What's Wrong with Virtual Tabletop Play?

[Hussar]

As I posted the link to OpenRPG, I suppose I should chime in that I have moved on to OpenRPG+ pretty much from the time it came out. I was actually one of the playtesters for the initiative tool (my name is actually in there. ) OpenRPG+ is lightyears ahead of OpenRPG. Take a look here.

Thanks for the invite snikle. I'll definitely check that out.

 

[Sigurd]

Whats Right with Virtual Table Top

I started a thread talking about how far apart gamers and players are:

http://forums.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5554

Some short quotes:

... I've seen players from several countries.. (in addition to the above mentioned, also Netherlands, Germany, South Africa, New Zealand, USA). Everyone has been welcome, as long there has been slots available, and you can play in english... no matter where you live. (Although the euro countries dominate, as it is in GMT time zone. The New Zealander does not play friday evening like the rest of us, but sat morning - works for him, it seems.) So, indeed - the sun never sets on Stuart's campaign!!

The latest game I'm running is actually more local with my regular face-to-face group. We game during the week and it's hard to get 6 people (2 IT professionals, 1 college professor, 1 small business owner, 1 fork-lift driver and 1 stay-at-home dad) together at the same time.

I like FG not only because it has the ability to span large geographical distances, but because I can play and still be at the beck and call of my wife and kids should the need arive. I DM for players from our old table-top group. Most of us still live within a fifteen minute drive of one another here in Utah but schedules are such that we can get consistent play time weekday evenings after 9 PM. This allows me to do that but still remain at home. We do have one player who has moved to California that joins us weekly.

I love face to face role playing but as soon as you have an hour plus drive to get to the game (and a wife and family) playing online becomes real appealing. Its not possible to get the people in my game(s) into one country, much less one place.

With FG I see everyone's rolls as they make them. There is a chat window for whats going on. Everyone moves their own tokens and sees what each other says about game information. As DM I can send and receive text messages from individual players. Everyone sees the same maps\graphics at the same time. The unexplored map regions are even hidden from the players until the DM reveals them.


Even with relatively local people I'd spend all my game time driving! This way I'm off the icy streets, I have whacks more time for gaming, I save money on gas, and I'm home if there is an emergency.

Its not face to face but there's a lot to recommend it.

Sigurd

 

[Wavestone]

I started a thread talking about how far apart gamers and players are:

http://forums.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5554

Some short quotes:

Wow, its a little weird to see something I wrote (the first quote) on the FG board being posted here, as an interesting post..

For me, playing via Fantasy Grounds is the only gaming outlet I have ATM. Sure, having a gaming group would be great.. but real life is what it is. This has allowed me to return to RPG after many years. The interest was there all the time, but it wasnt feasible to game for several reasons..

It might be noted that I have a hurdle that I dont think many of you out there have - I'm very hard of hearing. I have a hard time communicating with people that I don't know. So its hard for me to create a random group with ads in a game store, etc. But online, typing, its another matter! (Might also be noted that we don't use teamspeak/ventrilo/etc in Stuart/Ancellus campaign - that would have been right out for me!)

So, all in all - I'm very glad that VTT exists.

 

[Hussar]

Heh, speaking of location. In my games, I've had players from the States, England, Czech Republic, South Africa, Singapore, Canada, and Sweden. Kinda groovy.

 

[snikle]

OpenRPG+ is lightyears ahead of OpenRPG. Take a look here.
Thanks for the invite snikle. I'll definitely check that out.

We would be glad to have to come, Digitalxero is participating in iCon, so get with him on what he is organizing, but I know he is planning to get demos of OpenRPG+ and working with others to get some games ran using it.
On that note, game applications and demos are coming in and being added almost daily to the schedule, as you can see here. General Registration will open Feb 15th.

