Online Play

Tools and Materials

A place to communicate such as Discord, Google Hangouts, Zoom, Streamyard, or similar. You can use voice, video, or even text chat.
A dice roller. You can use a tool like Roll20, rollforyour.party, rolldicewithfriends.com, rolz.org, or a plug-in for Discord. Or let folks use their own meatspace dice (but then you don’t have the fun of seeing everyone’s results right away…)
A copy of the Derby Drama playsheet. To make a copy:
- Log in to Google Drive, then click on the link to the playsheet above.
- Go to “File” then “Make a copy”.
- Click “Share” in the upper right, then “Get shareable link”.
- Click on the down arrow where it says “Anyone with the link can view” and change it to “Anyone with the link can edit”.
- Copy that link and share it with the players.

Safety Tools

The rule book includes instructions for the “X-Card” and “Official Time-out” safety tools and you can still use those online. Instead of using a physical card, you can type in chat or say “X that” out loud. Offer methods for players to reach you personally such as direct message or private chat and make sure to watch for messages during the game, because players may be wary of speaking up in front of other players. In this way, playing online is actually nicer than playing at a table, where it’s harder to communicate privately!

Using the Playsheet

As you’re playing, you’ll use each sheet in the numbered order.

1. Setting

Answer the setting questions in the sheet named “1. Setting”.

2. Teams

When the player split into teams, put your name and your character’s in the sheet named “2. Teams”.

3. Scoreboard

The Scoreboard is where you keep track of the current score. If you’re not using Roll For Your Party (see the section below), you can track Team Dice here.

Each team can feel free to tweak the fonts and coloring for the name of their team. :)

Make sure to enter how many players are on each team in the cells at the bottom of each team section.

This is also the sheet where you will select Strategies during the Jam.

4. Team Rosters

Go to your team’s sheet and take a character card for the position you want to play. The first card in each team is the Jammer and the other cards are for blockers.

Each Position has multiple Playbooks that suggest Stats, Looks, Strategies, and Bonds. Choose a Playbook for your skater by clicking the arrow on the cell.

Add one point to any of your stats so that you have a total of seven. To do this you have to delete the formula in that cell and replace it with just a number.

Write one bond with a teammate and one bond with an opponent. You can use the suggestions listed above or make up your own.

Playing the Jams

Assuming you’re not using Roll For Your Party to keep track of Team Dice, you’ll use the dice section of the Scoreboard. If you get an advantage or disadvantage, put the number of advantages or disadvantages in the field with the white background under “-“ or “+” on the Scoreboard. After you roll the Team Dice, put their values in the fields with the white backgrounds next to the dice emoji. Remember to empty the disadvantage and advantage fields after you roll the Team Dice.

The trickiest bit is the secret strategy. If I’m playing with folks for the first time, I usually just have everyone choose strategies openly for for the first jam. So make sure “Show secret strategies” is checked if you want to do that.

When you’re doing secret strategies, uncheck “Show secret strategies”. Players won’t be able to see their own or each others’ strategies, so they can enter them in the formula (fx) bar.

Using Roll For Your Party

My favorite dice roller is Roll For Your Party, because you can place your dice however you want and keep track of Team Dice without always referring back to the playsheet.

If you want to use Roll For Your Party in this way, go to rollforyour.party to create a room. Set up the room so you have it ready before the game. First add several dice by typing the number of dice to the left of the label for “d6”, then click the “Submit” button. I like to add at least ten.

Next add two labels. Copy and paste each of these into the “label” box:

- ------- Team 1 ------ +
- ------- Team 2 ------ +

Now you can close the top section by clicking the little black arrow at the top.

Now you can rearrange the dice. Make a big pile in the center, and put two dice under the center of each label, like below:

To roll the dice, first click once on the colored part of the die to select the die. You’ll see a red outline. Then doubleclick to roll all the selected dice.

Share the rollforyour.party room URL with the other players.

Tips for online facilitation

Avoiding awkward pauses and helping quiet players

Avoid asking “Does anybody want to X?” or “Does anyone have ideas for Y?”. Many people have a hard time telling when they can/should talk in a group online, so that leads to a lot of awkward pauses. Instead try to ask specific players or characters. “Cassie, do you have an idea for X?” or “Kevin, what does Shmup Noodle do in between jams?”

If you want to be careful not to pick on the same players every time, keep track of who you are asking first each section of the game and rotate. For example, say the players in order in Discord voice chat are:

You
Amber
Kirby
Mallory

Write the names in that order on a piece of paper.

The first time, ask “Amber, do you have an idea for setting?” then go around and also ask Kirby and Mallory if they don’t just jump in. Put a dot next to Amber’s name so you know that you asked her this time. Then next time, you would say, “Kirby, do you have an idea for you and Mallory’s team name?” And the time after that, you would ask, “Mallory, what is your character’s derby name?” So now on your paper you have:

Amber (*)
Kirby (*)
Mallory (*)

And you can start again from the top!