tabletop D&D... online

[Nerfed]

Has anyone used any of the virtual tabletops. My gaming group broke up over the summer due to a couple of moves out of state (and possibly another imminent) but would like to resume adventuring with their old group.

I know there are some freebies and license-restricted ones out there, but haven't had any experince in this arena. As the DM, the players are looking to me to figure out the logistics and bring the game online.


Any recommendations?

[Gaia]

Nerfed look in the Fall of House of Ainsley section. Wids has set up quite a few things. He'd be your best source. I also recommend the Wizards of the Coast site they have a bunch of free downloads that can convert well to gaming online. You guys may also want to set up with with Skype (skype.com) so you can talk to each other verbally. Have fun!

[Plasma Wisp]

There is something called OpenRPG. I don't remember the full details, but if you got that plus teamspeak going, then it'd work.

[The Widowed]

Nerfed look in the Fall of House of Ainsley section. Wids has set up quite a few things. He'd be your best source. I also recommend the Wizards of the Coast site they have a bunch of free downloads that can convert well to gaming online. You guys may also want to set up with with Skype (skype.com) so you can talk to each other verbally. Have fun!
You flatter me, Gaia. :D

The program I've been using here is Casey and Andy's Gametable (http://gametable.galactanet.com/) version 1.2 Beta (I don't know why it's a beta; it works well enough to be a full version, if you ask me). For these forums I've just been making the maps and taking screenshots, but the game master and several players can run Gametable clients, connect (using the game master's Gametable as the host, of course) and run games across the internet. The game master can create multiple maps for multiple dungeons or dungeon areas, then reveal certain parts of those maps to the players as the player-characters wander around the game world. And GMs and players alike can grab and drag the pogs around, so Joe the player can move Axel the rogue up to 30' without having to give the GM directions ("Move Axel down the hall 20', turn south through the doorway, and five feet in through the doorway move him five feet west so he flanks the doorway."). The GM's watching, of course, in case Joe tries to move Axel 40', or 30' while heavily encumbered (or while being a dwarf), or through a locked door or whatever...oops, Axel just walked across that pit trap? Joe. Reflex save. Now. >:]

Gametable also includes functions for do-it-yourself dice macros, so you can make virtual dice rolls and everyone can see the results. The macros can be edited on the fly as well; if Romar the fighter picks up a magic battle axe +3 and decides to wield that instead of his +2 spear, the GM can edit the "Romar's To-Hit" dice macro and change the +2 to-hit bonus to a +3. No problem. :)

And, of course, anyone with a graphics editor can add new pogs and underlays to the game. As you can see by browsing the House Ainsley subforum, I've added new pogs and new underlays to suit the needs of my campaign (including dungeon features such as doors made from bronze, stone or iron, iron bars and a whole bunch of traps, none of which come with Gametable). The Gametable forums on the Galactanet site have a community who seems willing to swap and share customized pogs and underlays, but the admins don't seem very active in supervising the forums these days and you need their approval to get registered. Three months later, I'm still waiting for Casey or Andy to contact me and say either "Welcome" or "Denied". :|

Having the pogs on the top layer and the underlays on the bottom layer makes it easy to move the underlays around without burying the pogs; if a wizard casts Fireball, you can drag and drop the underlay which marks the fireball's AoE one round, then drag it away the next round without bothering any of the minotaurs who just got blasted. Pogs stack on top of pogs--and underlays stack on top of underlays--in the order they were placed, so if you wanted to set a horseman's pog on top of a horse's pog to represent a horse and a rider, you could do that.

Speaking of pogs and underlays and Gametable, I see that I have a new Gaia post (with Ashton's latest actions, I assume)! Time for me to get back on the job. :D

[Nerfed]

Awesome! Thanks, Wids!

[The Widowed]

You betcha. :D

[The Widowed]

Also, Gametable actually measures out the units (as in the dimension of each grid square or hex, usually 5' in-game) when you draw a line from one point to another. This is quite helpful when trying to figure out the distance from, say, an archer to his/her target when the trajectory's along one of those not-quite-45-degrees diagonals (as I've been doing several times in Gaia's prologue). "10.85 units...that's a little over 50 feet...medium range. No penalty." It's not wholly accurate for some reason; a diagonal straight across one grid square comes out to "1.41 units" instead of 1.5, so Casey and Andy aren't the best brains when it comes to trigonometry. But it's fairly close. :p

Unfortunately, it doesn't account for in-game elevation (another thing I've had to factor in with Gaia's prologue), so I've just been using that trigonometry know-how of mine to take Gametable's wobbly horizontal measurement and the in-game elevation and crank out the hypotenuse. It's more work that way--and if the elevation were only about 5 feet or so, I'd probably ignore the elevation completely--so I wonder if the internet has any hypotenuse-calculating tools I can use.

Yeah, I'm a stickler for details. And shooting arrows uphill would reduce the effective range on the X-Y plane, but wouldn't shooting from the high ground give an archer greater effective range? I need to figure out how to calculate that in; I've just been using the straight X-Y measurement for those pesky Karkovans. Longbows on high ground worked for medieval English armies for a century or three; I'm sure the physics would apply anywhere. :D

Yes, I'm a nerd. I admit it freely. :p

Also, if I never gave D&D 3rd kudos for the unprecedented maneuver of letting longbows deal a little more damage than shortbows...kudos. The extra range is nice enough, but the extra damage surely makes longbows worth the investment (if you don't mind carrying around a bow that large). :D

[Nerfed]

When it comes to high ground advantage, I just apply a +1 circumstance bonus to the attacker(s) on the high ground and a -1 circumstance penalty to those on the low ground.

I do this for ranged combat, such as shooting arrows uphill or even melee combat on uneven terrain where one attacker clearly has the upper ground.

[The Widowed]

Does that apply for more extreme elevations (like some archer standing up in a 50' tower and making like Charles Whitman on the people in the courtyard)? :think:

[Nerfed]

Yes.