With role-playing games becoming more and more popular, online role-playing programs they are having their peak. Tens of thousands of groups are organized weekly to play a hobby that every day has more followers of all levels.
Having a good service to play online is a necessity when it comes to having an organized role-playing group in order to have games where everyone has a good time without having to learn a very complicated program. That is why we present here several programs and web services dedicated or that can be used to play online role-playing. Most likely, you will have to combine it with a Discord server or a Skype community call.
Before continuing, we advise that we do not recommend using Tabletop simulator. Although it is an engine that we recommend to play any board game, it pales in handling, accessibility and precision compared to the options in this article.
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How to choose a program to play role-playing online
Right now there are dozens of role-playing programs, some more famous and complete than others, and in this case we are going to focus on those that allow us to play online with other players, no single player games.
We will have several factors when recommending one online role-playing program over another. The main thing is that we are going to judge in a very important way how accessible the game is, because it is useless if it is capable of everything if it is impossible to handle by novice users. With this we say that we are going to look at how difficult it is to handle for the players as well as for the Master of the game, who is the one who will spend the most time learning about online role-playing programs, because due to his position he must know the singularities of the programs to get the best out of the players, campaigns and sessions.
Price also has a lot to do with it. there are programs that can easily cost hundreds of euros if the group is large. But if it has a lot of great features to justify the price, we'll give it a pass. For those who simply want a program to role-play with their friends in a casual way or are just getting into the hobby, we are going to prioritize free and easily accessible programs. As a general rule, everyone should have at least one way to display maps and tokens to players, in addition to simulating dice rolls natively.
Owlbear Rodeo, the simplest role-playing program
This program is relatively new, but it has quickly become a favorite of newer players looking for something fast, with established graphics, and relatively easy to use. Owlbear Rodeo is a website to play role-playing online, so it works in a browser, and we can even play the game from our mobile due to its more than good implementation.
In its favor there is no need to install or register anywhere, which makes it ideal for playing with someone who does not want to register elsewhere. Simply, whoever leads the game must give an invitation link to the rest of the players and they will enter. It has a number of tokens implemented and ready to use, although they are not the clearest. It also has a relatively easy fog of war system and grid and hex grid systems.
Everything is saved locally in the browser, so it is recommended to take backup copies of the service, something that comes standard. Its biggest flaw is that it is not the most comfortable for long campaigns, with referrals to be taken from session to session. It is ideal for one session campaigns or short campaigns if the master does not want to risk losing notes.
As we said, its biggest advantage is that it is the web to start role-playing online for free. They have a Patreon where they give access to development versions.
Roll 20, the free online role-playing service by browser par excellence
It is a bit strange for us not to start with Roll 20 as a program for play role-playing online for free. But being Owlbear Rodeo ideal for neophytes, Roll 20 is consolidated for those who have a Dungeon Master a little seasoned in role-playing games or who want to get a little more involved when it comes to giving more added value to their games.
Roll20 is perhaps the quintessential online role-playing service. It has a huge community of players who play all kinds of systems. Its free functions mean that you can handle all the games you want, as long as you limit the space you use to 100MB. This is not much if you want to run many campaigns, but past the point of being a sporadic hobby to being a hobby where you spend a good part of the time preparing games, perhaps paying for it will become necessary if you need large maps and custom tokens. Their prices are by subscription. But it is enough that the person who created the game has it so that everyone has all the premium features. From there it is organized if it is a regular group to make the joint payment.
With all this, Roll20 offers the results of the runs as standard. By integrating systems from various role-playing franchises, thanks to which we can see the result of a roll simply by clicking on a skill. It will give us the result in chat and we can share definitions of skills and a database where you can see important characters and documents. This makes it ideal for those who want to run a somewhat long campaign where it is important to have past encounters on hand.
It has a market with exclusive graphics, as well as role-playing manuals that give you access to the automatic integration of characters, races and content. They are not cheaper than on paper, but they are an ideal option to play online role-playing without problems.
Role, focused on video calls for role-playing
If we already mentioned that Owlbear Rodeo is highly simple, Role focuses on interaction with other players. Role is an online video service that has integrated functions for sharing images, putting tokens and relatively simple character sheets. It does not have the level of integration of Roll20, but it allows you to use a system without many complications.
The service is still in the testing phase and there is still time to have a final product. Its price is only 8 dollars for the Dungeon Master and players can have free accounts. So you are halfway between the hyper-simplicity of the Owlbear Rodeo and the great power of the Roll20. Keep in mind that it is focused on being a system that prioritizes video conferencing. If you do not want to do them or your campaign is not very focused on conversations, perhaps it is not the most recommended service.
