SO, I have got to say, I love this Roll20 system, and gaming with an open computer, with two screens! Who would have thought it!!!!
I am not one to embrace technology, and yet, I seem to all to often, a truly strange thing. First off ROLL20 is a great little system. It allows me to upload images that I can reveal to my players as they progress through an adventure. I can show them maps of where they are, or images of what they see, the characters that they meet, etc, etc. Now true all this could be done in person, either with handouts or computer display, but for me, it allows me to be better organizes for a turn. My games are free flowing, limited set scenarios or fixed schedules. So what I do between sessions, is to create pages upon pages of images that might come up in any given session. Better than flipping through papers. With the internet in use the players and I can each look up information related to the game. As we are playing a game set in 1920's England, simple questions can be looked up and answered without the players realizing what I am doing, so less of an interruption to the game play.
We do not use Roll20 to show tactical maps, to allow players to move their avatars through thr floor plans etc. We never gamed that way, and I see no reason to change this late in life. Old school quick sketch battle maps and maybe tokens to represent general position (more likely just an X) is all we ever did. A description of the area, indicating targets and objectives works fine. So nice though many of the battle maps, scenery tiles etc might be, not required by me.
However the biggest thing about Roll20 is that it actually makes/allows me to run games. As I grow older I seem to be less inclined to travel beyond my house to run a game. My players, some at least, have busy schedules, so travel back and forth for a game session can be problematic. Often I am tired or anxious before a game, sometimes life is a little hectic before we 'get' together. With Roll20, somehow those issues do not dominate me. Twice now I started a session thinking it will be a quick session because I was beat, or not certain what to do in the turn. But, the ability to flick a switch rather than do all the social pre-game activities, means that I have been able to power through and get the game turns going. Somehow, the not in person aspect is working for me!
I like the distance from my players, but I like the video presence in front of me. We may chat non gaming stuff for a while, but we quickly get down to playing the game and rarely fall out of it. It suits our style of play, so far. Now I have 2-3 more player joining in, this time as a group, something we rarely do. Time will tell if it will still work for me, but I am optimistic!
