Are there any challenges during an in-person game that aren’t a factor online

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I have been asked to run a one-shot D&D game by a friend for a certain event. The game will be an in-person session, with everyone physically present, whereas I only have experience running online. All the games I’ve run and played have been through Roll20 with Discord for voice. Is there anything that will need to be handled differently or any challenges that don’t apply to online games?

So far I’ve come up with these:

  • obviously rolling dice, Roll20 does most of the maths and keeps track of modifiers by itself so I’ll have to do all that manually
  • maps, tokens and props will need to be printed out if I want to use them
  • without dynamic lighting or fog of war applied automatically I will have to manually uncover portions of the map as the party advances

Is there anything that I haven’t thought of?
In case this is relevant, the system is 5E and the adventure I’m planning to run is the first one from Candlekeep Mysteries.
The players are kind-of new (not brand new but they only played through a couple sessions each) and it will be their first in-person session too, they’ve also only played using Roll20 + Discord before.

Some more information about the setting: this is for a teambuilding event at an office-based workplace, the game will be open for other people to drop in and watch, the players are all co-workers and know each other to varying degree but at the very least as acquaintances but have never played together.

Best Answer

Here are a few things I ususally pack for in person gaming:

  • Adventure Book. Don't forget to bring it. It has happened to me before.

  • Dice. Obviously. Bring enough multiples of the types you need to speed things up, especially d6 and d20 for rolling things like falling damage, fireballs, or attacks by multiple monsters.

  • Master Screen. If you want to hide your notes, dice rolling, and the open adventure, and to look up common reference materials a Master Screen is a great tool. It is not a must have, but quite helpful. You can also have a sheet there for notes, timekeeping and tracking monster hp in fights.

  • Rule Books and page markers. To look up things, you can use your mobile phone or ask players to use theirs, but the rule books, in particular the Monster Manual, are also useful. Best have some markers, Post-Its or bookmarks to stick in so you can quickly find what you need.

  • Floor Plan We usually do not print the plans, we draw them on a coated gridded plan, which is fast and very flexible. You obviously can also preprint them, and try to cover them, but in my experience, that is more cumbersome than just drawing what people see as you go along. You also can draw on a sheet of graph paper, and only move to the big plan when combat happens.

  • Tokens or Miniatures. Printed pogs can work well, having 3-D minis makes for a nicer visualisation. We find the clear plastic boxes in which some dice sets come quite useful to indicate flying creatures, too (you can put them over other pogs/minatiures).

  • Pencils, Paper, Boardmakers You may want to write or draw on the map and make notes. If you use pencils, make sure you also have a rubber. For markers, best are ereasable markers that you can wipe off again, if you have a coated battlemap.

  • Initiative Tracker There are many ways to do this. But you need one.

On site you will also need:

  • Space. Make sure you have a large enough table for the battlemap, best with space for the character sheets, drinks, miniatures, rulebooks, dice rolling area to spare.

  • Optional: Food & Drinks. You are playing in person, so you can share food. Make sure you have enough, and depending how long you play, maybe also have some healthy option, not only sweets and chips.

  • Optional: Power Outlets, especially if you are playing longer, and there are multiple people that want to charge their phone or laptop. We sometimes bring a power strip.

  • Optional: Music. We often have thematic music running in the background to enhance the atmosphere. It can become a bit of a distraction if you fudge around too much with it, but there are also soundscapes like in the inn, forest sounds, battle sounds. Our DM usually brings a compact speaker and streams it.

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