Playing Online Without a Virtual Tabletop

My name is Eric Lamoureux and I've been playing tabletop RPGs online for over 12 years with a variety of tools.

The novel Covid-19 pandemic and social distancing have forced many tabletop RPG enthusiasts to migrate their game online. For many, playing virtually is something totally foreign. Choosing a solution among an abundance of options is daunting.

While I believe using a Virtual Tabletop (VTT) is a preferable option in the long run, they also come with a learning curve. If playing online is a temporary solution for you and your group, I believe there are more simple alternatives.

This article intends to explain to you how I've managed to run a game online without the use of a VTT; more specifically Savage Worlds.

I see a lot of people looking for complicated solutions to play online but when you really stop to think about it, most of the features that VTTs offer, although useful, are not absolutely necessary. Ask yourself this? Would I need that feature to run a game face to face? If the answer is no, you probably can do without it along with the learning curve and technical problems associated with them. Running Savage Worlds requires a few essentials.

• A group of people
• A way to communicate with the group
• A copy of the rulebook
• Props (dice, character sheets, a deck of cards, and Bennies)

Chances are you already have a group to play with so I'll save recruiting for another article.

A good way to communicate with other people through the internet is with audio and video conference software. Your cellphone is loaded with such apps. However, I believe that a desktop computer or laptop is better suited for this—at least for the Game Master. Skype and Discord are free and popular options. They are also easy to use. Not only do they allow you to communicate verbally but they also allow video if you have a webcam. They also enable you to share handouts (images and files.)

As for the rule books, your shelf and harddrive are most likely full of them. While certain VTTs (Fantasy Grounds) enable you to give access to an encrypted version of the rule books with your group without violating copyright, it is a luxury, not an essential. I'm sure that if you need to look something up, someone with a copy of the book can help you out. There is also the option of purchasing your own digital or physical copy.

You also have more dice than you need. Character sheets can be filled out digitally or printed out. Point is if you're playing Savage Worlds, you already own all of these props, including a deck of cards and Bennies. Each player can roll their dice at home and declare what they rolled. This is called the honor system. And to be honest, when I play face to face, I rarely pay attention to what others are rolling and just wait for them to tell me what they rolled.  There are also several dice rollers apps out there in case you're one of the few who doesn't own a set of dice.

So how do I manage all of these props as the GM? When it's time to deal initiative, I draw a card, show it to the cam and lay it in front of me (the space between my keyboard and monitors) in the order of the avatars or camera feeds. So if on my screen I see Tim, Karla, Bruno, and Nancy in that order, this is the same as if they were sitting in front of me. I draw their initiative cards in the same order. This is also the same order I lay down their stack of Bennies in the row above the cards. For the bad guys, I use minis or any other tokens to represent them by my mouse. I also try to keep minis to represent the PCs as well. If one is shaken, I can lay the mini down just as I would if playing face to face. I have tokens to represent the various conditions in Savage Worlds such as Distracted, Wounds, Fatigue, etc. If need be, I place those tokens down next to their mini or I write it down on the notepad. Whatever method you use in your in-person game can be replicated on your desk or dedicated space. That way, I can keep track of all the props. I also keep a notepad and a pen by me to take notes if necessary. 

One of my friends even had a set up with multiple cameras. One camera was pointed at his dice tray and another one to another tray where you could look at how many Bennies you had left. It's also perfectly acceptable for each player to keep track of their own Bennies if that's easier for you.

This works very well for theater of the mind type of play. But what about with a more tactical playstyle with maps and minis? This is indeed where VTTs shine because they allow you to track the position and movement of characters in real-time. But let's look at 2 free and easy methods.

Miro offers a free interactive whiteboard that refreshes in real-time. You can upload a map image to it, add labels, sticky notes and draw shapes or freehand on it.

With an image editing app, you can add letters and numbers to the X and Y axis of a map to track movement. With this method, you would need to write down everybody's position on your notepad or in the chat part of Skype or Discord.

The idea here is to keep it simple and reduce the likelihood of technical difficulties, the learning curve, and frustrations so that you can focus on playing a game instead of learning tools. If you only intend to run games online while you're in lockdown and you've never played that way before, I believe it's the easiest way.

How do you run virtual games without a VTT?