opinions on chat-room based D&D
Joe Fernandez
services such as web rpg and other chat rooms. I've played in a few online
campaigns and I've gotta say, especially with web rpg, it's almost as fun as
playing face to face. The advantages of online play include not having to
fuss with mounds of paper and dice, since everything is computerized. Also,
it's much easier to find players online than for face-to-face games. Of
course online, you can't see or hear the players, the DM doesn't have the
luxury to use voice and body language for dramatic effect. But you could
use your imagination, and those with fertile imaginations should still be
able to have fun with online D&D. I'm interested in hearing what others
feel about this.
Kvtor
I'm working on a Webrpg setting right now. I haven't use the program
yet so this will be just a test. If I like it, I'll probably start a
continous campaign.
kvtor
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m
my source material, and I can't READ two things at once, where I could have,
face to face, heard a player say something while I was looking at monster's
stats.
But then, it's been years since I've played any chat RPG, and it was here on
AOL before the web was more than an infant. Back when AOL didn't have web
service, and I dialed into BBS's. WAY before java enabled browers and the
people who could program them & the servers to chat effectively.
I guess I may have a somewhat skewed point of view.
Mark
Peter Knutsen
Joe Fernandez wrote:
>
> I wanted to see what people think about playing D&D campaigns using online
> services such as web rpg and other chat rooms. I've played in a few online
> campaigns and I've gotta say, especially with web rpg, it's almost as fun as
> playing face to face. The advantages of online play include not having to
> fuss with mounds of paper and dice, since everything is computerized. Also,
That is only true of the roleplaying game rules are (partially or
fully) automated. (Also, I might want to make some hardcopies
for easy and quick reference - it can be faster than screen-
reading sometimes. One example would be the stats of an NPC,
especially a hostile one)
> it's much easier to find players online than for face-to-face games. Of
> course online, you can't see or hear the players, the DM doesn't have the
Is it? I'm not calling you a liar or anything, as I have no
experience with chat-based roleplaying gaming, but I'd imagine
that it's a bit, well... "loose". Easy to find someone who
sounds interested, and then after a few sessions the person
disappears. With face-to-face gaming this happens less often.
Not that I'm against the idea of chat-based roleplaying gaming
(in fact I acknowledge roleplaying games over chat as "true"
roleplaying games, unlike Live games or computer games or
mechanic-less games), and I've been thinking about starting
a chat-based campaign during the summer. My idea is to try to
find a bunch of dedicated gamers and then work out the character
creation via e-mail, to make sure they are serious and not likely
to abandon the game for no good reason.
> luxury to use voice and body language for dramatic effect. But you could
I'd say it would be easier to imitate creatures different from
yourself, such as female NPCs for instance. Also dragons and
the like. Of course you can't convey tone of voice via text, this
can be a problem.
But there are advantages too. You can store all your notes elec-
tronically and refer to them quickly (I'm using a freeware rule-
set, Quest RPG, and last year I made the main rulebook into a
HTML hypertext, which means I can look up stuff in less than
2 seconds) - some months ago I lost some notes for my Aerth
campaign. They weren't world-related (I have all the world-
related stuff in my head anyway), but notes about what had
happened during the sessions - those notes weren't vital but
they included a map of the island the PCs had visited. Had I
used electronic notes, and an electronically created map,
that wouldn't have happened.
Also, you can prepare descriptions before the session, such as
room descriptions (something I've never been good at - maybe
chat-GMing will help me develop that ability), or a speech
given by a master orator (since you (GM) is probably not a
master orator, improvising such a speech would be really
difficult).
Passing notes also becomes easier. Especially player->GM notes.
The best thing is that the other players won't even be aware
that a note has been passed, this alleviates the need for
"fake notes" that you have in face-to-face gaming.
> use your imagination, and those with fertile imaginations should still be
> able to have fun with online D&D. I'm interested in hearing what others
> feel about this.
I see one technical problem: typing speed. I have some experience
using chat-interfaces (although not for roleplaying purposes)
and it's often the case that the fastest typer (me, usually,
since I'm damn fast) ends up "dominating" the conversation by
typing five to ten times as much text (# words) as the other
person.
So one criteria for being able to roleplay over chat would be
that you can type fast.
