|
There is no (nor should there ever be) one place for coordinating online play. As another poster stated, the internet is a scattered series of private tables. This is a good thing. This gives DMs/organizers the power to pick and choose their playerbase instead of being required to obey the PFS public play rules.
If one is looking for digital PFS games, I suggest you check out the PBP boards here on the Paizo site. There are games recruiting every day. If you’re worried about a PBP game taking too long, don’t be. A PBP game moves as quickly as the DM and players can commit to. If you want a faster game, find faster players. I’ve DMed several games now that have finished the entire scenario in 5-6 days.
|
I'm now searching this forum and PFS Online (Google Groups)....still not too much going on.
Then run something, it's real easy... :)
I see half a dozen posted games there now... but you shouldn't expect to log in and find a game running 5 minutes from now or trying to get a GM to run something when you want it... Wait for games to be posted, and sign up... simple as that.
Between the large warhorns, post on the google group, and posts here, it's pretty easy to find games right now. (Not so easy to find them at the correct time and tier for me personally, but that's a side issue.) While having everyone using the same tool for listing games would be nice, it's not possible for any one tool to please everyone, and trying to create a new standard will (as TOZ pointed out) just create another competing standard to further fragment the community.
As for the quality of play, I'm surprised that anyone has had a bad enough experience to swear it off entirely. In the games I've played so far, nearly everyone has been a blast to play with; at worst there will be one or two players who don't say anything during non-combat encounters. I certainly haven't encountered anyone acting rude or abrasively.
|
|
... but you shouldn't expect to log in and find a game running 5 minutes from now or trying to get a GM to run something when you want it... Wait for games to be posted, and sign up... simple as that.
This crazy expectation is probably one of the bigger problems.
Spontaneous games really should be the exception to the rule - only when there are 5 odd people hanging around doing nothing, all decide they would like a game, with a GM having a scenario prepared for just such an occasion.
That's pretty big criteria to hang your hopes of either online or offline play on. Scheduled play is almost always the better way to expect to play.
|
There is no (nor should there ever be) one place for coordinating online play. As another poster stated, the internet is a scattered series of private tables. This is a good thing. This gives DMs/organizers the power to pick and choose their playerbase instead of being required to obey the PFS public play rules.
That is great for private play. But I would like to remind you Feral, that PFS IS AN INCLUSIVE OPEN COMMUNITY. When people have these mind sets of playing "private games where GM's can choose their players" this defeats the entire purpose of an online community of PFS. If that is the entire mindset of the community, why do we have a formal online region with Venture Officers and Paizo support? Let's just go back to the old days then.
If you wanna be picky and keep on having these threads pop up, keep thinking the way you think. But if you want a community to grow give my ideas a second or even third look. The most successful groups of online play are organized and open to all. The ones that have been having issues from what I have seen and experienced are when peeps start being picky.
|
Regional Venture-Coordinator, Online
|
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Centralized Online Game Posting:
We hadn't intended to discuss the PFS game and group registration site until we were a bit further down the road with it—but, yes (as stated by Arthur), there is a web-tool actively under development that will allow PFS games to be scheduled and shared in a communal way without actually dictating the group or forum the games are posted in, et cetera.
(This is not the VO community website also under construction (in spurts) - that is a side project that is meant to be informational and is not what we are discussing here at the moment.)
The site in question will allow for Public [and Private – invite only] listing of games, as well as session/history/chronicle tracking, and other things like that. You will be able to attach PC information and token information to the PC in the system so GMs have easy access to such things instead of having to get them from the players each time. As well as many other features specific/beneficial to PFS.
So people will be able to join the community site and see all public games in a centralized listing, but groups will still be able to maintain their own forums and groups how they see fit.
Players will be able to subscribe to only sub-groups or all public listing. Private groups will be... well, private. :) Email notifications will be an option, as will RSS, et cetera.
