thing I want to talk about

is our game books which as I mentioned

um before are also called hyperlink

fiction which I for instance didn't know

so if you are interested in a further

research look it up uh Game books you

might know also as a

physical bookie thing when you open the

book and you are going to a num numbers

of the pages of certain numbers uh

according to your decisions you do as

the story continues but it is necessary

to say it is the

fully create is fully create pre-created

story and you as a player do not have

any creative input which can be uh fine

for some people because they are

stressing over

I don't know not being funny enough or

not being true enough and this maybe it

will start uh to get into the world of

role-playing

but on the other hand sometimes you know

you may not be satisfied with the

pre-written paths because there are

still multiple paths or story paths you

can follow

uh but most but not always

the options are always what you as a

person would do

uh but we are using Game books a lot at

our larps when we are creating a Pioneer

encounters with some uh creatures or in

some at some locations we are making

mini game books with like

uh 10 to 20 decision points which are

really just for the players to have some

fun and they are really basic and then

can be a nice like

um nice detail to a whole campaign or or

to a whole uh to whole art but if made

as a thing that is working on its own

then there is a lot of work game master

or creator has to put into it and they

can be really demanding but I read some

really good game books

[Music]

who makes it because it's super hard and

but also fun so go for it try to read it

try to create something always say you

have to ask yourself what would I do

would I run would I

I go forward and options if

[Music]

