Who wants to play some Pathfinder (or D&D) online?

[mjdgoldeneye]

I know the idea has been going around in theory for a while and if anyone is further along in planning this than me already, you're welcome to take over.

 

Regardless, I think GDS ought to be running some sort of tabletop RPG. I know we have players here and I also know we have a lot of creative and fun people.

 

The only issues are:

 

#1 What RPG will we be running?

 

#2 How will we get everyone who wants to play together at the same time?

 

#3 How the heck will we handle playing the game? (Communication, dice rolls, seeing the current dungeon, etc.)

 

---

 

Well, I have some answers for all of the above.

 

#1 - The Game

 

There are some options here. I think the game most people will already be familiar with (in actually playing experience and also in name recognition for non-players) is Dungeons & Dragons (D&D).

 

Right now, the three games you see being the most prevalent nowadays are D&D Edition 3.5, D&D Edition 4, and Pathfinder RPG.

 

Now, despite the names and numbers, the above games are all very similar and not necessarily superior in any direction. However, certain aspects are notably different.

 

D&D 3.5 was very popular, but is now pretty old. It's still a feasible game that lots of people play and it's strength is the huge back catalog of stuff to draw from related to it and the fact that it's fairly verbose. If you want your RPG to be complicated and have everything represented with it's own value, 3.5 is ideal. However, since, 3.5 has been more or less replaced by 2 games: Pathfinder RPG and D&D Edition 4. D&D is the "official" progression from 3.5 and Pathfinder was created by people who worked on 3.5 and wanted an evolution of the game different from the planned changes coming in 4. (Though, it's worth noting that the 2 games don't stand in opposition to each other. Each camp shares employees and it's all pretty friendly.)

 

Pathfinder essentially took the stance that 3.5 was already a very fine game and simply needed tuning. They combined some skills and refined some classes and generally "fixed" what was messy or less than ideal about 3.5 (while adding a fair share of new stuff too). D&D 4th Edition is a whole new ball game. They also wanted to simply things, but they also completely overhauled a lot of mechanics and did a lot more stripping out and combining of things. (Alignments, for example, are no longer strictly related to the good ol' "Good/Evil, Lawful/Neutral" axes with some alignments being merged or eliminated.)

 

Full disclosure here: I am more of a fan of Pathfinder for a lot of reasons that I won't get into right here, but I will say that it feels more "classic" than D&D 4E (which isn't bad, just a different flavor than what I'm familiar with).

 

So, basically, we'd want to play 4th Edition or Pathfinder. I would like to suggest Pathfinder, but I wouldn't be upset if the majority prefers 4th Edition (I just wouldn't be able to GM at first).

 

#2 - Getting Together

 

As far as timing goes, we have people on here all over the world, mostly split between the US and the UK/Ireland/Western Europe. I figure most takers for this venture would be from the US, but then we'd still have up to 4 time zones to contend with and certainly everyone's personal schedules. This issue is solved simply by people being as flexible as they can and by hoping for the best.

 

I expect a number of people to be interested that would be awkward to fit into 1 game (more than 5 PC's per group can get a bit hairy as far as fun and balance goes). So, perhaps we can split into 2 or even more groups and even have both Pathfinder and D&D 4E going at the same time. But, that's for later. We can work it out.

 

#3 - How Do We Play?

 

Well, we wouldn't be the first people to have the idea of playing a game like this over the internet. It's been done since the internet existed. However, there are options here.

 

There is plenty software that allows a pretty rich experience and handles everything, but it can be expensive (and to some people, "not free" is expensive as far as a random thing like this goes ), so we can bypass that.

 

There are 3 primary things we'd have to handle: communication, dice rolls, and seeing what is going on. The first is easy. Setting up a chat room takes minutes and we have this thread to set up games and to discuss between sessions. The other two are a little more rough.

 

The third issue I may have solved. Google Docs to the rescue!

 

I haven't tested it yet, but if it updates quickly enough, I set up a spreadsheet with square cells that can be filled in to represent walls, doors, players, monsters, and so on. The players can (hopefully) refresh the page when moves are made to keep up with the action. Plus, character sheets can be kept in a public folder so we can share and update quickly.

 

As for dice rolls, I am fairly certain that I can actually pimp out my free school web space (hurray computer science major) and embed a chat client and then code a bot that will handle dice rolls for you and give you results right in the chat. There's actually certainly public code out there to do it already because, well, it's the internet. If not, it's easy enough. And, there are other alternatives.

 

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So, who wants to try? Post any questions, comments, suggestions, or ideas below.

[ShadowedFlames]

During my search, MJ, I may have come across something that is basically a virtual tabletop that can run any sort of game (Pathfinder, 4E, etc.)

 

You might want to look at MapTools (http://rptools.net/) and see if that would take care of a lot of the logistical problems. If I get a game going, it will likely be by this method. once I learn the ins and outs of making maps on it (just started playing with it yesterday).

 

EDIT: And to appease the cheapskates out there, it's free.

[mjdgoldeneye]

I'm downloading the stuff now and checking it out. If you run something online and need players, let me know.

[mjdgoldeneye]

So far, this tool seems pretty buggy and shallow. I might be doing something wrong, but, for example, I'll draw something, undo it, and then draw something else and my previous drawing will show up.