That said, even with the tool in place (when finished), no one can actually FORCE anyone to use it. There will be groups who always choose to do their own thing, and that is fine. (: We hope that people will choose to use it though. :)
Disparate Groups and Tool-sets (and Consolidation):
Just like a regional coordinator in a given city can't force a home group, or a small PFS group who happens to play in a local FLGS, to join the established regional group - the online VOs cannot force anyone to list a game in a way they don't want to. (Nor should they be forced to do so.)
Unlike a region in the "real world" where you are usually starting “fresh” and have a very specific set of parameters, locations, and people you are working with, the Online VOs have no one “store”, or central regional location – the Online VOs have, basically, an unlimited, worldwide, massive player base to work with.
Many of the established online groups were well entrenched and active for years before there was ever a VO group for online play. These groups have their own ways and tool-sets – and that works for them – there is no reason to change that.
Some of these communities are built around a given tool (Fantasy Grounds for example).
Some are built around a style of play (play-by-post for example).
Others are simply collectives of GMs & Players that grew organically over time and use multiple tool-sets depending on the GM listing the game. (Pathfinder Society Online Collective, as an example – Founded by Mark Moreland as a public group for online play.)
Some groups are regional language based groups (Example: French & Spanish language groups online).
All of these groups exist for different purposes and serve different audiences – even though at the root they are all here to enjoy PFS in their own ways. There is no way to shoehorn them all into a single online play template.
So the Online VOs have to build a community around the communities, as it were. To bring a sense of greater community to the disparate groups while allowing the individual groups to maintain their identities.
This is a process that will take time, but is already under way.
Private vs Public games online:
The PFS leadership has been very clear on what constitutes a Public vs Private game. I will not rehash that here – you can see Mark Moreland and Mike Brock's posts on that topic here (as well as a couple of other threads): http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2nthc&page=2?Banning-Classes-in-PFS-games#5 5
TL;DR: If you post a game publicly and invite people to join it, is a public game.
[**Please read the listed thread above though if you have questions and see all the posts by Mike and Mark on that topic**]
Roll20 and G+ Hangouts:
As a group we have now hosted, literally, thousands of players in games using G+ Hangouts and Roll20. Our experience has been overwhelmingly positive with these tools. Most people have simple setup experiences and positive performance results. Most of the issues we have seen have come down to poor internet connections, or using very old, out of date browsers (or internet explorer). But these factors would effect anything under the same conditions. So with that rather large sample group - I would say Roll20 and Hangouts is a good combo for anyone to use.
Personal Note:
Thanks for the kind words, James. :)
|
|
Jesse,
I appreciate you clarifying the situation. My decision to sit out and wait to see how it all works out still stands for now. But your explanation of.the situation and plans for the community are interesting and I will watch and see.
As far as I am concerned, based on the situation and how members of the community have responded, I think no more need to be said for now. I wish everyone luck in their game hunts.
Venture-Lieutenant, West Virginia—Charleston
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I think that another driving issue is the lack of etiquette coming from some of our online players. I don't mean to speak derisively of the whole community, but I will say that both times that I ran an online game and accepted members of PFSOC, there were some issues. One game, the language barrier was the issue, which is excusable and we still managed to have a good time. The other time that I ran, though, we had a player who doggedly accused me of various perceived rule violations and apparently reported me to campaign leadership. My game prompted a very lengthy argument on the google group. That doesn't really set a welcoming tone for prospective GMs.
|
|
For the record, No....I'm not searching for an immediate game. I'm basically searching for ANY game that is weekday evenings or weekends and I haven't played (and lower than tier 7). Yes, there are some popping up and a bunch just popped up. Only one is in my time frame and is playable for me, but alas...I'll have to pass due to that being a ski day.
I'm glad this thread has generated the responses it has. Plus, I've learned a bit more about the PFS online community. It's not about trying to make the online thing exclusive to one site, in my opinion. It's about making it easier to locate games (like Lady O. noted) without having to hunt through multiple sites.
|
|
I think that another driving issue is the lack of etiquette coming from some of our online players. I don't mean to speak derisively of the whole community, but I will say that both times that I ran an online game and accepted members of PFSOC, there were some issues. One game, the language barrier was the issue, which is excusable and we still managed to have a good time. The other time that I ran, though, we had a player who doggedly accused me of various perceived rule violations and apparently reported me to campaign leadership. My game prompted a very lengthy argument on the google group. That doesn't really set a welcoming tone for prospective GMs.
