Learn more about Owlbear Rodeo and how to make the most of it for your adventure with your friends.
Owlbear Rodeo gained a following for its no-frills approach to virtual tabletops; you just lay down a simple map, plop in some tokens, and play.
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Owlbear Rodeo is a website where Game Masters host the visual gameplay components of their tabletop roleplaying session. Its original appeal was offering a very easy-to-use set of tools. Basic maps and simple tokens were pre-rendered so the host could quickly drag and drop them in place to set up an impromptu scenario. Nowadays, Owlbear Rodeo is past version 2.0 and got some upgrades. The current version supports animated battle maps, play on mobile devices, smart drawing tools, and even extensions for game-specific features. But it’s still all about getting to the action as fast as possible.
Owlbear Rodeo is the digital equivalent of buying a dry erase board and using markers plus board game pieces to whip up a quick battle scene. With a free account, you can create up to two rooms and use all of the tools. That gives you the ability to lay down a generic map like grasslands or stone tile and draw shapes on it to simulate terrain. The selection of free tokens represents fantasy RPG classes and iconic monsters like goblins and dragons.Â
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For those wanting a bit more pizazz, Owlbear Rodeo supports animated battle maps, fog of war, and grid alignment. This means that the host can import maps from other sources and fit them into Owlbear Rodeo’s frame with just a few clicks. You can also tweak the interface with supported extensions. The extensions fill the role of many basic trackers you’d want for tactical combat games, things like initiative tracking, condition rings, character sheets, fog of war, spell area measuring, timers, and music players. Again, don’t expect cutting edge graphics, but everything you need for a combat map is there. Plus, it works on mobile so everyone should be able to play!Â
Finally, Owlbear Rodeo does have paid tiers meant for Game Masters. This gives access to more play rooms, up to 25, and more storage space to keep a catalog of your own maps and tokens.
Check out this video, which is a great introduction to getting started with Owlbear Rodeo:
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Player reviews on StartPlaying make it easy to find a Dungeon Master whose style aligns with your preferences. With reviews from other players, you can gauge whether a DM is the right fit for how you want to play,  whether it’s combat, role-playing, storytelling, or a specific genre.
Player reviews on StartPlaying make it easy to find a Dungeon Master whose style aligns with your preferences. With reviews from other players, you can gauge whether a DM is the right fit for how you want to play,  whether it’s combat, role-playing, storytelling, or a specific genre.
