How do "online" D&D or Pathfinder games work ?

[rXp]

As a game dev I tried all the MMO but it is always (except for eve online) too "closed" and boring.... The games are easy, repetitive and every time you are THE hero like the 100k other players which is bad I think.
Then I have the Pathfinder beginner box and what I need with it. I could watch online game (and I did) but it just makes me want to play . I don't really like post-based RPG it is not what I am searching for.
I guess I will go take a look at roll20 and try to find a small beginner group. Are new players easily accepted or are they rejected ?

rXp

 

[Hussar]

Ok as someone whose played in online games for years, here are some pointers.

1. If you say you are coming then bloody well come. Don't be a dick and stand your DM up.

2. If you don't like the game, be up front and thank the DM for his time and bow out. Don't vanish with no warning.

3. Take the time to learn the basics of the program you are using. If you are using Maptool then there will likely be some macros to learn. Don't just show up and expect everyone to stop the game while you learn. Do a bit of homework.

4. Don't multitask. Yes you are at your computer but you owe the table your attention. Would you play a video game during a live session? Then don't do it during a remote session.

 

[frogimus]

I'm sure you will find a group with a least one or two players that would help you learn the program before your play session.

Personally, I can't do a virtual tabletop because there are too many squirrels on the internet.

Did you say EVE? If you like that, take a close look at Star Citizen.

 

[DungeonsNDads]

My group used Fantasy Grounds. We're currently running a D&D Forgotten Realms 4e campaign and have actually just started hosting it on YouTube. I wanted to get a little more grounded in this community before I'm all "Hey anyone interested in my channel?!" but given that this topic is relevant you can check out our first session in the below video to get an idea of how it works (there's an Intro video prior to this one if you are interested in following the series).

[video=youtube;GqVA4HtlYVA]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqVA4HtlYVA[/video]​

There are plenty of VTTs out there, Fantasy Grounds has been around for a loooong time (I've played it for 7years but it has been out longer), but seems to have lacked promotion as people always recommend Roll20, which is really new in comparison.

 

[Hussar]

My group used Fantasy Grounds. We're currently running a D&D Forgotten Realms 4e campaign and have actually just started hosting it on YouTube. I wanted to get a little more grounded in this community before I'm all "Hey anyone interested in my channel?!" but given that this topic is relevant you can check out our first session in the below video to get an idea of how it works (there's an Intro video prior to this one if you are interested in following the series).

/snip video

There are plenty of VTTs out there, Fantasy Grounds has been around for a loooong time (I've played it for 7years but it has been out longer), but seems to have lacked promotion as people always recommend Roll20, which is really new in comparison.

My beef with Fantasy Grounds is their pricing. I've never understood why the DM has to pay more. In my view, the DM is basically forced to advertise FG to his players. If they had a standard license where everyone gains the same accesses, I'd be all over it. But, as it stands, my current group of seven would all have to buy DM licenses because we all DM other groups as well as the one we play together.

No thanks. Bit too expensive.

Roll 20 is getting huge loving right now because it's very easy to use and it's free. That's pretty hard to beat. Maptools is also free but is not as easy to use.

 

[DungeonsNDads]

I agree that they do price themselves out of the market quite a bit. My group bought the "Ultimate" license, which means I'm the DM and our players can join in and out as they please, we can have random people join and they don't need to have purchased a license.

We played it for about 3 years on someone elses copy, when it came round to buying my own license it was a no brainer for us, we knew the system, love the setup and the community is pretty hands on. We have so many D&D modules so that we can instantly drag and drop powers/items/NPCs that have been parsed from the D&D Insider code that it's just really accessible.

However, for people getting into a VTT for the first time, it doesn't surprise me that Roll20 is the first place people go to. My problem with it is that it looks like you're playing tabletop in Microsoft Excel, doesn't have the same feel that Fantasy Grounds does and throwing those digital dice.