Roll20 Helpdesk for GMs (and Players)

[Chysonallite]

So, if you're like me, you're a fat, lazy American who doesn't want to bother using math while playing games or constantly needing to check your Google Spreadsheet for what your skills are. Even if you're not all of the above, I still believe that sometimes Roll20 has very convenient features that often get overlooked in games. That's where I want to help out. Here, I'm going to post bits such as character sheets and macros to make playing easier. If you guys have any questions, suggestions, or other tips, please post them below!

Note that I use a variant of Kkat's rules, so there's a possibility that not everything posted below will pertain to you.

Dice Roller

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Calculating the degrees of success in skill rolls is a pain - simple as that. That's where the Roll20 dice roller comes in. This roller will do all the math for you - all you have to do is type in your skill number.
Step 1: Go to your Journal and create a new character. I named mine Roller.
Step 2: Under "In Player's Journals" put All Players. Under "Can Be Edited & Controlled By", also put All Players.
Step 3: Go to the character's Attributes & Abilities tab and add a new Ability.
Step 4: In the top box, give the ability a name. I named mine Skills. Now set it to Show in Macro Bar.
Step 5: Copy/paste this into the bottom box [[ceil((?{Target Number}+1-1d100)/10) vs. Skill (?{Target Number})]] Degrees of Success
Step 6: Save changes, and make sure you have your macro bar enabled in your Settings.
Note: All players must set the ability to Show in Macro Bar and enable their macro bar in Settings.
Voila! Now just push the button in your macro bar (Mine says Roller:Skills), type in your skill number, and Roll20 will roll for you and tell you your degrees of success!
Note: This macro does not automatically tell you if you rolled a critical or not. If you hover your mouse over your result, the number in slightly bigger font is what you rolled.

Character Sheets

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Something many people forget is that Roll20 has perfectly workable macro-enabled character sheets. In fact, that is what my players and I use. On the Bio & Info tab, players can write down important information such as DT and experience.
One of my player's Bio and Info page:
Yes, I still use Windows XP.
On the Attributes & Abilities tabs, players can put information such as their skills, SPECIAL, & HP on the left, and macros that use those (such as Basic Movement) on the right.
The same player's Attributes & Abilities page:

Macros
Initiative:

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Initiative is easy. /r d10+{AGI} &{tracker}
With that simple macro, Roll20 will roll your initiative and submit it to the turn order.
Notes: 1. This only works if you have a Roll20 character sheet like what is posted above. 2. For it to be submitted to the turn order, turn order must already be up and the character rolling must already be added to the turn order.

Basic Movement:

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You don't really roll basic movement, but sometimes it's nice to have the result automatically update when you increase your attributes.
[[(@{AGI}*2+@{END})/2]]
Note: This only works if you have a Roll20 character sheet like what is posted above.

As vadram pointed out, you can replace /r or /roll in roll with [[ ]] for the roll to look differently. Doing so doesn't change the roll, it simply gives it a different aesthetic. For example, instead of typing /r d10+{AGI}, you can type in [[d10+{AGI}]].


Want Roll20 compatible tokens?
Try Palm's tokens: http://forum.fallout-equestria.com/view ... f=24&t=711 I heard he takes requests, too!
Or my friend John's: http://forum.fallout-equestria.com/view ... f=24&t=741
Shady_Steps has a nice general resource pack: http://forum.fallout-equestria.com/view ... f=24&t=683
Want a map or token commission?: http://forum.fallout-equestria.com/view ... f=24&t=696


How about some music?
Hoofington Rises - official "soundtrack" of the FoE sidestory Project Horizons by Somber.
Vault Archives - compilation of ambient music in Fallout 1 & 2, courtesy of f1r3w4rr10r.
Freestockmusic.com - free music you can use for whatever you want!
Incompetech - same as freestockmusic.com but with a few more restrictions and higher quality overall.

[Viewing_Glass]

Ooooh, very nice. About the 'degrees of success' formula: Does this allow you to add bonuses or penalties to a roll? Or do you have to add those in on your own?

