How to Play Dungeons & Dragons Online

Overview

Your Step-by-Step Guide to Software, Hardware, and Finding the Perfect Digital Table

Dungeons & Dragons is known to be illustrated by people sitting around a table, rolling dice and eating snacks together. But with the rapid rise in popularity, many games are now happening online. Tables have extended beyond physical limitations and can now connect players in different countries or even continents.  Playing tabletop RPGs online has evolved from a backup plan into the preferred way to play for millions of players worldwide. Whether you are struggling to coordinate schedules with local friends or want to dive into the hobby for the very first time, playing online removes geographic boundaries entirely. This guide breaks down exactly how to play dnd online, detailing the tools you need, the best software available, and how to find a welcoming group.

Hardware and setup

You don't need a powerful gaming computer to play D&D, although making sure you meet the baseline requirements will help you avoid any technical glitches or issues and make sure the focus remains on what matters - the story itself.

The computer

A standard laptop or desktop computer is highly recommended. While you can access certain character sheets via your phone, running a virtual map, looking up rules, and participating in a voice call simultaneously requires the screen real estate of a proper monitor.

The microphone

Bad video is tolerable, bad audio ruins games. Built-in laptop microphones may pick up the sound of your computer's fans, your typing and every nearby siren. Invest in a dedicated USB microphone or a decent headset. Your party will thank you.

Headphones over speakers

Always wear headphones while playing online. If your microphone picks up the game audio coming out of your desktop speakers, it creates an unbearable echoing feedback loop for everyone else in the call.

A webcam

Ask your group what their camera policy is before Session 0 https://groupfinder.eu/library/session-0-checklist-how-to-build-a-dnd-group-that-lasts. Some tables require webcams because reading facial expressions drastically improves roleplay and keeps players focused. Other groups prefer voice-only "Theater of the Mind" style play to protect privacy and keep things casual.

The Virtual Tabletop (VTT)

A Virtual Tabletop (VTT) is the software that acts as your digital table. It displays maps, tracks the locations of character tokens, and handles dice rolling (if your group decides to roll digital dice). Choosing the right one depends entirely on your budget and how much time you want to spend learning the software.
Owlbear Rodeo https://groupfinder.eu/library/owlbear-rodeo Free (with premium tiers) Best for: Casual groups, fast setup, simplicity
Roll20 https://groupfinder.eu/library/roll20 Free / Optional subscription Best for: Browser-based play, massive player base
FreeVTT https://groupfinder.eu/library/freevtt Free with no registration required Best for: Online and in-person games
Foundry VTT https://groupfinder.eu/library/foundry-virtual-tabletop-foundry-vtt One-time GM fee ($50, free for players) Best for: Advanced automation, heavy modding, lighting
Fantasy Grounds https://groupfinder.eu/library/fantasy-grounds-unity One-time Subscription or license tiers Best for: Deep rulebook integration, tactical automation
and many others you can browse here https://groupfinder.eu/library?category=tools-platforms&search=&f1=5 If your game does not rely on battlemaps, you might not even need to set up a VTT system. Or your GM might direct a webcam at their table, where they have a physical grid or terrain removing the need for a digital platform setup.

Video and voice

Unless your game is "play by post" (text-based game through a chat or forum) you will need a platform to communicate on. For most people the primary choice will be Discord https://groupfinder.eu/library/discord. Although there is a multitude of various other platforms (Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams and many others alike) that work just as well. Some VTT platforms have integrated a video and voice module to keep things in one place. Make sure to test your microphone and video before the game begins to avoid the classic "Can you hear me? I cant hear you? Why can't you see my video" situation.

How to be a great digital player

Playing through a monitor requires a distinct set of social manners to keep the game moving smoothly. Implement these four simple habits to ensure your Game Master invites you back:
Art of the Pause Online audio cuts out when multiple people speak at once. Practice leaving a tiny half-second buffer zone before speaking up to prevent accidentally talking over your fellow players or the GM.
Minimize digital distractions It is incredibly easy to open a second browser window to browse social media or play a video game while another player is taking their turn in combat. Avoid this at all costs. GMs put hours of unpaid work into prepping maps and stories; give them your full attention.
Remove the background noise If you are playing in a loud household, have pets that bark, or are chewing on snacks, turn on Push-to-Talk or keep your microphone muted whenever you aren't actively speaking.
Test your tech early Don't wait until exactly game time to find out your browser needs an update or your headset isn't syncing. Log into your Discord channel 5 to 10 minutes early to run an audio diagnostic test and ensure everything is working smoothly.

How to find an online group

Once you have your headset plugged in and your necessary accounts created, you face the most notorious hurdle in the entire hobby: finding an active group of people to play with. With Groupfinder you can filter players https://groupfinder.eu/players and games https://groupfinder.eu/list by timezones, to make sure that your schedules align. There is a multitude of groups and players looking for their next game - Either reach out to a group or create your own player post.

