Invited to play a game over Skype. I've never played SR before, but I am a collector of the books (both game and novel). I've played D&D and RIFTS, but never SR, due to the fact that there is no one in OK that I have ever met that is in a current game.
Am I going to be lost?
Full Version: First- time player over Skype?
If your familiar with the setting it's really up to our GM how it goes. Everyones style is different, can hope you get an understanding helpful one. 
Indeedy. Let your GM know you haven't done this before, and he should walk you through what the rolls will be, what to do, and the like. A good group will help immesurably with this as well.
Welcome to the fold, good luck, and have fun!
Welcome to the fold, good luck, and have fun!
Thank you guys. I will report back with my experience!
I'm GMing a 4th Ed Skype game right now. I haven't played Shadowrun since 2nd was the current edition. We tried a 5 person D&D Skype game; half in Colorado, half in CT. The CT side had the GM and the monopoly on the game. It was difficult to get a word in edgewise let alone contribute.
I dropped that game and the GM and another player came with me. We've run 3 sessions and have had a great time. The key for us has been the small group. Skype doesn't lend itself all that well to large groups, at least in my limited experience.
If you don't have a choice regarding group size it would be best to have a disciplined method for dealing with whose turn it is to talk, act, etc.
Unfamiliarity with the rules is likely to be less of an issue than that.
As for the rules, as has been said hopefully your GM will be understanding. It would be helpful to write down all your dice pools with equipment modifiers and not worry about situational modifiers. Let the GM tell you what those are. Read up on combat and your particular specialty and don't worry about knowing the whole game.
I've heard it said that sticking with the main book only is best for new players.
I dropped that game and the GM and another player came with me. We've run 3 sessions and have had a great time. The key for us has been the small group. Skype doesn't lend itself all that well to large groups, at least in my limited experience.
If you don't have a choice regarding group size it would be best to have a disciplined method for dealing with whose turn it is to talk, act, etc.
Unfamiliarity with the rules is likely to be less of an issue than that.
As for the rules, as has been said hopefully your GM will be understanding. It would be helpful to write down all your dice pools with equipment modifiers and not worry about situational modifiers. Let the GM tell you what those are. Read up on combat and your particular specialty and don't worry about knowing the whole game.
I've heard it said that sticking with the main book only is best for new players.
QUOTE (DAP @ Sep 1 2010, 02:08 PM) 
I'm GMing a 4th Ed Skype game right now. I haven't played Shadowrun since 2nd was the current edition. We tried a 5 person D&D Skype game; half in Colorado, half in CT. The CT side had the GM and the monopoly on the game. It was difficult to get a word in edgewise let alone contribute.
I dropped that game and the GM and another player came with me. We've run 3 sessions and have had a great time. The key for us has been the small group. Skype doesn't lend itself all that well to large groups, at least in my limited experience.
If you don't have a choice regarding group size it would be best to have a disciplined method for dealing with whose turn it is to talk, act, etc.
Unfamiliarity with the rules is likely to be less of an issue than that.
As for the rules, as has been said hopefully your GM will be understanding. It would be helpful to write down all your dice pools with equipment modifiers and not worry about situational modifiers. Let the GM tell you what those are. Read up on combat and your particular specialty and don't worry about knowing the whole game.
I've heard it said that sticking with the main book only is best for new players.
I dropped that game and the GM and another player came with me. We've run 3 sessions and have had a great time. The key for us has been the small group. Skype doesn't lend itself all that well to large groups, at least in my limited experience.
If you don't have a choice regarding group size it would be best to have a disciplined method for dealing with whose turn it is to talk, act, etc.
Unfamiliarity with the rules is likely to be less of an issue than that.
As for the rules, as has been said hopefully your GM will be understanding. It would be helpful to write down all your dice pools with equipment modifiers and not worry about situational modifiers. Let the GM tell you what those are. Read up on combat and your particular specialty and don't worry about knowing the whole game.
I've heard it said that sticking with the main book only is best for new players.
