Getting started pointers

[alan]

I am an experienced gm and player but things aren't going my way at present in terms of actually having a group to play with. Thusly I am looking at my options and this is definitely one of them. So as I look deeper into the mysteries of fantasy grounds I figured I'd ask for whatever canned wisdom people care to dispense either them self or by providing me a link to some good reading material. I will be looking to run games and I will undoubtedly start with savage worlds before figuring out if I have the time and enthusiasm for other systems.

So come on folks, hot tips, useful things to do, pitfalls to avoid and other funk tastic things as they occur to you.

Thank you.

[Hamish]

The greatest downside to any VTT is game speed. I must admit our PnP games were pretty slow too at times, but at least you could see what the other players were doing, you could tell a joke or get another drink. On a VTT typing slows things down, some people solve this by using voice software like Skype or TeamSpeak, others try to make as much of the hotkeys as they possibly can. Either way, in my (limited) experience, the most important thing is to have players ready to act when their turn comes up. If you can get your players to do that, it's as good as sitting at a table. (Well, you'd have to buy the drinks and snacks yourself, but if you've done that.... you're there dude!)

[Griogre]

For the GM voice really speeds combat and rules questions. Hot Keys really help the players do their turn quicker if you have the most likely actions hot keyed ahead of time.

[mr_h]

The greatest thing for my group of players has been voice comms. Teamspeak, Skype, Ventrillo, whatever, it greatly speeds things up.

With FG2s ability to setup maps and tokens and combat trackers ahead of time, that has also helped out a lot.

[alan]

Thanks for the tips guys - I had forgotten about voip when I posted which is a bit bizarre as I use skype quite a bit. I shall have to take a copy of this stuff to make sure it doesn't get lost in the folds of time.

It seems my plans on running anything have been put on hiatus for a while the battle of man versus machines rages on in the background. Somewhere in my hardware set up something is doing what would under normal circumstance be a great job of protecting my machine. Technology - providing awe and horror on a daily basis.

[richvalle]

Ahh, that ol' love hate relationship. :)

Good luck!

rv

[grimm182]

One thing i thought was cool, was the GM (nezzir) had some preloaded help text for people to learn, so he wouldnt have to explain in detail how to make a skill roll or such manually each time!

[Wook]

Hi all,

GM'd my first FGII game.

Good: I used images estensively to set mood. Not just maps, but pictures of the places the PCs visited. I combed google for appropriate material. Resized it all to a consisten 400x400p, hit it with a charcoal effect which turned it all black and white and gave it a crude sketch style. The last part was just to set the mood, I didn't want photorealism, more of a feeling of a grey toned, rough existence to the game world

Bad: Tokens. Resizing and such threw me for a loop and the group lst a buit of time while I figured it out. Practice sizing, locking, and changing token size using the battle tracker, it will save you a lot of time and your players won't be sitting ieadl while you frantically shuffle tokens.

Good: Set the map grid and put down the mask over your maps before the game. These are all saved and will eliminate a few steps for you.

Bad: If you have been away from the rules for a bit, study up. Magic users and clerics bring a lot of tricks to the table. Try to cover the big ones, like turning undead and such. This helps speed things up. When in doubt, craft a quick house rule and go with it.. I for one prefer undead to explode vs run away. You can alway tweek the house rule after the game and after a reivew of the rules thereby not wasting players time.

Good: Voice. Use it, without it we would not have gotten as far as we did in the session. Skype conferecnce calls are great. Some people will have to put thier mike in thier mouth, but the signal is clear and server rock solid.
Have someone else host the call that way if the GM server, computer, and world around him crashes the players are still in touch with each other and the GM can rally them when he is back up and running. A recommendation from one of my players.

Good: Options... I might have even overwhelmed the party with options.. haha They could investigate vandalism, a creature attack in the fields bear a temple ruin, a pig farm mutilation, lost lumberjacks north of town, some cause for the town milita taking to the walls of the palisade. Some related, some not. In the end, I think they enjoyed having a choice in what to pursue. This is accomplished by setting up a lot of smaller encounters or "mini dungeons" to use an old phrase, and trying to tie them all together in story. Have a list of names, and some campiagn settings details at hand and you can impromptu many social encounters and still have them support the story arc, whichever one the players follow that is :) This was possible through voice as using the story text feature and chat would not have allowed for such flexibility. I use the story notes for GM use only, or general campiagn reference. Just me though. Have a glass of water nearby, because if you do this, they'll be talking alot to the players... does make for more of a tabletop setting though... :) I mean, we all know GMs love to talk.. haha


Other: Players should feel free to select a "voice of the party". That helps cut down on voice traffic. The party leader should use the vote option frequently to ensure all players get a say. This is VERY important in large parties. The GM should at some point slow the action down and address each party member to see if they have anything specific to their character they want to do. I should have done this a couple more times then I did.. I probably would have if I wasn't so concerend about the time I wasted with Tokens :)

Well, there you go, some technical and stylized tips and what not to dos...

Cheers.

Wook

P.S. if your first time is rough, stick it out, you'll learn a lot and get more comfortable with the format, and the second game will be a much better experience. That goes for players as well. A first game can be rough, wait for the second session and things will get better, smoother, and you'll probably feel much more involved.

[Griogre]

You and your players might find a small referance I did for d20 useful. It's just a quick overview of combat options as well as a few things I found myself constantly looking up when running. You can get the download here (https://www.fouruglymonsters.com/community/showthread.php?t=1431) though you will have to sign up at Four Ugly Monsters to get the download (its well worth it for all the other goodies).

[Wook]

Great... thanks for the link

[scytale2]

Tips:

As the GM, try to make the battles small with few adversaries - big battles take forever and the Combat tracker is very awkward when you have to scroll it.

Use lots of pictures, as they work great and are incredibly easy to set up.

Group your tokens into directories in the tokens folder, so you can find them easily.

Remind your players to target the creatures they are attacking and ask them to have different coloured dice, so you can spot where the damage must go.

Use copy and Alt V, if you are running a module with boxed player's text. Lots of text keeps the players occupied, while you prepare and do something else (especially if not using voice)

Use /die <number> xp to give out experience

Use /die 1 Bless Bonus for the frequently used bless spell to be added into attacks easily, by putting it into a hotkey for all players. Bardsong can be used similarly, if you have a bard.

Ask players to use short first names, as it is easier to whisper (/w) to them. Whispering helps roleplaying.

Lastly - be prepared. On-line rpg is slow enough without the GM wasting time figuring things out. Also, don't be afraid to ask the players to hurry up, using words like "Action?" or "What next?" as DM. Sorry if this is obvious, but I've been in a lot of games, where no one seems to do anything, as they are waiting for everyone else.

Oh and try not to kill your players - they don't appreciate it. Just because they are not sat next to you, doesn't mean you can be a nasty GM and not worry about it:)

[Callum]

Ask players to use short first names, as it is easier to whisper (/w) to them.
When whispering, you can actually stop typing the PCs' names at any point and it will still work (provided it's enough to identify them). For example, when playing with characters called Conan and Merlin, "/w Con You feel a prickling at the nape of your neck" and "/w Mer The magic appears to flow from the idol" will get to the correct players (so long as there aren't also characters called Conroy or Merkin). So ask your players to use names that differ in the first few letters!

[Astinus]

Also, after typing /w and the first letter of a name, you can hit the Tab key and the name will auto complete, assuming no other character name starts with the same letter.