Discord, Zoom, or something else? - What do you use with Fantasy Grounds to play?

[viviolay]

Hey everyone :)

I'm just curious, after dm-ing online this weekend at d&d celebration and using video for 9 slots of games over discord- I noticed that beyond being bandwidth heavy, discord was kinda resource heavy (find on my desktop but my laptop definitely struggled).

I used Fantasy Grounds Unity this weekend and wanted a video solution that allowed me to "pin" everyone's faces above my FG so went with discord and now am wondering if there's other solutions I overlooked (thinking of zoom...but maybe other options I'm not aware of?)

I'm curious what video options people use with Fantasy Grounds/their preferences/advice.

[Valyar]

We don't use video, but alternative to Discord and Zoom is to use Roll20 for Video just because by default they are arranged horizontally in neat way. FG is on top of the browsers.

[LordEntrails]

I hear Google Duo is good for low bandwidth video calls. But no idea how it works for groups and haven't used it myself.

I use Discord when I do video, which is not often.

[SilentRuin]

Discord. For sure most things that use video and sharing screens etc. can be heavy on a small laptop but its got all the bells and whistles I want and all my players have decent computers so its ideal for us.

[mattekure]

We use Discord for audio and VSee for video (just because they are being streamed to Twitch). VSee allows you to set each persons camera as its own source, so works better for streaming.

[esmdev]

I use Discord for audio, I don't use video because I prefer to keep attention on the table.

[mattekure]

I find I prefer video, for the exact same reason. Its so easy to get distracted with just audio, people looking at phones or browsing internet. But on camera, you can see everyone, and react to funny things. I just prefer the visual interaction during the game.

[esmdev]

I find I prefer video, for the exact same reason. Its so easy to get distracted with just audio, people looking at phones or browsing internet. But on camera, you can see everyone, and react to funny things. I just prefer the visual interaction during the game.

I sometimes think it would be functional for role-playing and such, but the other problem I have is screen space, I seriously need a bigger monitor. :)

[Valyar]

Or two! :) I definitely need second one, but even on 160cm desk I have two big speakers, NAS and laptop stand, so not really easy to have it placed conveniently and not to look cluttered.

[mattekure]

I use 3, a large 34" central one and 2 22" side monitors. Its worked perfectly for me.

[A Social Yeti]

I think whit FG, VoIP is the way to go not video so much.

FG is a major visual aid tool, so i find the focus on the visual aids is likely best.
But for a different kind of RP, one more theater of the mind than heavy emulation mechanics I prefer a video app like meet or zoom as the tool, when it is the other players far more than book rules that make up the game play.

DnD
vs.
Blades in the Dark.


DnD works way great to have a lot of tracking and automation tools for the GM to deal in the heavy mechanics overhead they have to provide, and having a nice picture of the character while the player is speaking works better for me.
While Blades is way more about the player actors interacting through story more than mechanics, and is mechanically less overhead, so i find i prefer the video feed of the other player actors better than battle maps and character portraits with VoIP.

So more theater of the mind, then let's see the other players speaking their minds more.
But the more it is shown to you in the visual aids than imagined, then the less i want to see the other players that distract from the visual aids.

[Honken]

We don't use video, it has been discussed but most of it is focused on FG n stuff. We use Skype for the voice stuff.

/H

[Xydonus]

Teamspeak 3, when I GM at least. Other games I'm in use Discord primarily. I use Teamspeak for one reason only, so I can stream sounds reliably over it using virtual line cables. Rhythm bot on Discord doesn't allow the flexibility of having my own streaming software on hand for all kinds of sounds and ambience.

[mhossom]

We use Discord for voice only. Prior to COVID, I used Syrinscape at the table and have not bothered to set things up to stream it through Discord.

[Griogre]

I use normally use TeamSpeak for audio and sometimes Discord. TeamSpeak is much less a bandwidth pig if you have people traveling and on crappy wifi.