IIRC the "publicness" ruling from Mike and Mark was about excluding swaths of legal content from publicly advertized games and was originally in the context of a particular player throwing a hissy-fit because DM's did not want synthesists in thier games. I never read it as removing the ability of DMs and Organizers to blacklist specific players who have proven themselves to be disruptions or problems.
An online game, especially on the PFSOC is basically the equivalent of walking into your FLGS on a scheduled game day, the DM can (or at least should be able to) refuse to seat a problem player after consultation with the organizer and then later on the appropriate VC if there is a continued problem. Just like this kind of issue would be dealt with in a local, physical community. I think that DMs being more willing to exercise this prerogative would cut don on a lot of these sort of issues which I have also encountered in online play.
|
|
I usually steer clear of these types of discussions, but...
I'm going speak on the original issue, first, and I'm not seeing a drought of games, to be honest. Just a quick look through the 3 major sites I use (this site, PSOC, and FG) and came up with the following over a 2 week span:
Grand Lodge Online Play
- Eyes of the Ten (Cronge) - Jan 4, 11, 18 Jan
- The Stolen Heir (Hilstad) - 11 Jan
- Day of the Demon (TOZ) - 10 Jan
- The Sarkorian Prophecy (Billy D) - 11 Jan
- *The Confirmation (Tom H) - 11 Jan
- *Day of the Demon (Cronge) - 14 Jan
- *The Jester's Fraud (Cronge) - 23 Jan
- Library of th eLion (Shivok) - 11 Jan
- *Delirium's Tangle (Cronge) - 21 Jan
Pathfinder Society Online Collective
- Among the Gods (Patrick H) - 21 Jan
- sewer Dragons of Absalom (Patrick H) - 13 Jan
- *The Confirmation (Tom H) - 11 Jan
- Black Waters (Patrick H) - 22 Jan
- Icebound Outpost (Patrick H) - 23 Jan
- *Day of the Demon (Cronge) - 14 Jan
- Murder on the Silken Caravan (Mike V) - 10 Jan
- *Delirium's Tange (Cronge) - 21 Jan
- *The Jester's Fraud (Cronge) - 23 Jan
- The Cultist's Kill (Patrick H) - 24 Jan
- The Infernal Vault PUG (Henwy) - 10 Jan
- Words of the Ancients (Sior) - 13 Jan
- Rivalry's End (Ben F) - 11 Jan
Fantasy Grounds
- You Have What You Hold (Hawkwind) 9, 16 Jan
* - posted on multiple boards
You can see that there's a lot of games going on. Granted, a lot of them are higher tiers, but I see one other thing that pops out. It's the same GM's running the games. Like has been said, we need more online VTT GM's! I, personally, haven't been running any games the last couple of weeks because of the holidays and then school starting up, so I have an excuse that I'm going to throw around. I'm just kidding, of course, but it would be nice to have a larger variety of GM's, which would lead to even more games.
And as for the second issue, the centralization of sites, I like that there's a plethora of sites to choose from. Someone summed it up nicely in comparing it to different lodges in various towns / cities. I wouldn't know, though, since there isn't one in my area!
Take Fantasy Grounds, for example. It's an awesome VTT, but the need to purchase a license for a lot of the games restricts it's user pool. What's nice about that, though, is that because of the smaller community, games usually always have at least one slot open, so it's real easy to get a game over there when they do pop up. What's bad is that the games don't tend to pop up a lot, because, again, there's only a handful of people running games, and a smaller community means less GM's.
Roll20 is also great, and PSOC and this site lend a huge community to PFS games on it. Granted, I tend to end up with a lot of the same players at my tables, but I also get a lot of new players who are great to GM for, and a lot of people I've never played with before, which is also neat, from all over the world, to boot, which is twice as neat. True, the tables fill up fast, but that's because the community's huge. But to help alleviate that, there's usually at least one group of people who go onto PSOC (at least, I haven't seen it much here), and are able to get a PUG going nearly every night. Again, the bottleneck with these PUG's, though, is getting a GM.