Another is good command of the written language. It's amazing
how some people can speak perfect and fluent Danish but when
they sit down to write a half-page bio for their character,
the language becomes extremely awkward and clumsy.
Apart from the fact that very bad language is aesthetically
annoying, over a chat-connection you have nothing *but* your
words to convey meaning, so you have to be able to both
choose the right word for the occasion, as well as have a
good understanding what other people write (i.e. getting the
subtle nuances). I can read Norwegian pretty well, and I
could probably roleplay face-to-face with a bunch of Nor-
wegians, but I'd never be able to roleplay with them over
chat unless we used English, because I'm not aware of all
the subtleties of the Norwegian language.
But what do you intend to do? Play short one-shot sessions
("hey, guys, I've just made this 30-room dungeon, would you
like to go for a crawl?") or long world- or plot-based
campaigns that stretches over dozens of sessions? The more
"serious" you are, the more picky I think you should be when
it comes to choosing and rejecting players.
Regardless of how "serious" you are, I'd say go for it!
And feel free to share your experiences in here or in
news:rec.games.frp.moderated (since many of your experiences
won't be *D&D-specific, they might be more appropriate
in a generic newsgroup rather than a system-specific one)
The only issue I think you should consider is the use of
automation. Automated game-mechanics (hitpoint tracking),
or a CG-playing board with movable figures, may seem like
fun but I suspect there are drawbacks. Automated mechanics
might be hard to supervise or supersede (and it is the duty
of the GM to monitor the game rules and intervene if they
produce results that doesn't make sense). As for the auto-
mated gameboard, it's possible that it will slow things
down. Or not, depending on your temper. I'm chronically
impatient, I prefer things to move at the same speed of
my thoughts, and having to shuffle around graphical
sprites on a virtual gameboard over a lag-prone 64kbps
connection is likely to frustrate me.
Some people might fuss about computerized dice-rolling and
claim that it's not truly random, that the "results are
often somehow skewed if you use the timer...". Ignore those.
I'm sure that a serious service such as WebRPG provides
dice that are sufficiently random.
For the campaign I might be starting later this year, I'll use
a straight-text interface. Probably IRC, which I'm already
familiar with. I don't know how to make scripts or bots, but
I'll need to look into that, so that I can make a simple
dicebot.
--
Peter Knutsen
BardValerian
agree with him just about all the way.
I had gamed on-line once, on EFNet in a chat room forum, and it was one of the
best games i had ever experienced in 20 years of gaming. I credit it mostly to
the GM, but there was something about having nothing but text to work with.
The game was a GURPS Illuminati campaign (think X-Files if you don't know what
i'm talking about). It was heavy into role-playing with very little combat. I
liked the fact that, due to working with only text, one had to be very
descriptive and detailed. You had to describe everything that *you* felt was
important; a look, a gesture, a glance, body language, etc. It's really like
reading/writing a book. I really enjoyed it.
The biggest drawbacks were mentioned by knutsen, typing speed and some peoples
lack of a basic grasp of the written language.
I'm a very slow typer (25-30 wpm), so quite often, i'd begin to type something
-an answer, an action, whatever- only to not get it 'out' in time and have to
delete it and try to react again. That was very frustrating.
Secondly, if a fellow gamer can't communicate well in a written format, the
others can have a real tough time simply trying to figure out what the hell he
is trying to say.
All of my fellow gamers can speak and converse well---but some of them don't
have a clue as to how to write---and some of them send me e-mails that look
like this---what the hell is this supposed to be---no
punctuation---nothing----just these friggin lines---like this is all one string
of thought that just keeps going---and going----would this change in a more
"formal" environment?---perhaps---but it make things hard as hell to decode.
Ack!
Anyway, my point is, on-line text-based gaming can be a great deal of fun. You
just have to deal with and work around the new & different problems that arise.
valerian
~
Jimmy Kerl
>
> I wanted to see what people think about playing D&D campaigns using online
> services such as web rpg and other chat rooms. I've played in a few online
> campaigns and I've gotta say, especially with web rpg, it's almost as fun as
> playing face to face. The advantages of online play include not having to
> fuss with mounds of paper and dice, since everything is computerized. Also,
> course online, you can't see or hear the players, the DM doesn't have the
> able to have fun with online D&D. I'm interested in hearing what others
> feel about this.
