Telepresence

[Tegu8788]

While I'm at school I have some friends about to start a game for our first time. We just lost a player due to scheduling changes, and are looking for a replacement. I've got a friend in mind, but he lives three hours away, can't make a weekly game with these gas prices. Has anyone had any success with a player playing from a distance. My thought is using laptops and webcams, my computer display his face and a second feed for his rolls, his show the group and some rig to give him the board. Opinions? Is there an easier way, or some website that's good for finding local people?

[Venerable]

Tried it once using Skype when I couldn't make the weekly game. Thoughts:


Without a dedicated camera focused on the board, combat will be difficult for the remote player to follow. Even so, we had to bring the camera very close to the table just to identify which mini was which. I ended up saying "I plan to use X power on target Y next, could someone please position my character for that?" a lot. It was... less than satisfying. :smallannoyed:

If your group has a lot of off-topic chatter, the remote player will have a hard time following what's happening. :smallconfused:

As for dice rolling, either find an online shared dice rolling app or trust your remote player.

[Sol]

My group uses maptools on a bigscreen TV to display the map and handle rolls for us even though we're mostly in-person (we have one remote player).

He just logs in from home and skype's in for voice chat.

But second to switching to that, yeah, a webcam aimed at the board is your best bet.

[Tegu8788]

So, it can be done, but there as some flaws inherent in it. A video camera above the board would need to be very hi def, or use a purely digital board, requiring a large TV with streaming capabilities. I can rig either. Several of us have good smart phones, get some d20 apps. Any good iOS apps for dice rolls, character charts, board motions?

[Hidden Sanity]

Look up MapTools and Gametable for good virtual map programs, Gametable is more simplistic with less features, MapTools has more of a learning curve but is spiffier as a result.