Above VTT, all in one Chrome extension
If what you want is a program that includes everything we have shown, such as video conferencing, character sheet control, results calculation along with the simplicity of Owlbear Rodeo, Above VTT may be the solution. Its only downside is that you must use DnD Beyond imperatively.
Beyond is the official Wizards of the Coast service for managing Dungeons and Dragons resources in digital format. The biggest problem is that this is with most modules only in English and you have to pay for the content. In conjunction with Above VTT we have one of the best character managers and a video conferencing system with Jitsi. It does not have shared compendiums nor can you import monsters unless you create them as a homebrew, among other very specific functions.
This is designed especially for the Anglo-Saxon market, but it is free and you only pay for the role manuals at DnD Beyond. It has for free the dynamic fog of war that is only paid in Roll20 and is quite complete for someone who plays this system. However, if you plan to use another system like Fate or Old School, two systems that we highly recommend for novatis, you are going to have it highly complicated since Aobe VTT is a complement to a service for the DnD system.
But if you love DnD 5e, it's maybe the free service you need if you agree to pay Wizards for manuals and digital content. It does not have shared compendiums nor can you import monsters unless you create them as homebrew, among other drawbacks.
Foundry VTT, the fastest growing online role-playing service
We turn to services for those who are practically very advanced players and who are willing to invest time and money in making the experience of playing role online be of great added value. For this we have Foundry, considered as a hypervitaminized version of Roll20 for those who want to have all kinds of shortcuts and programmed functions. The interface looks much more careful than that of Roll20, and although we like the service, it is still an interface that exudes functionality rather than comfort.
Almost all Roll20 functions are in Foundry VTT, except for putting private messages. We have automatic fog of war, dynamic lighting, and shared compendia as standard. You have to make a single payment of about 50 euros to be able to save our campaigns on a server, which luckily only has to pay the Dungeon Master.
In return we will have access to a huge number of factory systems, as well as a very complete mod community. This option is highly recommended to very hobby players who like to take their time to prepare the best gaming experience by searching for mods and preparing games. Its biggest problem is that it is still in the Early Arcces phase and is relatively new, so if you like a mod, it is possible that in the next update it will no longer serve you. It is still a very good option for large campaigns and does not depend on regular payments, even if you have to make a somewhat larger initial outlay. Many Roll20 players are moving to Foundry.
Talespire, to play online role-playing in 3D
We continue with another role service under development. The cost of 25 euros is low, but it is per player and in return we will have an online role-playing system that uses 3D models with a good ability to share online. We will be able to share terrain modules through text threads. This makes it possible to share them via chat with other people or in plain text documents.
With a little programming and patience we can use them to give a cinematic atmosphere to our games. There are still many functions such as run calculation at the time we test it if it is not integrated with DnD Beyond. There is still a lack of a chat system and sufficient control of the character sheets, so for the moment we cannot leave it as one of our first options to play online role-playing.
Talespire seeks to emulate the great games with miniatures that many of us want to play, but whose cost and storage complicate it. If you're looking to make your games look like a movie, it might be a good idea to give this system a try.
Fantasy Grounds, a luxury and expensive online role
We leave this option until last because this only interests Dungeon Masters who are already professionals, those who have a wealthy role club, or players who are exceptionally involved and play a different campaign practically every night. Otherwise we see no way to justify the cost of Fantasy Grounds for online role-playing.
This program, which already has two versions being the most modern with Unity, is considered the luxury of online role-playing games. Each player must pay for the license of 40 euros, or have someone pay for the Ultimate license that costs 180 euros. It is joined by the expense of specific content for Fantasy Grounds, since none comes standard. If you already have a book or its digital version, you will have to buy it again for this service.
In return we will get what would be a much more complete version of what Foundry is now by a team that has been using this product for years. You can see its quality and the built-in creation tools. We can only recommend this system for loyal and dedicated clubs or professionals.
Conclusions, what to use to play role-playing online
With all this, you are probably wondering which system is best for preparing your games with your players. The most important thing is that everyone agrees on the system to use, because simply using Discord can work, but if you want something more than the so-called theater of the mind, a service like the ones we show may be necessary,
- Owlbear rodeo if you are going to play a campaign with very new people and it will be short. This website is ideal for groups of beginners who do not know if they can commit a lot.
- Above MTB if you are very fans of Dungeons and Dragons, and you buy the manuals online from Hasbro and you like the DnD Beyond website and you are English speakers.
- Role if your campaign drinks a lot from the narrative and the dialogues between characters instead of a lot of dungeon.
- roll20 if you want a free option to play role-playing online a campaign from almost any system.
- Foundry is a great idea for a somewhat improved version of Roll20 and you don't mind paying once to handle multiple campaigns smoothly.
- Fantasy grounds if you want to pay only once and you are a professional Dungeon Master or is it for a very dedicated group of players.
