Almost all my roleplaying happens online, and has done for many years – and almost all of that is through Roll20. I created my first custom character sheet for Roll20 almost ten years ago (for Blades in the Dark) and I’ve been tinkering with the platform ever since.
So when I started work on my own game, the Roll20 experience was very much front-of-mind from the beginning. I spent perhaps a little too much time creating custom character sheets when the game was only weeks old, and it only grew more elaborate from there. Embedded videos, animated gifs, multi-sided maps, rollable tokens – I used it all to bring Deathmatch Island to life.
I’m really proud of the finished Roll20 Deathmatch Island module. It doesn’t just replicate face-to-face gaming but makes the most of the possibilities afforded by playing online.
Because Deathmatch Island is very structured, with a discrete series of islands and gameplay phases, it’s a great fit for playing over Roll20. A page for every island, with animated backgrounds, a library of sound effects, interactive training on how to use the module itself (my favourite feature), and the full custom soundtrack. It makes running the game super easy, and provides an immersive experience for everyone at the table.
The character sheets handle all the calculations and book-keeping for you, and you have access to all the random tables with a click. The Production Player can access the dice pools for every NPC and every island, ready to roll. There are portraits for every NPC (exclusive to the Roll20 module), and the full ruleset available in the compendium.
This isn’t just a replica of the print materials, this is tailored to playing online, and full of unique art assets. It’s true to the Deathmatch Island visual style but extends it in new directions; the background for each Roll20 page is styled after the kind of interface that Production employees might be looking at as they monitor events on the island, complete with live video feeds and maps.
As a longtime Roll20 fan (1300 hours logged), I couldn’t be happier with how it turned out, and I can’t wait to see how you use it.