On a bit serious note, continuing on @PatrickD’s thinking: we’ve a great friend who left the country, but we still want to play with him, so we consider to meet with the rest of the group here in person and try to join him via Zoom/Skype/Discord. We shall see, how that goes.
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In times like these, it’s fantastic to have the option of playing remotely. Playing via
zoom or whatever is so much better than not playing at all.
That said, I am so looking forward to never, ever having to do so again.
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Heh.
Then again, it’s been a while since we’ve seen anyone.
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All these replies are amazing! Thanks so much. Yeah. The forum software speaks the truth @S_journ 
I tried roll20 years ago with a couple of people and it was a good experience but it didn’t really take off at the time. With the current state of things it looks like it may be a necessity for a (short?) while longer.
The one feature of playing via zoom or whatever that I’ve enjoyed the most is the whisper function.
We had a character turn to the dark side, as it were, in a recent mini-campaign, and communicating this way was just so much easier than via obvious notes or pre-arranged hand signals or whatever. Passing on information secretly in games that require you to do so has always been a bit of a weakness in RPGs, and this solves the problem nicely.
Last year I started out with Roll20 but I found it very clunky and it added a lot of screentime to the DM prep as well.
During the 2nd lockdown I switch to a much simpler set up with any video call platform (we use Google Hangouts or Zoom) and a second webcam or speparate camera for the battle map if needed.
To me that has been a lot nicer to play and felt a lot more like being around the same table.
We are just starting a campaign with new and old players around and we organized a Session 0.
It turned to be a Session -1, because instead of discussing the campaign setting, we’ve spent most of the time with server setup, loading modules, character creation (even if most of us already prepared it beforehand, but no direct import is possible).
Also (maybe it is software related) some of us already “knew” to handle the system, but for new players, they had to face with a steep learning curve. An other player had setup issues with the microphone. Then with the headphones. And so on…
In person, these experiences might have been more fluid - but on the other side, I agree with @H on this one:
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Yeah.Seems like there’s a rule that in every one of these meetings, whether gaming or otherwise, there always has to be one person whose mic intermittently goes mute, one whose cam is on strike, and one who qfdjg xrfur brgl random tech issue pgucn.
What can you do.
Couldn’t have said it better myself!
Besides blaming technology, I must admit, it has also some advantages as well.
I usually tend to mishear things, but the online solutions massively amplify this and generate some hilarious situations. For example:
- Instead a fellow spell-caster throwing Acid Balls, I’ve misheard it as Acid Boars
(which is now her official spell and another player even made some nice drawings about corrosive boars popping out from the caster’s hand) - Just yesterday, instead of a pack of Cranium Rats attacking us, I heard Cranium Racks are approaching (and was confused, how skullcaps could have racks and why are they attacking us)
- After playing a campaign for 3 years (or so) I just realized, the Duregar city in Underdark is called as Gracklstugh, not Craig’s Skull (and I’m disappointed, I will never learn, who was Craig and what was the story about his skull)
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trust me Gracklstugh probably translates to Grack’s peg leg or something like that 
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Late to the party, but I am also running an online campaign for nearly one year now.
It started as a reaction to the lockdown and with one player being abroad it seemed as a no-brainer to turn to Roll20 & Discord.
As I am running an official module I went the easy way and just bought the contents right in the marketplace. They do come with some neat extras (like Dynamic Lighting, once you have figured it out), but the biggest advantage to me is that I actually have hardly any real prep work to do - if I stick to the original module, that is.
That being said, I personally struggle with keeping focus and concentration in the game. Playing in person is by far superior in these terms, as the more communal feeling allows for a much more intertwined experience. I am very much looking forward to having sessions in person again once this whole situation has gone over…
In one of our groups (playing D&D 5E) we faced with some difficulties regarding choosing the right system, so we landed with a hybrid solution:
- The DM uses FantasyGrounds for herself: as @Johnson mentioned with roll20, you can just load an official modules with all the pre-generated stuff, you can manage NPC/Monster stats, generate loot.
- The players use their own character sheet and roll with their own dice (or use a dice bot in Discord)
Thus we don’t have to bother about limitations of FantasyGround (like we can use homebrew content or materials from official materials, which are not imported into the system yet) plus managing your own character sheet has a certain nostalgia - As for battle maps, we use Owlbear Rodeo, which is a simple, but fluent (and free!) table-top solution, which can be accessed from any device
- Finally, communications happen in Discord (and Whatsapp)
Sure, these all could be solved by one (or maximum 2) services, but a.) this is cheap b.) intuitive for new players c.) more flexible than any of the “off-the-shelf” products I’ve tried.
I also can recommend Owlbear.rodeo.
For the campaign I am running we are using Owlbear.rodeo for maps, and Discord (with a awesome bot) for rolls & chat,
We also have our own Wiki for Stats & Previews (the campaign is build like a TV-Series).
The fact, that the RPG-System is rather on the rules-light-side also helps.
btw I cannot recommend having a good Discord-bot enough 
As a player I am in one group that uses Roll20 with D&D Beyond + Plugin as well as Discord for communication
that also works well 
If you have to play a dungeon-heavy game, where the dm is not sharing the map with you (like AD&D),
then the following free tool can be very useful, especially if you share your screen with Discord:
Since this sadly remains relevant more than a year later … well, how are your digital sessions going? Any advice or experiences to share?
I think my favorite thing about online gaming has been the games specifically designed to be played remotely. Irx ran a memorable session of Alice Is Missing recently; Darth introduced me to ViewScream … it’s impressive how games like that turn the disadvantage of playing online into an essential, immersive feature. Good stuff.
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Alice is Missing is great!
Baron Munchausen, Over The Edge & Orbital were also crazy
others I can recommend are Honey Heist and The Skeletons
Digital campaign wise … we wanted to start a Mutant Year Zero campaign in December,
but started yet another Star Trek Adventures campaign instead (this time Feds),
'cause life, a great new book came out, we already know the system, it’s easy to run online,
and I love moral dilemmas in stories 
p.s. 
your Samantha Smith profile pic
I’m reading this while having COVID-19… again…
Thanks for pointing it out, I was not familiar neither with her name, picture or her story.
It was interesting to discover.
Seemed appropriate. And thank you.
Ugh, sorry to hear that. Hope it’s the symptomless variety!