Also please feel free to mention how such games are run, or any combinations/permutations of the above choices.

I don't yet but would love to get in on some games.

Our group uses AIM, which works well enough when the services aren't going down or kicking people (sometimes without telling them—when everyone else has stopped talking, it's probably a good idea to make sure you're still connected). It has some commands for a dieroller in chat rooms, which as far as I can tell is totally undocumented (as are the other in-chat commands, if they exist).

We're working on our own chatserver/client, but I have very little time to work on it and we'd still need to find a reliable server after that.

~J

Interesting. Unfortunately, they've chosen to work in Java, so I have better things to do with my time than contribute

~J

I use OpenRPG, which has some support for SR4 dice mechanic, but the .open(6) tag doesn't count the 6's for some reason, which means you're better off manually re-rolling your esplodin sixes

I'm about to start GMing a game using Skype. I plan on using voice for most stuff and a combo of 1 group text chat and individual text chats. I'm going to try out SR4W for character tracking, and I'll just be keeping initiative on paper. No dice roller, we'll just be rolling locally and giving results.

I'll try to remember to post here after we actually get going.

I'm in Eido's group... so what he said

Though I'd like to see an occasional whiteboard map.... I knwo in biz apps at work we use lots of the virtual whiteboard, and that MSN has that built into its client. Anyone know any other software that does that?

well they have one in openrpg, but i cant see loading it just for that

I've seen people use Google Spreadsheets as a grid battlemap.

Works pretty well.


-karma

IRC is the true way of the jedi. Too bad its hella hard to be tactical without an actual battlemat.

I don't play SR online, so I'm probably skewing the vote here, but if I did, I'd probably use Fantasy Grounds (provided I could find a 4.0 ruleset on the forum there). I tried it with the built-in d20 ruleset and it looked good. If only it wasn't so expensive...

I wrote a battlemat in php .... it's nothing pretty ... but you can have as many players on a map ... that click around using points .... you upload whatever sized jpg as the background you want. The code is lacking a little polish .. but works well.

I don't.

www.rpol.net

I voted "forum posts", but it used to be AIM and IRC when our group was more active.

Usually do forum posts, either gm rolls or go on buddy system.

As for maps, usually its not required but we can always put up link to paint image if there's enough confusion to merit it.

I MUSH.

Our gaming group has recently started playing Shadowrun again. Half of us live in California, while the other half lives in Indiana.

We've been using Ventrilo for Voice-over-IP and Maptool:
http://rptools.net/doku.php

In the past, we've used Screenmonkey and OpenRPG, but MapTool is far superior (not to mention, totally free). It's less obtuse than OpenRPG, and much easier to set-up maps and minis (drag and drop simplicity). MapTool is slightly hampered by the fact that the diceroller isn't adapted for SR, but the in-line Dice-rolling in the latest beta version and custom macros for multiple dice rolling (easy to create) are passable (format: [d6+d6+d6] to display a 3d6 roll).

i put other, tried posting on forums but the games both died horribly, no one else would post, thus they died

otherwise cant seem to get a game so i dont get to play anymore

OpenRPG


Best free tool ive seen out there to be used for running games. Ive never had the problem one of the above posters has had.

Well, our first session over Skype was a success! After ironing out some initial quirks and getting everyone in the conference call, it was the closest thing to sitting around a table together that I've ever experienced without...sitting around a table together.

The call quality was great, even with one player on a cell phone (we were a bit worried about that), and with the built in chat client we were able to keep initiative and perception rolls organized without everyone talking over one another.

I'm looking into Maptools in case we need to start using a map at some point, but the first game seemed to go pretty well just using descriptions. I'll probably try and get some feedback on that and decide what to do from here for visuals.

Other than me needing to reinforce some of my rules knowledge, I think it went really well, and I'd definitely suggest it over text-only chat play.

I agree, a conference call augmented with IM is an awesome way to game if you can't all sit around the same table!

...I chose "null" as I do not do any online gaming. Just wanted to see the breakdown.

Although I do always kind of think when on the forum, so maybe I am playing & just don't realise it.

...or something like that. It's late, had a rough day at work, & a couple pints of Mudshark Porter to forget about it. Damn, Winter is coming soon already...?

...Jacking out 'cause the Bistro I'm at is closing soon.