Online campaign.

[RavKal]

Alright, I'm planning on running a low-power gestalt (ironic, huh? really means they'll only be going to about 7) campaign online, and I've looked at a few options, but I'm not sure of anything, so I want to ask you.

What is the best way to do a campaign online?

and

Where can I do that effectively?

The campaign is heavy on descriptive roleplay, relatively light on combat, and my players are rather busy people, so I'm assuming that a forum is what works best.

[Swooper]

You are aware of the PbP forum on this very website, aren't you?

[Dragonsdoom]

I personally can't stand the extremely slow pace of PbP, and my party uses a piece of software called Gametable. (http://gametable.galactanet.com/)
You may also run across a object called OpenRPG (http://www.rpgobjects.com/index.php?c=orpg) but I would recommend against that on the grounds that I find it somewhat unstable and refuses to save my stuff.

We use Gametable as our platform for several reasons:

1) When it closes it saves all the data to the server, which is usually run by the DM.
2) With some time and effort you can make custom tokens for everything you need.
3) It has a very handy selection of drawing tools that snap to the hex or square grid.
4) It does not crash like OpenRPG.
5) It is simple enough for us to do the things we need it to, and is not set up to do very complex things for certain game systems.
6) It has a hidden map for the GM to prepare in and then publish things to the grid.

When we use Gametable, we also use another piece of software called Skype (http://www.skype.com/). Skype is a popular VOIP program that is very stable and has good quality sound. Other alternatives include Teamspeak and Ventrilo, as well as the Xfire Voice chat feature.

This allows us to speak directly to one another in real time, with accents and speech fluctuations when in character. Much faster than play by post, and even faster than a IRC style chatroom. Not to mention that if the server goes down, we can still talk. Oh yes, and everyone(at least the DM) needs microphones. You can get them quite cheaply now, and the only thing that might hold you back is 56k internet connections. (Satellite 'works', for a given value of 'works'.)

[jcsw]

rpol.net is a website made for these things, but it's a bit complicated to use. (If you managed to learn DnD you shouldn't have too much trouble though... heh.)

[The Neoclassic]

PbP is rather slow, so I'd recommend trying IM or one of the software programs instead if you can find a time that works for everyone.

Running combat online can be kind of annoying and less exciting, so I agree that less combat and more roleplaying might be ideal. I'd say it's most important what people in your group would be interested in though.

[Tengu_temp]

The campaign is heavy on descriptive roleplay, relatively light on combat, and my players are rather busy people, so I'm assuming that a forum is what works best.

You assume correctly - the benefit of PbP is that, while the game goes on slowly, it also goes on constantly since everyone can post at any time of the day, as opposed to several constant hours per week of normal games/AIM. Another benefit is that, since time is not the issue, everyone can think about what their character says and does and describe it accordingly, which often results in better roleplaying.
The downside is that the game often feels much less spontaneous that way, and of course it's quite slow unless all players post frequently and at the same time.

[BlueWizard]

Alright, I'm planning on running a low-power gestalt (ironic, huh? really means they'll only be going to about 7) campaign online, and I've looked at a few options, but I'm not sure of anything, so I want to ask you.

What is the best way to do a campaign online?

and

Where can I do that effectively?

The campaign is heavy on descriptive roleplay, relatively light on combat, and my players are rather busy people, so I'm assuming that a forum is what works best.

Check out the PbP games in the forum.

[Xuincherguixe]

One of the advantages of playing online is that you have access to a computer. It's a lot faster to use a die roller than to count all the D6s sometimes.

[Egiam]

I play in a game on the Mythweavers (http://www.myth-weavers.com/) forum, and that has gone great.

[Ravyn]

I play by IM. Speed is slightly slower than a face to face campaign, but with a little more time for us to self-edit our responses; you don't have to worry about the game having to go on hold because someone needs to run to the restroom (most of them will be back before whoever's typing is finished, and if they aren't they can just scroll up), keeping a log lets you make sure you never contradict yourself, and there are plenty of colors to keep all the NPCs (and the PCs as well, if they feel like it) straight. We've even managed to sort of run D&D combat that way, though it was a bit of a challenge.

The biggest problem I've found with PBP is that different people have different response times. You might have an entire conversation go on while someone else is at work and unable to respond, and then they get frustrated. On the converse, sometimes people don't realize everyone's waiting for them, and then by the time they figure it out everyone figures the game's died. In my opinion, it's better to have everyone there so you know they are there.

[ocato]

Gametable+Skype= success.

[Artanis]

There's also MapTool (http://www.rptools.net/).

It's the same basic type of program as Gametable and OpenRPG: chat, dice roller, game map, and character sheet tools. However, MapTool does more than any such program I've found, and by a large margin. You can do some really, really cool stuff with MapTool, and some of the macros that people make (and have available for download!) can do some really amazing things. Anything that OpenRPG or Gametable can do, MapTool can do better. So it's definitely worth checking out.

The downside is that anything that OpenRPG or Gametable can do, MapTool can do better. Sometimes, MapTool can turn out to be massive overkill. If, upon trying it, you find that to be the case, go with Gametable.



Regardless of what you choose, I also agree with Dragonsdoom in that OpenRPG just kinda sucks.

[Dragonsdoom]

There's also MapTool (http://www.rptools.net/).

*Words*

The downside is that anything that OpenRPG or Gametable can do, MapTool can do better. Sometimes, MapTool can turn out to be massive overkill. If, upon trying it, you find that to be the case, go with Gametable.

Regardless of what you choose, I also agree with Dragonsdoom in that OpenRPG just kinda sucks.

Wow, this program is directly Gametable upgraded, my campaign is moving to this tomorrow! I don't know how I managed to miss this software, but it looks really worth the time. If nothing else the token creator is incredibly helpful by itself.
I do have one issue in that the way I make levels it seems a bit difficult to work with, snap to grid seems somewhat moody, but I can work with it.
Thanks for pointing this out!

Oh, and your sig is awesome too.:smalltongue: