Text Vs. Voice chat

[Doswelk]

Same hear, voice except for whispers and player's emotes.

I look at this way if we were sitting round a table playing (what FGII is trying to simulate) we would be talking to each other

[Willot]

I use both. I tend to use the text tho only for the Language ext. I guess it depends on whether your gm likes doing funny voices or not and how well they think on their feet.

Using text gives a person time to think about what thier going to say but also means the game takes longer.

[Valarian]

I look at this way if we were sitting round a table playing (what FGII is trying to simulate) we would be talking to each other

Yes, and you'd also get the other 80% of communication to go with the talking.

[Griogre]

What Valarian said. Text chat only is probably best for those who all know the game system being played.

This plus text only works much better if all the players and GM know how to use FG. Audio will save a bunch of time on explaining how to target, roll and use effects, etc.

[Doswelk]

Yes, and you'd also get the other 80% of communication to go with the talking.

Oh I agree but the social aspect is one reason I game.
I completely agree that the level of roleplaying is usually higher when using text, the few times we have started or ended an adventure via email the level of detail and descriptions is amazing, but that is email where people have time to ponder and type slowly

I am such a crap typer and slow, and one of my players is crippled and typing is very hard for him, so voice is the way to go for us!

[Torgaard]

We're also 90% voice. Like many have stated, text for us is usually:

• Emotes - My players do alot of stuff in emotes while it's not their turn. If one player is talking over Vent, trying to get information out of an NPC about the local crime lord let's say, another PC waiting their turn might do a little '/em leans against the wall, pulls out his dagger, and casually begins cleaning under his fingernails with the razor sharp blade' and often other members of the group will join in. Perhaps they'll describe what they're doing (which may be nothing), or maybe it'll be '/em moves down to the mouth of the alley to keep lookout'. And I as DM will even blend some of those emotes into what I say over Vent when interacting with whichever PC is currently taking his turn. Stuff like that.
• Whispers - This is very common. It's one of the things I love about Fantasy Grounds, playing over the internet, and being on Vent. That is to say: being able to communicate with just one player at the table (I'll also frequently ask a given player to drop down to a different channel in Vent and explain something only they would know, etc). As others have noted, often I'll just send a particular player a tidbit of information: "Give me a Perception check" or "You think he might be telling the truth, but you can't be sure". That kind of stuff.
• Chat Box - When it's too much to type in a whisper, I'll feed the big blocks of text to the players after it's been formatted with the Chat Box feature. I don't do it with everything though. I won't do it for a room description for example, or describing an NPC, or for well; most things. But if an NPC is monologuing about something, and he's mentioning a number of people, places, their names, etc I'll drop that into the chat buffer so that the players can Copy n' Paste it into a Note. I'll also write up my own modified Monster Knowledge checks, and will send those with Chat Boxes, but only to the players that pass their checks. I then encourage the players that made their knowledge checks to only feed the other players info about those monsters in a way that fits the scene. For example, the player might say "I shout out: 'It's a ****atrice, don't let it bite you! It'll turn you to stone!" I don't want them just table-talking an Ecology of the ****atrice lecture and spoiling any of the surprise (plus that's just completely absurd to babble that much information in the middle of a fight).

[Callum]

Same hear, voice except for whispers and player's emotes.

I look at this way if we were sitting round a table playing (what FGII is trying to simulate) we would be talking to each other

Yes, absolutely - sitting round a table playing together is what we're trying to emulate, which is why I am a big fan of using voice chat alongside text chat. However, I'm very happy to use the features of FG that enhance the tabletop experience - such as character sheets that link related data fields together - and I regard text chat as one of those features. People have already mentioned the value of text whispers, but I also find that text chat encourages in-character roleplay - particularly for those players who are uncomfortable doing "silly voices". It also makes the dividing line between what the character is saying and what the player is saying much clearer. Finally, there is the chat log that FG automatically produces, which gives a record of the session's activities - but only what's happened in the chat window. For this reason, I prefer my players to describe all their characters' actions via text chat.

[XpressO]

Gave my voice to "voice" but then realized I actually use text to emote in situations where GM is occupied with other player(s).

[Invictys]

I concur with the other posters that in my games I am trying to simulate the tabletop experience as much as possible. I've followed some chat only RPG sessions on some forums and while the descriptions are beautiful and immersive the session ends up being like a choose-your-own adventure novel rather than an immersive RPG experience. Colorful descriptions do not a fun RPG make in my mind. Then again I tend to be pretty much 50/50 roleplay/combat so maybe that's why I feel that way.

To that end, I use voice almost exclusively with text only really used for occasional emotes or whispers for color or secret checks to the tower.

Text only would feel too much like a video game to me and not like a tabletop RPG experience. Plus it would just be so slow, my games move along quickly and in as close to real time as I can make it go, which voice allows very well.

Tor: I use Ventrilo also and I and my players make use of custom bindings so that I can talk to one person in the party directly and vice versa without swapping channels. I don't allow party members to chat privately though to reduce metagaming abuse.

[Macgreine]

Lots of great feedback here. I think my biggest issue with voice has become, if I may demonstrate:

PC1 says; I climb the stairs. Roll Perception: 18. Okay what do i see?

GM; A small hallway covered in cobwebs. A strong scent of death fills the air.

PC1; Do I see/ spot any traps?

GM: You see a small pressure plate that is covered in dust. It seems somewhat undisturbed and is covered with what seems like years of dust piling up.

PC1; I disable it. Roll disable device: 22

GM; You hear a loud click as the floor moves a bit and then stabilizes. After a close inspection of the small plate you are confident that any trap that may have been there is now disabled.

PC1; I walk down the hall looking for loot or something to kill. What do I see?


Maybe its just me or does something seem like its missing from this?