Thinking of purchasing :-)

[Raventiger]

Hi Everyone,

As the thread title says I'm thinking of purchasing FG2 to run my D&D 4th Edition Campaign. I'm in the situation where some of my players may not be able to attend my game sessions, so I'm looking for a way to keep the group together.

My game session would consist of the majority of my players being physically present and connecting via laptops around my dining room table along with one or two players connecting remotely over the internet. For those connecting over the internet using all the features of FG is not a problem. However, some of the players (my wife fits into this category) who are actually present at the gaming table are adverse to using gaming software to manage their D&D characters.

I've managed to convince them to give gaming software a go. However, a sticking point for some of them may be their dice. Some of my players are attached to their dice and would much rather roll their own dice at the table instead of letting the program roll the dice for them.

Question: Is there a way I can manually enter in the results of those physical dice rolls into FG 2 or do I have to use the program to generate the results of a dice roll?

Regards,

Raven

[Doswelk]

I've managed to convince them to give gaming software a go. However, a sticking point for some of them may be their dice. Some of my players are attached to their dice and would much rather roll their own dice at the table instead of letting the program roll the dice for them.

Question: Is there a way I can manually enter in the results of those physical dice rolls into FG 2 or do I have to use the program to generate the results of a dice roll?

Regards,

Raven

To be honest do they have to?

People sitting wound the table can roll the dice add them up and tell you the answer (like we had to before wonderful software like this came along!)

Sure they will need to have a "character" inside FGII so map positions etc. can be displayed to the remote users.

In fact the people round the table do not need to have a laptop each they can just shre one (as all they need to do if move their characters), that way they can still have paper sheets and roll their dice, and the online people do it through FGII.

Of course I have realised I am assuming you will be using Skype/Ventrilo etc. if you are going pure text then things would change a bit (and also a bit weird :p ).

e.g. I was doing a demo of the "new" Savage Rules set on thursday and two of us were using Skype (thus could talk to each other), the third guy had no mike/speakers so he had to type, this proved most confusing to me (who always plays using voice), I would keep talking to describe things (as you would do to people you are gaming with) and of course the other chap had no idea what was going on!

Hope this helps

[Raventiger]

Thanks Doswelk,

Just to make sure I'm understanding your post correctly (it's been a lot night of gaming down here and I'm a bit blurry), you are saying that some players can use in-game dice and some players can use manual dice?

How are the results for each of those options (e.g damage taken) applied to the character sheets in FG2?

Many thanks,

Raven

[Sigurd]

Everything you can do easier to play more naturally is a better idea.

Personally I think you have a point. My players don't really keep track of math details and I think they'd prefer to know they hit by the combat tracker.

If it would help with the ease of playing you can set up your primary weapons, as well as init and perception checks, and drag them to a hot key. While it seems more work to pick up a mouse and roll virtual dice it is less work to simply hit a key.

I suspect that once you start going you'll find out what people choose to do and what works. Give it a whirl.


Sigurd

[Raventiger]

Thanks for the response Sigurd,

Again I'm curious as to whether or not FG2 allows me to update the character sheets for those players who manually roll their dice rather than use the program to roll them.

For example,

A remote player uses the virtual dice to make an attack roll, they hit, and FG2 I assume updates the monster they hit accordingly.

A player physically present at my game table rolls their own dice to make an attack roll (in contrast to using FG2 to roll the dice for them). They hit, can FG2 allow me to record that hit against the monster?

Many thanks,

Raven

[Moon Wizard]

Raven,

All the fields within the campaign (whether for PCs or NPCS) are editable by the GM, so you can apply any physical dice results by editing the appropriate fields.

Cheers,
JPG

[Doswelk]

I suppose you can just type /die 20 in the chat window and it shows a 20 - obviously a lucky roll! (normally you would type /die d20 roll a dice without "physically" picking one up in FGII)

[Raventiger]

Raven,

All the fields within the campaign (whether for PCs or NPCS) are editable by the GM, so you can apply any physical dice results by editing the appropriate fields.

Cheers,
JPG

Thank you moon_wizard :-)

Regards,

Raven

[Sigurd]

Thanks for the response Sigurd,

Again I'm curious as to whether or not FG2 allows me to update the character sheets for those players who manually roll their dice rather than use the program to roll them.

For example, ...
It is fairly straightforward for the DM to do everything you say. Joe says I rolled a '14' and perhaps tells you his plusses. You can go in as DM and modify the monster if he hit and potentially modify Joe's character if there's a problem.

In actual play though its needless overhead for the DM. With everyone waiting to roll, you will want them to refer to the combat tracker. If they get impatient and roll out of turn that will be one headache. If they have obscure or changing bonuses\minuses that will be another headache. trying to include the online people in the inhouse action will be the biggest headache.

Far simpler for everyone if you have them arrange their standard attack on "F5" (or some key) or roll into the chat window. Dice have a lovely feel but you would then have to communicate their rolls verbally or type everything into the chat window anyway. Dice rolled online don't have to be typed.

As I said everything you say is doable but you will be looking for the easiest most efficient solution in every case - not just settling for the possible.


Sigurd

[tdewitt274]

Although we haven't tried it out yet, our plan is to use a 42" TV with a computer hooked up to it for the face to face (F2F), the DM with a laptop, and any online players remotely.

The maps would be administered using a bluetooth mouse that everyone would share. The F2F would do what they normally do with their character sheets and the DM would administer damage to monsters and such. The only time that we see the DM needing to do any dice rolls would be for the online players.

This way, the Online and F2F would be able to interact on the map, the DM can put any flavor text in the Chat, and the DM can administer F2F monster damage while the Online players administer to the monsters. The F2F players play just like "normal".

Hopefully that made sense.

[Moon Wizard]

I actually ran a similar campaign a few years ago (i.e. some players local, some players remote), but without the benefit of a virtual tabletop program.

We used a speaker phone, and a internet camera with pan/tilt control. The remote players would move the camera around to see the minis on the map and tell us where to move them. Then, they would roll dice, and tell us what they rolled over the phone. Wish we had FG back then.

Cheers,
JPG

[Raventiger]

Thanks everyone for your response and advice. I've managed to convince my players to give FG2 a go. I'll most likely be picking it up in a couple of weeks.

Cheers,

Raven