My group gets together every other week for about 5 hrs, and it leaves us all with the urge to get together more often. Getting together physically more than this has proven challenging because of lives, and wives. So we are looking towards "technology" to provide a needed "fix" here and there for us when we are running low.
I am GM'ing, and I have plenty of material prepped (I am probably 3 or 4 sessions ahead of them). So weekly would not be a big deal as far as that goes.
It would be every other week live sessions, and then a video session thrown in here and there. A few ?'s.
1) What can we expect? And is the "dropoff" in quality RP'ing even worth it?
2) What are the best programs etc to use? For conferencing, maps, and die rolls, char sheets, etc?
3) Anything else that you want to say:
I didn't mention this, but to give you a background, we are a pretty heavy RP group, and only get off maybe 1 or 2 battles a session. MY PC's spend a lot of time planning things, and discussing best options, etc.
They are pretty thorough and the RP'ing is the most important aspect of the game to everyone right now. They are really fabulous at playing into it. So I'm wondering if there is a workaround of the technical difficulties w conferencing or typing out stuff instead of saying it, etc.
My group plays exclusively online now due to people moving away. We play using Maptools and a Ventrilo server. The main issues unique to playing this way that we have come across are:
A.) the players don't get to roll real dice. which sucks but if you are using Skype that should let you avoid this.
B.) Some people are still playing in the same room as others. This has a tendency to lead to dead air on the mic as they discuss things amongst themselves. Which in turn can lead to people who aren't involved having their attention wander or sit there wondering what is going on.
Like most situations though a little discipline and being adaptive can make it a fun time.
On the plus side, in some ways, in can foster even more RP then if everyone is at the same table. Using maptools for example, you can actually sync what the player sees to what their character sees using light sources and fogs of war. So for example if the lead player has his miniature peek around a corner only he will know what is there since only his screen will reveal what he sees. The rest of the party will be wondering why he is back pedaling so fast.
This fosters RP as he has to describe what he sees to the rest.
It also really makes the distinction between different types of vision really stand out.
We recently had an oracle with the clouded vision curse. Being limited to 30' vision really impacted the way she played. Where as if you were playing with the more standard wet erase mat and miniatures it takes a tremendous effort not to metagame stuff.
Ralantar is right, so I'll just add a couple things.
My group has been using Maptool + Skype for the last 4 years and it has been awesome. As R mentioned, you have to adapt to some elements of the medium, but that is really no different than face-to-face.
As long as everyone is onboard with the plan, you should have a great experience. There is no reason specific to the medium that should cause RP to drop-off.
Best.
Thanks for the input
- Ralantar, what are the advantages of Ventrilo over Skype for you guys?
More stable connection, etc?
- And Elorebaen, I have read some people having problems dropping, etc in Skype. Problems there for your group? Or workarounds that you have?
I have heard from the research I have done on it, that the visibility tool is amazing, and leads to better roleplaying.
Also, I can imagine that spell effects would be easier to determine.
I actually have an easier time RPing online (via text) because I feel pretty silly trying to change my voice. It also gives me some more time to think before I speak. So to each their own.
To third the opinions here, my group meets once a week over Oovoo (an ad driven Skype variant) and Maptools. The nice thing about that, is that all of the software is either free with ads or open source.
Maptoools has the benefit of the ability to build "macros", which allow the more technical of our group to help make "frequent use" buttons that can greatly speed up gameplay. We lean heavily on macros because we've found that there are more delays in gameplay with everyone in a different state and having unique distractions.
There are things that are difficult, the need for more pre-planning. Randomly making a map is a bit more difficult in Maptools. Oovoo and Skype both have varying levels of server load and on our game nights (Friday) there are interruptions in service. I have a dedicated computer that runs a private Maptools server, and with some smartphone software I can turn it on and off as needed by whichever of us is GM at a given time.
I absolutely love having the technology to still play with my friends after they've moved, and I highly recommend working through the kinks that will inevitably come up to get something running. It's worth the initial testing frustration to still have that time to play with your group no matter where they are.
Brayden, My group uses Ventrilo over Skype for two reasons really. I already had Ventrilo :) and Skype uses more bandwidth I believe since it is voice and video. (Ventrilo is just voice)
If you have players with poor connections Skype and Maptools may stress their connection.
To be honest I just haven't tried Skype yet.
I suppose if your group likes to play in their pajamas that might be a downside to skype as well :)
I suggest using Google+ instead of Skype. I have weekly meetings on both, and Google+ consistently outperforms Skype.
Awesome input. Thanks everyone. I'm actually more excited to do this than i originally was. I had a fair share of misgivings at first.