Zoom
Zoom is a telecommunications platform for online video conferences. It's used by numerous organizations to facilitate easy-to-use, reliable video communication that doesn't require a lot of technical expertise. Its ubiquity and simplicity make it a common choice for online tabletop roleplaying games, which often want a way to see and hear the other participants. Its features like text chat, breakout rooms, and collaboration tools add utility, but Zoom is most often used as a supplementary platform to provide stable audio and video to a gaming group's virtual tabletop of choice. That said, it's perfectly possible to run a more "theater of the mind" game entirely on Zoom. Zoom is free to use, but it does limit free meetings to 40 minutes, meaning the host, usually the game master, must have a subscription to run a full-length game session in a single meeting. Free users can join these meetings at no cost. Zoom also offers a few useful tools for TTRPG play, including a collaborative, editable whiteboard where players can draw maps and take notes, and the ability to screen share so players and game masters can show off art, maps, and other visual aids.
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How to Use Zoom Beginner's Guide
Learn how to use Zoom and host your own meetings with this short video. Start by creating a Zoom account and downloading the app to your desktop computer. The app's home screen will show you your schedule and shortcuts to start a meeting, join a meeting in progress, schedule a meeting, and share your screen. The calendar tab shows you upcoming meetings as well as your Personal Meeting ID, or PMI, which you can share directly to invite someone to a meeting with you. The Team Chat tab lets you send messages to contacts, which you can add to your account. You can create a channel here for any group you want to keep a continuous chat log with. This is especially helpful for gaming groups!
Access your settings to configure your video and audio inputs, as well as your display name, default background, and other customizations. To join a meeting, click the Join button and enter the meeting link or PMI of your contact.
Inside a meeting, the bottom bar contains a suite of tools you can use. You can mute or unmute your microphone, turn your video on or off, show and invite participants, access text chat, react with emoji, and share your screen. Sharing your screen is also how you can access the Zoom whiteboard. While sharing, the annotate function highlights your mouse and lets you draw on your screen. Other tools allow you to share documents, notes, and whiteboards, as well as record a meeting (great for when one player can't make a session)! When you're done, you can leave the meeting, or end it for everyone if you're the host.