This is great info! I planned on taking notes during the game, and hopefully exchanging some "familiarity emails" prior to starting. He seems like a cool guy. I just want it to be a good experience.
Oh, and if anyone else has any tips/ideas for me involving SR over Skype please feel free to post here.
In tabletop, preserving the flow of the game is essential. Its common courtesy to not vie for the GM's attention when its another player's turn.
Over voice chat programs, its a lot harder to take visual social queues, and talking over people is a huge problem. Then, on the internet, you have some guys who just don't shut up. In one game i'm in, the skype callmaster just takes to kicking people who talk over another players turn for dumb shit, and inviting them back a minute or two later.
I am going to heartily recommend you guys swap to ventrilo, or some other program that supports push-to-talk, and make sure people have headsets. That incessant stream of background noise is terrible, what with roomates, fans, pets, and family, or even massive echo from one players voicechat feeding through the speakers and back into the microphone, thereby annoying everyone. Getting a group that has high signal, low noise skills and a good sense of the flow of the game is pretty necessary to not getting frustrated, and resolving stuff in a timely manner.
Skype, however, has a 'push to toggle mute mic', not push to talk. You can find it in Settings/advanced/hotkeys, but its kind of a piece of shit because it needs a modifier key. As far as gaming over internet voice chat goes, its a great idea, but once you have your players down, there are better programs to use.
How do you plan on rolling dice, for example? Surely not the honor system?
Over voice chat programs, its a lot harder to take visual social queues, and talking over people is a huge problem. Then, on the internet, you have some guys who just don't shut up. In one game i'm in, the skype callmaster just takes to kicking people who talk over another players turn for dumb shit, and inviting them back a minute or two later.
I am going to heartily recommend you guys swap to ventrilo, or some other program that supports push-to-talk, and make sure people have headsets. That incessant stream of background noise is terrible, what with roomates, fans, pets, and family, or even massive echo from one players voicechat feeding through the speakers and back into the microphone, thereby annoying everyone. Getting a group that has high signal, low noise skills and a good sense of the flow of the game is pretty necessary to not getting frustrated, and resolving stuff in a timely manner.
Skype, however, has a 'push to toggle mute mic', not push to talk. You can find it in Settings/advanced/hotkeys, but its kind of a piece of shit because it needs a modifier key. As far as gaming over internet voice chat goes, its a great idea, but once you have your players down, there are better programs to use.
How do you plan on rolling dice, for example? Surely not the honor system?
QUOTE (Udoshi @ Sep 1 2010, 02:54 PM)
How do you plan on rolling dice, for example? Surely not the honor system?
We use the honor system but I know the two players well and trust them.
Skype has an add on you can download that supports dice rolling. I briefly tried it awhile ago. If I remember correctly it will display the results in the chat area for everyone to see. It won't reroll for edge but that's not a big problem. You can tell it to roll X D6's though.
Ok, long time extended group here.
We used Vent for ~ 3 years and have only used skype for 2 weeks, but we're sticking with Skype.
Vent - push to talk is great, IF you're the GM and are seperate from everyone else. If you're hosting and 3 people are in the room playing, and another 3 are online, you run out of room for materials and holding down the key to talk is a real pain in the ass. It's also been very flakey for us and the nice man letting us use it was down money each month (which he seriously shouldn't have paid, silly fellow)
Skype (and more importantly, the computers used) has improve from when we last tried it 4 years ago, so it's nice, crist, clear and lag-free. We had sessions that had lag get to over 3K. Even rebooting everything (including vent server) did crap.
Things you should do!
1: If the GM is host, you can "pass notes to.." using the chat. (privately.)
2: Record. Frankly, some of our sessions have been pure gold and the filespace/quality output was excellent.
3: Don't hold stuff down. Push to talk means lag after 10 minutes of non-stop talking, and you'd be amazed at how often that happens.
4: video! (note: this can be bad.)
5: Email and files sent via Right click-> Send to-> skype <select user>. Fast and simple.
Do: Let your players know who's there. Sound off, One, Two, etc.
