Give me your virtual tabletop xp

[Emryys]

Cool, a new VT program I can add to my VT list!

Agreed, very interesting...

Two Communities for discussing and organizing VGT gaming are Four Ugly Monsters and RPG Virtualtabletop...

 

[Flynn]

I've noticed that no one has mentioned experiences with NBOS's Screenmonkey. Does anyone have any experiences with that VT that they'd like to share?

The reason I'm asking is because FG, as pretty as it is, doesn't run on the Mac, and some of the people I'd like to game with are on Macs. Screenmonkey appears to run only on the GM's machine and hosts webpages as the interface for the players, so all they need is a browser. That would mean no cost expenditure, no system conflicts, etc. on the part of the players. However, if the gaming interface interferes with enjoyable online play, then it may not be worth the investment. Any feedback?

With Regards,
Flynn

 

[Hussar]

Sorry, that's a new one to me.

However, OpenRPG is OS agnostic. I have one player on a Mac and I run the game on my Windows machine. Not a problem.

 

[Griogre]

I've noticed that no one has mentioned experiences with NBOS's Screenmonkey. Does anyone have any experiences with that VT that they'd like to share?

The reason I'm asking is because FG, as pretty as it is, doesn't run on the Mac, and some of the people I'd like to game with are on Macs. Screenmonkey appears to run only on the GM's machine and hosts webpages as the interface for the players, so all they need is a browser. That would mean no cost expenditure, no system conflicts, etc. on the part of the players. However, if the gaming interface interferes with enjoyable online play, then it may not be worth the investment. Any feedback?

With Regards,
Flynn

Flynn, I used Screen Monkey for a while. You have listed most of the pros already and yes it does work.
Pros:
1) a great macro die roller where you can embed text and die codes.

2) Address Server so players don't need to know your IP or type it in.

Cons:
1) Not real time, Play by Post.

If you really want a online RPG Game that plays largely like a face to face game it falls down. If you have not ever played in a play by post message board game this may be hard to explain. Screen Monkey plays like a very fast PBP. To make the their browser setup work NBOS had the server send periotic refreshes out to the clients. It does this every so often - there is a seperate refresh rate for the text and for the map (which is adjustable).

This absoluty drove my players crazy. The would type something and not get realtime feedback or they would move their guy on the map and would see it move 20 seconds later. Because of this setup the server is always sending a large amount of data because it sends everything, everytime - not just the diff. Most non comercial up bandwith is limited so you really are stressing a home up connection if you set the refresh rates to very low. This issue is not obvious at first to the host because *he* is the server so he sees realtime updates of the stuff he types - but this stuff is only broadcast out on the periotic sends.

2) Map is small, and all art assets need to be kept low res and small (like on a web page with a slow server) or the refresh rate be kept high to insure there is time enough between refreshes for every player to get the browser update.

Flynn, you need to try this to see if it how it works for you. The light version *is* free. I think this is very much a YMMV thing for a group. I was told later that some of that group was going to quit if I had played another week on it. When I next tried Fantasy Grounds after Screen Monkey they all ponied up a 20 to get a lite verion with delight.

 

[Emryys]

You can change the refresh rate, but agreed it can be frustrating. I changed the map size by altering the HTML of the players app, so it's a little bigger. I only use the free one becuse for that price you can get a more developed app, but...

Players play free on any OS with no setup, perfect for newbs and pickup games...

*now that FM 8 is out, NBOS says it's gonna work on a new SM...

 

[Gundark]

so what's the best voice chat option? Does everyone around the table need a headset? How does this work?

 

[heruca]

I like Ventrilo (due to it's push-to-talk feature, mostly). Some people prefer Skype. I've got links to 6 different cross-platform VOIP apps here:
http://www.battlegroundsgames.com/links.html#anchor5

If gaming with a bunch of people in the room and one or two remote players, you will probably want headsets for the remote players (or just a separate mic and speakers will do), and in the room with several players you could use a table mic. Here's one person's recommendation, with picture: http://battlegroundsgames.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1283

 

[Wye]

so what's the best voice chat option? Does everyone around the table need a headset? How does this work?

Oh yea, a headset is a must. Don't even try to do it with your crappy webcam mic, with an open mic on the desktop, or, Olidammara forbid, your laptop mic! oh the painful memories!

These might be ok when having a conversation with a single other person, some background noise will be easily filtered out by your brain. But in a 5-way conversation (or more) that background noise is multiplied by 5 plus everybody talking at the same time, it's not a pleasant experience. Get a headset, do it for your friends not for yourself!

I tried Ventrilo for a while, but then found the quality of TeamSpeak to be better (but not that much). I'd say try them both and decide, the connection setup in TeamSpeak was easier for my non-tech friends too.

Edited to add: Make everybody unplug their webcam. Even though they might think they are using their headset chances are they are not, and that horrible noise is the fan of the computer, or worse yet, the TV. I bring this up as this happened many times in my game.

 

[rvalle]

I agree that a headset mic is a must. Otherwise the mic on the desk picks up the talking coming from the speakers (usually also sitting on the desk) and rebroadcasts it so you get an echo.

We've tried both Team Speak and Skype and have gone with Skype as it works better for us.

rv

 

[snikle]

Having ran iCon last March, I got to sit in various demos of many of the VTTs, Fantasy Grounds and d20Pro seemed very nice for Windows base machines and d20 based games. For more game system agnostic set ups, ViewingDale and Maptool seemed to do well. I was impressed with all of them, and I am glad to see the RPG community in general finally standing up and checking out these instead of immediately blacklisting online gamers who use VTTs.

I have since then moved all my gaming to Maptool. The reasons are very simple:

• It is game system agnostic, so any game will work in it. I really feel that putting to much of the game into the VTT really takes away from the RPG feeling and makes it almost more of a video game. All you need is a map, tokens to place on the map, character sheets, a way to roll dice.....and you are good.
• It is free, so getting new people to try it out is trivial. Despite the fact that there are millions of gamers out there, finding players can actually be difficult due to time zones and real life.
• It runs on java, so it is OS independent, thus our Mac friends can play with us if they want (and dont believe the 'java is slow' crap). This allows you to have a larger audience of potential gamers to interact with.
• The RPTools team that is developing Maptool (and other RPG tools) are kick ass, very responsive to suggestions, and updates come out nearly weekly (I dare any other vtt to make that claim).
• The Fog of War in Maptool adds an amazing level of atmosphere to role playing that I have never seen. When I see players peeking around corners wondering what was around the next bend, and can hear the tension in their voice, it is stunning. You want complete immersion into the game world? This is as close as I have seen in a role playing game, real or virtual.

On comments regarding a voice program, I have ran games with and without it and I must say I will always use one. It simply speeds up the game, and adds to that 'bonding' feeling that another poster mentioned. Voice allows you to have a more immersive and 'sitting around the table' atmosphere in the game.