Wooden Table vs Virtual Table

Grimmjow · Mar 21, 2012

I spent last weekend traveling with my dad for some ag deals. During that weekend my DnD group ask if i would get a dungeon or two set up on the virtual table so we could keep going with the campaign. We didn't really enjoy playing on the virtual table.

Although it really helps with combat, making maps, and the voice changer/monster sounds are all great, it really lacked the part of getting together with my friends to roll some dice.

Ultimately, what I'm asking is for opinions. Who likes the table top and who likes playing on the screen, and then id like to know why/why not.

Thanks guys

Infiniti2000 · Mar 21, 2012

Tabletop, for the exact same reason. I like to hang out with my friends, and D&D is just what we happen to do most of the time. However, I can understand how not everyone is lucky enough to have a good group of gaming friends that they like hanging out with. For those people, then certainly the virtual table is a viable alternative. We had consider adding some computer-related tools to help us with tabletop gaming, but so far there's not much out there that's worth it (and being all paid professional, we have plenty of disposable income to spend so money is not an object).

delericho · Mar 21, 2012

Wooden tabletop for me.

I'm a Luddite when it comes to games - I don't mind having electronic tools for preparing a game, for keeping character sheets, or whatever, but when the time comes to play the game, I don't want them at the table. Heck, I don't even like games that require me to use minis (either explicitly or implicitly).

Some of the other guys in my RPG Meetup have tried a couple of sessions using a VTT. They had a mixed reaction - they enjoyed the game well enough, but felt that it lacked the immediacy of the 'real thing'. The GM also noted that he felt there was really a need for the GM to have some 'props' available to send out to players, to give them something to look at rather than the distractions of Facebook.

OnlineDM · Mar 21, 2012

Well, as you can guess from my name here, and especially if you've ever read my blog, you know that my answer is that playing online is awesome. Is it better than playing in-person? No, I don't think so. It's fun to get together in the same room as my friends, eat together, play a board game here or there, etc.

But gaming online is awesome, too. I use MapTool instead of WotC's Virtual Table, and I absolutely love it. It lets my wife and I play D&D with my brother-in-law and sister-in-law even though they live in Texas and we live in Colorado. I've made some fantastic gaming friends via my long-running War of the Burning Sky campaign that I've been running on MapTool and Skype for over a year and a half. I like the software so much that I even use it with a projector to run my in-person games now.

Saagael · Mar 21, 2012

I'm in the same group as OnlineDM. I've used maptools to run my campaign for over 3 years, and there some flaws, but mostly its great. A short list of the pros and cons.

Pros

* Immersion is generally better. I can draw up detailed maps with photo-realistic graphics, create NPC tokens with whatever image I want, and talk through those NPCs. I don't say "the npc says...", I just say it!

* Similarly, players are more apt to roleplaying a character, rather than telling me what they say or do. They just do it. I have frequent roleplay only sessions simply because its easier and more natural.

* Combat tracking is simple. There are copious visual cues for tracking conditions and powers, and using them is as simple as clicking a button to roll some dice.

Cons

* Combats take longer unless every player is paying attention and willing to put in effort to making things go quicker. Time lost to lag tends to accumulate, and when you add in players not paying attention to the screen, it can get really slow, really quick.

* You can't smack players for doing stupid things (not paying attention, doing stupid things).'

* It takes a little longer to converse normally, unless you're using a program like Ventrillo or Teamspeak, since everyone is typing.

* Subject to random technical errors like loss of internet and lag spikes.

* Takes some time to build maps and tokens for combat. Hard to run truly improvised.

So on the whole, I'd say that the game parts of the game run smoother, but the group dynamics are a challenge. I've had problems with people not showing up, or consistently showing up 20 minutes late, and there's little accountability for them. Maybe that's just me though.

I can't speak for the virtual tabletop, but I have no desire to try it; it is trying half of what maptools does, and it does it poorly.

Ryujin · Mar 21, 2012

I much prefer the interaction, of the IRL tabletop game. We've done the virtual tabletop, using OpenRPG, and it just isn't the same thing. Ultimately I'll be putting together a sort of hybrid setup using a projector for the environment and a server for diceless gaming, but figures for the PCs and the opposition, which I think will result in the best of both worlds. It will likely also be accomplished via OpenRPG, but doesn't precluse the use of something like the Wizards virtual tabletop either.

OnlineDM · Mar 21, 2012

Saagael said:
* Combats take longer unless every player is paying attention and willing to put in effort to making things go quicker. Time lost to lag tends to accumulate, and when you add in players not paying attention to the screen, it can get really slow, really quick.

...

* It takes a little longer to converse normally, unless you're using a program like Ventrillo or Teamspeak, since everyone is typing.

* Subject to random technical errors like loss of internet and lag spikes.

Interesting. I find that combat runs a bit faster in my online games because the math is pre-programmed. You click a die and get the attack roll and damage roll with all of the math included. However, I think the difference I'm seeing is that you appear to be just using text chat in MapTool; I use Skype for audio. I've also been lucky in that I haven't seen a lot of technical difficulties or lag (although my wife did accidentally turn off the circuit breaker to the modem during our last session, causing a reboot).

Ryujin said:
It will likely also be accomplished via OpenRPG, but doesn't precluse the use of something like the Wizards virtual tabletop either.

Out of curiosity, why OpenRPG in particular? I started with OpenRPG and then dropped it like a hot potato as soon as I discovered MapTool. The advantage that I saw of OpenRPG is that everything is on a server, which means that you don't have to deal with routing everyone to the DM's computer, dealing with firewalls, etc. But that's the only advantage I saw, and the router issues aren't a problem for me at home. In every other respect, MapTool suited my game much, much better.

mentle · Mar 21, 2012

I personally would like a mix of both. A table top game played over a digital screen like playing on a protected flat panel tv to auto populate the map and monsters. But still giving pc's the ability to move there avatars and roll the dice... If only

luide · Mar 21, 2012

I personally use mix. I run combat encounters on flat-panel TV or projector with Maptool and often show images, maps etc on it too.
But we're still playing at a table and I'm not using the frameworks so all attack, damage etc rolls are done normally.

mentle · Mar 21, 2012

luide said:
I personally use mix. I run combat encounters on flat-panel TV or projector with Maptool and often show images, maps etc on it too.
But we're still playing at a table and I'm not using the frameworks so all attack, damage etc rolls are done normally.

I basically would love to turn a big flat panel into our gaming table. Playing right on top of it. Sadly until I win a few lotteries...

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