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<blockquote data-quote="Chupacabra" data-source="post: 3256371" data-attributes="member: 17708">I ran 3 or 4 sessions while one of our key players was on assignment in California.&nbsp; We had VOIP to let him hear the action and a web cam pointed at the the battlemat to show the position of the minis.&nbsp; One of our game laptops was configured so that we at the table could see what the player was seeing also.&nbsp; Occasionally we had to physically pick up the camera and &quot;zoom&quot; it in to show the player what was going on when the board got chock full of minis and spell-effect radii, etc.Overall it was pretty smooth.&nbsp; Not preferable to in-person, but better than we expected.&nbsp; Two of the sessions were pure combat from the word go (the party was in the middle of defending a town from a siege) and they went fine.&nbsp; The other session or two were more of a typical mix of roleplaying and combat.&nbsp; Strangely enough, those were the sessions that were somewhat lacking compared to the combat sessions.&nbsp; Since the player was not physically present, he seemed to contribute less to the overall party planning and &quot;telling of the story&quot;.&nbsp; Your milage will vary.&nbsp; Heck, maybe this player actually dug combat more than roleplaying.We did not have a smooth method of passing info in secret between me (the DM) and that player or for players to pass secret info to the player.&nbsp; I guess I could have IM'd him, but not everyone was playing with a laptop (including me).Otherwise, it was a great experiment and our group would do it again in a heartbeat if needed.&nbsp; Good luck!</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Chupacabra, post: 3256371, member: 17708"] I ran 3 or 4 sessions while one of our key players was on assignment in California. We had VOIP to let him hear the action and a web cam pointed at the the battlemat to show the position of the minis. One of our game laptops was configured so that we at the table could see what the player was seeing also. Occasionally we had to physically pick up the camera and "zoom" it in to show the player what was going on when the board got chock full of minis and spell-effect radii, etc. Overall it was pretty smooth. Not preferable to in-person, but better than we expected. Two of the sessions were pure combat from the word go (the party was in the middle of defending a town from a siege) and they went fine. The other session or two were more of a typical mix of roleplaying and combat. Strangely enough, those were the sessions that were somewhat lacking compared to the combat sessions. Since the player was not physically present, he seemed to contribute less to the overall party planning and "telling of the story". Your milage will vary. Heck, maybe this player actually dug combat more than roleplaying. We did not have a smooth method of passing info in secret between me (the DM) and that player or for players to pass secret info to the player. I guess I could have IM'd him, but not everyone was playing with a laptop (including me). Otherwise, it was a great experiment and our group would do it again in a heartbeat if needed. Good luck! [/QUOTE]

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