Other entries

DnD Looking for Group: How to find your next table
Guides & How-to

DnD Looking for Group: How to find your next table

Guides
The “LFG” struggle is real. How do you find a group to play with in 2026 “LFG D&D 5E”, “LFP D&D 2014/2024 5E”, “LFG Dungeons & Dragons” - it is very likely that you have seen (or even posted) such messages in various places. LFG, or Looking for Group, is the common acronym to indicate that you are looking for a table to join. The opposing acronym is LFM - Looking for Members. Posting these messages will wear you down eventually. Are there really no groups that have room for you? Is there something obvious that you are perhaps missing? Is the hobby not meant for you? It is natural to feel worn down by either rejection or just silence. You see a group that is looking for players, you reply and you get nothing back. Playing Dungeons & Dragons should feel like fun. Because it is fun. Find the right group that fits your style and you will absolutely fall in love with the game and look forward to every session. But. You have to get there first. You need to find a group of players to take you in and only then, can you take the next steps. Reddit, Discord, Facebook or a dedicated platform? When you are looking for a dnd group, you are faced with various different paths to take. They all have their cons and pros. Lets take a look at some of the more popular approaches: The subreddit spam Reddit has been a reliable all-inclusive platform for a long time now. With a massive amount of users all over the world covering various different topics, themes, questions, experiences and interests - it is safe to say, that reddit has everything. But including that everything, you might run into a lot of “noise”. Pros: A lot of users making many posts every day. Global platform connecting you to various people all across the globe. Cons: The noise. An active subreddit will see multiple posts every hour. Your post might get immediately covered by other redditors’ posts. Filtering the posts to find something relevant to you will be difficult, as it is all text-based and with no detailed search functions. Finding a group that is focused on a specific theme or topic will be a chore. The Discord discourse As a platform for messaging and being involved with various communities - there isn’t a good alternative to Discord. Different communities have various versions of #looking-for-group channels. And as clustered as Discord is, with everyone starting their own server, gathering users and growing a community, you are either locked to a few LFG channels - or you have to find a ton of various community servers to join, to share your post with as many pairs of eyes as you can. Pros: It is an instant messaging platform. You post - it gets sent. You get a reply, it happens instantly. And once you find a group to join, you don’t have to look further, as most likely further communication will continue on Discord. Cons: You need to know where to go. There isn’t a one-stop-shop server that gets your message out to everyone in the hobby-space. It also lacks a search functionality beyond basic text search. Unless the server you have found separates games by theme, type, timezone or some other parameter - you are usually stuck with a single channel to post and search. The Facebook fatigue You most likely already are on Facebook. Either you have an account that is collecting dust, or you use it for messaging. And similar to Discord, there are tons of various D&D LFG groups to find, join and post in. You just have to find the right one, get your join request approved and get posting. Pros: Once you find a group that fits your search criteria, you can post your message. And have people either leave a comment or message you directly. Keep in mind, that messages from users who you are not connected with will be filtered to a separate mailbox. Be sure to check there, if you are waiting for a reply. Cons: Just like the other methods listed above, Facebook also falls short when it comes to searchability. And compared to Reddit or Discord, the search functionality is even more limited. It was never designed for that. You also need to find an appropriate Facebook group to join. One that still has active users and has not been abandoned yet. The Groupfinder gateway And then there is Groupfinder. A dedicated platform for your LFG needs. Free to use, with users all across the world and a simple user interface to get you going. While other platforms are, at the end of the day, messaging boards - Groupfinder has been built from the ground-up to serve a specific purpose (You won’t be selling a lawnmower here any time soon). You are here to find a dungeons and dragons group. Pros: Filtering. Finding a group (or other players) is easy with various filtering options. Looking for an online dnd group? Limit your search results to a specific timezone. Whether you are on the east coast, central Europe, or even in Australia - you can manage who’s posts you are shown. /images/general-media/1774999635_UxGFgbcv.pngThe filtering system will help you narrow down your search Or if you are trying to find a local, in-person game - you can use the map filter to pick a specific location on the map, adjust the search radius and only be shown the groups that match your specified area. In addition to timezones, you can use the tags. You can only view groups who have added various predefined tags to their post. Looking for a game that is suitable for a newcomer - “Beginner friendly”. Want to play over messages - “Play by post”. Interested in games that have a spooky theme - “Horror”. Take a look at the various tags that you can use to filter the posts. Are you looking for a game that follows the 2014 ruleset? Pick “Dungeons & Dragons 5E”. Or are you ready to switch over to the newer rules? - “Dungeons & Dragons 5.5E (2024)”. Even if you are looking for games for another game system, like Daggerheart, Pathfinder, Shadowrun, Mothership or Savage Worlds - use the game system filter. (Read more about the popularity of alternative TTRPG systems in this article) Not currently looking to join a paid game? Understandable - you can use the “Paid game” switch to filter out all the games run by professional GMs. Cons: The platform is still growing and more people are still discovering it. How to increase the odds of your post succeeding? While there isn’t a specific and guaranteed approach that is bound to get you into a group within 5 minutes of posting. You can still follow a few suggestions to increase the odds. Who are you and what do you want?  This might sound like a line from a cheesy detective movie - but it holds some truth. Writing a compelling and descriptive profile bio will give you a massive advantage Tag appropriately. Some groups search for players via tags. If you don’t have any added to your profile, you are immediately cutting yourself out of their search results. Don’t go overboard and add all the tags. Pick only the ones that represent your preferences the best. Share your profile. All the platforms listed above are messaging boards after all. If you spot a group or players thinking about forming a party - post your profile link. Instead of sending them a wall of text, you now have a page that describes who you are, what games you are looking for, what your timezone is and displays you as someone willing to go the extra mile. Bump yourself. Bumping (Bring up my post) is how we have eliminated the constant message spam. Instead of returning every day or two to write up a new post to introduce yourself, you can take your current profile and just click the button on the right side of your cover image. That will bump your post to the top of the listings, completely refreshing it’s position. Stop wearing yourself thin Instead of spending all that time posting on various different platforms. And then doing a second lap of checking for responses - post your profile and find your dnd group.