uh just do a lot

now because different different stories

are more suitable for different mediums

for instance uh if you

want to do something really

uh some extra with virus and something

it probably will not be perfect for text

RPGs as they are more complicated as

there is more complicated to describe

really what is happening it's harder to

decide who is when who is not because

there are no uh rules usually

on the other hand when you want when you

know you are limited to play or Audio

Only it would definitely be good to

think about it when creating a story or

campaign for instance uh

create a world in which we are in the

middle of apocalypse and the players can

only talk to each other through uh

walkie-talkies so they cannot really see

each other make it part of the story so

it it makes sense it's better it's more

engaging

you know you can always work with what

you have but in the end you have to it's

better to try stuff out to find out what

to do most because sometimes I just am

in the mood

like RPG

if I play online

so

you play online and um to show or see my

place pace so I am playing text RPGs so

that's about it

now

what about discussion

um does anybody here have any experience

with any of the

Styles I mentioned what uh what do you

like the most would you prefer actually

there's already a comment in the chat

yeah

agreed on the attention part

okay

in order to keep focus and understanding

what was going on uh yeah really the

attention is a big problem especially

online I will talk about it a little bit

in my next presentation about

my tools you create online campaign and

I will talk about session zero uh during

session zero usually players and the

game master talk about what they are

comfortable with what they are not

and like what do they need so if there

would be session zero at your RPG there

would be some agreement on how

need to make breaks so you keep your

attention or for instance that you need

to see a video or pictures

to keep your attention so yeah that's a

problem and if you will be game

mastering any campaign any story uh if

you think about it

because game Masters as they are all

taught or like in part of the story all

the time

they sometimes forgot that some players

are not

uh

okay anything else I say to ask

personally I agree

uh with uh uh you have been said in

particular on the thing

um

at least that it really mattered to me

it was about experimenting so it's not

really about something that is the best

solution uh but um role-playing gaming

is a vast world and it can be really

funneled in a lot of different ways and

I agree in the

the fact that experimenting is always

good because gives you an awareness of

what works best for that situation in

particular

um even Audio Only or text only

experiment experiences could be great in

the right moment with the right people

so yeah I think that uh

it's uh it's more about the personal

experience after all

so

uh Barbara if you have done I can

continue

if uh I guess I'm done nobody wants to

to share some thoughts or feelings about

this

uh so

uh role-playing games are uh most

importantly about stories

and uh there are tools of course like

the the one we have been talking about

the Discord the Skype

um but also virtual tabletops like rule

20 founder of EDD fantasy grounds and

stuff like that but the main point is

they all serve the purpose of

Storytelling the story so I think that

uh you as a facilitator or a youth

worker you should also considering yes

of course uh learning how to handle the

right tools uh

uh

um a game set again uh the rules of the

game so first of course you are supposed

if you want to implement

um a live a digital

um storytelling session of role-playing

game you first have supposed to decide

which kind of games for example Dungeons

and dragon 5e is one of the most popular

uh role-playing game but it's not the

only one there are tons dozens of many

others first decide what kind of games

then focus on what kind of plot performs

you're gonna use and then of course

decide the story you want to tell

uh the story depends of course on the uh

your purposes your educational aims but

um the the idea the suggestions of the

story it can be brought from what uh

your experience actually you can invent

by yourself but you also can be

influenced by TV shows or books or Media

or a good movie that you watched and if

you keep that frame in mind and you

alter some uh and modify some characters

some details you will find out that you

come up with a story pretty soon and

pretty easily so

um

I suggest you to keep the thing the

right things in mind and keep keep it as

easy as possible because uh storytelling

is an art and uh like many other Arts

you can dive into it like for an

eternity for your life actually without

reaching the depth of the of that world

but uh it's also true that it can be

really easy if you focus on the right

things so the story and I suggest you to

to starting in particular from the if

you are a beginner

um I suggest you to be influenced by

some movies TV shows video games or

stuff like that so it's a pretty well

already made story uh it can also be

influenced of course from the sources of

uh internet there's uh so many

Chronicles already made for you to uh to

to use at your advantage

and uh to decide the game of course this

is about about some rules and stuff like

stuff good to know

and also uh and and now I'm arriving to

the today's topic uh choose your

platform and today we're going to talk

to you about the role 20 that's probably

one of the most uh famous virtual

tabletops that allows you

um to host a session or join them as a

player and uh and there the point is uh

to decide what are the main infos the

main point The crucial points and start

from there

um but first

um also keeping in mind that in Virtual

tabletops it's not about the audio and

video things uh

that's more about the live tabletop the

digital

um

platform

on often need some materials some music

some pictures some tokens some maps and

this material you're supposed to collect

on the internet there are some a lot of

website or

you can find some of those items in role

20 itself

uh in order to make some visual impact

some also some uh some music for the

atmosphere as Barbara said

I don't want to I don't know if Barbara

wants to watch something else about the

new light tools that can support you

yes I can

again I will try to share my screen

foreign

[Music]

if you can see the presentation

yes yes

Perfect all right so

speaking of tools uh I try to condense

them into four most important

uh groups that are most important if you

want to run an online campaign

now the first one will be platforms for

communication the second one will be

platforms for notes taking then maps and

setting creators and last but not least

the gameplay

and then I will mention some details of

course and there will be conclusion

now for communication there is important

to mention the foreshadow session zero

uh when you are playing of normal

uh normal

game or campaign you usually meet with

other players and your game master

to talk a bit about who you if you don't

know each other to meet to

uh uh how about Tuesday what experience

with RPG do you have what do you expect

from this campaign or from this game or

for instance with the i o triggers which

are really important to know for

everybody else in your party so they can

avoid uh making you uncomfortable while

playing and

when playing online we do something

called session 0.0 when we meet before

anything else and we settle down on

which platform will we be using before

because we found out that every device

every computer for some reason prefers

different uh different software they

work differently they we don't know how

it works but it is what it is so there

are things like Discord which are quite

royalty purpose but at the same time we

tend to have quite a lot of issues

there are platforms like Zoom which on

the other hand are uh really good and

reliable but they are paid for or you

are limited to 45 minutes I believe it

was like that like a year ago and after

uh 45 minutes you the meeting would shut

down and you will have to start again

which is not really desired when you are

in the middle of a an important scene

so here are just some tips in general

this whole presentation will be about me

giving you tips uh which I consider to

be a good starting point but by any

change do not feel limited or

to use them

yes they are just something for you to

get inspired

um when it comes to notes we found out

that it's always best to what people are

all about so if you are used to using

Facebook a lot by all means create a

Facebook group and post information or

documents about your character and

sessions and discoveries to a Facebook

group me and my friends are really used

to using Discord so we have all the

notes on Discord we have different

channels for different kind of stuff

also we are using quite often Google

Docs and disks I I have a fool

will it works I'm sorry because my

internet is

running a bit slow but I hope

[Music]

