I think I may have missed this discussion, but can someone give me a quick overview? I use Maptool, and find it no different than playing in-person, so I'm scratching my head a bit.
Thanks.
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I think I may have missed this discussion, but can someone give me a quick overview? I use Maptool, and find it no different than playing in-person, so I'm scratching my head a bit.
Thanks.
From the chat:
[quote=]Mod (Insert Neat Username Here): When will the question of online play for PFS be answered? There's been a lot of discussion about this, but no final answer.
JF: Unfortunately, for Insert Neat Username, we probably won't answer that question until Season 1.
Mod: The sooner the better...I know a lot a people are eager for online play via Virtual table tops, Map Tool, Fantasy Grounds, etc.
JF: To be fair, Lilith, the answer might be no. There are a lot of kinks to work out.
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I think I may have missed this discussion, but can someone give me a quick overview? I use Maptool, and find it no different than playing in-person, so I'm scratching my head a bit.
Thanks.
The differences are that it is harder to confirm that people on online tabletop games are on the same footing.. or a step above (by having others in the room helping them, or by looking at their copy of the adventure while playing it) or even a step below (since they can't be seen by the other players face to face to react to body language)
These difficulties (among others I couldn't think of right now) limit the availability of many society-like games
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The differences are that it is harder to confirm that people on online tabletop games are on the same footing.. or a step above (by having others in the room helping them, or by looking at their copy of the adventure while playing it) or even a step below (since they can't be seen by the other players face to face to react to body language)
I hope these are the real concerns. If "people might cheat" is a reason for disallowing online games, then they might as well sack the whole thing because some people are going to do their best to find a way to cheat at home games, store games, and cons too. They're cheaters and that's what they do best. It's no different than school, no matter how hard th teacher/professor makes it, people are going to try.
-Skeld
I am playing with a group online, through Skype and OpenRPG.
Skype gives us the vocal chat, the main aspect of the game.
We don't use webcams, as they are not necessary.
OpenRPG gives us a tool for maps and figurines.
I prefer to draw maps live rather than only saved ones, as often i have to improvise a map of a site (tavern, cave...).
About the cheating... Well...
In the beginning i was using OpenRPG's dice roller. But my players didn't like to depend on a click for their characters lives. So i decided to switch back to classic dice rolling. Without webcam i have no way to be sure the players actually roll what they announce. But i don't care. First i am a DM, not a baby sitter, i am not here to check if they cheat or not. Second, if they do cheat, well, as long i don't know about it i don't really care. I would just feel sorry for them if they did, as they would completely miss the point of a roleplaying game.
I think I may have missed this discussion, but can someone give me a quick overview? I use Maptool, and find it no different than playing in-person, so I'm scratching my head a bit.
Thanks.
The differences are that it is harder to confirm that people on online tabletop games are on the same footing.. or a step above (by having others in the room helping them, or by looking at their copy of the adventure while playing it) or even a step below (since they can't be seen by the other players face to face to react to body language)
These difficulties (among others I couldn't think of right now) limit the availability of many society-like games
Ahh good point, though you will never really know if a player has already looked at the scenario anyway. Electronic character sheets can be used to verify legit PCs as well. But, yea I suppose I'm thinking in the direction being considered now. Thanks for clearing the cobwebs for me.
Best.
To be fair, we're not really worried about fudged dice-rolling or anything of that nature. GMs have several sections on a chronicle sheet that they have to physically line out or sign off on before the chronicle is approved. Figuring out how to do that virtually with a way to track the GM who signed off on the record is one of the primary challenges and something we're not going to really try to figure out until later.
As for cheating -- sure, people will try. We're trying to build an easy, relatively hands-off system where when people *do* cheat there are really easy ways for a GM or coordinator to spot it and deal with it. Simply saying, "Yeah, people are going to cheat so why should we bother with safeguards to easily prevent it?" seems irresponsible to me.
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To be fair, we're not really worried about fudged dice-rolling or anything of that nature. GMs have several sections on a chronicle sheet that they have to physically line out or sign off on before the chronicle is approved. Figuring out how to do that virtually with a way to track the GM who signed off on the record is one of the primary challenges and something we're not going to really try to figure out until later.
As for cheating -- sure, people will try. We're trying to build an easy, relatively hands-off system where when people *do* cheat there are really easy ways for a GM or coordinator to spot it and deal with it. Simply saying, "Yeah, people are going to cheat so why should we bother with safeguards to easily prevent it?" seems irresponsible to me.
How about lists of prerolls that the DM can use for the players, something the players don't have access to so they can't use bad rolls on something like a listen check and hold off using a good roll until it is needed. Maybe give the DM a series of sheets that he can choose from to use in the game. If the DM is worried about someone figuring out which one he is using he could just start 10 rolls down one list or something.
Seems like a simple safeguard, although it will increase the DM's work load slightly.
Again, we're not at all worried about fudging dice rolls. We're concerned about record-keeping.
To be fair, we're not really worried about fudged dice-rolling or anything of that nature. GMs have several sections on a chronicle sheet that they have to physically line out or sign off on before the chronicle is approved. Figuring out how to do that virtually with a way to track the GM who signed off on the record is one of the primary challenges and something we're not going to really try to figure out until later.
As for cheating -- sure, people will try. We're trying to build an easy, relatively hands-off system where when people *do* cheat there are really easy ways for a GM or coordinator to spot it and deal with it. Simply saying, "Yeah, people are going to cheat so why should we bother with safeguards to easily prevent it?" seems irresponsible to me.
The way I see it, the GM would have a physical chronicle sheet just as if you were at a physical table. IMO, there is not a need for a "virtual" chronicle sheet with regards to virtual play. Mind you, I think it would be a nice paperless way to handle chronicles for everyone. But I do not think it is necessary.
If the players must sign the chronicle sheet, than yea, there would need to be a virtual sheet.
Best.
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Again, we're not at all worried about fudging dice rolls. We're concerned about record-keeping.
Standard practice in LG appears to be that GMs fill in the AR with the gp/xp gain, cross out any unavailable favours/items, and sign and date, then scan the AR and send it by email for the player to print out. The player then does the calculations.
Perhaps it isn't quite as robust as the face-to-face system, but in my experience it's no less 'checking' than is done face-to-face -- the number of GMs who actually check my adding up, or that I've crossed out all the right things on ARs before signing them is quite small!
It is worth noting that the RPGA appears to be moving away from the 'paperwork can stop cheating' paradigm that led to ARs. The LFR adventure logs don't even have room for a GM's signature, and while there is online tracking, that's stated to be a back-up to the paper records, so people who want to cheat can do so pretty easily, but are likely to be shunned if they are found out!