GM link

[Drath3n]

Just had this idea and wanted to post it before i forgot it.
How much of a task would be involved in making a system that links a group of GMs together so they can share info and images and maps to coordinate each DMs groups with the others and the GMs can chat and confer with Each other. Basicly to use MMO terms a raid system. So fantasy grounds can have Epics. (I hope I am getting my idea explained, I have a problem with explaining things to people &#128514

[Zacchaeus]

You are talking about a West Marches style campaign I believe

https://knightssemantic.wordpress.co...-large-groups/
https://rollplaywestmarches.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page
https://nevarnost.obsidianportal.com...t-west-marches

There's a million more links if you Google it.

[Drath3n]

No, an Epic is when a group of GMs run groups to take on an Epic level fight or one shot. A head GM directs the other GMs as they run their groups. They all work together to take on an Epic challenge.
To use as an example take the climax of the first campaign if Critical Role. The high lev group Vox Machina takes on Vecna and his army, they don't do it alone the have help fro a bunch of NPCs. With an Epic those wouldn't be NPCs. In this example "Vox Machina" DMed by Matt take on Vecna directly. "The Shield if Andrim" DMed by another DM also named Matt take on the leageons of undead that surge around the feet of the undead titan that carries Vecnas transplanted shadowfel city on its shoulders. Meanwhile "The Risky Biusness Boys" DMed by Brett riding their wyverns take on the flying hordes that protect the forcefeild protecting Vecna mobile city. And " The Wizards Five" DMed by Mike use their magic to topple the undead Titan. All these DMs consult the lead DM who orchestrates this whole event like a conductor.
This type of event is almost exclusively a convention event.
I didn't know it existed til Satine Pheonix talked about it on an episode of Geek And Sundries GM Tips.
I have never done one but would love to try it.

[Trenloe]

At FG Cons we've ran Pathfinder Society (PFS) multi-table events.

We used TeamSpeak with a channel for each game, a central global announcements channel and a GM coordinator channel.

The PFS multi-table event scenarios are usually pretty well layed out in terms of how long to spend for each part, global announcement box text, goals, etc..

All coordination GM would usually hang out in the coordinator channel while the games went on in their own channel. GMs would briefly pop into this channel to inform the coordinator of party success/failures, which are kept track of in order to advance the story early, or for final scoring. At key points, the coordinator would visit each player group channel and ask everyone (GMs and players) to stop playing and join the global announcement channel for the latest group story update across all tables.

If needed, the messaging functionality of TeamSpeak was used to message individuals.

All of the above could be done in Discord or other voice/messaging apps that support multi-channels and easy switching between channels.

Was it ideal and went off without a hitch? No. But there were no big issues and the majority of people (GMs and players alike) had a great time. The main complaint was that the main goal was narrowly missed - the groups wanted just a few more minutes...

What made it work well was a good scenario designed and documented for multi-table play, and close coordination - both before the game, pre-game (GM instructions and material) and during the game.

[Drath3n]

Yes this ^
Would there be a way to make it smoother with an integrated system in fantasy grounds or do you think the set up you talked about is as good as it can get?

[Trenloe]

Would there be a way to make it smoother with an integrated system in fantasy grounds or do you think the set up you talked about is as good as it can get?

I'm not sure what integrated system could be setup within Fantasy Grounds. Short of running two instances - one with the GM running it for the players, and one with the GM connecting as a "player" to the coordinator. I think this would be too confusing, get in the way of running the game (FG takes up a fair portion of screen real-estate - 2 instances would take up *a lot*) and you can't share material between the two instances.

I'd recommend using some form of document sharing/campaign coordination website (like Obsidian Portal or the many others out there), Facebook groups, whatever works for the people involved to allow before and after game coordination and communication. Then in game use a voice/messaging app that has minimal screen presence for in-game coordination and messaging.

[Drath3n]

Ya I don't know much about this kind of stuff, as far as programming and system integration so I defer to peeps who know more. Though I think if setting up a multi table event was easier it would happen more. And Fantasy Grounds it a place this could be accessible to the average player who can't make it to the big gaming conventions these take place at.

[Trenloe]

Any multi-table events needs a lot of coordination before and during the game. FG is just not setup for anything like this, and I doubt it will be. It would take a lot of redesign and coding to cater for things like this in FG. Multi-table events can be cool if well designed and ran, but they are a very, very, very small percentage of RPG games ran. So, in my opinion, really not worth the effort to cater for purely in FG. These will always need external tools and other apps, in addition to Fantasy Grounds, to organise and run.

[Drath3n]

Gotcha, oh well.

[Trenloe]

To be clear - it's possible. Just use FG for the game with TeamSpeak, Discord, or whatever comms platform works for you. And have a central repository of documents on a cloud share somewhere or gaming campaign management website (e.g. Obsidian Portal) four outside of the game coordination and information sharing.

The group can put together a FG module containing the base info needed to run the game in FG.