What's the problem?

I had fewer problems playing with groups of people online, since it's easier to schedule the game. IRL my buddies always have something or other to do that interferes with scheduling.

We play something like every blue moon.

Both formats attract terrible people. Both formats attract some normal people. It's hit-or-miss, and the ratio of good to bad in both is unknown. You roll the dice, you see what happens. I had terrible luck IRL, then I had terrible luck online until I hit gold. Now I'm in good games online with a combination of IRL and online friends. Some met through roll20. All of what we say will be anecdotal.

my friends IRL are too lazy to play dnd
is roll20 that bad?

>always that damn misunestanding in definition of the word "fun"

That one really needs to be highlighted. What one person considers fun is another man's "no fun allowed." I personally get my kicks roleplaying my character down to the bone with 100% seriousness, others want to be wacky and fart on goblins. We don't and won't have fun with one another, but we both have a certain game in mind that we can enjoy and provide to.

In the end, the biggest problem is with miscommunicating what game you want to play/run. Then you'll be getting in a game that you aren't enjoying.

Nope. I found two pretty great groups there.

It is exactly that bad, and worse.

I described the general trend, and I left room in there for people like you.
>starved for RP

Of course there will be plenty of good online-stranger games and lots of shitty real-life groups.

meme
Kinda like that. If you know what questions to ask and aren't randomly joining everything you stumble upon, you will be set. I've met a lot of people I can rely on for a good game there.

Fucken truth.
I have one game that I said fromt he get-go was inspired by the greece tragedies.
That is, NO FUCKING HAPPY ENDINGS.
The gods are assholes and the heroes have epic human virtues and equally epic flaws.
The world will cry at your passing, because you have better things to do than make sure this city likes you. You simply do not have the time, energy or interest in being liked.

I was very honest about this. But two players have broken down crying because they can't figure out how to make sure the local lords into being an ally.

It was literally impossible to make him like you. He can never understand your quest, he won't back down because he will look weak in front of his other subjects and he will not like what you want from him. Because your army is camping on his ground. My players meeting with him was basically an introduction to make sure this robbery did not turn into a murder.
Two players break down crying, one rage quits because I portray slavery as something that I expect them to use and another 4 salute me for this being the best damn campaign they have ever seen.
Fun is subjective. Talk to your GM and talk to your players. And most important, talk to the other players when you are one of them. Because that will make it less likely of you being the edgelord or the whimp.

This kinda.

When you post (or join) a game using a popular system, you're running a higher risk of having some shitheads. The problem is popular games (Pathfinder, D&D 5e, Apocalypse World games, etc) have a large, VARIED audience. Lots of people and lots of ways to play the game. Much higher chance of having clashes in personality and game play styles.

I only run OSR-style games, so the audience tends to me smaller. OSR games denote certain ethos and play styles, so I tend not to get the retards. Really the only time I've had any issue was when I advertised a Labyrinth Lord game in the Roll20 LFG forum. This lead to people who'd never played OSR-style games joining and trying to push their snowflake agendas.

I've had the most luck finding compatible players when I stick to the LFG tool. People seek out the game specifically. And then I usually lay out in the game description the underlining code of conduct. Vetting applications helps too. Ask them to submit a "perfect" character concept. 9 times out of 10 you'll get all the info you need just from that.

I think the main issue of course is lack of communication, but I've also noticed that players and DMs sometimes don't really care about other people in a group.

They are often heavily invested in their own enjoyment. What I mean is they care more about roleplaying their character, or having the best stats, rather than trying to be a productive member of the party.
And being online just makes it easier since they can just avoid any attempt at discussing actions, and just stay in-character the whole game, and are never around when the game is over.

Well that's just the problems that I've seen at least. I haven't even tried a real life game before.

how did u find them?

For all those who would gm as you, I salute them.

There are excellent groups on roll20. You won't find one.

The problem is that every unwashed lard so vile that even the shittiest LGS won't let in, every THAT GUY so creepy that his name isn't spoken aloud, every autist who can't escape his handlers, every 12-year-old edgelord, every FUCKING FLAKE WHO CAN'T COMMIT... This is where they come to find groups, for they can't get one in person.

If you know how to ask and how to look, you can find the good players who just live somewhere without an LGS. But everything needs a careful eye.

shit people and severe lack of session 0

Don't forget its also easier to let your bad sides show online.
Either from different cultures. Imagine listening to a christian from texas and swedish atheists and a muslim from turkey play together. Completely irrelevant wether or not they're good players they WILL shit on each other if religion comes up.

Or from misunderstandings. Most people won't vocally or written take up their issues online. BEcause they are used their expressions and mannerisms doing that for them. Being online makes all of us autists since we can't read that for shit. So what is at first an annoyance spreads into full on 'that guy' behavior because no one corrected them.

