It looks like I'm going to be running Curse of the Crimson Throne on-line, since some of my friends are moving away next spring. I've had some success running RPGs on LiveJournal and the like, but none of those games have been very combat-intensive.
Is anyone else planning an on-line game? How are you planning to run it?
I run this site:
Which uses MapTool, a free java based app that lets you run dungeon crawls and other games easily:
http://rptools.net/doku.php?id=maptool:intro
You can even...
You can find me in the Paizo chatrooms also, and I can help you get started on MapTool. Also, if you're in the chatrooms you can check with Wyvern, he has his own custom built tool that looks need:
I've been using Fantasy Grounds to run an Age of Worms campaign for over a year now, and I've found it to be an excellent tool:
Let me know if you have any questions - there's also an excellent community of helpful, friendly users over on the Fantasy Grounds messageboards.
Thanks for the suggestions! These look more like realtime tools, and I think I want something a little more free-form where people in varying time zones can just participate when they have a moment. I could go with LiveJournal again, but, while I want every player to have a principal upper-class twit PC, I also want there to be a squad of enlisted guardsmen controlled by any player at any given time who are charged with keeping the twit PCs alive.
I played a Drones RPG once. Maybe I should look for that in order to properly model the main characters.
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Thanks for the suggestions! These look more like realtime tools, and I think I want something a little more free-form where people in varying time zones can just participate when they have a moment.
I used to run a game on www.roleplayinggames.net and that was really cool, but that was years ago, and I think games have to be approved (or at least they did at the time)
I'm not sure if it's what you want, but I've been running games online at www.playbyweb.com for years. It has an integrated dice roller (that players swear to be out for their blood, but...), and allows you to embed images hosted elsewhere as part of your post. I use GIMP to prepare the battle maps with character icons, then upload the images, exported as jpeg, to photobucket and link into my post. For a scenario involving only one or two characters that you want to keep secret from other players, you can even create a private thread (or "move") that others can't read.
Each of your players will need an account on the site, but each account can create an unlimited number of characters with different names and avatars to play in your game.
were starting RotRL on fantasy grounds sometime next week. i'll let you know what i think of it. as far as what you had in mind there is the comic in the back of the later dragon issues called "play by mail" i never acctually payed any attention to it but i do remember there being a "if you interested in play by mail caming;visit XXXXXX for more info" you could try something like that over email
I think I'd rather use the web than e-mail, but thanks for the idea.
At this point I'm leaning to some sort of wiki or similar site, but I'm far from decided.
Thug there is a free program that allows you to use maps, minatures, keep logs, store info to send when you want it to the chat room or the players. As well as incorporate sounds (with upgrades), and various other things. While the program isn't bad, neither is it great, as it does have a few bugs in the system, and the community is no longer very big or helpful. But if you wanna check it out, go to www.openrpg.com.
Thanks, Kevin! It looks cool, but it also seem to focus on real-time play. I'm looking more for something where you can sit back and compose your actions, edit them, wander off for a walk and ponder your actions, re-edit them, then send them off. I'd like the emphasis of this game to be more on "well-written" than on "everyone getting together at the same time".
This is also causing me some minor rules headaches, but I think I'm finally on top of those.
I'm looking more for something where you can sit back and compose your actions, edit them, wander off for a walk and ponder your actions, re-edit them, then send them off.
tbug, you may find it possible to run the style of play you describe, but my experience with such (and I haven't run real-time play over the 'net in comparison) is that such games quickly peter out. In my experience, the game slows to a halt if people are on different schedules, etc. Almost every combat lasts days in real-time, as everyone must wait for the player whose turn it is in the initiative to post, etc.
Just food for thought....
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I'm looking more for something where you can sit back and compose your actions, edit them, wander off for a walk and ponder your actions, re-edit them, then send them off. I'd like the emphasis of this game to be more on "well-written" than on "everyone getting together at the same time".
That sounds like a play by post. You just have to let it be known that you want a focus on writing as people's styles vary drastically. Flip through the play by post sections to see how different people do things and learn what you like and what you don't. It does move slowly though as someone had said. Fights do typically take days.
Yes, I'm definitely redoing combat mechanics for just the reason you describe. This means that we won't be a strictly d20 game, but since we're emphasizing the story I'm hoping that this is okay.
At this point I'm leaning toward using the Fudge rules system, but I haven't made a final decision yet. We'll streamline combat as much as possible, and emphasize the social and cultural elements of the upper-class dweebs interacting with their environment.
This rules change would also enable me to have about a dozen players, which in my experience is key in this sort of play.