Breakdown
- Roll20 is joining Discord for easier online tabletop sessions
- A beta for Roll20 Pro players will take place next week
- The feature will launch later this year for everyone
Roll20 will soon let tabletop players run their games directly on Discord, promising a more straightforward experience for everyone involved. Most players were already running these sessions on the popular chat app, but this will make that process a lot smoother, promising to shorten the time to get games running.
It was announced on the Roll20 blog that the virtual tabletop site will soon join Discord as part of the app’s activities function. Should everything go well, users will be able to keep chatting with their friends on Discord without having to switch between windows.
The Roll20 beta will be launching on Discord next week, on April 30, with Pro Subscribers getting early access to it. At the time of writing, parties will need at least one Roll20 Pro Subscriber to start a game, though they can invite non-members to these sessions. Luckily, there are plans to make this feature readily available for all Discord users, though that will be later this year.
“For the initial beta period, one member of your party (usually the GM) must be a Roll20 Pro subscriber to get access to the private beta server,” answered the blog. “Then they will be able to invite other Plus or Free users to join the Activity. We plan to make the Activity available to all Roll20 users for the global launch later this year.”
Other notable features include shared campaigns between both apps, so no progress will be lost when switching from these two. We’ll have to see if they keep their word on this, which is why a beta is very important for tabletop players.
Whether it’s D&D or Warhammer, many players do play these tabletop games virtually since not everyone can meet face-to-face. Virtual gaming like this means players will be able to play with their friends no matter where they are, assuming they can get their schedules together.
This upcoming Roll20 feature will be coming to Discord later this year. Roll20 Pro members will be able to try the beta on April 30.