I'm wondering if anyone here ever tried/succeeded in running a gaming group over the internet, using messenger services or mirc, for example. I'm interested in DMing, but there isn't anyone near where I live, as all of my friends all have 2-4 game sessions each and can<t play mine.
There are many people who run successful games via messenger, email, or even forum posts. Head on over to the PbP forums and check it out; you can usually worm your way into a game fairly quickly. The folks who game here on paizo are really great.
The PbP forums? Well I'm looking to dm a game more then join one, but I do admit that I have many character archetypes and classes I'd love to play.
Play-by-Post (meaning forum post). You can find it on the forum director (including recruitment). The Paizo boards even have handy tabs in your profile to help you manage your campaigns. Go ahead and click my face to check it out.
You could always start your own there too. There are ALWAYS players eager to get in on a(nother) PbP. Your GMing will be appreciated, I guaruntee it. PbP is great fun; The pace is variable, players really get into their characters, the only real trouble you run into is a player up and disappearing every once in a while.
Forum posts? Isn't that super slow?
Forum posts? Isn't that super slow?
It varies. I've seen some go at a rather breakneck pace (when all of the players are on at the same time- some set aside time for it, like with a messenger), while others are far more laid back (many times people entertain several at a time to get their fix). Generally people seem to be expected to post something of substance at least once per day, though it is often far more for the dedicated ones- at least on weekdays.
How would battles go using online means? Since you'd need a grid of some kind.
Sorry about disappearing (I post from my work PC so I pop out from time to time to you know...do my job...).
Usually someone makes a map for the combat on a grid (I use google.docs) and shares it. People dictate their movement and attacks using J6 to K9, that sort of thing. Some don't bother using a map at all. I can link you to an example combat from my current RotRL PbP if you would like.
ive never had any interest in pbp myself but there are tons of ppl using virtual tabletops. i'll post some sites i use...
tangledweb this is a very good site for VTT games,they also host some PFS games. i would love to see more pathfinder players here.
pnpgames this is another good one. it even has a google map type thing that list players in your area.
and of course
rptools this is also where you can get some good VTTs
maptools and openrpg being the most popular of the free versions.
skype is usually the preferred method of communication as it is also free.
hope that helps and maybe i'll see you out there. good luck
EDIT* finally got the link command down yay
As Benoc said, there are a lot of useful tools out there for running online games with voice and virtual game tables. If you'd like to sit in on a game sometime to see how they work - I run a Tuesday night Kingmaker game thats a lot of fun. Your welcome to watch it sometime and get a sense of how it the online tools work.
Just keep in mind the pros and cons of Play-by-Post and Chat/VOIP gaming. These are just ones I can think of.
For PbB-
Pros: No need to have everyone on at the same time, Complex ideas can be more readily articulated, Handy log of events.
Cons: Can be very slow(particularly in combat), difficult to track positioning if you're used to a more tactical-style of gaming.
For Chat/VOIP-
Pros: Real-time (or pretty close to it) interactions, use of any number of helpful pieces of software ( The RP Tools are my personal favorites), folks from all over the world can participate.
Cons- Bad connections, Bigfooting (where people talk over each other on voip, usually by accident), trying to get everyone together at the same time as it is likely as not that a few players are in other time zones.
I've done both and have had as many successes as failures with each. The last game I was in was a PF game on Map Tool with Skype that failed in part due to lack of prep on my part, (I was the GM and had not run a game of any kind in years), and in part due to constant disconnections with both Map Tool and Skype.
We all learned quite a bit from those sessions and if I'm lucky enough to run a game again, I'll be making sure to address those issues.
The maptools/skype Im running is going great. I strongly encourage people to try it out if you havent before. I recruited here on the Paizo boards and have been really enjoying the experience for two months now.