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HunterOfJello
2010-03-22, 12:37 AM
Is there any form of playing D&D online or not at the tabletop that's anywhere near as much fun as playing at a tabletop with a decent group?

Innis Cabal
2010-03-22, 12:39 AM
This might interest you. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=51)

Ozreth
2010-03-22, 12:42 AM
the above

OR, even more exciting you and other players can download either gametable or RPtools which is basically a virtual tabletop with miniatures and the dm can draw maps and whatnot and there is a chatbox and dice rolller. Its best to use aim or ventrillo or skype or something to talk over.

HunterOfJello
2010-03-22, 12:45 AM
This might interest you. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=51)

I looked there and saw the threads, but I wonder if trying to play post by post is anywhere close to playing at a tabletop. The people in IRC seemed to think very little of it and the groups seem very crowded on the forums since there are few people who will DM (10+ people in a group must be a heck of a lot especially if you're waiting on people to take their turns).

I've tried playing on that map system that is popular with the IRC crowd, but even that was way too slow and boring. It took forever for anyone to do anything and one fight took over three hours.

Neverwinter Nights is a hell of a lot of fun on single player but the multiplayer seemed to never have enough people when I've tried playing.

I haven't tried D&D Online, but it doesn't look like much from what I've seen. If someone had a good opinion of it after playing it, I'd give it a try.

WeeFreeMen
2010-03-22, 01:03 AM
For the low price of just 10$ http://www.d20pro.com/
Throw in some Ventrillo/Teamspeak/Skype for OOC talking.
Get everyone's email so you can send pictures of monsters and the like.
AIM or even a media messenger (FB/MySpace/etc) for Chatrooms.

Currently we are doing this as recently my DnD group literally to 4 opposite corners of the map. (FL, Wasington, S. Cali, Maryland, Texas)

We really do still have a great time and it really is worth the 10$ if you MUST be long distance DnD'n. Thats my personal opinion tho.

Mando Knight
2010-03-22, 01:06 AM
MapTools is free...

Eclipse
2010-03-22, 04:13 AM
Playing Neverwinter Nights 1 or 2 online can give the same experience if you play on a server with heavy DM involvement. I only ever found one server I really liked, but that campaign has ended since. Still, if you find one that you like, it's a blast, and even though it's more of an action game, a good DM can capture the feel of D&D quite well.

On a downside (or maybe upside depending how you want to play), wizards/sorcerers are relegated to more of a blaster role. Lots of the utility stuff isn't in the game due to limitations of the engine.

I have some friends who swear by D&D Online. I've never played it, but I hear you can play a crippled version free now. May be worth a shot to see if it suits you or not.

Tengu_temp
2010-03-22, 04:39 AM
PbP games have a very different pace than normal, tabletop ones - instead of having several dedicated hours to a session, the game moves forward slowly all the time, 24 hours a day. That might seem bad, but if you get a dedicated group that will post often, this is more than enough. I have no idea where did the 10+ people in a group, or few people willing to run games, come from - the recruitment subforum is full of various games recruiting, and the biggest game I was in had 8 players, and that many only because two of them played non-combatants and I know most of them personally, so I can kick them into posting when the pace gets too slow.

Gerrtt
2010-03-22, 05:25 AM
NWN can be lots of fun if you play on a good (subjective) Persistent World with RP and DM involvement. I used to play on a server that regularly had 20 or 30 people on it, but because I got busy with life and got away from it I'm not really sure where all the people went.

Typically, the ones you're looking for have their own websites with forums as opposed to just being some server someone put together on a whim.

I'll agree though, any time I've ever played on IRC/Chat with a map program it took 1000 hours to do anything, but the DM I was playing with was inexperienced with this medium. Plus, the group I was with had a tendency to type everything in one window, which made it hard to pay attention to what was happening as I was reading it. When I had combat rolls, jokes, and people asking crunch questions all in the same window, it was a bit much to handle. I don't blame the DM for taking too long.

Touchy
2010-03-22, 05:48 AM
openRPG (http://www.rpgobjects.com/index.php?c=orpg)
Like maptools, it's free, decide which one you would rather use, and both are probably about the same. Combine this with vent if you so choice(or if your taking a random game thats recruiting, ala pick-up game, whatever the DM says).

Eldan
2010-03-22, 06:42 AM
Really, Skype alone works quite well. Granted, I've never used a battlemap in my live, so that might make a big difference to some. I can't think of how to implement that effectively.

Knaight
2010-03-22, 07:35 AM
Skype and IRC work fine on their own, although admittedly you run into some trouble in systems that are rather map heavy. I wouldn't run 4e without maptools or some such.

Fallbot
2010-03-22, 08:34 AM
We play 4E using maptool and vent, and it works very well, and is perhaps easier than tabletop - having macros speeds up combat, and being able to toggle between speaking in and out of character is very handy. Our only problem is finding a time when we can all play what with living in different countries and time zones (New Zealand, America and England for those that care).

JohnnyCancer
2010-03-22, 08:46 AM
In boarding school my friends and I would play a pretty loose version of 2nd edition while taking 3-mile hikes, using a dice roller programmed into some fancy calculator.

Nohwl
2010-03-22, 10:03 AM
i'm running a 3.5 game over aim. i just create a map in excel and send it to everyone, it gets updated at the end of every round or two, depending on how much people have moved.