Considering an bi-weekly AD&D 2e game with Skype and d20pro

[Phintias]

Please don't apologize for wanting to run an earlier edition of The Game. Not everyone is enchanted by 4E. Or as I like to think of it, World of Warcraft: Paper.

I'd be keen to play. If nothing else, it might prove if Skype is a viable facilitator of table-top, p&p gaming. I've not yet tried anything like this. Does it work well?

 

[ghaladen]

I'm not crazy about 4e either, although I do still run a 4e game twice a month (mostly for friends who are diehards), and two Pathfinder games.

However, both of the above systems are very crunch heavy, heavy optimization, heavy simulationist rulesets. This game will be a more rules light game. Essentially its my selfish game, where all the ridiculous "look up page 357 for the specific rule about what the DC is for climbing while grappling an opponent and nauseated due to vertigo" can rest. Also I don't want heavy emphasis on splatbooks, simply to preserve my sanity. So if you want something from one of the Player's Option books, run it by me first.

Skype I have mixed reactions about. I've ran an all online Pathfinder game using d20pro for the maps, and have played in an online 4e campaign using an open source app called GameTable, I believe. I can't say my experiences were that amazing. Not because the DM/players weren't good, it's just that it felt like there was a bit of a disconnect between us. Also, we weren't using webcams either, just voice and the virtual tabletop app.

I've also had extremely positive experiences running Skype for online players in my in-person 4e campaign. Essentially, I have cameras in my living room, one of them mapped to the game table itself. So we have 1-2 online players communicate with us via Skype, with all the books, dice and roleplaying involved. That I've had a very positive experience with.

So for this game, I'm opting FOR webcams and NOT the virtual tabletop. Essentially, I am going to prove it to myself that I can make an all online campaign work.


Also, I'll probably end up recording it, and throw it up on a podcast or a YouTube channel like I do the rest of my games. If anyone has an issue with having their faces shown, I can just do an audio feed instead.

 

[Phintias]

It's remarkable how many folks I know who play 4E aren't crazy about it. One wonders to what end they carry on with the system at all. But this isn't the thread to get political. Whatever floats your boat.

I've no problem ignoring splatbooks and other overly-colorful aspects of D&D. That single, core PHB has everything a player needs. I've never relied on kewl powerz to make a PC interesting. It's all about personality and motivation, creativity and lateral thinking. And throwing out some of the crunch also works for me. This sounds as though it has the makings of a good campaign.

By the way, pardon my ignorance about using Skype for this sort of thing. (It seems as though everybody on here has already been doing it for a couple of years! It's only just re-occured to me that such a technology might be handy for this.) I am, otherwise, an experienced and mature gamer.

 

[ghaladen]

Great, I do need both of you guys to PM me your email addresses, Skype names, and what kind of characters you're thinking about playing.

 

[Phintias]

I can send you that info. I was concerned about one or two points, however: Recording the video is out of the question for me! I'm afraid I'm just too private a person for that. I wouldn't mind voice recording as much. . .though I fear it certainly wouldn't do me any favors either; something like that would likely sit at the back of mind during play, presenting an unnecessary distraction. I wouldn't be surprised if the thought of being secretly recorded is what puts folks off playing games via Skype in the first place.

Other than that, I too was wondering about the question PolterGhost asked: shall I go ahead and roll my stats without your supervision or wait?

 

[ghaladen]

True, and that is why I'm opting to be open and upfront about it. A few of the players are regular YouTube posters, so with them it's not an issue. However, it's not a total loss. The software I use to video edit allows me to add image overlays and if you would like to get me a picture of what your character would look like, I can simply overlay it upon the spot in Skype where the feed of your video is. As it stands, I record three other in-person games for both of my channels, and take great measure to ensure people's anonymity. You can view those on either channel:

HoustonPathfinder
DnDHouston

However, not recording the game is something I'm not willing to budge on, as I record all of my games nowadays. The benefits I see as far as publicity far outweigh the effort it takes. And given that this is my 4th active campaign, the work I have to put into them as a DM is tremendous. Thus, I think it's a small price to ask of my players.

So, all of that said, it won't hurt my feelings if you decide you're not comfortable with it, and wish to not join. I can tell you most of my players forget the camera/mic is even there, and several of them even appreciate it because it allows them to go back to past moments to review critical story points.

Anyway, we're considering just doing the first session as a character rolling session. That will probably be this Thursday the 14th (probably for an hour or so). And I will have to move the time up to 6pm, as one of the members is in the UK, making his time Midnight. We probably won't be able to start the actual adventure until the 21st, as I probably will not be fully prepared. Once I get everyone's email address, I will add share my gaming calendar, so you can see where the game is, and how it relates to the rest of my games.

 

[PolterGhost]

Yo, my Skype username is lexzephyr and my current name is The PolterGhost. I also have a Youtube account via Machriderzero, and my often overlooked email (mainly because I have very few things to check on it aside from subscriptions) is polterghost@gmail.com.

As a note, I've got some house moving to do tomorrow so I may or may not be able to show up. What's your GMT? Mine's -5, so I'm not sure if your 6 PM is my 8 PM or what.

Thank god for rules light, btw. Overcomplication and strictness is never fun. I was actually contemplating running my own AD&D game online for a bunch of first-timers (technically, I'm in the first-timer category myself) with recordings and whatnot. We plan on getting a blog up for gaming podcasts and articles in general, and I figured that the sessions would make for some interesting material. Would you like to be part of the blog project if we get it off the ground? I'm sure your sessions could use multiple places for publicity, if that's what you're going for.



...aside from all that, I have no character preference. I'll probably just let the dice fall where they will as opposed to assigning them to specific places. Makes it easier for me to work with the character when I have to figure out how to describe their strengths and weaknesses.

 

[ghaladen]

Went ahead and created a new forum post to continue this conversation. Definitely decided on Dark Sun for the campaign, want to do something different than high fantasy for a change.