Technology and Setup
Communications:
We use Discord to chatter on, handle between-games IC, and arrange and schedule games!
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Character Builder: D&D Beyond
I encourage you to create and maintain your character in D&D beyond; for players, this is a free service, and you'll have access to everything I have for the table (with a few external exceptions). Simply use the Campaign Link
Please Note: I will *not* be maintaining your character for you in Beyond; it's going to be up to you to keep it up to date to have an offline record of your creation. However, I can and will do an initial import into the VTT from your Beyond character record.
Our VTT: Fantasy Grounds
I use a fairly sophisticated client/server VTT for games called Fantasy Grounds. While there's a bit of a learning curve, it has everything we need to maintain the entire campaign all in one location! Take notes on your character sheet, evenly divide treasure, handle battles and let the dice get out of the way (hopefully to speed things up a bit) - I've fallen in love for it, and am pleased to teach everyone how to use it.
Fantasy Grounds is free for players.
Once it's loaded, click 'join game' on the left. You can simply use my name to join in the search field: jonahgrimm.
Your first attempt to connect will fail - it'll ask you to put in a password. This password is: salmon.
Aural Soundscape: Syrinscape
We'll be using Syrinscape in Aria of Stars; this is not required, but heavily recommended. Syrinscape is a small client that allows me to add sound ambiance, music, and other aural details to the game world. It also integrates with our VTT and helps bring combat to life. I have been known to use sound cues to warn players of oncoming threats rather than simply calling out what you hear - after all, if I can let you hear it, why not?
You can download Syrinscape at:
Once downloaded and running, use the activation link captured below to join the soundscape: