DiceRoll Academy guides
VTT first-session checklist for game masters and players
A role-based, testable checklist for preventing account, permission, map, audio and performance surprises.
Direct answer
Before a first VTT session, verify access, one player character, the communication channel, the opening scene, player visibility, a representative roll, device performance and a fallback. Test the player view with a second account or another person; a game-master-only preview is not enough.
Original DiceRoll evidence
DiceRoll workflow evidence: host view is not player view
The checklist follows actual permission boundaries in a DiceRoll room: membership approval, character assignment, token ownership, visibility and game-master-only controls. It deliberately requires a player-side check.
Method: Two-role walkthrough of current room onboarding and map interaction, reviewed on 28 August 2026.
- A successful game-master preview does not verify player membership, ownership or fog visibility.
- Testing one movement, one roll and one reconnect covers the most important shared-state path.
- A pre-agreed static-image or theater-of-the-mind fallback keeps a technical incident from ending play.
The day before: remove access uncertainty
Send the room link, exact start time with time zone, communication link and character deadline in one message. Ask everyone to sign in and confirm that the campaign is visible. Resolve pending membership or character questions before the session window.
- Every player can sign in
- Membership is approved
- Each player knows which character to use
- Voice or text channel is confirmed
Game-master preflight: test the opening path
Open the exact starting map, confirm grid alignment and token scale, then inspect what a player can see. Move a player-owned token, make a representative roll and switch scenes once. If fog or lighting matters, verify it from the player side instead of inferring it from game-master overlays.
Disable or simplify one expensive visual feature and decide whether it changes the game. Knowing the minimal stable configuration makes it much easier to recover if an older phone or laptop struggles.
Player preflight: confirm control and readability
Open the assigned character, find the values needed in the first scene and identify the roll control. On the map, confirm that the correct token is selectable and that its name, status and health information are readable at the normal zoom level.
Try the actual microphone, headphones and browser that will be used. A different browser profile or device can have different permissions even on the same computer.
Write the fallback before you need it
Choose a primary fallback for each critical layer: reconnect or refresh for shared state, a second communication channel for audio, and a static image or verbal positions for the map. Put these instructions in the same pre-session message so nobody has to search while the game is paused.
At the table, assign one person to report technical symptoms while the game master keeps the scene moving. After the session, record the failure and change the checklist only when the cause is understood.