 

The player tool also crashed on my very quickly and doesn't seem to have any feats available.

 

[Astil]

Doesn't AIM have a built in dice roller for its chat rooms? As well as DeviantArt?

 

EDIT: Also, Pathfinder Monks are broken. 3.5 Edition Wizards are broken. Haven't broke a class in 4th yet.

[moon_lit_tears]

MONKS!!!!

 

I love my Monk!!

[Astil]

MONKS!!!!

 

I love my Monk!!

 

I love my Monks.

 

MmmMmm 'Leadership'

[mjdgoldeneye]

Doesn't AIM have a built in dice roller for its chat rooms? As well as DeviantArt?

 

EDIT: Also, Pathfinder Monks are broken. 3.5 Edition Wizards are broken. Haven't broke a class in 4th yet.

 

Broken as in too good or broken as in crappy?

 

My understanding is Monks are underpowered greatly in Pathfinder and Wizards have always been overpowered in pretty much everything.

 

As DM I can nerf or buff things as needed. It's all about having fun without crossing into "I'm just making stuff up" territory.

 

In fact, the only annoying house rule I can imagine enacting is no Leadership. I don't see how it would logically fit or end without being insanely overpowered.

 

Though, again, maybe I could just be reasoned with.

 

Anyway, does anyone want to try something? I'm pretty sure the Google Docs idea works well and Astil's likely right about the dice rolling.

[Astil]

Broken as in too good or broken as in crappy?

 

My understanding is Monks are underpowered greatly in Pathfinder and Wizards have always been overpowered in pretty much everything.

 

As DM I can nerf or buff things as needed. It's all about having fun without crossing into "I'm just making stuff up" territory.

 

In fact, the only annoying house rule I can imagine enacting is no Leadership. I don't see how it would logically fit or end without being insanely overpowered.

 

Though, again, maybe I could just be reasoned with.

 

Anyway, does anyone want to try something? I'm pretty sure the Google Docs idea works well and Astil's likely right about the dice rolling.

 

I had over 200 monks on call at any time. Leadership allowed me to recruit a monk ... who I gave leadership. It got ... bad. Also the slow fall and diamond skin and ki attacks made him Goku. 200 Gokus.

 

Although still less broke than my 3.5 Wizard. I killed him off so the group could continue playing without me insta-killing every enemy we came across.

[Irish Wolf]

EDIT: Also, Pathfinder Monks are broken. 3.5 Edition Wizards are broken. Haven't broke a class in 4th yet.

 

Classes aren't broken in 4.0 because they make no difference in the over glorified war game that 4.0 is. Seeing as every power is comparable with a power for another class at the same level you can basically do the same thing as a fighter as you can as a wizard or a rogue. You get your ranged attack your melee attack they all do relatively the same damage so who cares what class you are. If you're looking to play turn based war games then 4.0 is for you if you want to play a "Role-Playing" game then try something else. Pathfinder is preferable to D&D 3.5 but if you want something that's more suitable to story driven gaming try an indy game called burning wheel. Want to get out of the fantasy Genre then try the cthulhu if you want horror, champions for super heroes (although not my favorite system it is enjoyed by many), you can always go for the old stand by White Wolf games with the 10th anniversary edition of vampire the masquerade coming out soon. If you want to try and older game with a great story but one of the most bogged down rules systems (even if it is thematically perfect for the game) try Deadlands.

 

I had over 200 monks on call at any time. Leadership allowed me to recruit a monk ... who I gave leadership. It got ... bad. Also the slow fall and diamond skin and ki attacks made him Goku. 200 Gokus.

 

Although still less broke than my 3.5 Wizard. I killed him off so the group could continue playing without me insta-killing every enemy we came across.

 

This isn't so much broken as it is bad GMing. Whatever GM allowed you to give your monks taken with the leadership feat to have the leadership feat themselves just asking for trouble.

[mjdgoldeneye]

I had over 200 monks on call at any time. Leadership allowed me to recruit a monk ... who I gave leadership. It got ... bad. Also the slow fall and diamond skin and ki attacks made him Goku. 200 Gokus.

 

Although still less broke than my 3.5 Wizard. I killed him off so the group could continue playing without me insta-killing every enemy we came across.

 

200 Gokus. I would allow this... (Well, not really, but I like the idea.)

 

And, yea, some Wizard spells are incredibly awesome. I'm a fan of Wall of Fire. Bwa ha ha ha...

[djthefunkchris]

When I used to do games, the players didn't get the spells they wanted, but the spells I wanted them to get. The wizards would be great, but there are the factors involved of having the resources necessary to cast them, do they even have it ready if they do, etc. These things are little technical things that if you go to far with, make the game un-fun, but if you can manage them in a not so unfriendly way, it becomes fun, even for the players.

 

People used to say that they hated the requirements I put on them, but at the same time, they liked the games because everyone had more fun. How funny is it when the wizard wants to throw a fireball, and I, who have kept up with it, say "although you say the words, and have plenty of Sulfer, you used your last tiny ball of bat guano two days ago, before you went to town for supplies. So your turn has achieved some nasty smelling smoke, giving everyone a small penalty in an 8 foot radius around you, in their to hit rolls."

 

Now that's fun.