D&D is gaining popularity someplace new — online, through streaming services like Twitch and YouTube. It can be sufficiently intimidating learning how to play Dungeons & Dragons and other roleplaying games (RPGs) in of itself, let alone figuring out how to enjoy tabletop RPGs online and the tech set-up involved – whether you’re interested in storytelling tabletop RPGs for newbies or more mechanics-hefty fantasy tabletop RPGs.

Fear not as there are quite a lot of choices out there for playing Dungeons & Dragons online, in addition to other tabletop RPGs – and lots are free as well. You’ll be playing Dungeons & Dragons online in no time and, dependent on what level of presentation and feature set you’re after, without spending a cent.

Here is our list of some of these platforms.

Fantasy Grounds

Your favourite RPG game systems are playable with Fantasy Grounds (FG). While you are able to play ANY game on Fantasy Grounds, these systems give you the opportunity to buy preloaded content that is ready to play. Less prep time for the GM means a lot more playtime for the players and a far more enjoyable online experience overall.

Even for those are wanting to run their games face to face, Fantasy Grounds assists with keeping all your information handy and helps with keeping the game moving along at a fast pace. Available as a lifetime purchase or – alternatively – as a monthly subscription.

Discord

Discord is a video, voice and text chat application which is used by tens of millions of people who are aged 13+ to talk and spend time with their communities and friends.

People utilise Discord every day to talk about a lot of things, ranging from art projects and family vacations to homework as well as mental health support. It’s an environment t for communities of any size, however it’s most widely utilised by small and active groups of people who talk often.

The bulk of servers are private, invite-only spaces for bands of friends and communities to remain in touch and spend time together. Also, there are larger, more open communities, generally centred on specific topics such as popular games such as Minecraft and Fortnite. Users have control over who they interact with as well as what their experience on Discord is. This means that there may even be groups that chat about FIFA World Cup odds and other current events while still sharing experiences about their gaming.

Roll20

The Roll20 team is devoted to allowing gamers to unite across any distance via their simple gaming tools. This means that they strive to lower the technical burden on the participants, enable the development of new gaming groups as well as to make barriers to entry as few as feasible when collecting around a table for camaraderie. To accomplish these goals they seek to create a service that is sustainable and will be a great resource to the gaming community as long as it is required.

Roll20 is the simplest way to play Dungeons and Dragons online. Since 2016, they’ve been an official licensed partner with Wizards of the Coast, which has published Dungeons and Dragons since 1997. That means that you are able to buy hundreds of official rulebooks, bundles and adventures.