Andrew Watson has a group of friends who get together to play Dungeons and Dragons regularly.
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However the social distancing restrictions mean that gathering at someones house to play is no longer a possibility. So he organised an online quest.
Dungeons and dragons is a popular tabletop role playing game (tabletop RPG). In a table top RPG, players create their own characters and settings, while still following some specified rules of the game. This allows more complexity and customisation than most board games.
Groups of friends form teams and go on quests together in a fictional setting. Sessions can go for hours, which makes a very involved social gathering.
"We used Roll20, a popular way to play dungeons online," he said.
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"You need to make an account, then there's a series of maps you can choose from. Then you have a shared screen to play."
Communication is key when playing tabletop RPGs, and you may need to improvise.
"Roll 20 has audio and video chat, but that didn't work, so we set up an audio chat on Discord," he said.
Technical issues can pose serious problems.
"We all had different computers, some newer, some older. one person tried using a tablet - roll 20 didn't work on that at all," he said.
"She just had to stay on voice chat. We would send her screenshots to keep her in the loop but it was an impediment"
"How good your internet is, and how good your computer is can be a barrier to play"
For some people, self-isolation might be an opportunity to play tabletop RPGs for the first time.
Andrew recommends new players doing their research before choosing a game to play.
"There's a lot of different games out there. Dungeons and Dragons is the most popular by far, but there are alternatives," he said.
"There are games with different mechanical rules, games where you don't use dice as much, or where your character does not have so much numerical stats.
"There are games where they are more narrative focused or more improvised."
Additionally Andrew recommends seeing how other people play table top RPGs before you and your friends get started.
"There's lots of videos of people playing the games," he said.
"Critical role, or The Adventure Zone where people play and record it - that is something some people watch online."
"While they are made for entertainment it also a demo of how to play these games."
And if you don't have a 20 sided dice at home, there are virtual alternatives.
"In Roll 20 there is a virtual dice you can have on the screen where you can can shake it around with your mouse and it gives your a random number."