So it looks like we won’t be back to drop-in D&D nights at our friendly local gaming stores any time soon.
The pandemic has kept would-be D&D players away from physical tables for nearly a year now, and though vaccines are rolling out, it’s looking to be another few months (at the earliest) before things go back to some semblance of normal.
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Well, there’s no better way to forget the worries of the world quite like escaping into the collaborative imaginations of TTRPGs… but the one snag there is that you actually need to have people to play with (even if it is just one other person).
Luckily enough for all of us, the internet exists! You may have been warned by your mom not to talk to strangers on the internet, but unless a Nigerian prince is offering to DM your game in exchange for your banking info, you should be fine.
Here’s how to rally a group of players together online to get a game of D&D going from the comforts of your own computer chair.
Find yourself a group
To play D&D you’ll need a Dungeon Master and some willing players. If you’re willing to DM, great! Your pursuit of a party just got that much easier. Head on over to the subreddit r/LFG (stands for Looking for Guys Game) and make a post explaining that you need some players to join your game. DMs are a pretty hot commodity, so you should have some bites in no time.
If you’re looking to be a player in a game… well, you should keep r/LFG opened and refreshed throughout the day so that you can be one of the first comments when a DM posts looking for a group.
There are many more wannabe players than DMs in the community, so you’ll be competing with others who want to secure a spot at that DM’s (virtual) table. Best of luck!
Of course, instead of converting D&D players into your friends, you could always convert your existing friends into D&D players; but that usually comes with the caveat of, you know, being the dungeon master and introducing them to the game.
Which I highly reccomend doing, even if you don’t thing you know everything about how the game works (pro tip: you don’t have to!).
Got a group together? Got a DM? Cool, you’re now ready for step 2:
Figure out how to communicate
Whether it’s setting up a Discord server, creating a Whatsapp group, or just messaging each other on Facebook like a bunch of middle-aged moms, finding a way to chat with the whole group is CRUCIAL.
Because you can’t play D&D unless you can find a time to play D&D, and you can’t find a time to play D&D unless you can properly communicate among your party members.
I swear, the number one killer of D&D campaigns isn’t vampires, or Tiamat, or the Deck of Many Things — it’s scheduling.
Set up your tech
If you managed to surmount the immense hurdle of aligning schedules, now you’ve just got to figure out how you’re going to play online. If you did create that Discord, you can use its voice and video functions to host the game.
Zoom, Skype, and Google Hangouts are all additional options for video calls.
If you’re playing a Theatre of the Mind campaign, congrats! That’s all you need. If you’re hoping to incorporate maps for combat and settings and all that jazz, the DM will need to figure out some sort of virtual tabletop software like Roll20, Fantasy Grounds, or Astral.
D&D Beyond also makes for a great home for character sheets, or you could just use physical copies and send photos to your DM whenever you make any changes.
After all that, you’re pretty much good to go! Sure, it can be a little daunting at first to reach out to strangers on the internet, but I’ve found that it’s much easier to establish a consistent D&D campaign with people who are willing to do the same than with IRL friends.
Plus there’s the added bonus of these internet strangers eventually becoming good friends — my two-year-long campaign is a testament to that possibility.
