Playing (real!!!) RPG

[zemd]

Playing (real!!!) PRG

Does a software provide all that we need to play rpg via the Internet?
I mean every one has a microphone and speaks, the DM can speak to only one player if if decide to do so, show a map to every one, roll dices, send the character sheets, and so on...

 

[DrZombie]

There is some specialised software out there for internet conferencing, but it's hidiously expensive. On the other hand, there is a lot of freeware/shareware out there that can make roleplaying easy.

For microphone conferences, use either teamspeak, battlecom or roger wilco. For dicerolling and general mayhem, log in on an IRC, there are a lot of dicebots available. Sharing maps, dunno, send 'em with MSN messenger or something.

 

[Zappo]

There's also free videoconferencing software out there, but it's hideously hard to use.

 

[Henry]

moved to software & Computers Forum.

 

[andargor]

Does a software provide all that we need to play rpg via the Internet?
I mean every one has a microphone and speaks, the DM can speak to only one player if if decide to do so, show a map to every one, roll dices, send the character sheets, and so on...

Until recently, we had one player who was in another city (He stopped playing for RL reasons).

We used NetMeeting, with a camera. There are 6 players around the table, and we use a battlemat. The camera would be trained on the battlemat during combat, or on speaking players during RP. There were two microphones: one for the DM and one hung from above, centered between the players.

The DM had the laptop with NetMeeting running, so he could chat privately with the remote player. Speakers were in the laptop so we could hear the remote player.

There were two screens hooked to the laptop: one facing the players (an external LCD monitor), and one facing the DM (the laptop screen). The screen facing the players had the chat window portion hidden with some Post-Its (a very small area). The rest of the screen was occupied by the NetMeeting Whiteboard, on which was drawn the tactical situation during combat. Essentially a mirror of what was happening on the battlemat so that the remote player could know what was going on. There were two mice, one wireless, that were used to operate the laptop: one for the DM and one for me. We rarely had to fight for control, since the only time the DM needed it was to switch to the chat window (and I taught him to use alt-tab to do that...)

The remote player's experience was mixed: sometimes the sound and image were perfect, but sometimes he would get choppy audio and video. In those instances he would feel left out. If everything worked correctly, he enjoyed the experience.

He said he would rather be there in person, but this way was far better than not playing at all. He's a die hard player.

I rate our experience to be 7/10. Not perfect, but playable.

Andargor