I shared Google disk look like for

it was just a shared Google Docs uh

folder where we me my game master shared

okay I wrote the calls there from every

session he gave me a Visions because I

was playing for a uh for a fortune

teller and we exchanged it like that

because we both were used to using

Google documents and we were felt

comfortable with it also they are more

complex and I don't know fancy tools you

can work you can use like word of anvil

and again I will not even try to open it

because it would break my computer in

oh

probably I don't know uh map creators

then again you don't have to be fancy

when playing RPGs online oh generally

you don't have to be fancy when playing

any RPGs you can keep it simple but

sometimes if you have the time if you

have the energy if you

have the ideas you can make it more

fancier because your players will

appreciate it they will like uh

well-known Maps they will enjoy that

you're doing a fan art Graphics making a

custom soundtracks

it is something that elevates the game

just to a Next Level it is it is not

necessary for the players to enjoy the

story to enjoy their characters but it

is a nice thing to add so I listed here

a four major Max creators which I know

about and my friends are using I'm not

creating myself but I ask them what they

think about each of them

now uh dungeon draft and wonder draft

they are one-time purchase all of those

I'm listing here have some kind of free

trial

but

usually if you want and the free trial

is usually restricting you to create a

certain amount of maps but if you pay

you have more tools and unlimited amount

of maps you can create

now dungeon draft is uh for 20 I mean

dollars or Euros one-time purchase and

wondercraft is about 30. and they both

have really nice clean art they are

compatible

with a lot of gameplay platforms and in

general there is dungeon craft is

permanently for locations I want the

craft for a whole Maps but I mean

they can you can Google them up and you

can see for yourself if you like them I

love them

all the time

I couldn't leave without them

and Dungeon Park uh is subscribe monthly

for I don't know something about five

euros it's not so much

and it was really versatile nah

you don't have to use creators if you

want to go fancy create them up you can

do it all the way and draw it on a paper

then scan it and maybe run it through

Microsoft Paint or I don't know uh make

some red crosses there where the

treasure lies and you have a map and it

works just as well

you can download download some maps

which are already pre-created and are

free to use online and so on so if you

do not feel like creating a map you

don't have to but if you want to try it

here are the options

now and most important for the gameplay

I chose those five platforms of which

three I am regularly using and one I uh

know as a software but I'm not using for

RPGs

the one I'm not using for RPGs is

tabletop simulator we bought it during a

Corona because me and my friends wanted

to play uh

tabletop tabletop games

uh because we just love them and we had

flown of withdrawal symptoms when we

were shaking because we couldn't play

our uh our Palm so it was really bad so

it is really good for that

but I find it problematic if you have if

you do not have good computer because it

the software is quite demanding

and it's it can be from the beginning

weird to uh move in there because it's

like virtual virtual reality when you

are moving around the table and but you

have can have figures you can roll dices

it's really cool but from the point of

view when you want to be practical and

reach your information well and know

where everybody is and you'll find it so

good

uh then there is a roll 20. which is I

feel like it was one of the most used

one of the most used uh gameplay

Platforms in past few years it really

rocked up during Corona and I like it to

roll oh a rock I like it a lot because

it's super versatile you can do chat

games the text RPG I showed you earlier

we playing we are playing it on Roll 20

because we can whisper there we can have

multiple characters on One account

we can have character sheets we have

some space next to the actually I can

show you uh roll 20. I pre-loaded it

oh

excuse me talk

so this is uh

this is

um

yes

okay

so this is from 20 here sometimes our

game master sends us some uh pictures

here we have our text space when we are

texting for our characters I have

multiple characters on my account

because I am playing for some other

characters as well I can I we do not

have character sheets here but if we

would I could have them here and look

into them uh roll also offers you

uh to uh roll automatically

you know roll is really nice quite

simple intuitive you can get to it quite

easily it is for free and it offers you

everything you need to ex uh to execute

the campaign

and what is most important if it's not

very demanding you don't have to

download any app anything

Foundry with your tabletop and fantasy

grounds I find those two quite similar

they both are uh

applications you have to download

programs you have to download into your