Do: demand GM etiquette. Players, shut up when the GM's talking.
Do: Players, make notes.
Do: GM, make a list of who's there and they speak in their turn of order.
Do Not: Walk away without letting someone know. Seriously.
Do Not: Use the toilet with the door open, "so you can add to the experience while multitasking"
Do Not: Tempt fate by describing the delicious food you're eating, then complain why we laugh when you choke.
Do Not: Drunk-dial the GM
Do Not Ever shout down a person. It ruins a game and the gaming experience.
Have fun kids and don't forget to thank the players for a good night in.
-Tir
We used Vent for ~ 3 years and have only used skype for 2 weeks, but we're sticking with Skype.
Vent - push to talk is great, IF you're the GM and are seperate from everyone else. If you're hosting and 3 people are in the room playing, and another 3 are online, you run out of room for materials and holding down the key to talk is a real pain in the ass. It's also been very flakey for us and the nice man letting us use it was down money each month (which he seriously shouldn't have paid, silly fellow)
Skype (and more importantly, the computers used) has improve from when we last tried it 4 years ago, so it's nice, crist, clear and lag-free. We had sessions that had lag get to over 3K. Even rebooting everything (including vent server) did crap.
Things you should do!
1: If the GM is host, you can "pass notes to.." using the chat. (privately.)
2: Record. Frankly, some of our sessions have been pure gold and the filespace/quality output was excellent.
3: Don't hold stuff down. Push to talk means lag after 10 minutes of non-stop talking, and you'd be amazed at how often that happens.
4: video! (note: this can be bad.)
5: Email and files sent via Right click-> Send to-> skype <select user>. Fast and simple.
Do: Let your players know who's there. Sound off, One, Two, etc.
Do: demand GM etiquette. Players, shut up when the GM's talking.
Do: Players, make notes.
Do: GM, make a list of who's there and they speak in their turn of order.
Do Not: Walk away without letting someone know. Seriously.
Do Not: Use the toilet with the door open, "so you can add to the experience while multitasking"
Do Not: Tempt fate by describing the delicious food you're eating, then complain why we laugh when you choke.
Do Not: Drunk-dial the GM
Do Not Ever shout down a person. It ruins a game and the gaming experience.
Have fun kids and don't forget to thank the players for a good night in.
-Tir
We use skype as well. I find that it works really well, I do recommend that the GM does some prep. We use the honour system with dice, but I we can screen share the omnihedron dice roller, if we worry about honesty.
Tools that help me alot:
1 google maps
2 google image
3 photoshop (screen captures and moving icons in layers helps so much) Could use word as well
4 omnihedron dice roller and random contact generator
5 google docs for character sheets - notes
6 skype's instant messaging -> it really acts like a pocket secretary
Tools that help me alot:
1 google maps
2 google image
3 photoshop (screen captures and moving icons in layers helps so much) Could use word as well
4 omnihedron dice roller and random contact generator
5 google docs for character sheets - notes
6 skype's instant messaging -> it really acts like a pocket secretary
QUOTE (Udoshi @ Sep 1 2010, 03:54 PM)
I am going to heartily recommend you guys swap to ventrilo, or some other program that supports push-to-talk, and make sure people have headsets. That incessant stream of background noise is terrible, what with roomates, fans, pets, and family, or even massive echo from one players voicechat feeding through the speakers and back into the microphone, thereby annoying everyone. Getting a group that has high signal, low noise skills and a good sense of the flow of the game is pretty necessary to not getting frustrated, and resolving stuff in a timely manner.
How do you plan on rolling dice, for example? Surely not the honor system?
How do you plan on rolling dice, for example? Surely not the honor system?
This is a great idea. I am an audio engineer so all of that noise would really get to me. I think headsets are the only way to go! I will mention that to the GM
And yes, we're gonna use the honor roll system.
I think we all have webcams as well.
Using Google Docs is a great idea too!
Taking notes for the preliminary emails.
Taking notes for the preliminary emails.
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