So I just finished up a game using the Google+ video chat system called Hangouts. It was a lot of fun. Two players escaped the troll's kitchen, one was eaten and one broke his neck trying to climb out of the dungeon. Somewhere along the way I was told that the limit for people in a Hangout was ten, so foolishly I allowed 9 players to sign up. This created a massive clusterfuck at the beginning of the game as everyone was lagging and some people were dropping in and out. With only five of us we encountered far fewer problems.
It was so smooth I felt like I was playing the game with real live people. All previous attempts at internet gaming left me feeling weird. I think the cues in voice tone and expression, even when communicated sub-optimally, supply a necessary element of the experience for me. That's one of the reasons I never got hooked by MMOs, I think.
I'm going to run the same game tomorrow for anyone who got pushed out by the technology today. After that I'm not sure what I'm going to do, but I'm now convinced that Zak is really on to something with this stuff. If you've got the required technology, running a real deal RPG session just got a million percent easier to organize.
PoP!
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I have drawn three pieces today, and this -- with no hint of irony or
self-deprecation -- is the best of them all.
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how did you handle the dice?
ReplyDeleteI trusted the players to report their rolls.
ReplyDeleteTotes on the million percentness, Jeff. I'm'a hafta get a camera hooked up, run some Encounter Critical.
ReplyDeleteMaybe not so early in the morning, though. I'm not complaining about the time you picked for your game, but I would want to have more time available to me and not hafta get eaten so I could go to work.
I was intrigued when I saw this mentioned on Zak's blog. Now I might actually try it. Who's up for Castle of the Mad Archmage? ;-)
ReplyDeleteDude, in all seriousness my first thought after decompressing from the act of GMing was "The Gygaxian zillion-player tentpole-megadungeon wilderness-exploring campaign model is back!" The key is to figure out how to organize mutliple expeditions by multiple parties and how to manage the timeline.
ReplyDeleteThat's all a matter of social organisation. An idea whose time has come? Sounds like a blast.
ReplyDeleteNot having used the tool, what do you see as the practical issue regarding organizing multuple parties? Is there some technical issue with the way the circles are organized?
ReplyDeleteIf not I agree with Adelaide Gamer; I deal with those issues all the time in my own game.
I don't see any technical issues, as long as the player number is kept reasonable. I'm merely saying we'd have to re-establish the logistics skills of yore. If you have 20 players and only 4 or 5 spots in any game, they will need to start thinking about who might be the better character to take into the dungeon for mission X. And the GM needs to be able to know where and when all the PCs are at a snapshot.
ReplyDeleteIf you want more than 4 players and one DM you could try to organize games where more than one person shares their cam with a local pal.
ReplyDelete@joseph
I'm in if you're running archmage. If you're serious, post on the thread on my blog, or post somewhere else if you want a different "sample" but I recommend using the info template there (2 time zones, system, etc.) to make it happen quickly.
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ReplyDeleteThanks again for running us through this. I think in the future though I'll copy your schedule and get up early instead of marathoning it ;p
ReplyDeleteFelt like "real live people", did it? LOL.
ReplyDeleteCool that you did that, and thanks for the report on it. Some friends on G+ have been talking about doing the same thing.
One question though: yes, G+ seems convenient because it's right there, but why is it more appealing to do than, say, Skype video and real-time voice? Is it just that G+ is new and shiny that this connection seems obvious?
I never tried Skype. What got me over the hump was the direct integration with the social media of G+. It made organizing the game and playing it one continuous experience.
ReplyDelete@teramis
ReplyDeleteAlso: multiperson videchat is free on G+ and you gotta pay on skype
This was also my first time actually doing the online game thing, though I have flirted with it heavily in the past. It was very much like a real game, except minus the side conversations for you to have to GM over. It was a total blast. I will definitely do it again, and often!
ReplyDelete