Landing Page
From Roll20 Wiki
Page Updated: 2021-10-03 |
(also called Starting Page, Dashboard, Campaign Home Screen, or Splash Screen)
Landing page is the default page on Roll20 games, where players usually start from each session, and which is often left open to be viewed in-between sessions. At it's simplest form, it can be seen as an empty "placeholder page" for the players to be moved to when the GM doesn't want them to see other pages. On the Roll20 Marketplace, they have a separate category for this, Dashboards(Market).
Contents |
Elements
Landing Pages can vary greatly in both looks and function, but here is a non-exhaustive list of characteristics one might have:
- Art to make the page look nice (maybe even make it look like a real table or noticeboard)
- An area for players to scribble on with the drawing tools (some people gotta)
- General
- Summary of latest player events/sessions
- Synopsis of the campaign
- Timeline of in-game events
- mind-map with links/relations between PCs, NPCs, factions etc.
- Noticeboard (either an in-game or out-of-character version):
- in-game news & misc. lore
- listing jobs/quests the players might take on(Useful in West Marches-style games)
- Player Character Info
- Shows the Player Character w/ art & names, some stats
- A text area detailing the last adventure or xp award
- The latest treasure that has not been divvied up (useful if you use cards for inventory)
- campaign Clues to follow up on
- NPCs
- Prominent NPCs/factions tokens, linked to journal entries for them
- A Rogues Gallery of the BBEG and his/her lieutenants
- A Kill Record— X-ed out tokens of defeated adversaries
- World Map
- map for the active campaign setting
- Mini-map for the city players are currently in
Uses
Many GMs moves players to view this page between sessions, so that if they login to the game outside sessions, they see the Landing Page and useful info, and avoids possible spoilers, if the GM is making changes to the map players are currently on/last session ended with.
Many or most Modules & Adventures(Market) have a basic form of a Landing Page, that usually displays the cover artwork of the game Module, along with maybe displaying tokens for pre-generated characters. It's the first thing the players see when joining the game for the first time, and is useful as a placeholder to not spoil the first "proper" map prematurely. Starting info on the game is usually kept on the N Journal-tab in handouts, along with instructions for the GM on what handout they might want show the players at the start.
Games/Campaigns with tons of players, such as West Marches-style of games, can greatly benefit from having a solid Landing Page with lots of info, when there are frequent games and not all attend each session. Info on the latest events in the campaign along with status of characters/factions can be great for getting people up to speed with the important stuff whether they just joined the campaign or have missed a session or few.
Tips & Tricks
- Elevator Music Map(Forum) - how to manage player transition in larger campaigns in-session, and parking players on a "Waiting Map" while the GM searches/creates the next map
- Map Pins - great trick for both maps & landing pages, by keithcurtis.
- more on Map Pins(Forum) by Airsickhydra
- MapLock API(Proinfo) - can be used to lock movement of individual graphics or tokens on the map, which can stop the GM or players accidentally moving anything on the page even if they have user permissons for it otherwise.
Resources
Resources & artwork for creating Landing pages
- Roll20 Marketplace can have useful content, of which Roll20 Marketplace: Dashboards(Market)-category is at the top
- Star Wars: Clone Wars Roll20 Landing Page (Blank Version in the Comments)
- (Free Resource) Notice Board with modular Adventure Posters
- all r/roll20 posts with Landing Page-flair
Forum Threads
- Return of "Show Us Your Game"/"Show Us Your Home Page"(Forum) - a long thread showcasing tons of Landing pages from people's games
- Landing Page gallery(Forum)
- How to make a landing page?(Forum)
- Landing Page Assets?(Forum)
API
- Message of the Day - simple API that shows players a message from a predetermined list each time they enter a game, nice for enhancing your Landing Page
Youtube Guides
- Learning Roll20 - Building a Start Page - 15min, by CrashGem
- 5 WAYS TO IMPROVE YOUR ROLL20.NET CAMPAIGN - (1st) Campaign Home Screen, by Grasswalker
- Displaying Loading Screen Type Messages: A Roll20 API Scripting Tutorial - 38min, by Nick Olivo (March 2020)
See Also
- Page Toolbar - managing which pages/maps players see
- P Art Library
- Tokens
- b Layers - how map layers work
- Map Pins
- API (Proinfo only)