Virtual table?
- Thread starter Daddicus
- Start date
andycowley
SOC-10
I've looked (not very hard I must admit) ... did you look at Roll20?
Enoff
SOC-13
I think Roll20 looks really cool. I haven't played there yet. I thought about setting up a boardgame like Imperium but its not really setup to handle large amounts of counters. You would also have to be a paying member to add custom Traveller character sheets. It looks like the best thing out there though.
Could you define what you're looking for? I'm not sure what you mean by virtual table.
For Play-by-Post, I'm not sure you can beat the combination of CotI PbP subforum with a Campaign Wiki setup at Traveller Wiki. I'm also in a PbP at Obsidian Portal, and while it works OK, the GM has to pay $40/year to have the goodies that are available here for free (and better! OP's Wiki sucks!).
For "live" play, I don't have any experience yet, but have heard recommendations of using Skype.
Somewhere here we have a big compilation (maybe by DonM?) of a lot of online resources worth taking a look at.
EDIT: It wasn't DonM, it was Savage. Here's the link: http://www.travellerrpg.com/CotI/Discuss/showthread.php?t=29563
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For Play-by-Post, I'm not sure you can beat the combination of CotI PbP subforum with a Campaign Wiki setup at Traveller Wiki. I'm also in a PbP at Obsidian Portal, and while it works OK, the GM has to pay $40/year to have the goodies that are available here for free (and better! OP's Wiki sucks!).
For "live" play, I don't have any experience yet, but have heard recommendations of using Skype.
Somewhere here we have a big compilation (maybe by DonM?) of a lot of online resources worth taking a look at.
EDIT: It wasn't DonM, it was Savage. Here's the link: http://www.travellerrpg.com/CotI/Discuss/showthread.php?t=29563
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Virtual Table is a piece of software that handles die-rolling, usually includes text-chat, almost always includes the ability to set up maps with tokens on them.
Many also handle character sheets, combat task resolution, fog-of-war, and movement restriction.
A couple have integration with VOIP services. (One ties to Google Hangouts.)
Aramis pegged it.
The mini campaign that I'm developing is going to do quite a few 1-on-1 encounters as a precursor to the real campaign. Basically, there are a bunch of people that all "escape" from a town. They don't realize it, but they're running at WAY less than optimal.
Anyhow, they're going to meet each other eventually, but each will spend some time alone in what is effectively a wilderness, fending for themselves.
I figured I could use a virtual table to play out some of those events remotely, especially those that require combat. Gradually, the players will bump into each other, gradually forming a group of characters who learn to depend on each other in the school-of-hard-knocks.
Once they've run into each other, it will be a more normal face-to-face campaign.
The mini campaign that I'm developing is going to do quite a few 1-on-1 encounters as a precursor to the real campaign. Basically, there are a bunch of people that all "escape" from a town. They don't realize it, but they're running at WAY less than optimal.
Anyhow, they're going to meet each other eventually, but each will spend some time alone in what is effectively a wilderness, fending for themselves.
I figured I could use a virtual table to play out some of those events remotely, especially those that require combat. Gradually, the players will bump into each other, gradually forming a group of characters who learn to depend on each other in the school-of-hard-knocks.
Once they've run into each other, it will be a more normal face-to-face campaign.
Which aspects do you need?
Shared dice rolling?
Text Chat?
VOIP?
Minis-on-maps?
Character Sheets?
My VOIP gaming has used the die-roller at http://catchyourhare.com/diceroller/ and skype for the text and voip.
But then, I don't need minis.
When I did need combat maps, I posted a link to them in the text, and used grid location numbers to have players place them.
Note that the CYH die-roller allows dragging the dice around, and removing individual dice, changing color and rolling another set, etc.
Shared dice rolling?
Text Chat?
VOIP?
Minis-on-maps?
Character Sheets?
My VOIP gaming has used the die-roller at http://catchyourhare.com/diceroller/ and skype for the text and voip.
But then, I don't need minis.
When I did need combat maps, I posted a link to them in the text, and used grid location numbers to have players place them.
Note that the CYH die-roller allows dragging the dice around, and removing individual dice, changing color and rolling another set, etc.