device they are a little bit more

demanding when it comes to uh

to the computer but I am playing on a

little okay color and I'm doing fine

so do not worry you just cannot like at

the same time uh be I don't know

playing poker online but nobody wants

that uh therefore the similar I am using

fantasy grounds and I really like how

how supportive they are for players who

are playing with rule

rule-oriented RPGs for the first time in

fantasy grounds you have uh character

sheets and they are helping you

calculate how many and which devices you

are rolling what you are adding for

bonuses and it's really good once you

enter all the that data of your

character in it's really easy to use the

character which is nice uh

it is paid service though only one

person

actually only one uh the game master has

to own the game to be able to invite

anybody else and from what I know when I

ask my friends it usually is that the

party

everybody pays a bit from the whole

amount and then they are sharing the

the entrance code

or the yeah the entrance code so

that's usually how it works from what I

heard and when it comes to something

really

uh super easy to start working with no

login no downloading immediate

um

usage uh we are using all bear Rodeo

which is on my own uh web application

or web app when you where you upload

your map

and other players can join with a code

you send them and you can

use uh things like folk of War which are

which is helping you to answer on

to make some things not visible

or you can use tokens you can use some

basic marking stuff

and that's really all you need so if you

are playing your Campaign which was

usually which was originally not

supposed to be using a map but you are

in the middle of a fight or somewhere

and players seems to be seem to be

confused and not sure where they are how

many Orcs or doors they are seeing you

can use Alba Rodeo it takes no time to

make it run everybody is uh you can see

the map in a moment they can move their

tokens you can allow them to see what

you want them to see and it is really

user friendly it is super simple

thank you

and of course and Francis as Francisca

mentioned details details really matter

and

I recommend them uh music you want to

have some nice background

chattering or light flutes or whatever

comes to your mind that would be fitting

uh we sometimes have a our game master

is uh he likes writing songs so he is

writing our

are songs that are part of the story for

instance there is a riddle hidden in in

the song we have to listen to the song

in a Tavern and then figure where we are

supposed to go or what is happening from

the song which can be real fun and it

again makes you engaged in different way

and Graphics uh make it look nice uh

allow players encourage your players to

have a profile pictures of their

characters uh draw fan art if you are

artistic person may things look nice

show your players pictures when you can

you know

just make colorful and engaging and fun

now what I feel uh to be a real

advantage of playing online is that for

instance with music and your game master

decides that some music is suitable for

some scene you don't have to accept his

what is it design choice

because you can simply mute this new the

source of uh of the music and you can

put on your own music which I actually

am using quite often because I am really

some cracky person and I am creating my

own soundtracks for each campaign for

each character

and not so often what game master is

playing really

goes with what I have in mind so I'm

playing my own music in a background

while I'm playing with others this would

be really hard if we were in one room in

person so

it's a nice

actually I wanted to let you know about

this Advantage you have

and

it's pretty much all for me be aware of

your limitations of online be prepared

for uh online softwares to not work

because I did not have one single

session where everything would work

finally like not single one or

somebody's internet were down somebody's

connection was unstable somebody's

microphone was not working

somebody's cat jumped

from I don't know somewhere and break

something and something was not working

every time so count on it uh make during

the session zero talk with others what

will you do when uh technical issues

occur

will you continue without the player

will you be waiting for the player if

you will be waiting for how long

do they have 15 minutes to repair it if

they do not prepare it in time we will

continue or will you end the session for

the day you know it's good to

have these things pretty cited in

advance so then you know what you can

work with

uh now what I said before different game

different styles of some games need to

be need to have really good video so you

can see what others are doing how they

are I don't know they are smiling if

they are not at this game do not really

need video at all

uh some need some specific uh writing uh

writing stuff I don't have words I'm

sorry for instance when we are playing

our text RPG we need to have an option

to whisper to each other

so that's why we chose raw because it

