stumbled into it

[DragonKnightX04]

I was looking for a P&P rpg since my old group fell apart a few years ago, and came across this. So I've never been one for D&D, but that mostly b/c I've never tried it. My other group created our own universe based off an Anime we had all seen. I suppose my questions are:

(1) are there any Vampire, Werewolf, Ninja, or Anime related game groups?

(2) What type of rule set(s) should I read?

(3) Is this played mostly through type or vent?

(4) how long do games usually last?

(5) I don't remember seeing a lot longer campaign type games, mostly just 1 adventure

(6) what would be required of a regular player during & before a game session

thxs

[Sigurd]

Many of your questions are about style of play: rulesets, player expectations etc... Fundamentally, this is an internet enabled game table with automated dice and a few convenient ruleset supports.

It's not hard wired for any one game, although support for OGL (D&D3.5) comes with the system.

Games last as long as everyone stays at the table. Different games masters expect different things of players and play different games.

I don't play the games you mentioned so I'll let someone else answer that.


Your best bet is to download the demo and get a feel for what the program is capable of.



Sigurd

[Thyfur]

There is a ruleset built for nWoD that I downloaded. However I do not remember exactly where I got it from. So yes vampires and werewolves are covered. As for anime, depends on what you are exactly looking for.

I have the ruleset for GURPS, d20 (fantasy and modern), 4E, nWoD, Star Wars I & II, Warhammer Fantasy. d20 Modern is a premium ruleset, the others I downloaded off of forums mostly. There are another 3-4 rulesets out there for fantasy games, and one for CoC, all are also premium, hence the only reason I do not have them. Not that I play anything but d20 or Old WoD, pick all the others up to see how the coding works.

You could see about adapting GURPS or d20 for anime, and they are fairly generic. From what I understand SavageWorlds also it pretty generic for adaptation.

As a last note, d20 and CoC has ever rule pretty much out of the books so you do have to flip pages, but other rulesets, like SWSE is basically just the character sheet and dice, you still need the books handy. So each ruleset is going to be different in the content it has available. Of course it is very easy getting you notes into its own library.

[Thyfur]

Additional note here, since I will not play nWoD (just do not want to forked out all that money again like I did for every single VtM and WtA, and most of the MtA) I do not really use or know the nWoD rules well. If someone every did build an old WoD ruleset I would definitely run those games.

Check the community calender. I did to see who was running what. For non-fantasy games I did see one CoC, one d20 Future, and I think two d20 modern. There could be a WoD game running out there.

[Griogre]

I was looking for a P&P rpg since my old group fell apart a few years ago, and came across this. So I've never been one for D&D, but that mostly b/c I've never tried it. My other group created our own universe based off an Anime we had all seen. I suppose my questions are:

(1) are there any Vampire, Werewolf, Ninja, or Anime related game groups?There appear to be a few World of Darkness games. You can be the judge of the type of games played and advertised if you go back a month or so on the Guild House Message boards. Just look through the threads and see if there were any games that would have interested you.


(2) What type of rule set(s) should I read?? In Fantasy Grounds rule sets are the means to configure FG by the user for a specific RPG. Generally speaking, unless you are making you own ruleset there is no reason to read one. If you are talking about RPG rules then you just need to read the rules for the game you are going to play.


(3) Is this played mostly through type or vent? It varies by group. Some groups play with just typing. Some play with all voice. Some play with voice for OOC and typing for in character talk. I would say most games use some type of voice software. Some of the other common voice software are Teamspeak, Skype, and GSC.


(4) how long do games usually last? Most online games seem to last about 4 hours a session. Part of it depends on when the game is run. Games run after work during the week tend to be shorter, while games run on a Friday Night or the weekend can be longer.


(5) I don't remember seeing a lot longer campaign type games, mostly just 1 adventure The messageboards are a bit misleading on this. You only see tend to see posts about a game when they first begin or when they need to replace a player. Online games can last as long as face to face games - indefinitely as long as the players and GM are having fun.


(6) what would be required of a regular player during & before a game session Naturally, some of this would vary from group to group. But most players are expected to create a character according to the groups GM's rules. A serious player would be expected to learn the rules of the game he is playing if he doesn't already know them. In my 4E game I expect my players to have a Player's Handbook in some form. If you don't know a game's rules you should make sure this is OK with the group before you join. Usually in a game with beginning skill/level characters it doesn't matter if a player doesn't know the rules at first, however at the more experience character end - an inexperience player can kill all the other characters with his lack of knowledge.

In online play, it also especially important you let the GM and group know when you can't attend a session - preferably before the session. Because of the anonymous nature of the Internet, there are often players and GM that just vanish. You don't ever want your group wondering if they need to replace you since you didn't show. Lack of attendance is what kills most online groups, just like face to face groups.

[DragonKnightX04]

So would you suggest I buy the books from the series

[Griogre]

I'm not sure what you are thinking of playing. If you talking D&D then get the Player's Handbook of the version you are going to play. The PDF version would be fine. Most other RPGs just have one book or one book dedicated to the players - if you are not running that's all you need.

The above is just a rule of thumb. You should really ask what the GM expects of you - a heavily house ruled game might not really need a book - and he can tell you what would be most helpful to have.

If you are interested in D&D I would recommend you play 4E - just because it is the new shiny D&D and doesn't have many books out yet. A fair number of people are still pretty new to the rules also so lack of rule knowledge is not as big a deal. It is also one of the most popular games so that would make it easier to find a game.

It is much more important to find a game you like than a popular one though because what's the point of playing a game that is not fun for you?