Best Scenarios for Online Play

[Sammy T]

Not all scenarios are suited for playing online via chat and virtual tabletop. In your opinion, what scenarios work well online and why?

[Gerald]

If you get a group that enjoys the actual role playing, any of the heavy RP scenarios are great. Some of my favorites include:

The Dalsine Affair
Severing Ties
The Blackros Matrimony
The Disappeared
The Night Marches of Kalkamedes.

There are other great ones, but that's just off the top of my head.

[Gleaming Terrier]

Library of the Lion and The Immortal Conundrum are pretty cool, RP heavy as well, and I've run both of them online.

[Iammars]

Sammy T wrote:

Not all scenarios are suited for playing online via chat and virtual tabletop. In your opinion, what scenarios work well online and why?

I disagree with this statement. I haven't come across a scenario that hasn't worked well online. Certainly there are slight adjustments you have to make (for instance, maps of towns become more important for roleplaying-heavy scenarios such as Scars of the Third Crusade), but everything will work fine online.

That being said, the more creatures there are in combat, the better I find the scenario to work online because of the wonderful thing that is macros. Having all the macros prepped ahead of time makes the scenario go much smoother.

[Terminalmancer]

Any scenario with interesting or difficult lighting situations, especially where PC capabilities are different, can benefit a ton from playing online. It's much easier to handle that sort of asymmetry with, say, Roll20's dynamic lighting effects than it is on a physical table.

[Woran]

Terminalmancer wrote:

Any scenario with interesting or difficult lighting situations, especially where PC capabilities are different, can benefit a ton from playing online. It's much easier to handle that sort of asymmetry with, say, Roll20's dynamic lighting effects than it is on a physical table.

Sweet baby panda jesus: this.

I hope I get rich someday so I can make a virtual tabletop setup at home (with a big *** touch screen in the table or something) so I dont have to take out rulers to see who can see what in a mixed party in a dark dungeon.

[chris manning]

I have run lots of PFS games online, and never come across any scenario that posed a problem for online play.

however some scenarios do require a little out of the box thinking to present things to the players in a way that makes everything ultra clear for everyone.

for example people who are semi afk, distracted by kids/spouse/pets, or for whom English isn't their first language.

if in doubt go the extra mile to create extra handouts, maps, pictures or other explanatory material.

[andreww]

Basically everything that Chris said.

There are some scenario's and modules which are less suited to online play. Any module with maps which came in 10' squares is a pain to sort out, doable but it is extra work. Tomb of the Iron Medusa has maps with 50' squares...

Similarly scenarios which lack proper maps for significant sections are more awkward to set up and run. I am looking at you Between the Lines. Lots of modules are guilty of this as well, the entire first segment of The Moonscar for example.

[andreww]

James McTeague wrote:

That being said, the more creatures there are in combat, the better I find the scenario to work online because of the wonderful thing that is macros. Having all the macros prepped ahead of time makes the scenario go much smoother.

Dear lord this yes, they are also a boon for the more maths challenged players or for anyone engaging in summoning, using animal companions or raising their personal undead horde.

[TOZ]

andreww wrote:

Tomb of the Iron Medusa has maps with 50' squares...

o.O

Yow. Feel bad for rknop running it for us.

[kinevon]

TOZ wrote:

andreww wrote:

Tomb of the Iron Medusa has maps with 50' squares...

o.O

Yow. Feel bad for rknop running it for us.

Tomb of the Iron Medusa:

I think someone is overstating the case. There are maps in Tomb with 25' and 50' squares, but both of them are more overview than anything possibly combat-oriented. They have close-ups of actual rooms, with, mainly, 5' squares, a couple of rooms in 10' squares, but the big maps are more likely to be used for "Where are you going next?" overviews of the site, rather than needing to be re-sized to 5' squares.

[Avatar-1]

Sammy T wrote:

Not all scenarios are suited for playing online via chat and virtual tabletop. In your opinion, what scenarios work well online and why?

It might help if you can tell us a few scenarios you think don't work well online, and why?

[Sammy T]

Avatar-1 wrote:

It might help if you can tell us a few scenarios you think don't work well online, and why?

Personally, and speaking only for me, I abhor RP-heavy scenarios online. Why? Because it becomes fantasy conference call staring at a static computer screen. While at the table RP can be engaging and immersive, online RP feels stilted & boring (think the difference of attending a play or musical versus watching one on Youtube). I would not want to play Blackros Matrimony, Fortress of the Nail, Hellknight's Feast or Scars of the Third Crusade online.

Again, to re-iterate, RP-heavy scenarios don't work well online for my sensibilities.

[Gleaming Terrier]

Sammy T wrote:

Again, to re-iterate, RP-heavy scenarios don't work well online for my sensibilities.

Interesting. I find that because you're able to recruit players who want to run those specific scenarios, it works out better than many tabletop sessions, where people show up for their weekly game, only to find out that the combat-focused character they have won't have anything to do.

[andreww]

kinevon wrote:

TOZ wrote:

andreww wrote:

Tomb of the Iron Medusa has maps with 50' squares...

o.O

Yow. Feel bad for rknop running it for us.

** spoiler omitted **

The necropolis area has at least one encounter in it.

Spoiler:

The crashed hearse

[kinevon]

Spoiler:

IT looks like it is mostly going to be a blank map, for the area where that encounter is. Given that the path is going to be fairly wide, and there is just the tree and the hearse there, not much in the way of terrain needed.