>You can't punch people through internet

However.......roll20 is the only thing that's made me TRY to punch people through the internet.

Since it's a roll20 thread, time to share some ThatGuy/horror stories from Mr Nolan's House of Rollans?

>I had fewer problems playing with groups of people online, since it's easier to schedule the game. IRL my buddies always have something or other to do that interferes with scheduling.

We're running into that.

There's only 4 of us, with me as foreverdm. We used to do regular games, 1-2 sessions per week, Sat and sometimes a wed night game.
Now, 1 player's work has fucked up his schedule, and he's working wed nights, and sat day......

One player is stuck at home on Sat's with kids since his wife is now working weekends.

So that just leaves me and one player.

I'm thinking about maybe running a roll20 game, and 'checking the water'.

People who look for games on this kind of sight can be divided in a few broad categories.
>People that are too socially awkward to play a face-to-face game
>People with levels of autism/other mental hangups that got the kicked out of RL groups.
>People with too pushy schedule for a RL game, making them very stressed, demanding, and with a very high possibility of flaking as well.
>People with no game stores nearby or friends interested in the hobby, that mostly have very skewed ideas and expectations of how an RPG looks like since they probably have very little contact with the hobby whatsoever.

All of them have their issues as you can see.

So seeing as you have to had some experience online to confirm any of this. It means that you are talking out of your ass or more likely: You fall into one of these.

Which are you user?

>Which are you user?

Not that user, but I don't fit into any of those slots either.

Of course, I've long suspected that I'm the only sane person here.

I am part of the 1st and a small bit of 3rd and 4th groups. How fucked am I to find a good group?

Not very.
Not at all if you're honest about it and find someone willing to take in and mentor a newbie. The 4th is seriously something that is not a problem unless they are to assured of themselves to learn.
The 3rd is a problem, but no one has a completely empty schedule these days. So unless the "small bit" means "only thursdays between 1800 and 2100" or something you're set.

The 1st is a not really a problem, but more a type. The first campaign or the first two campaigns even might be a problem. Give it a few goes and you'll figure it out.

Number 3, unfortunately, until I finish my civil engineering degree that is.

the 5th
>way to much spare time and plays in different campaigns to recruit decent players to my own campaigns.

Lost 2 good players to something similar to 3. I wonder how they're doing sometimes. Army and work changes. Sucks. They weren't demanding, were very upfront about the changes that were happening.

Please tell me someone in this thread has that screencap of the /pfg/ roll20 game about being "lewd" kitsune ruling over a city on the back of a giant fae fox.

Mostly 4 with a dash of 1. I did meet up with a couple online friends last year and we played some stuff and it was fine. But mostly there's no one around here.

The main problem comes when you accept just anybody. The GM needs to interview potential players and have immediate red flags that would drop somebody.

Also if you don't play d&d or pathfinder 95% of the problem players disappear

>The main problem comes when you accept just anybody.

Rule 1 of DM'ing a roll20 game.

Don't be scared or worried about upsetting someone that you need to remove, or not allow in.

>"Yea, I don't think you're a good fit. Thanks for applying, but the answer is NO."

People who regularly play video games coming in, and thinking that you can put not real time or dedication into a RPG and just play. Honestly the white supremacist furries branching out from their forum ERPs are a minor issue compared to the genuinely lazy and unreliable players who plague it.

The service itself is fine though. Not as much automation and Maptools, but it is easy to set up as it gets. If you have friends you know beforehand who want to play online, and you need a grid to play your game, then go for it.

The Ketchup one is great.

Yeah but, serious question, what does a player "red flag" in roll20 even look like?

Absurdly edgy characters
Unironic use of OwO or XD
Clearly ripped out of an anime
Clearly an OC of some sort
Clearly their fursona
Base character around being "random"
Wanting to play a child
Wanting to play a neko/magical girl

You can probably pick a couple other things out of

I keep a list of the good and bad players/GM's I've ran into on roll20.

Enjoy

>the ratio of good to bad

Seems about right.

>Good players:
>

Kek

>Good players
>empty
It hurts because its true.

>I recognize half these names
I feel your pain. Roll20 D&D is a crapshoot of the sort you would expect, but roll20 WoD is suffering in its purest form.

Shadowrun tends to be pretty good, though. Dunno if its the game or the crowd, but in my experience I've yet to have a completely miserable Shadowrun session online.

I don't know what it is about the internet, but fuckers tend to not communicate whatsover during the game.
There's never a discussion about what the party should do. The DM just makes this worse by doing nothing, but enable everyone to do whatever they want at anytime.

