i am about to start gming a game over skype using the group video chat, which ive never tried before. i was wondering if anyone had done anything like this before and had some suggestions as to how i could relay the map to my players during combat so they could see whats going on? any other tips or suggestions from people who have done this before would also be welcomed.
We have a player who lives in Minnesota who Skypes into our game in the Midwest and we use the camera on our side to show him the gaming table in combat.
We use a 2 x 4 foot Hex mat that the GM draws encounter area's on with dry erase markers and uses miniatures and home made terrain. That works pretty well to show him the layout during battle.
Try using a camera tripod to mount the Webcam on so you can pivot it around and get some distance to show things. Works great for us.
Out of combat we reorient the camera so he can see the other players in the group or the DM. It works pretty well for us. We usualy have 5 players in our game with him being the 5th.
He usually plays rogues so he also uses the IM feature with the ref for when he does sneaky things he doesn't want the party to know about, though that would work for any class.
Our ref has the laptop that the Skype is run on at her position and she uses it for PFSRD20 and Combat Manager in addition to Skype while she runs the game.
Just make sure you have a fast and reliable connection and a good processor for the Skype machine or his video feed will be super low resolution and jerky.
Mind you we only have one player who skypes in. All the other people are at the same table. I would think it would be a nightmare to have everyone skyping.