The following vendors have all signed up as official sponsors of iCon, many have offered copies of their products to be given away as prizes:
Dundjinni Mapping Software
Battlegrounds: RPG Edition
Fantasy Grounds
Malhavoc Press
Digital Adventures, LLC
RPTools.net (MapTools)
ViewingDale
d20Pro
Expeditious Retreat Press
OpenRPG+
The Tangled Web
RPGMapShare

 

[Garnfellow]

I think face-to-face is generally more fun for the effort and certainly easier to run, but play-by-chat has some charms of its own that aren't found in face-to-face play. I haven't run a ton of pbc games, but they seemed to have less out-of-character distractions than a face-to-face game. And it's pretty neat to have a log of everything said and done at the end of the session.

Skeptics should try to find transcripts of Frank Mentzer's AOL Aquaria game, which have been floating around the internet in one form or another -- it's is a great example of a complex, long-running pbc game with plenty of crunch and roleplaying. It's what convinced me to try a couple of sessions myself.

I used IRC for a couple of sessions of a long-running campaign when it was just plain impossible to schedule a face-to-face session. Overall, I was happy with the results: http://home.gwi.net/~rdorman/frilond/adv/irc/index.html

We didn't use it more because (1) the face-to-face scheduling problems went away, (2) Netlag with IRC was a real pain, and (3) some of my players only had access to work computers, and so couldn't easily install a chat client.

Since my weekly group has just gone on hiatus, I'd be interested in running some chat-based games. Is OpenRPG the current standard for gaming chat clients?

 

[smerwin29]

You aren't the target for the arrogant comment. It is the attitude expressed by others -- who have not tried a VGT -- that VGTs are inherently inferior that comes across as arrogant. I am particularly amused by the crowd who says they would rather just not play at all than to play on a VGT. I'm betting those who said as much haven't actually been faced with the choice. It is easy to say "I'd just quit." when you have a regular game. It is unlikely that anyone who lost his F2F game and had thrown the D&D monkey off his back enough to simply quit playing would bother hanging out on this forum.

I can only speak for myself, but this is the EXACT situation I am in. There are several campaigns I would like to play in, but the only way I could play them regularly is online. I tried it. I found the experience, even though I tried with different groups on different platforms, to be no fun for me. Because I choose not to play online, I am lucky to get to a game once a month. But still I choose not to play online. Again, this may be specific to my own situation, as my jobs (freelancer) keeps me isolated in front of a computer for 8-12 hours a day as it is, so the prospect of sitting in front of a computer for another second, much less another 4 hours or more, just doesn't appeal. I don't say this to try to claim that VTT games are inferior for everyone--only to show that it is not unreasonable for a motivated and interested gamer to prefer no game to an online game.

 

[snikle]

Is OpenRPG the current standard for gaming chat clients?

You really should check out the iConvention website, specifically the VGTs page and the VGT comparison chart, if the only VGT you have seen is OpenRPG or you are only comparing them to using IRC (which is great don't get me wrong), I think you will be shocked at what these systems can do and if they would work for you.

 

[naturaltwenty]

My transcripts would be limited to dice rolling and /whispers between players. I use virtual table top software, and Skype ( www.skype.com ) - a free voice-over-IP system that supports a 10 person teleconference.

I run 6 players and myself regularly on a bi-monthly game.

As for modules I am a big pdf purchaser and since Dungeon has the last 3 years of maps online via pdf, including free resources at Wizards Map-A-Week, downloadable content from Dunjinni, etc. there is a plethora of material to use for online vt gaming.

3.0/3.5 is a perfect fit for vt gaming. It can simulate combat better than a poorly drawn map on a Chessex mat and with all the pdf's from Firey Dragon and the free token making tools from www.rptools.com it's easier for me produce professional looking maps and accessories.

I'm not advocating that one is better than the other but the advances in technology are great.

My biggest query to the forum is why do you think WotC pulled all their third party licenses for character creation software? It's only a matter of time before WotC jumps on this band-wagon.

Later,

Greg Volz
Natural Twenty Gaming
www.naturaltwenty.com

Hussar - It would be cool to see an unedited transcript from one of your online games.

 

[Aeolius]

I didn't see klooge.werks on that comparison chart. Pity, that's the one that I am most interested in. Granted, I'd need someone to hack in 3-dimensional movement