Newbie Questions

[Writer@Large]

I'm playing about with the demo, because some friends and I really want to get a game going (and we span the Earth from Italy ot Detroit!). I can't seem to find the answer to a question ...

How does one input numbers between 12 & 19 into the player stats? When I type a 1, and then, say, a 7 for 17, it makes the stat a 1 ... and then a 7. I can type "22" and it makes the stat 22, and I can type 317 and it gives a statline of 317, but I can't get a darn teens number to key in!!!

Also: How does this game work as far as firewalls? My system, in I'm the DM, will be the "host," right? Do we all have to log into some remote server a'la WORLD OF WARCRAFT or whatever, where someone is tracking when we log on, play, etc., or is it completely computer-to-computer?

Next, how easy/difficult is adventure creation? The demo doesn't really give me a feel for how easy/hard creating my own adventures are. Other DMs, what's your experience?

Finally, has anyone created & shared a TEMPLE OF ELEMENTAL EVIL conversion? So I don't have to type all my notes into the computer? :)

--W@L

[richvalle]

Hi Writer!

You need to type the numbers in quicker. You can get the 22 because you hit the 2 2's fast. If the time between the 1 and the 7 (for 17) is too long it thinks they are seperate numbers. Yes... they need to increase that time a bit.

If you are the DM you will be the host and they connect to you. There is one port number you have to have open... look at some other treads in the Support section for it. 1802 or 1803 I think it is. There are some threads there about using ip's or some other naming service as well.

There has been a lot of talk about what can and can not be posted/shared as far as Modules go. I know someone is running a Temple of EE game but that is all I've heard about it.

Not sure about how easy/hard it is to create adventures in FG... yet. :)

rv

[Writer@Large]

Ha ha! yes, that worked ... and yes, they need to fix that a bit!!!! :D

So, for those who are using ... Does it make for a fun night of gaming? I mean, I don't want to spend half the night fighting server glitches and stuff. I want to play!! The interface is promising but ... how does it 'feel"? I'm going to get a couple friends to log on soon, but ... sell me on it! :)

--W@L

[richvalle]

I was going to let someone who has played more then me answer you but they must be busy (probably busy playing... the rats!)

My experiance: I've played in two games that each had two players. We had one battle during the second session. We did not use any voice applications, just the chat window.

First the bad:

The game runs slower vs being around a table. You will basicly only run as fast as the slowest typer. If someone is a slow/bad typer they will get frustrated playing this way. Also, you might not get as much dialog as you would if you were around a table.

There might be some techy things you'll have to worry about. Ports, ip's, the program running well, everyone getting maps ect. I had some problems with my software crashing when trying to get on but a quick reinstall fixed it.

The good:

In some ways, not being face to face and having to type things in makes it easier to role play. Also, you are not stuck with hearing the voice of your friend Bob trying to play a female fighter named Susan. She will sound like what ever you think she should sound like. Same with the characters the DM uses.

While the game in general runs slower I think combats run either just as fast or a bit faster then around a table. Having the map up with the icons all on it is great and you can move from person to person and resolve their actions. Note though that at higher levels this might not be true any more because of the number of attacks some characters will have. Around a table a fighter with 5 attacks might roll all 5 attacks at once with differnt colored dice while in FG its one at a time. It looks like you could do this in FG as well. Roll all 5 d20's and FG will list them in the chat window in order from the die that was highest in the window and left most to the lowest and right most (at least that is the way it looked from my quick testing. Its not sorting them from hightest die to lowest or anything like that). You would then use the dies in order and apply the attack bonuses to each attack manually. You lose the ability to add mods to the die roll as it happens but gain the ability to roll 5 attacks at once.

Being able to play from the comforts of your house... priceless! Done with a game you can turn off the monitor and head to bed. Usually after a game it was 2-3 hours before I would get to bed.

Smiteworks has been great at adding features that people ask for or at least considering them.

The different chat styles were great in the game ( normal in character, out of character and emote). The different ones for the dm and his ability to talk in character as all the different npc's was great too.

Depending on your how your dm plays... we alwasy had a map up with an icon showing where we were. From in the inn we were staying in, to the town we were in and then a higher level map as we moved to another town. It kind of gave you an anchor to focus on if you know what I mean. Sometimes when the dm starts to talk about moving around town or from one town to another its vauge and you might not have the map in front of you to see where you are at.

Well, thats it for now.

rv