Runequest Roll20 official support?

[AJ The Ronin]

I noticed that Chaosium had the Call of Cthulhu QSR, rulebook and some adventures available in Roll20, but I was looking for the Runequest quick start...and it's not there. 

 

Heck, the only thing available is a fan made character sheet.

 

Do we have to go HeroQuesting to get roll20 official support? 🙂

[g33k]

Quote

Do we have to go HeroQuesting to get roll20 official support? 🙂

•  

Yes.

 

 

 

(snark aside -- I haven't heard anything on this topic for quite a while; but Chaosium has (previously) stated clearly that they intended to get various e-support tools for RQG in place; so I keep hope alive!  I would welcome further comment (and actual time/budget on-task) from them <hint,hint>.  The lack (in comparison to some other games) begins to loom a bit, particularly in these covid-19 days... ) .

(also, it's possible they will go with another site, such as FG or Astral)

 

Edited April 21, 2020 by g33k

[AJ The Ronin]

I don't mind Astral. I'm in a CoC game there and it isn't a bad platform. I do find Roll20 more polished.

[GianniVacca]

My online RQG GM (Steve; I don't think he's on this forum) has created a zillion macros and we have just about everything needed to play on Roll20: strike ranks, augments, spell effects, spell durations,... but he's been improving that for two years now. Maybe Chaosium should simply purchase his macros 🙂

[GAZZA]

We're using the RQG character sheet that comes with Roll 20 (which is fine, but not ideal - especially as a GM as I'm constantly having to tell it to use the NPC sheet), but I am just keeping track of hit points, magic points, and so on for NPCs in an Excel spreadsheet rather than try to force Roll 20 to look after it for me. It works OK for PCs though.

One of my players recently donated so that I now have the ad-free version and "rollable tables", which I haven't had a chance to look at yet.

I was a bit short on time for prep on Saturday; when I needed an impala for my hunting table, I just grabbed the first result on the web search, which turned out to be the car. My players were amused.

[borbetomagnus]

@GAZZA Are you using Excel to keep track of the Strike Ranks? I'm considering Roll20 for a RQG game, and will have about 8 players. I'd like there to be a Strike Rank counter that would be visible to all players so that they know when they can act and when the NPCs will act. 

We've played OSR games and only used Discord, and the dice roller commands, and it worked well. It will be different with RQG and we may need to use Roll20 to keep track of character locations during combat.

[GAZZA]

2 hours ago, borbetomagnus said:

@GAZZA Are you using Excel to keep track of the Strike Ranks? I'm considering Roll20 for a RQG game, and will have about 8 players. I'd like there to be a Strike Rank counter that would be visible to all players so that they know when they can act and when the NPCs will act. 

There is a Strike Rank table in Roll20, but I'm not using it personally. While there is a lot of discussion on how complex Strike Ranks can get in RQG, I must confess that in play it hasn't tended to be that much of a problem for me to need a table (indeed, I've found less need for it than a turn tracker for D&D). I just call out "Strike rank 1, 2, 3..." and see who says "That's me"; I would be far less than astonished to find that we're doing some things "wrong" but I don't think we're making any gross errors.

That said I can see the appeal of a tool if you'd like it. As far as I know the one in Roll 20 works.

[Lordabdul]

7 minutes ago, GAZZA said:

I just call out "Strike rank 1, 2, 3..." and see who says "That's me";

So you don't do Statement of Intent then?

[GAZZA]

1 minute ago, lordabdul said:

So you don't do Statement of Intent then?

Oh no, I do. By "I just call out..." I didn't mean to imply I skipped Statement of Intent, merely that I don't use the Roll 20 turn tracker for Strike Ranks.

[Lordabdul]

34 minutes ago, GAZZA said:

Oh no, I do.

Ah gotcha. So I think you don't have any problem because it sounds like you have players who can make up their mind quickly, and can compute their SR on their own. Lucky you!

Anyway, for those using a VTT (I guess that's everybody right now), there's this useful thing in this other thread:

 

Edited April 22, 2020 by lordabdul

[GAZZA]

21 minutes ago, lordabdul said:

Ah gotcha. So I think you don't have any problem because it sounds like you have players who can make up their mind quickly, and can compute their SR on their own. Lucky you!

I wouldn't necessarily say they make up their mind quickly by choice but peer pressure is a very effective tool.

