good chat programs for rpg's

[SSGoW]

I'll be playing in a FFRPG game soon and we were looking for a good way of playing online. Aim wont work since the dice rolls on it are tedious and wont go high enough. Does anyone know any good chat based programs?

[Edwin]

I'll be playing in a FFRPG game soon and we were looking for a good way of playing online. Aim wont work since the dice rolls on it are tedious and wont go high enough. Does anyone know any good chat based programs?

Skype has dice rollers, doesn't it?

Can't truly remember, but if it does, that's a possibility.

Or, alternatively, you could use MSN and just do the dice rolls on a separate post here on the forum.

[Dr Bwaa]

There are a few out there, but I've never found one that suits all my needs. My gaming group uses three things:

Skype (http://www.skype.com/intl/en/download/skype/windows/)for group talking/PMs to the GM
Coccinella (http://thecoccinella.org/) for its whiteboard (has a grid option which makes it incredibly useful)
Wizards.com dice roller (http://www.wizards.com/dnd/dice/dice.htm) for dice: you have to go with the honor system on this one, though. Invisiblecastle (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/) is also okay, but too slow for real-time games.

EDIT: Some of these programs overlap with their features (cocinella has a chat/speaking tool, for instance, and as my ninja says, Skype has some sort of dice roller iirc); I use all three programs because that's the only way I've been able to find the flexibility & utility I want.

[KitsuneKionchi]

Sky has a white board with a grid too. Dice rollers as well. And video conferencing. The white board tends to crash occasionally, but its fast booting and once you upload a background to it, everyone has it. Which can be a bad thing if your trying to fog-of-war-style DM. But you can always trace in maze paths if you must or, you know, trust your players.

My DM ran me through this one place but trying to do fog was taking forever, so he just gave me the entire map. I decided to skip at least 1/2 the dungeon by using a secret door (it was a solo adventure to a larger campaign, so in the end we were both glad I did that since it took much longer to complete then we both anticipated). Turned out there was answers to a riddle later in the dungeon that I would have got if I didn't take the secret door! Do'h!

Plus the gear I got was ridiculous since I was level 10 with two CR 10 hirelings (CR, not just level; they used to be our enemies in the previous adventure) taking on a CR 10 dungeon...epic ending though.

So uuh...if the map doesn't work for you on Skype, you can always just e-mail everyone jpegs and either hide the secret door areas or make secret doors not-so-advantageous...

RPGTools has a good applet that lets you play wtih everyone online. I'm sure it has a chat feature, but not with voice (RPGtools.net).

The final alternative is, of course, the honor system of dice rolling or letting the GM roll. Actually, using Skype and webcams is a good way of rolling. Its hard to confirm the rolls and people can still cheat, but its generally more difficult and easier to discourage if you can see everyone's faces.

AIM Chat has a dice roller as well, but its hard to remember the code for it sometimes. Google "AIM Dice Roll" or something to find it.

[AmberVael]

You could use Maptools or OpenRPG.

Link for Maptools (http://www.rptools.net/)
Link for OpenRPG (http://www.rpgobjects.com/index.php?c=orpg)

Both are free programs designed for running RPGs. They give you chat abilities, dice, and maps.

Maptools is more favored.

[Temet Nosce]

I'll be playing in a FFRPG game soon and we were looking for a good way of playing online. Aim wont work since the dice rolls on it are tedious and wont go high enough. Does anyone know any good chat based programs?

I'd use IRC if I were you, admittedly it's simple and has no real frills but just log a dicebot (or use one of the ones some servers come equipped with) and you have an easy to use program with rolling and emotes.

Alternatively if you're up for something a bit more complex you could try using one of the various MUDs. They have vastly more commands, but are irritating to set up.

I've advise against the virtual tabletops, so far out of the half dozen or so games I've used them in the only thing they've ever accomplished is to waste time and irritate the group (even in the case the DM loved maps, it's just to much bother).

[Ozreth]

you should definitely use gametable or maptools. These programs give you a fully customizable grid with line sizes, backgrounds, scenery, miniatures, etc as well as a very good dice roller that lest you set macros for different rolls and whatnot.Both have a great chat system and maptools has character sheets. Good stuff!