Manage to think up a good idea that you can tell the others? Too bad, because some dimwit just declared that he was gonna do something that will fuck up everything.

>Why do people search for online games with strangers?

Because roleplaying online is more fun then roleplaying in person- specifically roleplaying through text is significantly more immersive then roleplaying verbally.

For me, anyway. It completely takes me out of the immersion to hear some fellow mouth-breathing nerd voice the actions and dialogue of their character.

My only gripe with that is people can take a very long time to do anything. I understand that many people can type as fast as they can talk, but most cannot. Otherwise I would have to agree. All the games I run mandate roleplaying via text, even if it does turn off potential applicants. I have many fond memories of RPing over IRC. It depends on the game that you are trying to run I suppose.

You shouldn't be playing irl with random "mouth breathing nerds" either, you're supposed to be playing irl with friends you know and enjoy the company with.

It's a social hobby holy shit

Any way to get in touch with you? I have a bunch of names I'd love to contribute to this list.

Throw them in here and I'll add them

Most of the groups are bad, but try to play with furries. They are a bit autistic but usually very nice.

congrats u found tthe autist

Seconded

>being this casual

>join Stars WIthout Number game
>on gameday the gm brings in "the GM"
>excuse_moi.wut
>the starmap gets deleted
>new GM wants to run Polythreme (cyberpunk) instead
>old GM plays the most literal murderhobo I've ever seen in my life
>leave after a single session

I'll post more later

>You have to pay me $10 to have the privilege of being a player in my game

never forgetti

I use Roll20, but I don't interact with the community. Rather, my friends and I segued into 40k Roleplay from 40k tabletop. We're all really good friends, going on 10 years now. We love it. We use Roll20, even when we meet in person, because we think the site itself is super useful for all the bookkeeping that rpgs require. Our games go much faster and more smoothly now.

So I obviously recommend what I did; get your friends into the games you like, and then watch at all the fucking fun you have.

>join another SWN game
>this time triple check the game happens in space
>game day only 3/5 players present
>one guy doesn't even have a character ready
>first 30 mins are an airport "cutscene"
>the current plot is "we are taking a spaceship to our spaceship"
>suddenly REDRUM IN SPAEC
>we have no time to do anything not related to the murder
>other guy finally rolls a character that can help with this
>my character is needed only for 5 minutes total in a 4 hour game
>a lot of repeated info and sperging out about space physics from the GM
>all the jokes are cancerous memes
>we are still "2 sessions away" from space exploration
>ditch the game the very moment we wrap up

One guy I knew has built a donation empire out of what started last year as a simple come-and-join game. Now it's a huge spanning world (that ended up getting a lore wipe and is now playing out the exact same events of the original months) and people are still feeding the machine. It's full of awful people and awful characters though.

Got invited to a game on Veeky Forums.
Was pretty good, then turned to shit.

Made a new game, GMing for part of said game.

So far, no complaints of roll20.

You, typically.

I did an Interview with a roll20 applicant once. This is what happened.

...

What sort of campaing was this?

Like, I need to know the context.

>obvious troll characters
yeah

>app.roll20.net/lfg/listing/65518/a-fluffy-fairy-tale-2-electric-boogaloo
There were like 25 applications which is like 1/4th of the general.

t. /pfg/ user.

Campaign was a medieval sandbox, pretty low magic lots of historical realism and grounded characters with the occasional mythical creature. This guy showed up to an interview and went on about his edgy OC that has to defeat hades and shit.

I thought it was wonderful obscure and absolutely autistic. Incredible what you can find on roll20.

My experiences with roll20 have been pretty okay. You can usually smell the shit shows a mile away just from the description in the LFG page.

This somehow makes it worse.

Hades being evil, godess of life(?), "having fun" are pretty bad on their own but, of all things, his actions towards the thief are all absolutely retarded.

I like to repeat this story any time I catch a roll20 bitch thread.

Tried to run a game in a fairly obscure system great for gritty medieval no magic campaigns.

Pleasantly surprised to get like 3 applicants.

Immediately dejected when 2 of them straight up told me in the interview they wouldn't actually join unless I switched the system to Pathfinder.

This pains me

This should be screencaped and used as the next thread pic the /pfg/fags use.

Just a friendly reminder of their autism.

If they had just SUGGESTED a similar system, it wouldn't have bothered me at all.

But no, they pretty much fucking DEMANDED I change my campaign to a system that was nearly the EXACT OPPOSITE of my system of choice in every possible way.

I tried pitching a a more gritty game in pfg once. In response I got a wall of autistic screeching in return because it was impossible / boring / not real pathfinder.

In hindsight they did me a favor. The community is deeply toxic unless you're playing a lewdgame.

