Tabletop Game Night...Online?

[Merkuri]

My boyfriend and I don't know any gamers where we're living now, so we play solely online. We use OpenRPG. I found people to play with on forums like this one. It may take a while to find a "steady" group since people online tend to come and go more frequently than in real life, but you can find some good people eventually. At this point I've been playing online for about five years now, mostly with my boyfriend (hi Awayfarer!) and somebody from Japan (hi Hussar!) along with other random people who haven't lasted as long.

Right now my boyfriend is the DM for our group, and since our computers are in the same room his DM screen is an ironing board we lean against his desk so I can't see his monitor.

I'd love to have a live in-person group, but being able to play with somebody literally all the way across the world from me is cool.

 

[Emirikol]

It might just be me missing somthing, but I can't find the On-line stuffs. Unless it has none, in which case Maptools isn't the answer. Edit: I also can't find these videos, so its probably just me

Scroll all the way down to the bottom left. Most of us are playing beta version 1.3b39 or so. http://rptools.net/doku.php

The tutorials, which are also a good intro to the game (if you're interested) are at: http://www.rptoolstutorials.net/maptool.htm

If anyone has any specific questions, just let me know or ask around on those forums

JayH

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

Double Post

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

Also been forced to play solely online for a year now. I didn't know about the mapping tools, though even in person, my groups have more or less winged it in regards to positioning. Dice rolling's not hard. Even AIM chat rooms have a dice rolling command.

Of course, in-person groups are better, but sometimes it's not possible. I'm currently trying to put together a small group online to act like a regular tight knit group that meets weekly in person. Up till now, I've noticed online groups have a pretty cruddy track record for people attending regularly, and one of my "groups" had a whole city community, with multiple PCs, which generally had their own groups and associations, but it could get messy.

I haven't had the old fashioned experience of a group of the same characters adventuring together on a single campaign, week in and week out, for a while now.

 

[Hussar]

I'm the person across the world Merkuri is talking about. I've been using OpenRPG for about four or five years now. It most certainly is not the red-headed stepchild of gaming. It's different than table top, for sure, but, it's not worse.

The biggest hurdle with VTT play, unfortunately, is the people that you wind up meeting. Think of grabbing random message board people and trying to play with them. It can be a real headache. I'm an absolute facist now when it comes to this sort of thing. I tried being nice and not rock the boat, but not any more. I interview new players, and I have absolutely zero problem with telling people that they are not welcome at my table.

Other than that, once you get a good group together, it's golden.

 

[Emirikol]

Elitist and exclusionary ways to be happy with your group

Hussar:

You speak the absolute truth. When I was learning Maptools, I'd pick up a few people from the WotC chat boards...man, there are a lot of fricking morons over there..I'd start a game, and 4 people would be having fun BUT there would always be one stinking idiot that had to try to ruin the game and I'd have to eject them.

Players are dime-a-dozen either tabletop or online. I'm like you, I interview players now and don't put with ANY crap whatsoever. The same is true of tabletop players. I simply dont' invite people back or boot them out.

As for online player interview questions, they are similar to the face to face games. These are nothing personal of course, they are just red flags you need to look for in orde to rule-out unreliable people or people who might not fit in your game. The most crucial thing to start with is YOUR GAME DETAILS.

Your game details:
When, how, where, why, how much. YOU lay down the rules first and then tell the players what YOUR game is. If you look unreliable, they will be unreliable too. I always start with the cool benefits of my world and how it's different or better than standard D&D and that you have SPECIFIC RACES that are allowed in your game with good, detailed background.

1. What are your work hours?

• If not a student and doesn't have a job, then not a candidate
• If work hours are highly variable, then not likely to be able to make it, or unreliable, then not a candidate.
• If person not willing to share this information, then not a candidate becasue they are probably embarassed that they don't have a job (they could lie anyways)
  
  2. Do you know how to use MAPTOOLS and SKYPE (or whatever)
• If no, they will need to show commitment by watching the tutorial and learning skype BEFORE they can be considered for candidacy. If they won't commit to watching the tutorial beforehand, they're a flake and not a candidate.
  
  3. What time-zone are you in?
• If an abnormal time-zone, then not a candidate
  
  4. Do you have any barriers to being able to play regularly?
• This helps rule out unreliable people too. Some people have normal reasons why they can't play regularly too..in which case, theyre also not a candidate.
  
