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Advice: Running an Online 4e Game
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<blockquote data-quote="OnlineDM" data-source="post: 5407943" data-attributes="member: 90804"><p>Wonderful - I'm always excited when I hear about more people deciding to run games online!</p><p></p><p>I'll start by immodestly pointing you toward my blog. As you can tell from the name, <a href="http://onlinedm.wordpress.com" target="_blank">Online Dungeon Master</a>, this is kind of what I do.</p><p></p><p>I highly recommend MapTool, so I'm glad you've decided to use it. There are some nice campaign frameworks out there for running 4e games - if you don't enjoy programming, definitely check those out (Rumble's 4e framework is one I've looked at a little bit). I personally enjoy the programming, so I don't use a framework - I've built everything myself. If you ever have questions about MapTool and how to do what you want to do in it, please ask - I love helping others with this program!</p><p></p><p>As for chat, we use Skype. We've never had a problem (except for the occasional person whose internet connection crashes and they fall out of both MapTool and Skype). </p><p></p><p>I definitely spend a pretty hefty amount of time on prep, but again, it's because I enjoy it. I have historically drawn most of my maps myself using MapTool, but I've recently discovered that a wonderful EN Worlder has already created great JPGs of the maps from the campaign I'm running (War of the Burning Sky), so I've just started using those.</p><p></p><p>In addition to drawing the maps, my prep also includes setting up tokens for all of the monsters, with the powers programmed in so that a single click rolls the attack and damage. I also do this for my players' tokens (so I fiddle with them a bit every time they level up).</p><p></p><p>If I need to show the players an image such as a scroll, I save it in a directory that I can find via MapTool and then drag it to the game table in the Object layer (resizing as needed for clear visibility). I don't do this very often, but I've done it from time to time.</p><p></p><p>I never communicate information to just one player, but I'm pretty sure that MapTool has a function to let you send a text chat to just one person if you like.</p><p></p><p>Most of the encounters I've run have been prepped in advance, but I did just run a FANTASTICALLY fun encounter on the fly last Friday (you can read about that <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/war-burning-sky/298285-shelter-storm-advice-travel.html#post5406088" target="_blank">here</a>). Part of the reason I could do that was that I've drawn enough maps that I'm able to make them quickly now, and I also have programmed enough monster tokens that I have a bunch saved now and could grab a random one and tweak it for my purposes. If I were starting from scratch, I might not want to run an impromptu combat encounter in MapTool.</p><p></p><p>I've run 15 sessions of my current online game over the last 5 or 6 months, and it's been a terrific experience. We're taking a break for the holidays the next two weeks, but if you'd ever like to sit in on a session to see what it's like, just let me know.</p><p></p><p>Good luck, and have fun!</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="OnlineDM, post: 5407943, member: 90804"] Wonderful - I'm always excited when I hear about more people deciding to run games online! I'll start by immodestly pointing you toward my blog. As you can tell from the name, [URL="http://onlinedm.wordpress.com"]Online Dungeon Master[/URL], this is kind of what I do. I highly recommend MapTool, so I'm glad you've decided to use it. There are some nice campaign frameworks out there for running 4e games - if you don't enjoy programming, definitely check those out (Rumble's 4e framework is one I've looked at a little bit). I personally enjoy the programming, so I don't use a framework - I've built everything myself. If you ever have questions about MapTool and how to do what you want to do in it, please ask - I love helping others with this program! As for chat, we use Skype. We've never had a problem (except for the occasional person whose internet connection crashes and they fall out of both MapTool and Skype). I definitely spend a pretty hefty amount of time on prep, but again, it's because I enjoy it. I have historically drawn most of my maps myself using MapTool, but I've recently discovered that a wonderful EN Worlder has already created great JPGs of the maps from the campaign I'm running (War of the Burning Sky), so I've just started using those. In addition to drawing the maps, my prep also includes setting up tokens for all of the monsters, with the powers programmed in so that a single click rolls the attack and damage. I also do this for my players' tokens (so I fiddle with them a bit every time they level up). If I need to show the players an image such as a scroll, I save it in a directory that I can find via MapTool and then drag it to the game table in the Object layer (resizing as needed for clear visibility). I don't do this very often, but I've done it from time to time. I never communicate information to just one player, but I'm pretty sure that MapTool has a function to let you send a text chat to just one person if you like. Most of the encounters I've run have been prepped in advance, but I did just run a FANTASTICALLY fun encounter on the fly last Friday (you can read about that [URL="http://www.enworld.org/forum/war-burning-sky/298285-shelter-storm-advice-travel.html#post5406088"]here[/URL]). Part of the reason I could do that was that I've drawn enough maps that I'm able to make them quickly now, and I also have programmed enough monster tokens that I have a bunch saved now and could grab a random one and tweak it for my purposes. If I were starting from scratch, I might not want to run an impromptu combat encounter in MapTool. I've run 15 sessions of my current online game over the last 5 or 6 months, and it's been a terrific experience. We're taking a break for the holidays the next two weeks, but if you'd ever like to sit in on a session to see what it's like, just let me know. Good luck, and have fun! [/QUOTE]
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