Sorry for rambling, and I'm not really sure where I ended up trying to go with that. Something about needing more GM's, I guess. I warned Keht that his rambling had nothing on mine, and maybe now he'll believe me. And I seem to say granted a lot. I don't know why.
|
|
I, personally, haven't been running any games the last couple of weeks because of the holidays and then school starting up, so I have an excuse that I'm going to throw around. I'm just kidding, of course, but it would be nice to have a larger variety of GM's, which would lead to even more games.
I'm in the same boat. Was just going to just take a month off, but during that month I enrolled in school, not to mention a baby on the way. So my own GM'ing is going to be lessened. While I can still play, I can't really dedicate the time to organize and run games for a bit.
|
Something about online play: Making the tokens/maps, setup is a LOT more work than prepping for tabletop. The DM has to know how to work the program and use it well or things go to hell pretty quickly.
It was a lot of work at first. But to be honest I can normally have a full table setup in 5 to 30 minutes now; with special effects and all. It gets a lot easier and quicker the more you do it. Thats why I like VTT play. I mean literally it took me a little under 10 minutes to setup my Rivalry's End table for tomorrow.
|
Venture-Lieutenant, West Virginia—Charleston
|
I think that another driving issue is the lack of etiquette coming from some of our online players. I don't mean to speak derisively of the whole community, but I will say that both times that I ran an online game and accepted members of PFSOC, there were some issues. One game, the language barrier was the issue, which is excusable and we still managed to have a good time. The other time that I ran, though, we had a player who doggedly accused me of various perceived rule violations and apparently reported me to campaign leadership. My game prompted a very lengthy argument on the google group. That doesn't really set a welcoming tone for prospective GMs.IIRC the "publicness" ruling from Mike and Mark was about excluding swaths of legal content from publicly advertized games and was originally in the context of a particular player throwing a hissy-fit because DM's did not want synthesists in thier games. I never read it as removing the ability of DMs and Organizers to blacklist specific players who have proven themselves to be disruptions or problems.
An online game, especially on the PFSOC is basically the equivalent of walking into your FLGS on a scheduled game day, the DM can (or at least should be able to) refuse to seat a problem player after consultation with the organizer and then later on the appropriate VC if there is a continued problem. Just like this kind of issue would be dealt with in a local, physical community. I think that DMs being more willing to exercise this prerogative would cut don on a lot of these sort of issues which I have also encountered in online play.
Had I realized that the player in the second situation was an issue before I started the scenario, I likely would have refused to seat him. Unfortunately, there's really no good way to prescreen players online.
|
|
I must admit that recently I'm seeing a bit more activity. And thanks to the suggestion to check out the Google PFS group, there's a bit more. At the time I wrote this thread, the pickings were slim and seemed really tilted to higher level.
However, this thread has also really taken on its own direction, such as the centralized discussion, lack of many online GM's etc.
I'm looking forward to seeing what happens here for the VTT initiative that our hosts are looking into.
It's still a little bewildering to know that there are thousands of PFS players and there situations like I saw last night where a GM desperately tried to round up 4+ players for a spontaneous game and couldn't do it.
I must admit that recently I'm seeing a bit more activity.
I can only speak for myself and a bit of what I've noticed from other online players/GMs.
Some weeks seem really heavy for games; some seem really scant. Our local, in person, tables are having a harder time filling out because it's winter and people have stuff to do. I imagine that, to an extent, it's the same story online.
Moreover, many of these online games seem to be pick-up games. "Hey, what'cha doin' tonight?" "I'onno, lemmie see if there's some PFS game goin' online."
For GMs, the time investment for an online game is a little steeper than it is for a game in person, and for new players, online play/GMing is a little daunting. This can lead to a general lack of interest. Online is a scary place.
