Roleplaying over IM or Skype like multichat

[Charity]

Hi guys it has been a while since I've been around but I still count this as my internet home.
So here is the thing
We have been playing a retro heavily influenced by AD&D houseruled game of
3rd ed. The GM lives miles away but works in London occasionally so that is how often we play...
Well we've been thinking of using technology to get us together more often.
So to the point; my questions are.

1. Should we? The game is a social event with much banter and on the fly decisions if anyone has experiance of switching mid campaign i'd like to hear your views.

2. What to use? It needs to be free/low investment preferably with the option to multi webcam so everyone can see whats going on. Is some sort of map tool add on needed?

Feel free to chime in with things I havn't thought to cover above.
Oh and links are nice.

Cheers Chaz

[Zahhak]

My group tried once or twice. We had a lot of issues with sound quality because its hard to station a computer in the middle of a table so everyone can talk, and if you give everyone their own computer, well attention spans will suffer. You might make it work, but it could be difficult.

[Slipperychicken]

My group uses Roll20.net. It's free and lets you set up maps, tokens (the players can move tokens which the DM designates), store information, draw/erase on the board, and use a die roller. It's pretty convenient. The graphics which you put up can help immersion (things like pictures of cities with some areas and locations labelled). Also, I think you get to make/import your own tokens and avatars, which is pretty cool.

We use Skype mostly for the conference call function, and some things get typed into the Roll20 chat, like die rolls and some descriptions of items. Private chat is done through skype. Whenever voice chat started getting buggy, we would just start typing things in manually. That wasn't a huge issue, though.
.
We actually started playing online mid-campaign, during breaks when no-one was in town. It was absolutely fine, since everyone's trustworthy as far as disclosing what's on their sheet, and you can't cheat an online dice-roller.

[kyoryu]

Google Hangouts. Works great.

Use roll20.net with it if you need a grid map type thing. For lighter weight games, a google doc that you can draw on is usually sufficient.

Plus there's a number of apps you can use that have dice rollers built into them.

[mjlush]

Google Hangouts. Works great.
.

Not done RPG by video but have looked into it ... Google hangouts looks like a good bet to us as it supports more than two video feeds for free.

I suspect being able to see everyone is a big win as it cuts down on the temptation to Ahem ... multitask and you can also see if someone wants to speak.

[Totally Guy]

I'm playing Fiasco tonight over google hangouts. Last week I played a Hot War horror hack.

Next week I'm playing a game called ViewScream, a game designed for G+ play. You are on a spaceship where you have to communicate to each other via view screens.

[R00kie]

I'm playing Fiasco tonight over google hangouts. Last week I played a Hot War horror hack.

Next week I'm playing a game called ViewScream, a game designed for G+ play. You are on a spaceship where you have to communicate to each other via view screens.

Except the Viewscream scenario we've picked is Cancel Christmas by Jason Morningstar which most definitely isn't on a spaceship. In 'Cancel Christmas', the game takes place on Christmas Eve, 1971. We'll play 4 radar technicians watching Cuba who can only contact each other by radio. Near the start of the game we'll detect what may or may not be a missile launch. I dont know anything about the scenario beyond that - but I've heard great things...

[Totally Guy]

Except the Viewscream scenario we've picked is Cancel Christmas by Jason Morningstar which most definitely isn't on a spaceship. In 'Cancel Christmas', the game takes place on Christmas Eve, 1971. We'll play 4 radar technicians watching Cuba who can only contact each other by radio. Near the start of the game we'll detect what may or may not be a missile launch. I dont know anything about the scenario beyond that - but I've heard great things...

Who is this? A spy from real life?

[Charity]

My group uses Roll20.net. It's free and lets you set up maps, tokens (the players can move tokens which the DM designates), store information, draw/erase on the board, and use a die roller. It's pretty convenient. The graphics which you put up can help immersion (things like pictures of cities with some areas and locations labelled). Also, I think you get to make/import your own tokens and avatars, which is pretty cool.

This sounds like a winner thank you muchly I shall look into it

We use Skype mostly for the conference call function, and some things get typed into the Roll20 chat, like die rolls and some descriptions of items. Private chat is done through skype. Whenever voice chat started getting buggy, we would just start typing things in manually. That wasn't a huge issue, though.

My lot are a bunch of luddites and I can't type worth a damn so this is best avoided.

Google Hangouts. Works great.

Use roll20.net with it if you need a grid map type thing. For lighter weight games, a google doc that you can draw on is usually sufficient.

Plus there's a number of apps you can use that have dice rollers built into them.

I guess as we could all get together bar the DM the multi video might not be an issue, though everyone round 1 tablet/pc might be.

I'm playing Fiasco tonight over google hangouts. Last week I played a Hot War horror hack.

Next week I'm playing a game called ViewScream, a game designed for G+ play. You are on a spaceship where you have to communicate to each other via view screens.

Hi matey how the devil are you?
Teaching is keeping me pretty darn busy these days but I must drag myself over to a meet up some time.

[Charity]

Next week I'm playing a game called ViewScream, a game designed for G+ play. You are on a spaceship where you have to communicate to each other via view screens.

Please tell me you are going to dress up for this

[kyoryu]

I'm playing Fiasco tonight over google hangouts. Last week I played a Hot War horror hack.

Was that with Jonathan Henry?

[Totally Guy]

Was that with Jonathan Henry?

Actually it was. What's the link here? I don't see how you'd find that out.


Charity,

Aside from from people creeping me out with surprisingly detailed knowledge of my intimate dealings in this thread I'm having a good time with it. PM me and we'll see if we can do some social ultramodern networking.

[kyoryu]

Actually it was. What's the link here? I don't see how you'd find that out.

I play with him a bunch on G+, and had noticed that he had played some Hangout Fiasco on the same day you had mentioned. I may have noticed the playset, and put two and two together.

Just a wild hunch past that. He's a good guy to play with :)