was the best we could find uh best uh

software we could find that would suit

our needs and don't be afraid to keep it

simple

uh if you

have time energy you can improve your uh

your campaign but do not get a super

over focused on creating Maps when you

do not even have basic story when you do

not even have players Maybe

you know

start from the beginning and build it up

and that's pretty much it

so thank you Barbara I think you uh

clear enough I wonder if uh is there any

question about this uh if some of you

are some thoughts who wants to share

and really you don't have to be afraid

to ask or comment on anything

we are here to introduce you to what we

like and what we feel is valuable and we

want you to understand it and or and we

will be super happy to tell you anything

about it really

foreign

now I'd like uh to talk with you about

something a bit more practical

um

because in this kind of field we there

are a lot of words that must be spoken

but uh in the end it's all about uh what

are you gonna do

and um I'm trying I would like to talk

about role 20 some Basics information

that you need to know in order to play

to run a role-playing game a digital one

so I will share the screen

I don't know if you can see the screen

okay great yes we can uh this is a a

common profile on Roll 20. uh as Barbara

said rule 20 is one of the most popular

user friendly platform but even though

it's the most user probably one of the

most user-friendly there are some

Notions uh to know and we today we

talked about this

so before

um

before the game you're supposed to

create an account a free one year it's

also okay even though the premium one

can unlock a lot of uh cool features

let's keep with the premium the the the

free one it's gonna be okay for now

so we

go here

and this is for for instance uh a common

game that you can easily create

and hit the launch game button

roll 20 is gonna prepare some things and

then we'll put you probably on a very

blank chord something like this at the

beginning there's a grade I don't know

if you can see

it's gonna be a blank thing actually

in this blank thing that we call scene

uh we can put uh images like Maps like

the the one Barbara said or PNC portrait

Landscapes or whatever you think you

might need that help you to tell the

story so just consider these scenes that

you can

add

from this left up Corner very easily

consider the screams as spaces for you

to experiment to create

this for instance I put this image but

actually you can put whatever image you

want

and today let's try to talk with a very

basic uh very basic story

but before uh talking about this let's

try to go uh toward first things to know

so number one

um the game

uh the story and the platform as we said

so the game DND 5e is gonna be okay for

a beginner but uh

in even Advanced people tend to like

this game uh even though

um there are many others uh uh actually

and not very fine fond of uh this game

but I I know that it's uh there's a huge

Community it's pretty easy after all and

it's very well supported with a lot of

materials that can be downloaded or both

for you to uh run Chronicles and and

stuff

second part second Point as Barbara said

the the audio video on Roll 20 actually

tends to be unpredictable on Roll 20. uh

even though it's possible uh that's why

Barbara suggested you to to try other

Alternatives like uh for example Zoom or

Skype or whatever your Discord or

whatever you like actually and my

suggestion is to keep it separate so uh

roll 20 is best used uh just for the

game normally and on the other hand you

can run a Discord or a Skype calls or

whatever you need to to establish the

link for the audio video things

and then the third Point uh it's about

the material uh before entering the roll

20 things I suggest you to uh to collect

some materials and the materials can be

collected uh once again as Barbara said

on Pinterest on Google on uh internet

pretty easily actually uh for example if

you uh just like I don't know search a

fantasy Tavern

I don't know what's gonna happen

you just click right here put the images

and then bam

Thorns of

portraits some of uh cool things that

you can use at your advantage because

they are free and you can download them

and you can just put inside your game

pretty easily actually

and so my suggestion is once again to

prepare a little bit before roll 20. so

it's gonna be a bit smoother when you

prepare the session

then some practical stuff uh let's say

you have done all of it or most of it

you're in a blank space and you're

supposed to know how to move so the pen

is with the right click on the mouse you

can do like this

you can create the little hand and uh

you know we can Pan the the visual but

you can also zoom in or zoom out with a

little wheel on your mouse so with these

two commands you control pretty

everything the left clicking it's

actually about more uh the selecting

option in the left up corner you can see

the select uh tool I'll select the

little square on the left up corner and

you can actually move the things this is

for a text but you can move uh images or

tokens

what about the tokens so tokens let's