To be fair they are correct, it is impossible to run a gritty game with Pathfinder, the system isn't built for it and any attempt always ends in frustration and failure.

I've heard similar stories. It's frustrating that people behave like that. There are tons of shitty Pathfinder games for them to go shit up, why would they do this? God, I hate the Roll20 "community" so much.

It's completely possible. In a way that is liked by the community? Less so.

>It's completely possible.
I mean, I guess if you remove most spellcasting ability and lock the game at level 1, sure.

This. The biggest thing affecting this hobby is the want to play, people like the idea of playing, but it always fails to measure up.

This is because the hobby is only ever going to be as much fun as you put in to it. People read some truly exciting and amazing stories, real or otherwise, and want that, but do not understand the many sessions that lead up to it.

Further, if you suspect a player is a flake/bitch/austist/retard/moutbreather kick them at the first break of an agreement.

Any time I've ever played on roll20, the games die 3 sessions in, either due to bad DMing or lack of interest in the players. All and all, it's still a good site but you gotta find good people on there.

You're lucky, most of the games I've tried to join fell apart during the character creation phase.

The trick is, much like in any other social hobby, you'll have to put in time to find people you like.

Join a random group. Maybe it goes well. Maybe it doesn't. Either way, you can probably get a sense for who in the group is or isn't retarded - or to put it nicely, who is or isn't compatible with you. Even if another player isn't a retard it is possible you and they just have different wants, after all.

Keep doing this. Keep making friends. Invite them to subsequent games you're trying out. You may have to refine your friends list a little over time. That's fine.

Once you have a large enough pool of like-minded friends of similar interests, skill levels, and style as you, you won't need public groups. You can just ask enough of them to join until you get enough yes's to organize one yourself.

That's how most people build their groups.

Is that Youmu?

Is there a slot for "Old Group fractured over unrelated social shit/people moving town so we use Roll20 to recollect some of the originals and spread it to other interested parties"?

Join/run oneshots, 4-week-long campaigns, stuff from really obscure systems you love and can't get set up in your local groups, try to have fun and if things get frustrating or awful just make an excuse and leave the group.

While doing this, keep tabs on the players and gms who you like and click with. For gms, send them a pm saying you really like playing with them and you'd love to have a heads-up if they're running anything else. For players, when you're running something or when one of your compatible gms reaches out to you with their campaign, send them a message saying you've had fun with them and you were wondering if they wanted to join you in this new group. Soon enough you'll have 1-2 good campaigns rolling.

You just gotta network. Takes pretty much the minimal social interaction for networking, as people are generally flattered to be called a good gm/good player and generally as eager to find a good/compatible campaign as you are.

>Clearly an OC of some sort
???

Does that not mean "original character", or am I missing something?

I don't know if it's just me or what, but I'm far more fluent in writing and thus prefer to do my GMing in text.

Not to mention, it's a lot easier to throw out details and look them up when they're written on the screen, rather rthan having to rely entirely on memory for things like names of NPCs, directions, etc.

Honestly the shittiness of roll20 is why /pfg/ started hosting so many games.

Still can't believe so many people fell for that obvious bamboozle

What a bunch of cunts

Pathfinder literally doesn't operate at your 'muh gritty low magic' level, trying to play pathfinder like that is like pulling out your own teeth

I suggest literally anything else.

It's usually used for a character created not explicitly for the game in question. Like somebody made up a character for some other setting or purpose, then shoves that character concept into every game they join.

I presume he means an OC based off something else.

Like if you tried to join a PF game but made your character "Half Vampire" with skin that shines in the sun.

>You just gotta network. Takes pretty much the minimal social interaction for networking, as people are generally flattered to be called a good gm/good player and generally as eager to find a good/compatible campaign as you are.
This. Let's be honest, most other people are doing the same thing you are.

So as far as the game is concerned, they're not original, they're 'ported' from somewhere else.

Yeah, I never understood people who do that either. I literally have more characters I want to play than I will ever be able to actually play. I don't get how the hell people can 'recycle' and not get bored.

I think the problem is you're playing Russian roulette if you're jumping into totally random games on the web.

Even if you're playing online, it's best to play with people you're at least vaguely acquainted with, or feel out the group first before diving in.

Like, the "randomest" group I've joined was from a discord server I visit, but I had a long ass conversation with them beforehand which pretty much established our mutual interests and mindset.

The thing is, they're usually really attached to the character, which is why OCs are a red flag. Anything bad happening to an OC is worse than it happening to something you made for the game, since it serves as an extension of the player. These players will get biblically buttmad if a character so much as disagrees with their OC. If you want to play something constantly, whatever. I really don't care. But as soon as it becomes an issue for your character to face any adversity, you can fuck right off.