Shadowrun using Skype?, Is it possible? Or easy, for the matter? Options

[Illume]

I've never played a game of Shadowrun before, so I wouldn't know how the game exactly works. But I'm getting into my first game, and everyone wants to play it using Skype. I'm wanting to know if this is possible? The other online games I've seen use OpenRPG or some other virtual TableTop, so I was wondering.

[Karoline]

I've never played a game of Shadowrun before, so I wouldn't know how the game exactly works. But I'm getting into my first game, and everyone wants to play it using Skype. I'm wanting to know if this is possible? The other online games I've seen use OpenRPG or some other virtual TableTop, so I was wondering.

I've never used skype, but it is totally possible to play with just about anything that lets everyone talk together. The main difference between Skype and OpenRPG is going to be no automatic rolling, you'll have to figure out some way to generate random numbers.

[Illume]

Will do. I can just use the same online dice roller I use to rig do my rolls for DnD.

[Iduno]

I've heard that a lot of people combine the two, so you have audio and visuals. My gaming group fell apart before we got to try, though.

[Karoline]

I've heard that a lot of people combine the two, so you have audio and visuals. My gaming group fell apart before we got to try, though.

Yeah, audio without something to look at can be hard to keep up with. Your mind tends to focus on what your eyes see, not what your ears hear. Maybe even something as simple as jumping into a private chat group or something and doing your BS talk there will at least keep you focused on the subject of the game.

[hahnsoo]

We've been using Voice over IP (VoIP) and a virtual whiteboard/tabletop program for about a decade now to play our Shadowrun games. Our current setup is Maptools (www.rptools.net, it's about a billion times better than OpenRPG in every way, and it's totally free) and Ventrilo, and it works fairly well. There are a lot of things you can do with Maptools that would be awkward to do on a real tabletop. For example, you can easily import any image file as a map or a token by simply dragging and dropping. Need a Cow token? Use Google Image search for "Cow" and drag and drop an image that you like. Need an underground tunnel map? You can draw it with the ample tools available in the program or you can just import your favorite image file of a sewers map.

[Semerkhet]

I have one player playing remotely via Skype video call and the rest of the players are in the same room. I place an extra monitor at the table so we can all see him, and our camera let's him see us. If he needs to see the battle-mat during combat, we just aim the camera there instead of at us. Works well for us, but I can see where this method would totally fall apart if you conducted the game entirely over skype.

[Warlordtheft]

I'll echo Semerkhet's response. Though I'd add that the voice is on Skype is only 2 way (no conference calling on the freeware at least), and that may pose issues.

[Tymire]

Actually that is not true, it can easly do conference calling. It's about the only way I get to play anything anymore (maptools/skpe). However finding a good game can be hard, and regulars aren't extremely common either.

[MikeKozar]

Hahn is using the same setup that my group has been using for a while now. One of the nifty things about MapTools is how incredibly flexible it can be. It includes a chatline function SR4() which will roll however many dice you ask for in the parenthesis, and report how many 5s and 6s there were, as well as wether half of the pool is ones. If you get real ambitious, you can assign each player a token with his health and other stats, and build macros that roll SR4(AGILITY+PISTOLS+BONUS-WOUNDMOD) so you don't have to keep track of the pools and modifiers. I just figured out how to measure the distance between a PC and his target, which I'm going to build into the fire macro to automatically figure range penalties based on weapon type. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) If you like programming, it's a lot of fun.

[Illume]

Actually that is not true, it can easly do conference calling. It's about the only way I get to play anything anymore (maptools/skpe). However finding a good game can be hard, and regulars aren't extremely common either.

The group I'm playing with, we've been playing DnD together for almost a year now. My other friend, he doesn't play in our group, told me about Shadowrun, and well, we all got hooked. We don't have a GM right now either, as none of us want to GM without at least 1 game under our belts. The problem with MapTools for us though is that we tried it for DnD, but none of us are able to host a server on it. So we ended up just using Skype for it.

[GreyBrother]

My group is scattered across Central Europe, so Onlinegaming is our only option.

We play on a regular basis (weekly, most of the time thursday) and our Tools of Trade are Skype (which can do conferences) and a Tool similar to OpenRPG called PenandPaper which is our mapping utility and for dice rolling.
We tried several systems this way and the consens of our group is, that while this handling is quite ideal for tactical RPGs like Shadowrun but we think it doesn't fit the more storytellery games like Werewolf the Apocalypse and stuff.

[Ghremdal]

We also use skype for our Shadowrun needs. For rolling you can use this Extra called DiceRoller which lets you roll directly in your chat window. Works really well.

[Matsci]

I'll chime in that Skype and Maptools allows for some good gaming.

[Dreadlord]

I have one virtual Skype player in my game for about 2 years now, and it has worked fairly well. He was local, but was forced to move due to his job. It works pretty well with a camera and mic, but ISP problems on the last game meant the call kept dropping, and had to be redialed every time. Annoying!

[exSaint]

My group uses Skype and MapTools. It works well.

Skype-chat (not voice) for out of gamge stuff, MapTools chat for in character stuff (non-urgent, questions) and out of character and voice for active player/gm.

And we've been able to conference call free of charge (at least, I haven't paid anything, and I can host the call)