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fenris.wolf
I had to move away from my local gaming group due to a work transfer and I want to run a SR4 game so I'll have to do it remotely. I'm not sure that a play-by-post game (pbp) would have the same feel due to pacing issues. I know that there are a couple of virtual table top programs (openrpg, etc.) but most seem to be geared towards DnD and I'm not sure how SR would port over without heavy mods. Have any of you had experience with this issue? Any input would be greatly appreciated. I'm suffering from gaming withdrawal!
Drogos
I'm about to start playing in one using screen monkey and teamspeak. I'll let you know how it goes, but our GM thinks it'll be great for what we want. We were going to use Oovoo, but they changed their freeware to only allow a three person chat instead of a six, so the switch to TS. Good luck!!
fenris.wolf
I'd be very interested to hear how it works out for you. I've used teamspeak and ventrilo for some mmorpg gaming in the past and it worked out just fine. I'm not familiar with screen monkey though but I'll take a look at it.
Drogos
I'd give you a link, but as he hasn't even shared it with us...I don't got it, yet.
tete
QUOTE (Drogos @ May 29 2008, 04:16 PM) *
I'm about to start playing in one using screen monkey and teamspeak.


I 100% agree with that idea.
http://www.nbos.com/products/screenmonkey/screenmonkey.htm
Nightwalker450
I'd never heard of ScreenMonkey, but I've been looking at their website, and I'm curious how well this works for shadowrun.

Perhaps something I'll have to play with myself later tonight and see what it is. biggrin.gif
Crank
I hadn't heard of Screenmonkey either, but my group has been using Oovoo as well. I'll be giving Teamspeak a shot too.

That said, my group has found that the online voice chat method meets our needs pretty well. Also, we've found its much easier to meet up for more frequent shorter games, after the kids have gone to bed, than it is to block off an evening or afternoon to meet in person. Private chat windows also are cool to pass info onto a particular player or to conspire against others, without anyone else knowing something is going on.
fenris.wolf
I took a quick look at screenmonkey and it appears to be spec'ed for d&d. A SR d6 dice mod and a character info mod (getting rid of fields for hitpoints, etc.) would be really helpful. Did your gm mod the program to make it more SR friendly or is he/she going to use it as-is?
Drogos
As far as I know, he has done some minor mods for SR4 and something about being able to click on the icons for the characters and be able to bring up the character sheets. He's no programmer though, so I took it to mean that with a little work it can be done null sheen. Of course, I have no specific clues, however, since we are still just shy of our first session (trying to line up a time, now).
tete
why ive used screenmonkey ( i use it as-is)
1. its free
2. its a simple web server with the client only needing a web browser
3. You can roll any amount of any side of dice 27d7 for example
4. you can throw up pictures and add fog of war if needed

that in combination with teamspeak is quick easy to use fun.
Backgammon
I'm currently running a virtual game using openRPG and Skype.

openRPG is a bitch to set up, but it works well. There is an integrated SR4 dice roller. You just tell it number of dice, and it tells you # of hits, glitches or critical glitch. No initiative tools or anything else though.

Skype works just find, you run a conference call and everything goes fine. I would tell you to try to ensure everyone has a fair quality headset though. Background noise due to poorer or inadequate systems can be an annoyance (not the end of the world though).
Renraku
My group has been using Gametable and Ventrilo for the last year and a half for various games (MnM 2.0/7th sea/DnD/Starwars) and Im about to start running SR4 on that set up. Im pretty optimistic I can use it for what we need but if anyone knows of a better set up I would be interested as well.

the only sticky part of gametable IMO is the lack of a SR dice roller... that and "some" stability issues =/
Hatspur
Whenever I do remote gaming, I use Ventrilo. Xfire will work as long as you aren't gaming on Saturday nights or Fridays. Xfire also has a nice fileshare program.
Moon-Hawk
I've been running a game over Skype for a while. (16 sessions as of tomorrow, i think) We haven't actually used a virtual tabletop grid or anything like that. I generally send maps out either ahead of time or just through Skype as I need them, and we can reference them fairly easily.

Here's a tip that hasn't been brought up yet: The #1 thing that's helped my online game is that in addition to communicating via voice conference I also leave a text chat open for everyone. Off-topic chat-chat, funny comments, distractions, etc are all issues in a face-to-face game, but generally pretty easy for an experienced GM to manage, but with a conference call they all become bigger problems, and the text chat gives my players a place to vent all their silly off-topic crap, as well as have little side-conversations (game-related or not) when the focus is away from them and I need to use the voice channel to deal with someone else. It's a given that every one of my players will be seated at the greatest distraction-generating device the world has every seen, and the text chat really helps them stay focused on the game when the focus is off them for a moment.

I also use it occasionally for times when everyone is rolling at once and I don't want them talking all at once, like initiative or perception checks, but if you've got a virtual tabletop program you'll have that covered elsewhere.
fenris.wolf
Great advice on the general chat window for OOC stuff. I played in one remote Mutants and Masterminds game using Fantasy Grounds (heavily mod'ed) and Teamspeak. We had issues with general chatter taking up the IC channel and it detracted from the roleplaying overall.
Nightwalker450
Has anyone used Battlegrounds:RPG Edition?

Its a little pricey at $30 for the GM, and $15 per player... But the features are fairly extensive, I especially like the Fog of War on a per character basis. The GM as well can "fudge" dice rolls, by making it look like whatever he wants rolled.

Just looking if anyone uses this or has an opinion on this.

EDIT: Actually handles up to about 30 dice... which is plenty, and can do the Rule of Six, as well. Glitches/Critical Glitches have to be checked manually thus far.
Nightwalker450
Just following up, I've been playing with BRPG and really am liking this. I won't be actually purchasing it for a couple more weeks (have to run it by my gaming group since if we ever want to use it, its going to take investments on everyone's part, and more so on the GM's). Only thing I need to find is some top down pictures of shadowrun figures. I'm going to try and see if I can set-up most of "Food Fight 4.0" in an Encounter on this. The demo restriction of 12 units puts a definate damper on flexibility, but just giving it a try should give me an idea of how difficult this will be to set up (hardest part is finding pictures to use)
fenris.wolf
Sorry for my late reply, I've been out of town the past week. Definitely let us know how BRPG works out. I'm just glad that there are quite a few options out there.
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