I've been meaning to try out GhostOrb for quite some time. I went to their website a few days ago (for the first time since last year), but found that the last "news" post from their admin was from last Christmas, and elsewhere it said that they were beta testing, which is what it said a year ago. Is the site still active? Is anyone playing there? If active, does the software work reasonably well (given that it's still being beta tested)??
I'm glad I trusted my gut instinct and didn't sign up for it. I'm going to turn my garage into a dedicated game room and I'm going to wire it up for remote play with a good computer independent IP-webcam and a $400 teleconferencing phone. I'm going to have a couple of test players join our bi-weekly games via the internet for the video and regular telephone line via the duplex-audio capable teleconferencing phone. I'm looking forward to seeing how that works out.
I don't want a webcam that depends on a computer. I want a webcam that I can hook up to my wireless router and can be accessed with a web browser.
I want to use the telephone instead of a VOIP connection because I tried the VOIP stuff last year--both ends of the connection had cable modems--but the audio was still choppy and too hard to get used to.
If this is going to work, I'm going to have to shell out the bucks for a good teleconferencing phone. The advantage of a phone line is that the gamers who will join us from remote locations will use wireless headset phones that will allow them to roam their house and still "hear" what's going on. This means they don't have to be glued to their computer screen all the time, particularly when their characters aren't doing anything. I have an all inclusive long distance plan, so minutes aren't an issue at all as long as Dryder, Guennar or the rest of the Germans don't decide to join my campaign ;)
We'll see how it goes.....
BTW, private notes between the remote players and the DM will be handled via cell phone text messaging during the game.
Technology--I hate it, I love it....hope I love it more after this experiment. I'll let you guys know in about a year or so.
Your long distance may be fixed price, but don't they charge by the minute for teleconference calls? If not, I'd be interested in knowing who your phone conmpany is so that I can sign up.
Someone else (don't remember if it was here or on another board) posted about a webcam based game awhile back - they had the webcam aimed at their miniatures table. The drawbacks were a narrow field of view to see the tiny miniatures on the table, plus the need for everyone to give the GM instructions on where to move their miniatures. You might be better off sticking with a program that lets everyone move little icons around on a map on their computer screen.
For what it's worth, the rumour mill has it that two freebie "virtual tabletop" websites will be offering built in voice chat in the near future, so paying $5 per month to GhostOrb may be passe anyway.
My gaming group has been using Fantasy Grounds with skype for the last 8 months, and it has been working flawlessly. We researched teleconferencing and VOIP options from top to bottom, and Skype was the best option for us. The biggest limitation with Skype is that you are limited to 5 lines, so you are limited to how many player can join. Computer headsets are worth their weight in gold, and have the player with the fastest connection (definately not DM as Fantasy Grounds can bring his gateway to its knees) conference everyone in. Fantasy Grounds has worked exceptionally well for us. It is a little more work for the DM in preparation, but once you get used to it it isn't bad at all.
Hey Allfather, can I sit in on a FantasyGrounds session some time? I have the program, but I want to see people actually use it.
Sure! Email me at tom.staples@mosaicco.com and we'll set it up. I may have an opportunity to bring you in to play one of the characters if someone can't make it, which seems to happen in the summer months.
My friends and I had discussed stuff like this, however we planned on using the same free voice chats that we have all used while playing resource heavy games like Counter Strike Source or varies MMOs. Which is either Teamspeak or Ventrillo, and most of the time it doesn't come over choppy unless something is wrong on the users end. (A friend of mine had problems with Vent when we played Planetside where we would just hear feedback instead of talking when he tried to).
Lillith, my Fantasy Grounds campaign is currently on hiatus but is expected to resume in the near future. feel free to check with me as well, liath@sbcglobal.net if you want to touch bases on when my campaign resumes
We tried Teamspeak, but found that the voice quality was significantly better with Skype.
I'm using Klooge.werks with Ventrilo. Ventrilo works well, not limited to the 5 people like Skype. The only issue is you have to be careful about talking over other people and there can be a slight delay.