Getting players interested

[mcgarnagle]

Hi, I'm new to these boards and also to Fantasy grounds. I have a bit of a dilema. I have 4 players in my group. Two live in the same city as me, and the other two live out of the city, which makes it hard to get together and game in person. ON top of that, we don't really have a suitable place to play. No one has a table to play or space, etc. Another friend of mine who lives in another province asked if I would be interseted in using FG for a game. I checked it out and was very impressed. I told the other players about the program and it's capabilities but two of them seem hesitant. They say they don't think they would like it as much as a in person game. It's a bit frustrating because they haven't even considered it.

Is there anything I can do or say to try and sell this idea to them?

[joshuha]

I thought the same when I first started DM'ing. I thought it couldn't be quite the same experience. I was wrong. Our group combined voice and Fantasy Grounds and we think its a great balance. The voice chatting allows all the OOC stuff, funny wisecracks, and generally replicates the more social interactions you would get around a tabletop. It also helps keep the pace of the game near tabletop speed as that kind of stuff in chat can slow things down.

What the FantasyGrounds interface has done is REALLY let my players roleplay their characters much more than around the table in real life. Without sitting in front of other players some of my players are more willing to really get into their character, all you see in game is the player name and I believe it really facilitates being able to be that character. Also, the mapping/masking features + some other things like DM whispering even surpass some of the benefits you get through the tabletop.

You can even offer to do what I do. All of my players are local people although we all have families and distance is somewhat an issue (some of us are near an hour apart from each other) I have offered to have real life games. After FG the answer to that is NO. What we do is get together for barbeques/parties, etc. but all of my players prefer FG as a medium now, no better endorsement than that.

[Trentos]

I would agree Joshua. I have just started using this program and I use it in conjunction with Ventrilo for voice speak. All they need is a good internet connection, a mike, and they will be golden.

The ability to whisper to one character is really great, I use to have to take a character out of the room if there was something specifically that I wanted only them to know. All the other players where then tipped off immediately that there was something secretive going on with that player, so it kind of spoiled some of the climax's that could arise from those types of situations. The players would then become suspicious of the character, which in turn hurt the storyline and progression. Being able to speak only to a character is absolutely awesome for the storyline.

You can also spin it to them that once they all get over the learning curve, it can be in ways, a much faster paced game due to them being able to use hot keys to add in their modifiers and bonuses.

[Sigurd]

I have to say that given the basically free conection time, if you already have internet, and the hassle of driving out to remote locations, esp regularly with all your stuff, I'd simply start playing - with the program.

You will have some things to learn and some head scratching but not having to get into the car as the first step to a night of gaming is very pleasant. I wouldn't buy them copies, I'd just find someone to game with or lead you and those interested in a game. Vote with your feet and they'll get the message.

Tell them that this is how you're going to try your next dungeon and you wish they'd be there - but this is how you are running your next dungeon.

And suggest they get the DM version of the program. IMHO the flexibility is worth the price difference.

S

[Cantstanzya]

Another great thing about playing online is that the DM has access to all of the players character sheets. In FG the DM doesn't have to ask to see someones character sheet and then scratch something off and give the sheet back to the player. When this happens around a gaming table, everyone knows that person had something stolen. What I do as DM in FG is just open up someones character sheet and type in 'missing' next to one of there items. It may take awhile but they eventually find out that it is missing, sometime not until they are getting ready to use said item.
My biggest argument to those that don't want to buy it is that it is only $20.00 (even less if you buy it in 'bulk'). With the price of gas where it is, and how far away everyone is, you'll make that up in no time. $20.00 is nothing to spend on entertainment these days. My group bought the software when our DM moved away about a year and a half ago. As much as we've been playing it comes out to about .30 per use/per person.
In some aspects it may not be as great as playing around a table and in other aspect it is better. IMO this software is as close as you can get to being around a table without actually being around the table.

[LordTomar]

I was acualy asked by a friend who lives in a nearby town to join a game he was DMing. Right now im still thinking about joining his game, but wiht the price of gas, it would be $10+ just for gas to get to the game + any supplies i would want. Truth is ill most likely just join another game on FG because its just more convient and cheaper for me.

So in conclusion... just talk to them about the price of gas, and its expected to raise even more as the year goes by...

[Cypher]

There are a lot of plusses to playing a text based version of the game.