  5. Describe your last two game groups and why you left.
• Obvious reasons. Some people come right out and say they didn't fit in to their last group. Abnormal people, even though they're being honest, are not a candidate and best look elsewhere.
  
  6. Describe your two favorite characters.
• This will give you a good idea of what kind of player they are.
  
  7. Describe your favorite gaming style.
• This question helps you decide how much you as a DM are willing to bend in order to cater to this person.
  
  8. What kind of aversions do you have towards descriptions of violence, gore, vile evil, tasteless jokes, foul language, gamers that drink and game, ancient slavery, common PC death, prostitution themes, historical female and male family roles, in-party romance, references to adult situations, and intolerance of rules-lawyering?
• Although you may not be using any of those issue, it helps rule out some of the over-sensitive egg-shell-heads out there.
  
  
  Having a standardized set of questions (NOT TOO MANY BTW) really helps you keep your head above water in dealing with potential players. There are a lot of normal players out there, but it only takes 1-2 idiot players to ruin your whole gaming experience and chase off your good onesj.
  
  Another tip is to ALWAYS keep an advertisement up for your game. ALWAYS be looking for new players. YOu can always tell them, "Sorry, the group just filled up, but I'll contact you as soon as there's an opening."
  
  The best thing you can tell all potential players is WE'RE TRYING OUT SEVERAL NEW PLAYERS and I can get you in for a game this week and then we're trying out "JimBob" next week.
  
  As for ditching players for online games, I do one of several things:
  1. Lie to them and tell them that you're not playing anytime soon and then just get some new players and play anyways..don't forget to change your password and tell the other players.
  2. Tell them thanks, but you're going to try out some other players and will email them after you've tried out a few.
  
  jh
  
  
  
  
  ..
  
  
  
  ..

 

[Lord Xtheth]

I'm the person across the world Merkuri is talking about. I've been using OpenRPG for about four or five years now. It most certainly is not the red-headed stepchild of gaming. It's different than table top, for sure, but, it's not worse.

The biggest hurdle with VTT play, unfortunately, is the people that you wind up meeting. Think of grabbing random message board people and trying to play with them. It can be a real headache. I'm an absolute facist now when it comes to this sort of thing. I tried being nice and not rock the boat, but not any more. I interview new players, and I have absolutely zero problem with telling people that they are not welcome at my table.

Other than that, once you get a good group together, it's golden.

I tried openRPG, and as a tool it seemed great. It had everything I needed in order to run a game on line.
Then I started trying to recruit people for a game, and it all went down hill. I would be using it now to play with my friends, but a couple of them can't get it to run properly on their Macs, so none of us use it.

 

[Family]

Wouldn't it be nice if there was a button on ENWorld that you'd click and a weekly layout would pop-up? DMs would have pasted on their game timetable/outline, you'd click on the one you'd like to sign up to and then click a button to sign onto the gameroom before the game starts.

Once the game size is filled it would be removed from the "menu", and of course the DM could bump players.

That'd be nice.

 

[Nightchilde-2]

I tried openRPG, and as a tool it seemed great. It had everything I needed in order to run a game on line.
Then I started trying to recruit people for a game, and it all went down hill. I would be using it now to play with my friends, but a couple of them can't get it to run properly on their Macs, so none of us use it.

We ran with OpenRPG for a few years, but I've found MapTools a far better solution. Sometimes, you have to install a VPN to get it to work right (try Hamachi...it's also free and is real easy to set up), but when you get it to working, MapTools is the awesome for online play.

OpenRPG, especially the latest release or two, is REALLY buggy. MapTools, nowhere nearly so buggy.

 

[Festivus]

Wouldn't it be nice if there was a button on ENWorld that you'd click and a weekly layout would pop-up? DMs would have pasted on their game timetable/outline, you'd click on the one you'd like to sign up to and then click a button to sign onto the gameroom before the game starts.

Once the game size is filled it would be removed from the "menu", and of course the DM could bump players.

That'd be nice.

Perhaps the new marketplace? There was a great site for player/game master matching for Neverwinter Nights called Neverwinterconnections.com (it's still around but not nearly as active as it was a few years back). There were a great many games listed and GM's to run them. The big difference is that unless you are running something organized (e.g. Paizo Pathfinder or RPGA Living Forgotten Realms) most games are about being a campaign, not a one shot deal. NWN it was far easier to run a short 2-3 session game than D&D (at least to me).

If someone starts running LFR online via FG2 or Maptool I'd be interested in playing if the times were right.