Ghostorb.com – What do people think of this for a far-flung gaming group?

[Methos]

Ghostorb.com – What do people think of this for a far-flung gaming group?

Hi folks,

I haven’t posted here for awhile, and my long-time gaming group broke off about a year and a half ago, and to tell you the truth I haven’t regularly been part of a group since then. The reason why it broke off was that 2 of us including the DM moved away. Keep in mind that due to other factors (kids being born, etc.) it was unlikely that we would have been able to maintain a regular session which every 2 weeks or so was about a 6-8 hour gaming session. Anyway, for those of you who may have looked at this site which appears to be going live in the next month or so, what do you think about its prospects? Do you think, based on the limited information available, that it may be a good option for a long-time group of RPG’ers? Most of us have been gaming since 1st edition D&D. For example, I’ve been in the D&D hobby since 1980, and even have a copy of the old “blue box” basic game. LOL.

I was thinking of trying to get about 4-5 of us together for a gaming session at least bi-weekly for 2-3 hours once a week in the evening (after toddlers and infants go to sleep) with me probably as the DM. I have thought of trying the Instant Messenger and Webcam route, but this “ghostorb.com” looks like it could be another possibility. Does anyone have any thoughts as to how they think this type of hosted online role-playing might work? I’m assuming that the tools they have advertised are going to work as intended. Also, if anyone else has any feedback on how their current Webcam, Instant Messenger campaign is working, I would appreciate it. Of the 4-5 people that I’m trying to convince to give this a shot, we all have a high speed internet connection, webcam, etc.

Cheers

Methos

 

[punkorange]

Im checking this out now, I might be interested in a game.

 

[msd]

Also consider www.fantasygrounds.com

 

[punkorange]

I looked at both. For the client I think FG looks better, but for the simple fact that It looks like, in theory, you would always be able to find a game to play in on ghostorb is a big selling point for me.

 

[msd]

I looked at both. For the client I think FG looks better, but for the simple fact that It looks like, in theory, you would always be able to find a game to play in on ghostorb is a big selling point for me.

Yeah...I hear what you are saying but I also gotta say that community building is not a given and they have a little of it in front of them. In other words, what you're saying might be true, but like any product (FG is no different in this regard certainly) I don't think that's gonna be true on day 1.

IMO. YMMV.

 

[Methos]

fantasygrounds.com

Also consider www.fantasygrounds.com

Hi MSD,

Do you have a gaming group that actively is using the software from fantasygrounds? It looks pretty slick overall. Can you give me an idea as to how efficient your games are? Also, do you have a live voice chat going at the same time? If so, how did you put that together? Any feedback you have would be appreciated. I looked at the website for fantasygrounds and checked out their message board already, and it seems to have a fairly active user base.

I assume you are playing AD&D only, since that seems to be the only d20 system currently supported. Also, one last question (sorry for so many), what mapping program are you using? Is it pretty easy to upload maps to fantasygrounds?

thanks

Methos

 

[msd]

Do you have a gaming group that actively is using the software from fantasygrounds?

Yes and no. I got the software because I didnt have an active group and didnt really have the time to commit to a regular group. This is a great alternative because people can kind of pick up a game, play a few sessions and then do their own thing again...find a different game whatever.

Can you give me an idea as to how efficient your games are? Also, do you have a live voice chat going at the same time? If so, how did you put that together? Any feedback you have would be appreciated.

Games are actually pretty efficient. You'd be surprised. It's not face to face play, but the pace certainly doesn't drag (at least it hasn't in the games I've played). I haven't done the voice thing because I don't really know the other people I've been playing with (other than through message boards like this one), but other people have done the voice thing and have had great results. I should note that FG itself has no native voice capability. In other words, you would have to provide an independent solution like TeamSpeak, or something like that.

and it seems to have a fairly active user base

Getting bigger every day!

I assume you are playing AD&D only, since that seems to be the only d20 system currently supported.

Actually, out of the box support is for 3.5 only. But, the rulesets and reference material are all very much exposed in simple XML files so it is pretty easy (given a small working knowledge of XML) to make modifications or to implement entirely new rules systems. TO date, I believe people have implemented OD&D (AD&D?) rules and Modern rules.

If you choose to buy the software, I have a game scheduled for this Saturday (check out the thread here), I would be more than happy to have you play!

Let me know,
Matt

 

[tarchon]

We did it mainly with Yahoo Messenger and Netmeeting for a couple years. I think at one point we had it spread over 7 time zones, which made scheduling tricky.
I have to say the main reason I never developed one of those myself (I have a fairly primitive tool for it that we used for the last year or so) was that I figured if it had any commercial potential, it would be virtually impossible to compete with an established CRPG producer that wanted to horn in on the niche.

www.WebRPG.com and www.OpenRPG.com are other alternatives that might work, depending on how many bells and whistles you want.

 

[BlackMoria]

Ghostorb looks very interesting and the idea of a online roleplaying portal is great. Their 'vision' is ....well, epic. Hosting services, a online community and shopping experience, 'professional' games and tournaments....and a whole lot more.

Their roleplaying client is very visual but I am a person who likes to kick the tires before I buy into a product or at least, get some feedback from the early adopters. Since there is no demo or any demo in the offering, I don't know how the roleplaying client compares to other online gaming products.

Their portal opens in April, so all the information now is 'slick' looking PR and in that regard, Ghostorb looks very promising. But still, while they claim that their client has been playtested and all that, Ghostorb has completely flown under the radar (for me at any rate) until I saw this post. Which makes me wonder why the lack of information....or the lack of interest in this service (it is a service more so than an actual product)

Which begs the question....can they deliver on the vision?

Edit: Added some afterthoughts after hitting the post button