Warning: my plusses may not be your plusses

Without a doubt, the best feature (for me) with online play is the whisper command. I can secretly ask players to make their save throws, and give them the results without giving the entire table the results. I describe combat as best I can using short, but informative, descriptions while sending the numerical data to the players involved via whisper. Using this method allows the players in my game to actually roleplay the effects of combat without having it degrade to a series of rolls and number crunching. You have to judge how badly someone is hurt by the descriptions, and roleplaying, rather than adding the numbers up.

The other feature of online play (and it's funny because it's not even a feature of the software) that I love is that there is very little goofing off and wisecracks. The players are much more focused on the game in the ideal world. In reality there are some players who are checking e-mail, surfing the net, or playing online poker. For those people the audible *DING* when it's their turn in combat at least brings their attention back to the game. Hopefully you don't have players like that, but the reality is that you will. They will usually drop off, and filter themselves out so it's best not to lose sleep over it.

As mentioned already is the travel time. I know that the live game I was running required me to travel for 1 hour each way, so that was an additional 2 hours of game time (or sleep since I game early in the day) I could have had.

The last thing I would mention is details. With a text based game you can prep all of your descriptive text ahead of time, and provide a wealth of detail in a short amount of space. Coupled with the detail, and immersion, of a text based game is the annonymity of online play. That annonymity is very helpful to get players that may be a little bit shy to open up a little, and enjoy roleplaying their character rather than thinking of them as some 3rd person figurine on a battlemap.

Ok I've rambled on long enough, and my thoughts are becoming incohesive. I'll stop now

[mcgarnagle]

Thanks for all your input, everyone! It has been very helpful and informative. I have passed on alot of what you've all said onto my potential players and I hope they become a little more open minded about it. If not, I'll just have to find other people who want to play using FG. I know of 2 players already so thats a start.

One of the other guys, the one who I think will be the most difficult to convince, sent me an email saying that he did give it more thought and that he is just old fashion. He likes the feel of the dice in his hand, the smell of doritos as the bag is opened, and the excitment generated by everyone why someone rolls a 20. I told him that I enjoy those things too, but for me, they are trivial things by comparison. I said I'd perfer a good story, and great role playing opportuninties (Which is the whole point, isn't it?). I told him I respect his opinions and asked him to at least give it a try. I guess I'll just wait to see what he says.

[LordTomar]

The other feature of online play (and it's funny because it's not even a feature of the software) that I love is that there is very little goofing off and wisecracks. The players are much more focused on the game in the ideal world. In reality there are some players who are checking e-mail, surfing the net, or playing online poker. For those people the audible *DING* when it's their turn in combat at least brings their attention back to the game. Hopefully you don't have players like that, but the reality is that you will. They will usually drop off, and filter themselves out so it's best not to lose sleep over it.

LOL you should see some of my groups sessions... were joking around and making wisecracks all night. Most of it OOC... but some characters are well... just plain characters.

One of the other guys, the one who I think will be the most difficult to convince, sent me an email saying that he did give it more thought and that he is just old fashion. He likes the feel of the dice in his hand, the smell of doritos as the bag is opened, and the excitment generated by everyone why someone rolls a 20. I told him that I enjoy those things too, but for me, they are trivial things by comparison. I said I'd perfer a good story, and great role playing opportuninties (Which is the whole point, isn't it?). I told him I respect his opinions and asked him to at least give it a try. I guess I'll just wait to see what he says.

Nothing is stopping him from opening a bag of doritoes for the session... or better yet, get some cheese powder and rub it under his nose, smell will be there all night. Also one of the things i do while playing on FG between turns is play wiht my old dice... stacking is still fun.

And if he wants to see other people roll 20s... just tell him that you can see the other players dice rolling on the screen (as long as they roll them on the chat window)... and with the ability to change the color of your dice... everyone knows which dice are which.

[joeru]

One of the other guys, the one who I think will be the most difficult to convince, sent me an email saying that he did give it more thought and that he is just old fashion. He likes the feel of the dice in his hand, the smell of doritos as the bag is opened, and the excitment generated by everyone why someone rolls a 20. I told him that I enjoy those things too, but for me, they are trivial things by comparison. I said I'd perfer a good story, and great role playing opportuninties (Which is the whole point, isn't it?). I told him I respect his opinions and asked him to at least give it a try. I guess I'll just wait to see what he says.

The feeling of managing to roll a 20 in a tight situation is just about as intense in FG as it is in a play-by-table. Or at least it has proven so in my group, resulting in ooc cheers, just as a streak of bad rolls makes the players feel bitter.