Playing Tabletop online?

[GameOgre]

Anyone ever play D&D"or what ever" Online? My boys"17,19" and I play but im not the best DM in the world. To say im rusty is a understatement.


I have broadband and after a friend and I started chatting online with Vent"a voice chat program" I thought to myself this would be a fun way to play role playing games without having to drive out to a game.

Everyone could just sit at home and all be talking and chatting and role playing. Heck you could even use video I guess and be looking at the people you are playing with"not that I really want to haha".


I'm sure this has been done but I've never heard of it myself. Anyone ever done it? How did it work out? Is there a place where people wanting to play could find others to play with like this?

 

[Rechan]

Yes. There are multiple ways to play online:

Play By Post (done on a messageboard much like this, or Google Wave)

Over voice chat alone (Ventrillo or Skype) the voice chats don't really have dice rollers, so the DM likely has to roll everything himself.

Virtual Tabletop Programs (Maptools, OpenRPG, Fantasy Grounds). These have dice rollers, chat windows, and interactive maps the Dm has to build.

I run and play in two games ran over Maptools, using Ventrillo for voice chat.

 

[amerigoV]

There are many tools available these days. I use Skype for audio and Maptools (RPTools - Home) for maps/visuals. Both are free. Heck, I tend to use maptools instead of battlemat/figs even in face to face games.

I am not sure about other tools (Fantasy Companion 2 for example), but you do have to figure out how to open a port in your firewall so the remote players can connect to your maptools session. I use this site to figure that out for various routers: PortForward.com - Port Forwarding Guides Listed by Manufacturer and Model

If you want webcam for multiple people, we use Tokbox TokBox - Free Video Chat and Video Messaging. Audio via Skype or Vent is better than Tok, so we just mute Tok.

Its a great way to "keep in touch" gaming-wise.

 

[Rechan]

Its a great way to "keep in touch" gaming-wise.

Also if you can't find any local players.

 

[jcayer]

We have a player who does a fair bit of travel for work. Early on when we started, we got him going with skype, including video. We sit the laptop in his place at the table and he plays from wherever he is. Obviously we trust he won't cheat on his die rolls, etc.

He once played from an airport waiting for a flight. He said he got come funny looks, but several times that night we were interrupted by people asking him what he's doing and how.

 

[Haffrung Helleyes]

Maptools

Get Maptools. It's free, it's open source, and it works really well.

Ken

 

[Merkuri]

I use MapTool as well. My fiance and I have a hard time finding local folks to play with, so we use two PCs each running MapTool and play with three or four other players online across the globe. One guy we've been playing with for a while lives across the world from us in Japan (hi Hussar!).

We don't use any voice programs, we just type into the chat. Most of us are pretty fast typists so this isn't that much slower than talking, and honestly reading the dialog and "emotes" of other people helps me stay immersed. It's kinda disturbing to know a character is supposed to be a charismatic tinkly-voiced elf and the player talks with a gruff smokey voice. I suppose you'd get used to it if you're in person, but when playing online text chat is fine for me.

 

[amerigoV]

It's kinda disturbing to know a character is supposed to be a charismatic tinkly-voiced elf and the player talks with a gruff smokey voice. I suppose you'd get used to it if you're in person, but when playing online text chat is fine for me.

Funny, that came up in my last session. I was GMing/Roleplaying Madam Eva from Ravenloft. In EtCR, she is something like 6'8" 350 "woman" - I am a 5'8" 200lb man. One the players just cracked up over the variance (so I killed his PC )

 

[Treebore]

I've been using SKYPE and Maptools for over 3 years now. Its why instead of watching TV programs and playing video games I play 5 RPG games a week, online, and one home game.