Beyond20: An Interview with Youness Alaoui

Youness Alaoui, a.ka. KaKaRoTo, is a developer who created the Beyond20 app shortly before the COVID pandemic. The app, which allowed players to seamless integrate two popular DnD web tools, DnDBeyond and Roll20, experienced a surge in users as players were forced to take their tabletop virtual.
Youness Alaoui speaks to me about the growth of the app, the personal impact on him, and how he feels the lockdowns have shifted player mentality towards online RPGs.

The Beyond20 app, which Alaoui developed for his friends and himself to use, was publicly released and received a steady growth until April 2020 when usage rocketed up as many countries went into lockdown. (Image credit: KaKaRoTo)

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Glossary and Abbreviations

5e: Fifth Edition - shorthand for the 5th and current edition of Dungeons & Dragons.
d20: A RPG-system where the main dice used are 20-sided ones.
D&D / DnD: Dungeons & Dragons
DM: Dungeon master
DnDBeyond: A digital toolkit, providing digital aids and source material for Dungeons & Dragons.
Dungeons & Dragons: The most commonly recognised role-playing game, launched in 1974 and currently in its 5th edition. It uses a d20 system.
Dungeon master: A game master specific to DnD, sometimes colloquially used for other systems.
GM: Game master
Game master: The player who 'leads' the gameplay, acting as the lead storyteller, referee and enacts all game mechanics and non-player character behaviour.
Magic: A shortened form of referring to the game Magic: The Gathering.
Magic: The Gathering: The first trading card game.
MtG: Abbreviation for Magic: The Gathering
Pathfinder: A popular role-playing game, which span off from the 3.5rd edition of DnD in 2009, and is currently in its 2nd edition.
Roll20: A popular VTT.
RPG: Roleplaying game - any game where players act as characters within the context of the game, furthering a collaborative narrative. TTRPG speicifcally tabletop RPGs, which uses dice, character sheets, visual aids such as maps and speech as the platform of play.
Theatre of the mind: A method of RPG where minimal visual aids are used, and the players are expected to visualise everything based on descriptions.
Trading card game: A form of tabletop card game that involves strategic play of cards, which can also be traded.
VTT: Virtual tabletop - usually an online platform designed to virtually and remotely replicate the experience of sitting around a table.

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Glossary and Abbreviations