I've not used it in anger, so to speak, but I did dabble with MapTool a while back and it seemed pretty good. But you'd need a VOIP client (like Skype) too. One thing I liked about MapTool was I could import these GIFs af AHL deckplans and adjust the MapTool grid to match the deckplan grid perfectly. Maybe other VTTs can do this, I don't know, but MapTool certainly can. Also it's free. It doesn't stream sound FX yet, that's on the ToDo list. There's also a pretty good token maker on the same site.
esampson
SOC-13
I personally think that Roll20 is probably my favorite VTT at the moment. While it is true that you need to be a member (in fact you need to be their highest level of member) to build a custom character sheet for T5 they are hardly a requirement for playing. In fact they are a relatively new addition and people have previously been playing all their games without character sheets at all.
Three important things to note here. First, in this context a 'character sheet' is basically a linked mechanism that displays the stats stored on a character object in a nicer format. Character objects aren't new at all and everyone can use them. In this case a character sheet is as important as a character sheet for a tabletop game. They're prettier than a piece of lined paper and probably a bit kinder to the Referee when he needs to looks something up, but they are hardly essential.
Secondly, only the person running the game needs to be a Mentor in order to use custom sheets. Most of the things that are granted from the various levels of membership are GM related features such as more storage, ability to use dynamic lighting and LoS in a game, ability to create API scripts for the game, etc. There are a few features that apply to players such as No Advertisement and Mobile Tablet support, but not many.
Lastly the highest level of membership is $9.99 a month, which really isn't very expensive. Especially when you consider that really only one person needs to be paying that (unless you want access to some of those features such as tablet support) and so the players could pool their money to buy a membership for the GM.
That said, it isn't a perfect system. I think they still have miles to go before they sleep. They need better mechanisms for sharing resources (which is easy to say but actually very, very hard to do since they try to be concious of artistic copyright). They really need a better mechanism so that I can just grab an NPC out of my enormous list of NPCs right in the middle of a session. It would be nice to have more control over how many 'points' I'm tracking on a character icon (things like hit points, mana, stun, etc.).
All of these complaints, though, are mitigated in my opinion by the fact that it is ridiculously easy to get running. Basically just log into the site. It supports voice and camera if you want but they aren't required at all and I've played many sessions where some people were using voice and others were using keyboard. There's no downloading and configuring software, no issues with firewalls or server addresses. Assuming a campaign was setup and there was a character waiting for them you could bring in someone 'cold' and have them up and playing in less than 5 minutes.
It does have the danger that your data resides on their servers. If the company ever goes under you will quite probably lose your campaigns. Even if they were to create a mechanism that allowed you to download all the data it wouldn't be in a format that you could use anywhere else. That is probably the biggest caveat.
Three important things to note here. First, in this context a 'character sheet' is basically a linked mechanism that displays the stats stored on a character object in a nicer format. Character objects aren't new at all and everyone can use them. In this case a character sheet is as important as a character sheet for a tabletop game. They're prettier than a piece of lined paper and probably a bit kinder to the Referee when he needs to looks something up, but they are hardly essential.
Secondly, only the person running the game needs to be a Mentor in order to use custom sheets. Most of the things that are granted from the various levels of membership are GM related features such as more storage, ability to use dynamic lighting and LoS in a game, ability to create API scripts for the game, etc. There are a few features that apply to players such as No Advertisement and Mobile Tablet support, but not many.
Lastly the highest level of membership is $9.99 a month, which really isn't very expensive. Especially when you consider that really only one person needs to be paying that (unless you want access to some of those features such as tablet support) and so the players could pool their money to buy a membership for the GM.
That said, it isn't a perfect system. I think they still have miles to go before they sleep. They need better mechanisms for sharing resources (which is easy to say but actually very, very hard to do since they try to be concious of artistic copyright). They really need a better mechanism so that I can just grab an NPC out of my enormous list of NPCs right in the middle of a session. It would be nice to have more control over how many 'points' I'm tracking on a character icon (things like hit points, mana, stun, etc.).
All of these complaints, though, are mitigated in my opinion by the fact that it is ridiculously easy to get running. Basically just log into the site. It supports voice and camera if you want but they aren't required at all and I've played many sessions where some people were using voice and others were using keyboard. There's no downloading and configuring software, no issues with firewalls or server addresses. Assuming a campaign was setup and there was a character waiting for them you could bring in someone 'cold' and have them up and playing in less than 5 minutes.
It does have the danger that your data resides on their servers. If the company ever goes under you will quite probably lose your campaigns. Even if they were to create a mechanism that allowed you to download all the data it wouldn't be in a format that you could use anywhere else. That is probably the biggest caveat.
