Agreed on the last there, malkav. A lot of PF people I know are really enamored of the Golarion setting, but I think it’s way more fun to have something very loosely defined or just go homebrew on the setting. I get that it’s more work that way for the GM, but c’est le vie. I don’t really know much about any of those games aside from name recognition, excepting Dungeon World, which I’ve read a little more about. Nonetheless, anything is cool with the right players and the right GM!
It’s not the level of the setting definition that bothers me, as long as there’s room for your characters to make changes and be relevant. Star Wars actually has plenty of scope for you to define setting elements, since other media tend to focus primarily on a handful of the same planets and aliens in a pretty big universe. It’s that Star Wars was a setting developed to tell the story of characters like Luke Skywalker and Han Solo and Princess Leia and Darth Vader and so on. Star Wars RPGs literally base classes on the roles these characters played in that story and likewise tend to focus primarily on a handful of the same planets, aliens, and story archetypes. They’re toolkits for playing the movies. And that’s fine if you either get to play those characters or (like KOTOR did) jump to a completely different era of the setting where those characters don’t exist, but by default you’re existing in their shadow. And I find that offputting. I also don’t really see the Star Wars setting itself as so compelling and original that you wouldn’t be better off either finding an SF setting where the setting was the primary emphasis, not the story being told with it, or just coming up with it yourself. Same goes for Middle-Earth and LOTR-based stuff, etc.
Conversely, settings designed specifically for games tend to leave much more room for players to be the stars. At least, that’s my view.
You nailed my issue with Star Wars. Perhaps the new movies will expand the universe in a such a way that the universe will seem larger and open to new ideas.
I found another VTT that looks gorgeous, but fails to do more than look pretty. I do think “pretty” is important to growing the niche, but I’d be much more interested in a kickstarter that was focused on creating adventures for specific systems and supporting them with cool art.
The kickstarter for 3d Virtual Tabletop:
Ok, I didn’t realize that Roll20 does have one module for sale. It might be the kind of thing I’m talking about, but for some totally bizarre reason it is an 8th level Pathfinder adventure for $9.99. Why in the hell is it 8th level??? Why wouldn’t they create a 1st level adventure and try and attract new people? I’m tempted to buy it just to see how they set it up, but $10 for something I’ll never use isn’t worth it.
https://marketplace.roll20.net/browse/module/2/the-breaking-of-forstor-nagar
Yeah this is fairly new on Roll20, and I do hope the start releasing lower level modules.
Emphasis mine. This has been my biggest concern, and why I was so excited when TundraWolf started talking about a PbF game.
Same here. Just too busy to lock out 2-4 hours to play a tabletop RPG but play by forum is much easier to do. Actually once our Mutants & Masterminds game is going strong I’ll probably see if there’s enough interest to start up a Dungeon World game. I think the mechanics of DW are really easy to make work in a PbF setting.
I know nothing about the game, but as long as keeping up with the various games doesn’t get too crazy, I’d be happy to hear more about it.
Same here.
I haven’t used R20 to play anything with people yet, but I have played around with campaign creation and such. It’s pretty awesome, and has the potential to be really annoying if you’re not prepared or making things up on the fly, especially if you have lots of tokens and maps.
We were going to play Dungeon World with a friend who’s out of state (everyone else being local), but we had to push it back since he had to go to Malta for a work trip. We decided on DW as it is more on the role-play and character development side rather than complicated game mechanics. None of us wanted to play for hours online just to resolve a simple combat.
As for the WH40k RPGs, I know that Dark Heresy v2 is currently in beta. I’m not sure how WHFRP and Star Wars: Edge of the Empire would work in R20, as they use a different dice mechanic (dice pool vs straight rolling) than d20/d6 games. I suppose you’d have to create new dice, or have a cheat sheat to convert existing die to the game-specific ones. Definitely not un-doable, but definitely yet another obstacle to work around. We’ve been playing Rogue Trader for over 3 years now, and some mechanics are pretty horribly broken.