say there are little figures little

images or your uh of the people on your

map we are gonna talk about this with a

map so it's a bit easier for you to

understand but it's uh actually it's a

very simple concept there is a map and

there are all the things you can move

that represent the character in the map

moving so it's gonna be really easy when

I'll show you the map in front

the fifth point the division in scenes

as I said here in the patch page two bar

on the right up corner you can see the

the scenes some of the scene I already

prepared but it as I showed you it's

really easy to to create new pages just

one click and then you can just go

inside whatever you think you might need

this for example is an interior location

of a church or a temple or something

like this

um with the visual impact you might

notice that they're a bit easier for you

to to be engaged to be to uh to be part

of it the narration but there's of

course there's also going to be a little

of narration a cool master will give you

some cool description of what you feel

inside of this place why you are in this

place and what you want to obtain what

your uh what's your purposes uh maybe

someone you want to meet

or um I don't know you there are tons of

possibility depends on the story so as I

said previously also the story uh can be

really uh uh it's actually really

important and I suggest you to to have

uh the clearest uh idea about the story

you want to tell because this will save

you tons of time

and today uh

this is the grid as I you probably might

see this is gonna help you to move the

tokens

I'll show you one

let's say this one is going to be okay

here it is I don't know if you can see

this uh the little uh Ginger guy

I think it's a dwarf or nomesh probably

and uh this token uh as part of the

material you can easily find on internet

is gonna be uh probably one of the

character uh ruled by one of your

players and you can move it with the

arrows on your keyboard or with your

mouse or whatever you want to just

whenever you wherever you want and this

is gonna be handy with a map on the

background

I'll show you

this one this is a Sci-Fi setting for

example

zoom out a little bit so it's probably

as some facility of some sort of

probably a spaceship and uh these are

tokens

they are a bit different as you might

notice but it's the same the same

concept actually the red guys are

supposed to be at the enemies the the

really tough guy who want to do

something and this is this uh the

protagonist as I said the token can be

moved pretty easily and uh you it's

um it's helpful in order to recreate uh

conflicts and battles in particular

during those

points the map can be really handy

during the narration the the talking

like you met you meet someone some guy

and you talk with him and doing stuff

like that it's it's not really a

necessity but it can be a necessity a

bit more during the conflicts because uh

some of your players can ask you okay

but where am I exactly uh am I in front

of the bad guys I might am I out there

side and this kind of things is really

Troublesome if you consider that our

role-playing game party can be three

four five or six people or maybe more

and this can be a bit confusing if you

rely just on your chat on your narration

or your storytelling because you're

supposed to make the clear thing for six

people or more but with a map with

something like this it can be a bit

easier so if players say okay I don't

want to fight with them they're seeing

tough I just want to escape it's a bit

easy for all the other people to

consider where is the the person in

particular and how to deal with that in

real time

so uh this is the main use of the grid

the map and the tokens

let's come back a bit and let's talk

about uh seven the point number seven

the layers and the stratification

uh so um in row 20 but also in other

virtual tabletop there's this concept

it's about the layers and normally there

are there are at least three layers the

map layer the token layer

as I show you like this but also the GM

layer so this is about a bit more for

the narrator for the storytelling in

order to participate in this you don't

need to know the concept of layer but if

you want to run a game of course you do

because uh

for example if we want to continue in

this part let's say we have this

situation this protagonist is supposed

to I don't know keep this item it's

supposed to be I don't know uh an

artifact or a bomb or whatever you think

you need

uh but probably

um let's say you don't want to show him

immediately that he is right there maybe

it's concealed uh in some way hidden in

some aura or whatever and you can put it

in the GM layer

you might see that now the token is OPAC

and this is uh because players is not

are not uh supposed to see this item

anymore but we see SDM because it's the

GM layer let's consider them as a

stratification of the hidden objects

this is for the token the token layer so

um it's more about the the thing that

moves around the area and normally our

characters of or antagonists like this

and they are pretty easily to to move as

