What is Online Assistant ?
Online Assistant is AideDD's Virtual Tabletop (VTT) application to play D&D 5 remotely from your internet browser, without any installation, in addition to an audio or video communication tool (Google Meet, Zoom, Discord, Skype, Whatsapp, etc.). It is also possible to use this application for forum games (for Battlemaps) or around a table (for the Fight Tracker).
The tool has been designed to be fast and intuitive in order to be able to play without preparation (no obligation to prepare files or images in advance) and allows to manage everything that the main communication medium cannot handle or manages poorly: dice rolls, NPC tracking during battles (Fight Tracker / HP Tracker), image sharing, private messages between players and DM, battlemaps.
Remote live games
The tool was first and foremost designed for this type of game, remotely and synchronously. For example, you can open a tab in your browser for communication (Google Meet, Discord, Skype, etc.) and another for Online Assistant, or have a different screen (PC or smartphone) for each tool.
For this type of game, each participant must be registered to the forum to have live access to the OA.
Play by forum
The tool can also enhance Play by forum Games, especially for Battlemaps, as everything is saved. The Role play continues to be text-based on the forum, asynchronously, and you can use the Battlemap for the fights. The 100% safe dice rolls can also be useful.
For this type of game, each participant must be registered to the forum to have access to the OA.
Around a table
The tool also works around a real table, using only the Fight Tracker and/or the Battlemap.
To use the Fight Tracker, the DM can compose his group by putting players who do not have an account on the forum. There is no verification at this level. So, it's fast and it doesn't require any action from the players.
To use the Battlemap around a real table, the DM only needs to create one player account on the forum, other players in the group do not need to have accounts. The player's account created is then projected on a large screen to all the players, and the DM manages his entire game from his laptop.
For this type of game, only the DM and possibly a player need to be registered in the forum to have access to the OA.
Access
Anyone registered to the forum and want to use the OA as an DM can activate his table and compose his group by going to the User Control Panel, then from there to the tab Online Games -> My virtual table. The DM then only has to share the link that is indicated with the players.
Support
Do you have any doubts, questions, proposals, bugs to report? We have a dedicated Online Assistant forum to help you.
Note: the tokens used by the OA are proposed for free on Paper Forge patreon.