Online Roleplaying vs Traditional Roleplaying

[Malanath]

I am curious to learn if others here like myself have had experience roleplaying with others online. I want to tell my story, and try to see if it is unique to my experiences or if it is indicative of a larger trend.

I've done roleplaying online through a number of mediums, from post-to-post RP, to RP via IRC, but most of my online RP has been through Neverwinter Nights. My experience with Neverwinter Nights has changed how I view roleplaying in general.

I personally live in a small town. In order for me to play a more traditional tabletop game, I have to drive at least an hour to find a group. Finding a group to begin with is difficult, but the internet is a helpful tool when it comes to conducting a search.

As a result the bulk of my experience is online, and Neverwinter Nights 1 in particular. Using NWN I have played more traditional games where we met up once per-week, as well as gaming on persistent worlds where I could log on 24/7, 365 days a year to interact with others.

My introduction to roleplaying in general was over IRC with friends I had made on a MMO. (Back before the days of World of Warcraft or EverQuest.) I was in my late teens at the time, either 16 or 17, which I'd suppose is most likely around the age most kids get started.

I missed the whole revolution of the 70's and 80's because it took place when I was too young to play. I came of age in a sort of sweet spot, right before MMO's really took off and the internet became indispensable (mid-to-late 90's).

In my experience with online gaming, I have met many individuals - hundreds. A lot of the folks I've met, primarily individuals around my age, though there are many who are younger, they had never played a tabletop game. Most of those guys (and more than a few gals), flat out said they'd never consider playing a tabletop game.

In my online games, people really got into their characters. From the time they logged on till the time they logged off, most people remained in character the entire time. Sure, there were a few moments where things went off the rails just like in a more traditional tabletop game, but overall those seemed to be far fewer and less frequent.

The anonymity of the internet seemed to allow many of the people I interacted with to be able to explore something like roleplaying in a "safe" environment. Additionally, with the mechanics of the game being mostly handled by the computer / server, it allowed us to ignore that aspect of the game and focus on what drew us together: the roleplaying itself.

Of course, it's not without its downsides. Everything in life has its trade-offs. NWN is limiting in a number of ways, primarily it requires skills that most DM's simply don't possess, whether it is scripting or basic technical knowledge. The community is large and great, and super helpful, but a DM trying to use NWN still has to devote far more time than a more traditional DM just to simply get the game ready. Whether that is creating NPC's, adventures, whatever, but in addition they must engage in the virtual world building itself.

In a tabletop game you have the potential to go anywhere and do almost anything. Your imagination is the limit. Gaming via NWN, you are limited by the engine itself and what is built. So it is not without its drawbacks.

I have found that among the folks I've met gaming online, that my experiences seem to be unique in some way. Most of them have not, will not, and have no intention of transitioning to tabletop gaming. They are not interested in the hobby, and are there for only one reason: the roleplaying.

I feel like somewhat of an oddball. Without the internet I likely would have never heard of or discovered D&D. I couldn't have told you what a d20 looked like if my life depended on it. There are no gaming stores in my immediate area, the closest one is 45 minutes away, and I likely would have never set foot inside without a reason. Even so I still order the bulk of my books online, and prefer PDF's over traditional books, simply due to the convenience.

I've found that traditional tabletop gaming is a great way to meet other geeky folks like myself, who share a strong love for the hobby. Yet, for the most part we seem to be a small niche group of enthusiasts, but there is a wider world out there with people who could potentially be brought inside.

In my mind there is a holy grail. I want a virtual tabletop that I can use via my web browser. It'd handle the mechanics of the game, reduce the DM's workload, and blend my two worlds seamlessly into one. I'd be able to find a game anytime of the day, any day of the week, and I'd get to meet up with other geeky folks to discuss geeky things.

When WotC created Gleemax I thought my dreams were about to come true. Of course, Gleemax is vaporware, and by and large I moved on beyond D&D years ago. (One of the things I disliked about NWN was that the rules were hardcoded into the engine itself.)

So, this brings me to my conclusion. What are the experiences of others? Is my experience unique? How many people here have done serious roleplaying online?

[Thanael]

Intersting. You forgot to tell a part of the story though: How and why did you transition to tabletop?

[Hussar]

In my mind there is a holy grail. I want a virtual tabletop that I can use via my web browser. It'd handle the mechanics of the game, reduce the DM's workload, and blend my two worlds seamlessly into one. I'd be able to find a game anytime of the day, any day of the week, and I'd get to meet up with other geeky folks to discuss geeky things.

I agree that this is the holy grail. There are a number of very good VTT programs out there though that will let you do pretty much what you want:

Maptool
OpenRPG Apparently back in development.
I Tabletop not free.
Epic Table still in development. Not in Beta yet. But it is browser based.
RPG Tonight Browser based.

Just to name a few. The VTT community is growing very rapidly and I think that your holy grail might be closer than you think. At least I hope.

[Wenin]

I'm a traditional table top gamer, but I've had some experience with online gaming. Back in the 90's I did some IRC gaming that didn't last long, while the longest played online gaming was on couple of MUSE games during my college years. I bought NWN for the game, but hadn't pursued the gaming servers, as it seemed I never had the right version as the server. Since I wasn't in need to scratch my gaming itch as I've been in a gaming group of some kind for 20 years now, I didn't try to resolve that issue.

You might want to look into the Fantasy Grounds software community. There are a few different systems that the software is used for, since the system is flexible, and doesn't handle the rules. It is essentially a virtual table top software.