I know with me, and what few games I've run online, I don't run without the promise of some personal gain. Man, I've got a store I unofficially co-ordinate for on Monday, my own campaign Wednesday, another campaign Friday, alternating Saturday PFS/home games, and then another table on Sunday; managing a consistent online slot is out of the question. I know a lot of our local player base is equally bogged down in so many tables, so I imagine other communities are much the same way. When this is the case, online play takes backseat. What I've run online, I've run because a friend needs to level, I need to level, someone was interested in a specific scenario - and all of these online because we couldn't get a solid table put together locally. Online is the place where I/we go when we have a GM and two players, but need at least one more person. This, for me anyway, makes steady online GMing unlikely and highly volatile.
At least you're currently finding more games, though!
|
|
For GMs, the time investment for an online game is a little steeper than it is for a game in person, and for new players, online play/GMing is a little daunting. This can lead to a general lack of interest. Online is a scary place.
I know with me, and what few games I've run online, I don't run without the promise of some personal gain. Man, I've got a store I unofficially co-ordinate for on Monday, my own campaign Wednesday, another campaign Friday, alternating Saturday PFS/home games, and then another table on Sunday; managing a consistent online slot is out of the question. I know a lot of our local player base is equally bogged down in so many tables, so I imagine other communities are much the same way. When this is the case, online play takes backseat. What I've run online, I've run because a friend needs to level, I need to level, someone was interested in a specific scenario - and all of these online because we couldn't get a solid table put together locally. Online is the place where I/we go when we have a GM and two players, but need at least one more person. This, for me anyway, makes steady online GMing unlikely and highly volatile.
Totally in agreement here. Online means extracting images, editing where needed (damned trap outlined on the map layer!), uploading, scaling with precision, every single token with stat bar usually, player tokens, handouts, macros if applicable, and that's just for a basic set-up. Then there's dynamic lighting, making sure everyone has control of their tokens, has the right light source, make sure everything is working as it should. It can be taxing. And for what? A few hours of "losing" and possibly a chronicle sheet. It can be far less rewarding for a GM online than a player.
For face-to-face games, I can either draw or buy a ready-made map, pick from my selection of tokens or pogs, and make sure I don't forget to bring anything to the store. In return, there's more fellowship around the table, before and after the game. At the store I play at, there's coffee and drinks and food and all sorts of fun stuff. And to think I used to not like gaming there! Hahaha.
GMing online is still fun. I still do it when the feeling strikes and I'm able to commit the time and effort outside that 4 hour slot. Though mostly now I think it's going to be more as a thank you for GM's who want to play something. Will it keep me from getting 4 stars anytime soon? Yeah, probably. But I'd rather still have a drive to hit 5 stars rather than burn out in a push for 4.
All that said, I'm glad there are more games cropping up. When I started running games, it seemed there were only two or three of us who ran weekday morning games. I'm glad to see that number has expanded and now I can sit back and rest a little bit.
|
|
I have the utmost respect for the GM's. At this point, I have only a desire to play and enjoy the effort of GM's everywhere. That might change sometime down the line.
I would hope that with online playing, that GM's can take advantage of reusing the same VTT, like Roll20 (which seems to work fairly well) and not have to reinvent for every game.
I've started saving all my macros in a text document for each character. I'll modify them as necessary, but it makes the whole pre-start of a Roll20 game a lot easier.
|
|
The problem with reusing the same VTT is that if you re-run something, you have to rebuild it from scratch. Case in point, I'm running Words of the Ancients tomorrow morning. I ran it a few months ago as well. So the VTT is still set up. All I have to do is reset the baddy tokens, eliminate previous player tokens, and insert new ones. All the maps are already laid out, which is a bulk of the work.
Though if I am running a series (Shades of Ice trilogy, Quest for Perfection, Echoes of the Everwar or whatever), I'll set up the series in the same VTT so the same players can keep their macros and the like, but with how the Roll20 setup is, managing multiple scenarios in one VTT is a hard thing to keep straight.
We just have to wait for Roll20 to have the ability to transport macros.
|
|
I have the utmost respect for the GM's. At this point, I have only a desire to play and enjoy the effort of GM's everywhere. That might change sometime down the line.
