IDEA: Split chat

[PeeWee]

Greetings!
I am playing around with the demo version of FG and I must say, this looks absolutely great!

I'll have to look into the how's and do's of making my own reluset, since we actually dont play that many games that use the d20 system. Actually, we play none, we only play White Wolf-games atm. 8)

Anyway, one function I'd like to see is a split chat. With that I mean, have two separate chat windows (or the option to have it) and keep all the "Role-playing chat " in one chat window and the "other" chat in the other window (a separate chat for asking the ST... err.. GM questions about the current situation, declare use of disciplines, skill numbers and rolls and stuff) As we play now, we use a private IRC server and two channels, and the "Role-play"-log can be read afterwards almost as a movie script of all events, as we role-play the events and dont use any game-mechanic talk in that chat. Ok, I know it's a very specific request, maybe more players out there will use it once they understand how much it rules to read the old logs? :D

[richvalle]

Hmmm, that is interesting. And, to a certain extent, easier then trying to do /o all the time (and forgetting to do it some times).

So where would the dice rolls go? Both windows? Just one? Would it be better to keep the rp window 'pure' and keep the dice rolls out of it?

rv

[Ilwan]

That is a very interesting idea. When playing RPG over the internet it sometimes is a bit harder to get in the real "fantasy world mood". Then when U suddenly get into the world og imagination, nothing is as frustrating as a off-topic OOC message or rule/technical-question. It would be nice to run a chat window only for ingame messages and one for everything else. It would also be interesting having a tiny chatbox for each player. Having to type /w Karasanthas *message* is hard and I wont ask my players to pick shorter names cuz of that. I like and use the whisper commands alot, but they are so time consuming.

[Zoey]

Quick catchup....

There was some talk about making changes to the chat window after 1.05.
What is the situation now? I don't see anything in the change log...

Maria

[Cantstanzya]

Having to type /w Karasanthas *message* is hard and I wont ask my players to pick shorter names cuz of that. Since the release of 1.04 you can use (in your example) /w Kar without having to put the entire name of the character as long as there isn't anyone with a name like Kartus. In which case you would use /w Kara and the message would go to Karasanthas and /w Kart would go to Kartus.

[Cypher]

Since the release of 1.04 you can use (in your example) /w Kar without having to put the entire name of the character as long as there isn't anyone with a name like Kartus. In which case you would use /w Kara and the message would go to Karasanthas and /w Kart would go to Kartus.

I type my message into the chat window as normal, but instead of hitting enter I just drag it to the portrait of the player I wanted to say it too. The partial name method is something I'll have to give a try.

[Cantstanzya]

I type my message into the chat window as normal, but instead of hitting enter I just drag it to the portrait of the player I wanted to say it too. The one thing I don't like about doing it this way is that once you drag it to someones portrait the text is gone and you can't use the arrow up key to pull up the text again and drag the text to another portrait. If I type in a descriptive message to the noise heard on the other side of the door, I don't want to have to type it all in again to send it to someone else. For me it is easier to do the /w command and send the text to someone, then up arrow then hit home and put in the new person I want the whisper to go to. I don't know why they remove the text from the que when you drag the text to the portrait but it would be nice if you could just arrrow up again and then drag it to another portrait.

[Toadwart]

Drag the text to a hotkey first (assuming theres one free) then drag it from there to as many places as needed.

[SurlyDwarf]

I had the idea of split-chat (though I forgot to post about it) for a different reason. It would make the party splitting up much easier. I found myself discouraging more than one player heading his own way because the whispers were too much to handle while maintaining pace.

I think the ability to put players in groups and send text within groups or to everyone selectively would be very useful.

[Cantstanzya]

There was a post awhile back that was an idea for a tabbed chat that would allow the DM to open separate chat rooms that would be a tab on the side of the main chat section. For example if you had a party that split up, one tab would be of one group and one tab would be of the other group. The players would only see one chat, but the DM could go between the different chats by clicking on the appropriate tab. For some reason I cannot find this post. It had a nice graphic on how this should be done. Can anyone else find it?

[richvalle]

No, but I remember that one. Good idea I thought.

[Zoey]

My idea was actually to be able to split the party into two or more smaller groups that go into different directions (ingame), not aware of what the other party is doing. Doesn't anyone else play like this?

Therefore, because the groups should be unaware of one another's progress, the die rolls should only be visible in the window the concerned player is in.

Also, it would be nice to have multiple windows, not just 2. The offgame messages I would leave entirely out (the players may IRC if they like), but that's of course every gm:s personal decision.

Anyway, when the party splits into two groups, each consisting of more than one character, the idea of keeping the information separate by using whispers is really useless...

I'd really like to hear what the developers have to say about this (asked about it before the update, they said it's going to be included, but apparently it is not?).

[Cantstanzya]

Also, it would be nice to have multiple windows, not just 2. The offgame messages I would leave entirely out (the players may IRC if they like), but that's of course every gm:s personal decision.
The tabbed chat that was suggested would allow for more than two separate chats. I wish I could find that post, but it eludes me. It was well recieve by the comunity as well as the developers. I doubt it will be in 1.06, but we can always hope.

[jonci]

I wouldn't mind a seperate chat box. I had a point in one game where one of the players was inside a building alone. So I used whispers for that one person. When another joined, had to go back to using normal chat which allows the other players to see what is happening inside with the others.
Would be nice to be able to seperate the party with more than one chat box.