Last year I went to GenCon for the first time and came across the application. My friend and I purchased it, with the idea that we could get our tabletop gaming group to use it. That never really come about, but things have changed recently.

In one of my groups we used it by the GM having his laptop running the Host (GM), and then mine connecting as the only player. We hooked up a second monitor to my laptop so that everyone could see the game map. I moved everyone's pieces as they directed me. Worked pretty good.

Then I joined a DnD group from the Fantasy Grounds website. I've been finding the roleplaying to be on par with what I'm use to from a tabletop group.

Then in my other tabletop group, I've been using a projector hooked up to my laptop to project the player view onto a projection screen.

[Hussar]

Wenin - I pretty much agree with everything you say on the role playing end of things. About my only real bitch is that combat can be incredibly tedious if you have a player who is not on the ball. I've actually seen players take several minutes to type a single line, probably because they're multitasking and not paying attention.

Drives me right around the twist.

With my current bunch, who've been together for some time now, we're pretty darn good that way. If the session goes into lots of combat (such as a dungeon crawl or something like that) we can generally get through 3-4 3e 8th level combats in 3 hours in addition to a fair bit of role play. The use of macros can make combat REALLY fast, again, if everyone is on the ball.

Now, that all being said, I need to rant for a second because there's one thing that really chaps my buns.

/rant

Why oh why do GM's/DM's get screwed over by every single pay VTT out there? Why in hell do I have to pay 50-100% more for a GM's version than my players do? That's assinine. It's ridiculous. It means that if I run a game on whatever pay VTT I'm using, I'm not only paying a bunch more money for the privelege of doing so, but, I'm bringing 4-6 players with me, thus selling 4-6 more copies of the program.

In other words, I'm paying for the privelege of selling your program. It's complete and utter crap. It's the absolute number one reason I refuse to use any pay VTT. I'll be damned before I actually pay to make someone EXTRA money. There should be ONE version only. The whole "bundles" Ponzi scheme of flogging VTT's just needs to die a horrible death.

I will never, ever understand the logic of it, nor will I ever understand anyone who actually buys into this. You're paying extra to sell someone's product. It's utterly cheezy and a very sleasy business practice.

[cmrscorpio]

Originally Posted by Hussar

With my current bunch, who've been together for some time now, we're pretty darn good that way. If the session goes into lots of combat (such as a dungeon crawl or something like that) we can generally get through 3-4 3e 8th level combats in 3 hours in addition to a fair bit of role play. The use of macros can make combat REALLY fast, again, if everyone is on the ball.

Holy crap, man! What program are you playing in that you can do that?

I've played OpenRPG for years and Maptools for several months, but I've never seen combat move that fast, even with the benefit of extensive macros.

[theskyfullofdust]

I've been playing the 4th edition Scales of War arc using MapTools. We either use macros or roll dice (I trust my players not to cheat) and it is as quick as playing table top. Playing on-line tends to cut out the distractions playing at the table brings. And MapTools is free with plenty of support. I'm enjoying it, prep isn't too hard, and there have been no problems so far.

I prefer table top though, but I think that's mainly because it is what I grew up on. And at the moment I play both, 4th on-line, and 3.5 tradtionally.

Sure there's a point there somewhere.

And the good thing about Maptools is that it works on both Mac and Pc, which is ideal since two of us are mac-users.

[Hussar]

Originally Posted by cmrscorpio

Holy crap, man! What program are you playing in that you can do that?

I've played OpenRPG for years and Maptools for several months, but I've never seen combat move that fast, even with the benefit of extensive macros.

I also used Open for years and, like you, have just switched to Maptools.

The big thing is I have the maps prepared beforehand. Taking a page from the Delve format, I lay out every combat map during prep, including the PC minis. We can always move them around if we need to after. I also make sure that every monster mini is macro'd for most of their attacks. About the only thing I don't macro is saving throws and that's only because I'm lazy.

If I'm running a larger scenario - like say a dungeon, I'll have the entire complex in one map (usually 50 pixel scale) with all the monsters already set out. Saves HUGE amounts of time.

I also macro'd initiative rolls - one click for doing initiative for everyone involved in the combat. That saves a lot of time surprisingly. The players don't seem to care that much that I roll their initiatives. For a while there, I had six players, so, you could easily have ten different initiatives. Letting me do it all at once just made sense.

I also tend to script some dialogue or room descriptions beforehand. The online equivalent of boxed text. Cut and paste and poof, I can dump two or three paragraphs of information in a second.

But, the main thing has been finding players that are on the ball and willing to not multi-task during combat. If you can keep the speed up, it becomes self-reinforcing. Players go quicker because they know the faster they go, the faster their turn will come up again.

It's actually gotten to the point now where I'm probably the slowest at the table, simply because I have so many things to track - the current fight they are doing is with flying doomguards. What a PITA.

[catsclaw227]

Hussar -- I'm not sure if I asked you before, but are you using any of the 4e fan frameworks for Map Tools? I see you are running Savage Tide... is this in 3.x or 4e?

[Treebore]

Yeah, Maptools is awesome! Plus its still free. Definitely the way to go for on line gaming.

[Hussar]

Totally playing 3e.

I've been fiddling with the Savage World's framework lately and that thing is SCHWEET! Man, what a great framework.

But, as far as 3e frameworks go, naw, been doing pretty much everything on the fly.