I would hope that with online playing, that GM's can take advantage of reusing the same VTT, like Roll20 (which seems to work fairly well) and not have to reinvent for every game.
I've started saving all my macros in a text document for each character. I'll modify them as necessary, but it makes the whole pre-start of a Roll20 game a lot easier.
Prethen care to share the macro list?
|
|
It's worth mentioning timezones.
Kboom's list here, with timezones (I can't get onto google groups from this time of posting):
Grand Lodge Online Play
- Eyes of the Ten (Cronge) - Jan 4, 11, 18 Jan (UTC-8)
- The Stolen Heir (Hilstad) - 11 Jan (UTC-7)
- Day of the Demon (TOZ) - 10 Jan (UTC-7)
- The Sarkorian Prophecy (Billy D) - 11 Jan (UTC-6)
- *The Confirmation (Tom H) - 11 Jan (CST US not sure what this is)
- *Day of the Demon (Cronge) - 14 Jan (UTC-8)
- *The Jester's Fraud (Cronge) - 23 Jan (UTC-8)
- Library of the Lion (Shivok) - 11 Jan (UTC-5)
- *Delirium's Tangle (Cronge) - 21 Jan (UTC-7)
We clearly need more GMs in Australia (UTC+8 to 11), Singapore (UTC+7) or Europe (UTC), otherwise we're relying on some of these other games to be at a time that fits both countries.
Personally I always run games on Friday nights (good for Singapore/Western Australia, bad for Americans) or Saturday mornings (good for Americans, bad for Singapore/WA).
|
|
No problem, June! I'll have to do that when I get back to my home computer. However, keep in mind that you'll be heavily modifying it for your own characters. But, it might be a good start, like a template, and perhaps others can add some more "color" to it and advice.
Prethen care to share the macro list?I have the utmost respect for the GM's. At this point, I have only a desire to play and enjoy the effort of GM's everywhere. That might change sometime down the line.
I would hope that with online playing, that GM's can take advantage of reusing the same VTT, like Roll20 (which seems to work fairly well) and not have to reinvent for every game.
I've started saving all my macros in a text document for each character. I'll modify them as necessary, but it makes the whole pre-start of a Roll20 game a lot easier.
|
|
I don't know what happened, but all of a sudden I'm seeing more and more options opening up (esp. on PFS online!). That's awesome! Many of them happen to be in the middle of the work week which doesn't quite work for me, but I'm sure that will make others very happy.
I'm just hoping that all parties can be happy, GM's and players with a wide variety of games and times and not a lot of cancellations. With so many PFS players out there, I can see that once this really gets going, it would be hard to not find a game day/time to play!
|
My new interest in looking for online PFS play has me checking out this forum daily. I had the opportunity to play a Roll20/G+ game and it basically went flawless. It was a very good experience.
With the 1000's (just a guess) of nation(world?)wide PFS players and a great mix of GM's, why are we not seeing dozens of opportunities for online play throughout the week? The current options get filled relatively quickly (at least all the ones that I've seen!).
I am interested in judging more online - so far I've only done it for people I know personally (so they cut me some slack when things don't work right) - for me it would mostly be Sunday mornings and early afternoon(I am eastern time)and the odd Monday holiday - For example - I am thinking of trying to run all of Thornkeep online - but I don't known if there would be interest.
Is there a tutorial or something for a new online GM?
Is there a Roll D20 Pathfinder forum someplace?
TIA
|
|
Isn't FG a pay to play site where you have to purchase a licience to play at a table unless you can find a GM who has one of those special liciences that players don't need a licience to play?
As Kboom mentioned up thread its a really good VTT for Pathfinder. Running a game becomes almost rules light as the VTT remembers almost everything . The macro facility in Roll20 is primitive in comparison.
The fantasy grounds community is very insular with only handful of the regular players also play on Roll20 but it is very welcomingIf anyone wants to check it out the forums for society they can be found here https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?71-Pathfinder-Societ y. Some of the GM’s you don’t need a licence to play with but if you want to play in one of my games you need a light licence that cost $24
|
|
My new interest in looking for online PFS play has me checking out this forum daily. I had the opportunity to play a Roll20/G+ game and it basically went flawless. It was a very good experience.