Ive dm'ed a few games one of which lasted about 8 sessions of 4-6 hours.
Advantage #1: notes, as stated by others, passing notes works MUCH better
on irc. This is by far the largest advantage i have found. Dm's can also
pass maps privately (such as large wilderness maps).
Disadvantages: mapping: while large scale maps can look really great and be
easy to pass around, they take along time to prepare. and combat and
or dungeon maps are out of the question too much work.
DM's typing speed (if its slow or even less than fast). Players typing
speed doesn't hurt too muchunless its really slow or theres only 1-2 players.
Contrary to most irc games, a experienced irc dm can run combat more
smoothely if the players pay attention and he has a good die bot with an
automatic initative roller. but the lack of minatures and a map do kinda
take away from the combat experience.
Well thats my take on it, theres other issues but i think there less important.
/wish mode = on
Now here's a idea weve had for a pice of software
a IRC-compatiable 3-d grid baised & turn baised combat engine;
simular to the SSI gold box games, have a combat engine that the DM can
place monsters, map etc, and they players can see only their persepctive.
& Havea DM edit mode where the dm can click a box and edit anything also
for special areas or effects (artifacts, magic zones, magic spells not
programmed in, etc.) Just something to make thecombat play go fast.
This program could incorperate a whole ton of combat rules and incorperate
them all in the program where dm's andplayers wouldn't really need to keep
track of or know them that well
IF that were to be made, and made well, to handle the combats only. (perhaps
a maping feature for non-combat times) Then computer play would become
far superior to table top gaming i think (though one will never replace
the other, they both have certian merits and a certian feel to them.)
/wish mode = off
Jimmy
Chad Lubrecht
> All of my fellow gamers can speak and converse well---but some of them
don't
> have a clue as to how to write---and some of them send me e-mails that
look
> like this---what the hell is this supposed to be---no
> punctuation---nothing----just these friggin lines---like this is all one
string
> of thought that just keeps going---and going----would this change in a
more
> "formal" environment?---perhaps---but it make things hard as hell to
decode.
> Ack!
The opposite can occur too. There are some people who can barely converse
verbally at all, but can put their thoughts into written (or typed) word
very fluently
and elegantly.
Egoslayer1
(perhaps a maping feature for non-combat times) Then computer play
would become far superior to table top gaming i think (though one will
never replace the other, they both have certian merits and a certian
feel to them.) /wish mode = off"
I have NO experience with online play, IRC or otherwise, but my main
concern would be the combat, when I get to play (vs DM) I am an
EXTREMELY carefull player, I am particular about miniature placement
and backup plans and strategic movement, and much to my sidmay, it
always seems like when playing without miniatures, you are de facto IN
the area of effect / damage / attack zone of the enemy. Granted, maybe
I have just had poor DM's, but there never seemed to be any safe
placement, random was the best you could hope for.
Anyway, I am just leery of placement when there are no miniatures to
back up your claim "I was not in the lightning bolt"...
--
Egoslayer1
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Before you buy.
Michael DelValle
doubts about online gaming at first (didn't think it would be as much fun
without the face to face interaction). However, we played for about five
hours and I had a great time. It was easier to stay in character and
roleplay, the whisper system made secret rolls more interesting and the
combat was relatively smooth. The only negative was that the game tends to
move slower, but it was still a good time.
Art Wendorf
"Michael DelValle" wrote ...
> I just recently played my first online game using the GRiP system.
What's the GRiP system?
--
--Art Wendorf
"The wonderful thing about tiggers is: THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE"
---Tigger the Highlander
AWen...@satx.rr.com | http://home.satx.rr.com/artshideout/
SD Anderson
them don't
> have a clue as to how to write---and some of them send me e-mails
that look
> like this---what the hell is this supposed to be---no
> punctuation---nothing----just these friggin lines---like this is all
one string
> of thought that just keeps going---and going----would this change in
a more
> "formal" environment?---perhaps---but it make things hard as hell to
decode.
> Ack!
>
fun. You
> just have to deal with and work around the new & different problems
that arise.
>
> valerian
The most effective way for a slow typer or when giving a L O N G
answer if you can type at normal or better speeds is to send partials.
It shows that you ARE online and active in the game and
leaving a sentence unfinished demonstrates that more should be
forthcoming shortly. ;)
> ~