2d ago

now i just need to find good screen sharing software...

so yes i'm trying to find a good screen sharing program. needs to work for android and either linux or web, and i'd love it if there's a way to play music (without everyone getting muted like in jitsi meet), and even more if there's a way to draw on the screen so that players can more easily show where they're going for me to move their tokens.

also yes those are mouse-drawn pf2e kobolds. i love kobolds, but only the pf2e kobolds because they're drawn way cuter

32 comments

FoundryVTT can be self-hosted on Linux with a good set up guide for Debian-based distros. It also has tons of extensions made by users to add functionality and even whole game systems
- yeah, but it's also 50 usd and i live in brazil, so it's actually 5 to 6 times that price. also it seems to work poorly on mobile.

As much as I hate Discord, that's the software me and my friends use to talk and share screen. It doesn't support drawing on screen, unfortunately, but you can play music and they'll hear it if you're sharing the entire screen and not a single window.
The drawing on screen part is a bit odd, however. At that point, why aren't you just playing a regular VTT and allowing your players to move their own miniatures? I know that many VTTs are either too complicated for regular users, or too cumbersome for regular use, but I'd suggest testing a few of them until you find the right one for you.
As for me, I've tried many VTTs and the only one I liked was Tabula Sono . It's very easy to jump into and use, and all my less-tech-savvy friends were able to learn it in minutes. It also has an extensive library of (free!) miniatures, supports uploading your own content, and is system agnostic (it's just a literal virtual tabletop).
I'd fucking buy that thing if I could. Unfortunately, the only way to support the developers is to buy a subscription, and that's a no-no for me :(
- sono seems pretty good, but it seems to not have mobile (android) support, or hexagon grid maps (my group prefers those since it's easier to calculate movement and stuff)
  discord doesn't work well for me. any player with slightly bad internet connection simply cannot load the shared screen, i don't want to install it so audio sharing through screen sharing is not possible, no drawing on shared screen is possible, and there are so many times that one person will just not be able to hear anyone or noone will be able to hear them, for no apparent reason.
  i don't want to use a vtt because i havent found any that was good and had mobile support (one of my players doesn't have a pc). editing the map however and whenever i want is also good to have, in case players modify part of the map (like moving chairs and stuff).
  i will probably just find a way to play music directly through mic output and forget about the drawing on screen possibility, since it seems like it's not possible.
  
  I really like OwlBear Rodeo. It is system agnostic simple tabletop. There is a learning curve but it's pretty easy. It's also great on tablets and decent on phones.
  The best part is that there are a lot of 3rd party extensions to dial in your specific game mechanics. I've been playing Dragonbane and it has some funky mechanics that someone else made work well in OBR.
  
  Well, using OBS to put together the different aspects of video and audio that you want, then outputting a virtual camera source for another app to pick up seems like it could work for you if you spend the time setting it up.... Except for anyone that doesn't have the internet to see a video stream - that seems tough to work with.

Have you seen Dmge ? It's web based, but it has fog of war and a few other nice tricks, if you've got the maps.

https://call.element.io/ is a public, accountless version of the call system used by matrix/element. Does screensharing of video quite well.
- interesting. i was already thinking of matrix as an option, and this seems even better. thanks, i will try it out
  
  I dont know if this website will always remain open, but soon enough every decent matrix server will have its own call system based on exactly this piece of software, so the quality should be identical if you make a matrix account and use it through a client that supports it (like Element Desktop/Web or ElementX).

I'm so picky about my VTT software, I wrote my own VTT. Used it in the last campaign I GM'd and everything.
It's pretty minimal. No mobile/tablet/touch support. Also no audio support whatsoever. I used that VTT in conjunction with Discord.
I even made a video demo of it. I think that demo is a little bit out-of-date, though.

Parsec would work for this.
- seems like games can't be hosted on linux.

I recommend checking out vdo.ninja. You can set up pretty much any arrangement of screen and camera sharing you need and package it into a single invite link.
- Second! Amazing stuff, and doesn't require anyone to download anything.

Have you looked at roll20? It has a mobile app apparently (never used it tho), and integrated audio but idk how good it is
- i have and didn't like it. it takes a while to get used to, and there's a bunch of stuff that needs to be bought or needs that needs a monthly subscription
  
  Fair enough Didn't realize some of it needs a sub, that's unfortunate

If the music is your only problem, you are on linux, and you are not afraid of the commandline, you could try mixing the music into your mic audio. But idk how good that works for voice activation. Anyway, here is a related link to the arch wiki (also works on other distros): https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/PulseAudio/Examples#Mixing_additional_audio_into_the_microphone's_audio
- thx. i'm not afraid of the terminal, and music is indeed one of the issues. i'll try that, but i still want something that lets players draw on the shared screen, which would help a lot with movement (and anything else that requires precise placement)

cute cobols :3
- pf2e kobolds are the cutest creatures in any ttrpg, and nobody can prove otherwise
  cute cobol image i stole from somewhere
  
  I love the pf2e kobolds and your drawing of them is super cute!

My friend, you are unfortunately looking for Discord
- Perhaps Revolt?
  
  looks pretty good, and feels way faster than discord, but it doesn't have screen share yet.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned tabletop simulator on Steam. Lots of free mods that let you do all sorts of things. And it's system agnostic because it's essentially a physics simulator, with some game hooks like dice rolling and card drawing.
Plus, if you want to get fancy, it does things like image import and fog of war, And it's got the voice chat and text chat built in.
If you do use it, don't forget to go to the settings and prevent other players from flipping the table.
- i'm looking for something free, and preferably open source. and this doesn't even seem to have mobile support

Something like OpenTogetherTube might help you out. For the audio/video chat and screensharing I'd still go with jitsi (a lot more performant than discord), and have your table join an OTT session in parallel.

32 comments