With the 1000's (just a guess) of nation(world?)wide PFS players and a great mix of GM's, why are we not seeing dozens of opportunities for online play throughout the week? The current options get filled relatively quickly (at least all the ones that I've seen!).
Because you cant have awesome experiences like this online...
Go to Video link....
|
|
I have had limited online play and GMing experience but am already seeing some themes that make it less compelling than face-to-face:
The one true VTT: There is always at least one long discussion/lecture about how it would be better on a different VTT or on the limitations of the one you are using or how it could be done better.
GM to player connection is harder: It’s much harder to identify with the players when you can’t see them and their position around the table. Trying to remember which voice is which without visual clues is hard. This makes emotional engagement and empathy harder for everyone.
Set up time is much longer. Getting all the maps, tokens and handouts set up just right is time consuming.
Admin takes longer. I have started using Foxit PDF to write on chronicles but it still takes much longer than handwriting them for face to face games.
|
|
Here is a sample of macros from one of my characters (I put all characters in one file, but might be smart to split into multiple files, and separate characters for easy access):
Init:
[[1d20+3]] INIT &{tracker}
Cold Iron Greataxe:
/em Attacking with Cold-Iron Greataxe
[[1d20+3+2]] vs AC for [[1d12+3]] slashing damage
Silvered Greatsword:
/em Attacking with Silvered Greatsword
[[1d20+3+2-1]] vs AC for [[2d6+2]] slashing damage
Light Crossbow:
/em Shooting Light Crossbow with Cold Iron bolts
[[1d20+3+1]] vs AC for [[1d8]] piercing damage
Spirtual Weapon:
/em Spiritual Weapon Attacking
[[1d20+3+3]] vs AC for [[1d8+1]] force damage
Diplomacy:
[[1d20+7]] DIPLOMACY Check
Fortitude:
[[1d20+7]] FORTITUDE Save
Reflex:
[[1d20+3]] REFLEX Save
Will:
[[1d20+7]] WILL Save
Channelling:
[[2d6]] Channelled (DC13)
My new interest in looking for online PFS play has me checking out this forum daily. I had the opportunity to play a Roll20/G+ game and it basically went flawless. It was a very good experience.
With the 1000's (just a guess) of nation(world?)wide PFS players and a great mix of GM's, why are we not seeing dozens of opportunities for online play throughout the week? The current options get filled relatively quickly (at least all the ones that I've seen!).
Because you cant have awesome experiences like this online...
Go to Video link....
A pretty map doesn't mean an awesome experience. They can go hand-in-hand, but if GM spends more time making the lovely scenery than he does understanding how the game is run, then there's a problem right there.
Fangwood Keep is lovely work in that link, but scenery is only one facet of a great experience/game.
|
|
I am interested in judging more online - so far I've only done it for people I know personally (so they cut me some slack when things don't work right) - for me it would mostly be Sunday mornings and early afternoon(I am eastern time)and the odd Monday holiday - For example - I am thinking of trying to run all of Thornkeep online - but I don't known if there would be interest.
Is there a tutorial or something for a new online GM?
Is there a Roll D20 Pathfinder forum someplace?
TIA
Try this Roll20 Wiki.
|
|
I have had limited online play and GMing experience but am already seeing some themes that make it less compelling than face-to-face:
I too have had limited GMing online and have seen some issues, but they have been so far very minor and easily correctable. While I prefer face to Face RPing it is a convenient way to get disparate groups of players together to game.
The one true VTT: There is always at least one long discussion/lecture about how it would be better on a different VTT or on the limitations of the one you are using or how it could be done better.
I wont touch this as I have no familiarity with any other VTT's except Roll20. Which I like. It doesnt have every feature I would like, but as a basic utility it's pretty user friendly.
GM to player connection is harder: It’s much harder to identify with the players when you can’t see them and their position around the table. Trying to remember which voice is which without visual clues is hard. This makes emotional engagement and empathy harder for everyone.