Read more

Brotherhood of the Dice
Video

Brotherhood of the Dice

TTRPG
English
Youtube
Brotherhood of the Dice is a group of friends who get together to play tabletop RPGs, mostly leaning into horror with a sprinkling of fantasy and sci-fi. We run games like Call of Cthulhu, Mothership, The Dee Sanction, Dead of Night, Electric State, Pirate Borg, Dragonbane, and Outgunned, throwing in the occasional curveball with something more quirky like Land of Eem when we feel like changing things up. As most of our games lean heavily into horror, they tend to favour a serious tone, but when things go off the rails, chaos and hilarity are never far behind. Which is just part of the fun. Nothing is scripted, and we’re not performers, just regular people enjoying games together and letting the dice and the story take us where they will. /images/general-media/1774008789_ZfvlFW0K.png We stream live on Twitch three times a week and upload the sessions to YouTube afterwards. Real people playing games. Links twitch.tv - Twitch channel youtube.com - Youtube channel instagram.com - Instagram page

Read more

Call of Cthulhu (2014)
Tabletop Roleplaying Games

Call of Cthulhu (2014)

TTRPG
Beginner-friendly
English
Released in 2014 by Chaosium, Call of Cthulhu 7th Edition is the latest version of the cult-classic cosmic eldritch horror role-playing system originally launched in 1981. The story is based off of the  literary works of H.P. Lovecraft and lovecraftian works. Instead of setting the players up as heroes, the characters are regular investigators who are exploring cults, forbidden knowledge and various eldritch-cosmic entitites and threats. Description Occupations in the game for the characters include academics, reporters, and private investigators. The gameplay loop revolves around uncovering information, analyzing clues, and evading dangers. As the supernatural elements in the game are considered more powerful than the investigators, they have are not expected to actually confront most of the threats head on. Instead they usually have to resort to avoiding or escaping any situation that may arise. Combat is lethal and usually leads to characters getting permanently killed or pushed to insanity (which eventually is the same).  System Overview & Key Features Percentile Framework (d100) Every action is resolved by rolling two ten-sided (d10) dice to get a result from 1 to 100. If you roll is equal to or under your skill rating, the action is deemed a success. This approach simplifies the mechanical process of the game, as there are no complex tables to keep track of and compare to decypher whether it is a success or failure. Pushed Rolls If a character fails a skill check, they may attempt to "push" the roll, allowing for a second attempt. This requires the player to come up with a new, more desperate approach to performing the task. If this subsequent pushed roll also fails, the Keeper describes a severe and immediate negative consequence. Sanity and Madness A core mechanic of the system is the tracking of mental stability. Investigators lose points from their Sanity gauge when exposed to anomalous creatures or disturbing truths. Drops in Sanity result in the character experiencing temporary or permanent forms of madness, which can manifest as new phobias, delusions, or a temporary loss of player agency over the character. Bonus and Penalty Dice To account for situational advantages or disadvantages, the game employs a system of bonus and penalty dice. If a character possesses a distinct advantage when performing a task, an extra d10 is rolled and taking the higher result. A disadvantage means rolling an extra d10 and taking the lower result. Combat Lethality Physical altercations are inherently dangerous by design. Investigators possess limited hit points, and the damage output of both conventional firearms and anomalous entities is high. Recovery mechanics are slow, simulating realistic healing times. This structural lethality serves to discourage combat and incentivize stealth and investigation. Expendable Luck Players can spend points from their character's Luck pool to retroactively lower a dice roll. The points are subtracted on a one-to-one basis until the dice result qualifies as a success. This ensures that the Luck pool is a limited resource which should be used and utilized in the most critical situations. Additional links chaosium.com - Official publisher website and digital storefront drivethrurpg.com - Digital repository for official scenarios and sourcebooks

Read more

Looking for a group?

Find a tabletop group to join or players to invite.
Groupfinder is a free looking-for-group/players platform. By players, for players.