While you can buy it from RPGNow for $10, the contents of the entire book is also legally available online here: Introduction
Scheduling is certainly a bugbear to deal with for these games, and I can see how playing by post is a way to get your RPG fix without being tied to any schedule.
Both scheduling and finding an appropriate space in your home to play are factors that I think are tied directly to your enthusiasm for the experience. If the experience is really positive and important to you, then you’ll find the time and space. What are those factors that make a positive experience? Quick list:
Your relationship to the other players
The game system
The technical aspects of the VTT
The length of session
Richness of player character building
Visual presentation of the game
Access to the game/players when you’re not playing
Ease of running the game for the GM
If all of these things are agreeable to you, or the majority of them, then you’ll keep coming back every week to continue the game.
DCC has been great at certain aspects, but not all. I really enjoy hanging out with the players, Roll20 has been much, much better than Fantasy Grounds, DCC is really well supported by PDFs and an awesome iPad app, and it is very easy to run from my perspective. But, character building outside of the game is very thin and I think players miss tinkering during the week. Looking at the pride put into some of those Mutants and Masterminds characters is really telling to me.
Roll20 has been great and as my first online game has really impressed me. Rob has been doing a great job putting new stuff into play as he learns the software. I have to agree with you about the characters in DCC, they can feel a little flat since they’re so simple to put together. I usually come up with my characters personality etc based on what I see once they’re made, but DCC doesn’t offer much in that respect. On the other hand, the system itself offers up so much crazy fun that I can’t help but love playing it. It feels to me that the scars they collect and events you’re characters survive are more of what define them in DCC.
Not to make Robs head too inflated here, but he’s a great DM and I’m looking forward to more DCC and bribing my way into whatever game for whatever system he decides to do next.
Rob, 3rd edition WFRP is quite different from the previous versions, is it not?
Shellfishguy, you are too kind! And I agree that the character building that goes on during a DCC game is great, just because of the nature of the random tables and the general openness of the system.
Misguided, yes, it is totally different. It is what 4th edition D&D is to prior editions of D&D. It is a beautiful looking game, filled with FFG’s trademark components. I am tempted to try and scan a few cards and tokens into Roll20 just to see what it would look like.
I do admit that the lack of character building outside of the game for DCC has been a bit of a letdown, although that said it is a different type of game. Instead of looking forward to some new perk or power, I am constantly wondering what random roll is going to either screw me over royally on a corruption table, or is going to circumvent some major obstacle that Rob has cleverly crafted when I roll a perfect 20 on magic missile (well most likely not magic missile, it is my bane) or some other spell.
Here is another Virtual Tabletop, currently in the alpha stages and heading toward kickstarter:
I like how much emphasis he has put on making the character sheet a part of the experience, but it is another system-neutral VTT. I’d really like to see something like this designed for just one system, say Savage Worlds or something, with all the details for running that system baked into the VTT.
Agreed on that last point, Rob! A hardcore PF-supporting system would be awesome, and I suspect a reasonably system-agnostic OSR VTT would also be possible that nonetheless allows for tracking of the vital statistics of OD&D, B/X D&D, and BECMI/Rules Cyclopedia D&D–and their derivatives like Dark Dungeons, ACKS, DCC, etc.
http://www.d20pro.com/ is yet another VTT; not nearly as popular as Roll20 (and lacking the inbuilt Hangouts capacity), so I’m not interested in investing a lot into it, but hey, variety’s usually a good thing!
Here is the kickstarter for tabletop connect:
I am unhappy about the price: $35 for a DM license. Players have to buy a $10 license. Better prices than fantasy grounds, but Roll20 has spoiled me on VTT prices. I am very curious though. I might back it just to kick the alpha’s tires.
I agree, the DM price doesn’t bother me too much, but then requiring a player license kind of sucks. I am going to back this one just not sure what level.