All RPG Players are actors to some extent and as such should be able to evince some emotion while RPing their characters. That being said I have had players make emotional gestures or RP flavor by simply putting in the game chat.
I too have had trouble remembering voices to names so now I have implemented a system to improve upon it. This is relevant only to Roll20: When the players join in first give them control of their token. enable the 3rd bar as it shows within their token and not above; second in the conditions section give him a condition color (there are 7 colors) and have him place it on the bottom of his token. You then have his player avatar pick that same color so that you know who is who. Finally When naming a character the following should be used: Character Name (Player Name) on both the token and on the player avatar.
Set up time is much longer. Getting all the maps, tokens and handouts set up just right is time consuming.
Setup is longer but there is an upside to it. If you ever prepare the scenario again. You have everything ready to go instantly. I hope Roll20 adds an ability to transfer a campaign from Gm to GM. I've suggested this to them but dont know if it will ever be implemented.
Admin takes longer. I have started using Foxit PDF to write on chronicles but it still takes much longer than handwriting them for face to face games.
Admin also take a bit longer (really depends on your CHronicle input and distro method)
All in all one of the biggest pluses about online gaming is that it can be done at the convenience of your own home in your pajamas if you want.
|
|
I, personally, haven't been running any games the last couple of weeks because of the holidays and then school starting up, so I have an excuse that I'm going to throw around. I'm just kidding, of course, but it would be nice to have a larger variety of GM's, which would lead to even more games.I'm in the same boat. Was just going to just take a month off, but during that month I enrolled in school, not to mention a baby on the way. So my own GM'ing is going to be lessened. While I can still play, I can't really dedicate the time to organize and run games for a bit.
I took January off as well, so haven't been running my regular Tuesday game... Maybe the perception of a lack of games is due to the fact that I know at least 10 of the regular GM's are not running this month.
|
|
Something about online play: Making the tokens/maps, setup is a LOT more work than prepping for tabletop. The DM has to know how to work the program and use it well or things go to hell pretty quickly.It was a lot of work at first. But to be honest I can normally have a full table setup in 5 to 30 minutes now; with special effects and all. It gets a lot easier and quicker the more you do it. Thats why I like VTT play. I mean literally it took me a little under 10 minutes to setup my Rivalry's End table for tomorrow.
Hah, I don't GM real life because I think that VTT are way easier then trying to draw a map on a grid and keep up with everything.
|
|
Hah, I don't GM real life because I think that VTT are way easier then trying to draw a map on a grid and keep up with everything.Something about online play: Making the tokens/maps, setup is a LOT more work than prepping for tabletop. The DM has to know how to work the program and use it well or things go to hell pretty quickly.It was a lot of work at first. But to be honest I can normally have a full table setup in 5 to 30 minutes now; with special effects and all. It gets a lot easier and quicker the more you do it. Thats why I like VTT play. I mean literally it took me a little under 10 minutes to setup my Rivalry's End table for tomorrow.
Oddly, drawing the map is fun for me. Some maps are tedious.
Although, I do know at least one guy who uses a VTT for F2F games and projects it onto the table...
|
|
Hah, I don't GM real life because I think that VTT are way easier then trying to draw a map on a grid and keep up with everything.Something about online play: Making the tokens/maps, setup is a LOT more work than prepping for tabletop. The DM has to know how to work the program and use it well or things go to hell pretty quickly.It was a lot of work at first. But to be honest I can normally have a full table setup in 5 to 30 minutes now; with special effects and all. It gets a lot easier and quicker the more you do it. Thats why I like VTT play. I mean literally it took me a little under 10 minutes to setup my Rivalry's End table for tomorrow.Oddly, drawing the map is fun for me. Some maps are tedious.** spoiler omitted **But at least with F2F you often have the option of using pre-made maps. Sure, the expense can add up, but once you have them you have them. Also, everyone brings their own minis and the like. You don't have to run for an eagle a summoner's gonna call and worry about permissions.
Although, I do know at least one guy who uses a VTT for F2F games and projects it onto the table...
I think we both know that same guy! In fact, I'm playing at his table tomorrow.