Questions about gaming online (play by post or otherwise)

[Dabbler]

Hello everyone. I've had some great experiences with tabletop D&D but I don't know people in my immediate area to game with. Since I still want to play somehow, I thought of doing so online. Despite looking through the forums, I realized that I still had some questions before trying to jump into a campaign or create one myself. It seems that there are both play-by-post and "live" games that take place through either a chatroom, voice chat software, or other programs.

What are common ways to handle character sheets, dice rolls, maps, and similar aspects that tabletop games can take for granted? Both in terms of norms and conventions and what programs, sites, or other resources are helpful.

In a play-by-post game, what are the conventions for posting and in particular for combat? It seems like it could take a while to get through a single round of combat. I don't know much about the format, so even the most basic information on how it's done would be helpful.

I'm only used to the core 3.5 rules, and people seem to use a lot of additional sources when it comes to making characters. It seems like there are a ton of additional books and resources out there, and I find it's hard to figure out what's from where.

I'm sure I'll think of more questions along the line. Thanks in advance for the help!

[jedipotter]

What are common ways to handle character sheets, dice rolls, maps, and similar aspects that tabletop games can take for granted? Both in terms of norms and conventions and what programs, sites, or other resources are helpful.


There is tons of stuff for online games. Myth-Weavers host online character sheets, as do other places. Plenty of people use Google documents. Most places you'd post, say GitnP, have built in dice rollers. Google is used for maps, as are other programs. I lot of DM's even make game wiki's.




In a play-by-post game, what are the conventions for posting and in particular for combat? It seems like it could take a while to get through a single round of combat. I don't know much about the format, so even the most basic information on how it's done would be helpful.



It takes a long time. But there is just no way around it. If you can get good people, they might be willing to post a couple times a day. It's also possible to get everyone online at say 6 to post.

[inexorabletruth]

These are all really good questions and most of them can be answered by going here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?257924-Guide-to-Play-by-Post-Games), to the Guide to Play-by-Post Games (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?257924-Guide-to-Play-by-Post-Games) thread.

However, I'll be happy to give you the highlights...

Character Sheets:
The most commonly used source for character sheets is at Myth-Weavers, found here (http://www.myth-weavers.com). They have tons of great resources for PbP, but their character sheets really are great.

Another good site is Minotaur (http://charactersheets.minotaur.cc).

Dice Rolls:
The forum has it's own dice roller code that you can use. An example of the format for this would be:

[ roll]1d20+5[/roll]
1 represents the number of dice rolled, d20 represents the type of dice being rolled and the +5 represents the modifier. would be the tags used for it.

Or, if you prefer, there are online dice rollers (http://www.wizards.com/dnd/dice/dice.htm).

Maps:
Everyone handles maps differently. There are many online tools for map-building and world-building. Some maps are static (just a jpg with a grid on it) while others are interactive, so the players can control their own movement. If you prefer static maps, try Gozzy's (http://www.gozzys.com/cave-maps) for simple, uncluttered dungeon maps, or The Mad Mapper (http://educatedgamer.net/gallery/index.php) for colorful, detailed maps with terrain.

Other Aspects:
Well, the Chaotic Shiny (http://chaoticshiny.com/index.php) is a great stop for just about everything a DM needs to run a PbP campaign. It's a random generator that can summon languages, landscapes, simple maps, treasure... anything. Also, no D&D PbP campaign is complete without a detailed monster dossier found at DnD Monster Finder (http://monsterfinder.dndrunde.de), an easily resources rules database, like the SRD (http://www.d20srd.org) and an easy-to-use XP Calculator. (http://www.d20srd.org/extras/d20encountercalculator/) Also, if there are members of the party who are new to character creation, I like to recommend this site (http://www.pathguy.com/cg35.htm) to help guide them along the elaborate process.

In a play-by-post game, what are the conventions for posting and in particular for combat?
There are several schools of thought on this actually. I believe that best practice is to post in initiative order, and limit response time to 24 hours. Anyone who takes longer than 24 hours to post on their turn, automatically delays their action to the end of the round. If they miss their turn when it comes up the second time, they lose their turn.

I'm only used to the core 3.5 rules, and people seem to use a lot of additional sources when it comes to making characters. It seems like there are a ton of additional books and resources out there, and I find it's hard to figure out what's from where.
That's ok. Players are generally eager to help DM's understand their characters, and will offer links to feats and character races and classes to help with that. If, however, you're still uncomfortable running a game too far outside of core, you can simply limit the allowable resources to whatever books you feel most comfortable with. It may take a little longer to find players interested in joining your campaign if there are a lot of restrictions on CharGen, but there's a ton of players here on the Playground. Sooner or later, you're going to find a group.

[Dabbler]

It seems a link is worth a thousand words. I think I have a much better idea of what I'm doing now, thanks for the responses.

[inexorabletruth]

Glad we could help, and good luck! :smallbiggrin:

[CombatOwl]

What are common ways to handle character sheets, dice rolls, maps, and similar aspects that tabletop games can take for granted? Both in terms of norms and conventions and what programs, sites, or other resources are helpful.

I use Roll20 + Google Hangouts for this. The combination of them adequately handle all of these things. The new version of roll20 even includes character sheets. This is as close to real life table top gaming that I've ever found (and in some respects is actually better, like the dynamically lit maps).

[Prince Raven]

Roll20 for dice, maps, etc. Skype to talk. Dropbox for sharing character sheets and resources.