Dungeons & Dragons. The world’s most famous roleplaying game, and one thousands of people play every day. Most usually played in person around a table, D&D is considered a game of imagination, but also one of pen, paper, and dice where many of your moves will require luck to determine just how good you are at it.
Over the decades, the tabletop format has indeed been the most common one not just for D&D but for most roleplaying games - a character sheet, a handful of dice, a rulebook, and a pencil being the main requirements. Yet with the advent of the internet and the ever-growing ease of access to computers, many groups have decided to use those technologies to enhance their games. This is most particular when it comes to playing with people who might not be physically close, as online roleplaying games have grown more and more common (and easier and easier to join) over the years.
From fully-fledged software suites that automate the game to smaller, less obtrusive but nonetheless helpful programs or websites, there are dozens of ways to play D&D online. Here, let’s take a look at some of them.
THE ACTUAL GAME AND RULES
The most important part of playing D&D, of course, is… the actual rules to play D&D with. It can be difficult to play otherwise, after all, if you have no clue how the game even plays.
Luckily getting started is easy and free, since D&D has had free rules for over a decade. Getting the latest version of them is as easy as going to D&D beyond and getting them. With them you can understand how the game works and how it flows - without spending a dime.
If you do want to spend some money you can always get the GM’s handbook and the Players’ Handbook later on, of course, but at first you should try with the free rules just to see how you like it. The Players’ Handbook in particular contains more options to customize your classes, so if you do enjoy the game you should consider getting it.
Got the rules… Now what do I do with them?
While some people might be willing to just grab the rulebook and immediately try and get their friends through an adventure of their own making, there are far easier ways to learn to play D&D. So for the sake of learning to play the game for free, your best bet is to grab a free adventure to go with the free rules.
D&D Beyond has you covered on that front, with Frozen Sick, a lvl 1-3 adventure that’s often considered a great starting point for new players. In it, the players investigate a series of killings - and have to put a stop to it before they become the next victims. Including roleplay, investigation, and combat, Frozen Sick can be a great jumping point.
If Frozen Sick doesn’t sound convincing, the good news is there’s a myriad of free adventures on the internet, many of them still on D&D Beyond. If you know your way around the site (and if you don’t, that’s what I’m here for) you can get free access to other adventures, specifically Descent Into the Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth, Prisoner 13, Intro to Stormwreck Isle (This one was specifically written for new players and ties in directly with the Dragons of Stormwreck Isle adventure from the current starter set,) Lightning Keep, Giants of the Star Forge, The Great Jigow Scavenger Hunt, and No Tears Over Spilled Coffee - More than enough adventures to start with!
While we’re at it, if you need premade characters to help you on your way, D&D Beyond also has a few of those.
VIRTUAL TABLETOPS (VTTs)
The biggest, baddest tools when it comes to playing tabletop RPGs online, VTTs offer the full package, requiring you to bring only their desire to play along with perhaps a bit of tech know-how to enjoy the game. Virtual tabletops give players a lot of automation and eliminate most busywork, such as calculating whether something hits or not, thus greatly streamlining the gaming process - all the while allowing players to connect and play from all over the world.
Some of the most commonly used VTTs for D&D 5th Edition are:
Roll 20
One of the older VTTs, Roll 20 offers simple, yet intuitive approach towards online D&D. It is extremely lightweight and runs on a browser.
For many players and game masters, Roll20 is the baseline VTT - the one they start with and, sometimes, the one they stick with for life. Although seemingly basic, Roll20 packs in the vast majority of features one might need without requiring downloading anything or setting up remote servers - just log in and play.
For Dungeons & Dragons, the support is even better as Roll20 includes full support of D&D Beyond character sheets, allowing players to create and manage their characters on DDB while playing on Roll20.
Owlbear Rodeo
Perhaps the simplest of all VTTs, that simplicity is precisely why many GMs and beginner players cherish Owlbear Rodeo: Lacking the dozens, or hundreds of bells and whistles most other VTTs come full of has a huge upside in the form of ease of use and setup.
Where many VTTs try to sell themselves on being awesome, Owlbear’s main design goal is to keep it simple and easy. It supports the most-needed features, such as maps, tokens, and a dice roller, while allowing the players to choose how and where to handle the rest. Its web-based interface is quite simple, and it comes with support for D&D Beyond character sheets to boot.
D&D Beyond
Many would argue this one should’ve come first on the list, and that’s understandable: D&D Beyond is Wizards of the Coast’s very own take on a VTT, although it started as a much simpler online repository and shop for digital D&D books. Since then, it’s grown in size and scope, offering access to most non-deprecated D&D content for 5E, support for character sheets, and a basic but slowly growing tabletop to boot.
While the character creator and character sheet support in D&D Beyond is second to none, the VTT it comes with (aptly called “maps,” although a 3D version of it called Sigil recently released) is ultimately barebones and at times confusing to use. As such, D&D Beyond offers some of the best features when it comes to finding an online game of D&D, all the while also having some features that pale in comparison to the competition.
Other Useful Tools for Playing D&D Online
Discord
Just as virtual tabletops are essential to the online D&D experience, so is having a place or software that allows everyone in the game to communicate. In the gaming sphere, these days there’s no better software to allow for voice and text chat than Discord - and it is the weapon of choice for many a dungeon master running games online. Simple to use and easy to set up, most players swear by it and its community features.
Online Dice Rollers
Sometimes you don’t want a VTT. Sometimes you just want a simpler experience - roll dice, and the GM tells you what happens.
When this is all you want, there are a handful of such tools that can help without feeling like you’re giving your game to a piece of software or turning your D&D campaign into a video game. For this, several options exist - starting with the quite aptly named dnddiceroller, which does exactly what it says in the tin: It lets you roll dice during a D&D game, allowing you to also add modifiers but doing little else.
Dozens of other offerings exist, among them rolladie.net and Tactical Tokens, all of which offer a simple, dice rolling experience.
In this section it’s also worth mentioning Avrae, a dice roller for Discord that features D&D Beyond integration - giving you the ideal solution if you want a lightweight discord-based game, or if you want to run a text-based campaign.
I Have What I Need… What Now?
Now that you have the means to play D&D, you just have to get a group of friends together (or online) to play - get a group going, set a time, and go for it!
If you don’t happen to have a group, luckily there are communities of players dedicated to the game, many of which offer services or areas where players can find groups to play with - in some cases, using the VTT or system of their choice to boot.
A thing to keep in mind, however, if you go for free games, is that while gaming with strangers on the internet can be an awesome experience, it can also lead to toxicity and inconsistent play. You might get lucky with a group you find, as many groups are amazing, but sometimes you’ll have to deal with less savoury behavior.
As far as playing D&D online for free, this is basically it. However, if you want a professional Dungeon Master to introduce you to the game and teach you the ropes with all content unlocked, all the while using professional VTT and sound effects, with guaranteed weekly sessions, and in a curated, safety-first community, you can always check out the games on Startplaying.games.
Tizzy is a lover of cats, dragons, writing, and tabletop games. Every adventure is a new opportunity for insanity!