you see but there's also another layer

the map layer in which there is the

image of the map itself

so it's a bit a way for the roll 20

things to to clean a bit word out the

things in and in which layer normally

we'll you will start to recreate

something like this just putting the map

in the map layer and you can do it like

uh putting an image right clicking

like this and you can see this layer and

you uh my advice is to put the the map

probably in the uh

the the layer I've been talking about

the map layer because you won't move

anymore

because uh we will move to the upper

layer to the Token layer

right now

and so in this layer when I click on the

map and nothing is moving and it's a bit

more stable and you can as a DM move

freely all the tokens around without the

fear of moving also the map you know you

can you can do a bit more of chaotic

things let's

like this

I'm moving the whole map away and that

can be a bit confusing for the people

so just keep this in mind the map layers

for the map very easy the tokens are for

the tokens layer you wouldn't bet and

finally the GM layer this is completely

optional it's okay just to consider the

first two the map and the token are okay

but if you want to I don't know to show

the players something that appeared

immediately for for example the

antagonist maybe they were invisible for

some armor or for whatever reason you

can put for before in the GM layer then

go

in the uh the GM layer overlay and the

left up corner and From This Moment

put it in the token layer when you

decide you want to show to the player

like this bam and comes back from being

opaque

to being fully visible

so this is just a concept to keep it in

mind and I suggest you to experiment

because I think that it might be a bit

more astonishing at the beginning but

it's very easy when as soon as you get

into it and as soon as you try it

so these are the things I wanted to talk

about that from the very beginning and

now we dive a bit into a story

uh the story

um let's say uh it's let's keep in mind

a very simple story

this let's say that this guy

this is a a portrait once again I

downloaded all the images I put in there

and uh let's say this guy is supposed to

uh accompany you ask you to to be with

him uh for um

to to be to fight

uh some enemies that uh are inside of a

strange place now let's talk about this

uh fantasy setting and uh let's talk

about a swamp for example or a forest

and if the party accepts probably after

a journal

you will find something like this the

right spot the entrance of this strange

Tower and as soon as you go inside of it

you will find that it's connected

with some caves underground and this and

the things can be tricky of course I'm

just skipping and just moving forward

but in every place for every encounters

the DM will talk about this we'll

describe a lot of the things that

happens wait for the players to answer

and go on

the party explorers the the caves but

then find out

that are not so easy

to be explored this can for example is a

map it's a completely different uh thing

but it's uh share the the things that we

needed a cave

so

let's bring again our little guy

that represent the whole party the whole

group

and actually we can move it and decide

to explore the caves

there are several decisions to be made

you can go in opposite way

you will find uh obstacles probably you

can find antagonists traps or whatever

and when we go from the very end of it

let's say here

it will probably find a bad guy

it's a kind of a monster or something

like this and after a huge fight a cruel

one

there's a little plot twist

and it kind of he discovers the parties

discovers that the the guy from the

beginning is actually someone who just

wants to exploit the party and the the

death of the party living alone before

the main conflict

this is just a simple story you know but

if the party is succeeding uh facing the

antagonist the monster the dragger or

whatever you want to call it and uh he

succeeded in finding uh the truth and

come back from the the dangerous place

a story has been unfolded you know and

the party can just decide if uh look

after this guy that betrayed the party

or just moving on or whatever it's up to

the party

but this is just an example for me to

show you how simple can be to to

describe a story it's just about how the

flow is and what kind of uh

um what kind of pictures what kind of

maps what kind of tokens you might need

even though at the beginning I know it's

really difficult because in particular

when you're a beginner you don't know a

lot of stuff that's why it's important

to experiment

and don't be afraid to to to do some

mistakes it's really okay it's really

unnatural for the flow but the point is

that when you step forward step into the

process so you will find that uh rule 20

but in general a lot of virtual tabletop

can at your can be at your disposal to

tell the stories and if you are a

facilitator if you are a YouTube worker

you can use

this kind of Storytelling to to uh to

follow your objective to follow your

aims educational one

for example you can put some tests some

riddles some

mathematic things in order to uh to open

a sealed a magic seal door or whatever

some linguistical riddles

and that's can be useful if you think

that maybe this play is

um is for I don't know uh foreign people

that still might uh understand your

language and can be used in a lot of

different ways

so this is just a very simple thing

and I don't want to talk uh much more

because

I'm afraid I can

put some too much material from the

beginning but just keep in mind that the

the for the visual part you will work

with the steps these scenes and for the

Music Park you will work in this

category over here and you just you know

you can add some uh

some tracks you probably already uh

downloaded and just put inside your game

because as Barbara said it's really

important and the details in the uh this

kind of role-playing games are very

fascinating I can be a loot a huge

difference

so I think uh that's pretty much it uh

but if some of you ask some question

feelings are false or you some of you

ever tried as a DM or maybe just as a

player it's okay if you want to talk

foreign

I also think it would be nice to mention

that a lot of gameplay softwares like

row 20 uh fantasy grounds uh Foundry vtd

offer you to buy or use pre-made

campaigns when you do not feel like

creating your own story or you just like

something you've seen somewhere you can

use that for instance when there was a

new system of city of mist we wasn't

sure if we weren't sure if we want to

buy the core books and start playing by

the system so we bought a One-Shot uh

played on Roll 20 and the advantage of

the pre-create one shots or campaigns in

general is everything is set up you have

the maps finished you have the tokens

you have the story you have the

encounters

and you are just executing you as a game

master the story for others and that is

some people think that this is uh

cheating or something it definitely it's

not you are giving it your Creative

Energy and you are uh making the story

come come to life so this is just

um I mean for you if you do not feel

like creating Your Own Story just yet

you can use pre-creative campaigns which

are uh compatible with uh most of the

gameplay tools

sure I completely agree uh and I was

thinking that uh even in other Arts if

you think about it like

in paintings even Raphael or

Michelangelo at the start they started

copying other things already made

for and you know and to to interiorize

the autonomy and this is very much

applicable to to our setting to our

things it's in my opinion it's uh and

it's an art a completely an art by

itself and uh at the beginning if you

copy it's uh just is completely fine and

can help you a lot during the struggle

of the very few day every first days as

a dungeon master and uh yes it can be a

bridge toward your expectations

what do you think about this does

anybody wants to say something

I'm not sure if this is a demonstration

of uh attention lost or it just we left

you speechless isn't it or if they were

just too good work

it's okay

[Music]

um

even if you want to say something in the

chat it's it's also okay

um

so if some of you is a bit shy don't

don't be afraid at all you can just chat

and

[Music]

um

regarding in the final part regarding

the a little assignment we we have been

talked a lot today but I agree I think

that it's uh very important to do to

keep it practical to keep it simple and

there's uh there's no an easier way to

do that if you just just try to

experiment so that's why

I want to share with you this

little slide over here

a little assignment if some of you wants

to try once the experiment it's not

about a test it's just for yourself you

know for your personal growth and

I dare you to try and to prepare an

online LARP or role-playing game

it's it's okay to copy as I said it's

okay to download a free material it's

okay to experiment because this can be

the real difference between between uh

you know some that just uh didn't tried

but uh or on the contrary some that uh

instead uh stepped forward and make the

difference actually

and if some of you want to try in during

the the last uh webinar uh the fifth

webinar uh we will talk about this and

you will find colleague of ours to talk

about it

so thank you

for your attention

thank you for your presence for you

thank you for everything we I hope that

uh it was somehow interesting

and uh

I think that's it from my side I don't

know if uh Barbara or Elias or wants to

say something

thank you very much uh Francisco Barbara

um from my side I will be sending you

the evaluation forms of uh this webinar

and some extra information so feel free

to fill it up which uh takes one to two

minutes but it's very very helpful for

us the organizations and the whole

project itself thank you for your

attention

and I thank you for coming here for

being interested into RPGs and Lars

hopefully you will make your own

campaigns soon enough

and so

I think that's it and uh goodbye

everybody

and uh

uh have a great evening and uh hopefully

a bright future in the role-playing game

stuff

thank you good night bye bye everybody