[Chysonallite]

Yes; and quite easily as well. Say you have a Firearms of 49, and you're shooting a short-ranged weapon point-blank. Instead of typing 49 in the dice roller, you would type in 64, and the roller will accommodate. Similarly, you can type in 49+15, and it will roll it as if your skill is 64.

[vadram]

Ooooh, very nice. About the 'degrees of success' formula: Does this allow you to add bonuses or penalties to a roll? Or do you have to add those in on your own?

you can use the +?{bonus|0} as part of the roll and manually add the modifiers
ex. [[d20+?{bonus|0}]] and a popup box would, well, pop up. and you can add positive and negative numbers to the mix.
a d20=2 and a bonus=-2 would yield a 0

Some minor quality of life improvements:
instead of using /r or /roll you can use [[ ]]
ex /r d20+2 becomes [[d20+2]] resulting in a much smaller and efficient macro
also the &{tracker} only works if you have a token (your token) selected and adds it to the initiative automatically
so [[d10+@Char_name{AGI} &{tracker}]] with your char token selected would add it to the initiative

[Chysonallite]

Yes, you can replace /r or /roll in any dice roll with [[___]] to change how it looks, but that really just comes down to preference. I find [[___]] to be an eyesore, but several people I have played with really like it. I'll add that real quick!

[f1r3w4rr10r]

I just found something awesome and I thought I put it in here: http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Vault_Archives
It's a free and remastered collection of pretty much all the Fallout 1, 2 and New Vegas soundtrack. I mean how much more authentic can you get than treating your players to the original?

[Chysonallite]

I just found something awesome and I thought I put it in here: http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Vault_Archives
It's a free and remastered collection of pretty much all the Fallout 1, 2 and New Vegas soundtrack. I mean how much more authentic can you get than treating your players to the original?

That is awesome! Thanks, mate!

[icekatze]

hi hi

I tried creating a set of macros that had each step in the progression, but I couldn't find a way to reference those macros with a prompt. When you've got a non-standard progression of rolls, it would be nice to just enter the number on a table into the prompt and get the correct roll. (ie. 1 = 1d4, 2 = 1d6, 3 = 1d8, etc.)

Even though you're supposed to be able to reference another macro within a macro, I haven't found a way to make that work. (You click the macro, and a prompt comes up, but entering a number, say 3, doesn't roll 1d8. It doesn't do anything.)

Generic macro: #roll?{|0}
Macro "3": /roll 1d8

If anyone knows a workaround for this, I'd be glad to hear it.

[Chysonallite]

hi hi

I tried creating a set of macros that had each step in the progression, but I couldn't find a way to reference those macros with a prompt. When you've got a non-standard progression of rolls, it would be nice to just enter the number on a table into the prompt and get the correct roll. (ie. 1 = 1d4, 2 = 1d6, 3 = 1d8, etc.)

Even though you're supposed to be able to reference another macro within a macro, I haven't found a way to make that work. (You click the macro, and a prompt comes up, but entering a number, say 3, doesn't roll 1d8. It doesn't do anything.)

Generic macro: #roll?{|0}
Macro "3": /roll 1d8

If anyone knows a workaround for this, I'd be glad to hear it.

Alright. So one choice you have is that you can create multiple macros in your My Settings and then name them accordingly. I used the example you gave with 3 = /r d8. With that set, I had to manually type in #3 into the chat and it rolled 1d8. I don't really see how you might use the prompt as a workaround. The ?{Target Number} function doesn't support macros of any kind, I've found. For example, when I typed in #?{wut} and typed in 3, then Enter, it just typed #3 into the chat without activating the macro. The prompt's only use is to serve as a space in a macro for you to change numbers (see:Dice Roller), not to activate selected macros.

If this is for your system, then you may just need to set a whole lot of macros in your My Settings and name them accordingly.

I hope this answered your question, and I'm sorry if it didn't. I'll see if my friend can't figure something out for you.

[icekatze]

hi hi

I had sorta figured that I was just out of luck, but it's better to know for sure than not. Using #X works well enough for basic rolls, but it does sorta preclude some of the more advanced macros, like adding or subtracting modifiers, and checking degrees of success. It's not the end of the world, but I do hope they improve their macro scripting some day.