Thanks for the link to the runes, that looks very handy.

[Puckohue]

I do a round of Statement of intent during which I add the PCs to the roll20 turn tracker with their SR. I also add NPCs there.

It would be great to see how the ”rollable tables” can be used. For fumbles? And what RQG macros have people made?

I’ve looked for useful macros on the roll20 forums but not found anything yet.

[soltakss]

5 hours ago, lordabdul said:

Ah gotcha. So I think you don't have any problem because it sounds like you have players who can make up their mind quickly, and can compute their SR on their own. Lucky you!

Except for using spells, SRs are there on the character sheet.

If you attack you use the Melee or Missile SR, subsequent attacks add the weapon SR to that. 

if you use spells, it's a bit different, as you add the MPs used in the spell to your DEX SR.

Pretty simple, really.

[Runeblogger]

On 4/20/2020 at 12:08 PM, GianniVacca said:

My online RQG GM (Steve; I don't think he's on this forum) has created a zillion macros and we have just about everything needed to play on Roll20: strike ranks, augments, spell effects, spell durations,... but he's been improving that for two years now. Maybe Chaosium should simply purchase his macros 🙂

YES, please! 
🤩

[skulldixon]

I for one wouldn't mind seeing at the vary least the Runequest Quickstart and Pregens put on Roll20. Would make that whole process a lot easier.

[skulldixon]

For anyone who is interested; David - the guy who made the Fan made Runequest Character sheet on Roll20 will make any changes to it if you pay him. I didn't take him up on the offer but I figure maybe someone else would. Here

[FungusColombicus]

It is too late for me since our GM just killed the campaign we are playing out of frustration with Roll20. Between the lag... the problems with the character sheets and the impossible to manage "mystery" added/removed penalties for throws... nightmare in few words.

I suspect my GM will not continue playing until Chaosium makes an "official" product (that we gladly paid for use) that works and is usable without the problems we currently have...

[Rick Meints]

While we want to get RuneQuest resources on VTT platforms like Roll20 and Fantasy Grounds we have a very limited in-house capacity to convert/program them, and the FG and R20 developers are very very busy, so we only get a small portion of their time. Getting RQ product to those platforms is not from lack of desire. It's a bandwidth issue.

[skulldixon]

6 minutes ago, Rick Meints said:

While we want to get RuneQuest resources on VTT platforms like Roll20 and Fantasy Grounds we have a very limited in-house capacity to convert/program them, and the FG and R20 developers are very very busy, so we only get a small portion of their time. Getting RQ product to those platforms is not from lack of desire. It's a bandwidth issue.

Thats good to know. Thanks!

 

So to get an official one made you have to work directly with the Roll20/FG developers? 

[FungusColombicus]

38 minutes ago, Rick Meints said:

While we want to get RuneQuest resources on VTT platforms like Roll20 and Fantasy Grounds we have a very limited in-house capacity to convert/program them, and the FG and R20 developers are very very busy, so we only get a small portion of their time. Getting RQ product to those platforms is not from lack of desire. It's a bandwidth issue.

What about increasing the bandwidth by calling the community to contribute in some sort of hybrid of "kickstarter" + Jonstown Compendium where we get something that the community direly need. I cannot imagine reassigning a lot of the resources, the lessons learned and work already done for Cthulhu may be so difficult to move forward.

IF the desire is there... is a matter of finding the way RIGHT ?

[skulldixon]

I think that a great idea! I think the community would totally support getting more official VTT support out there.

[Rick Meints]

If anyone with VTT skills related to converting our materials onto those platforms wants to contact us and volunteer to help, they are most welcome to do so.

[Psullie]

12 hours ago, Rick Meints said:

If anyone with VTT skills related to converting our materials onto those platforms wants to contact us and volunteer to help, they are most welcome to do so.

Cool. As a JC contributor I like to include unlabelled maps in a suitable file format and resolution for VTT that GMS can drop on screen. I think this is something that Chaosium, and others should strive to do. Doesn't have to be dynamically lit, just a map that doesn't say here is the treasure would be hugely useful.

[Andrew Cowie]

On 2/2/2021 at 3:32 AM, Rick Meints said:

If anyone with VTT skills related to converting our materials onto those platforms wants to contact us and volunteer to help, they are most welcome to do so.

If there is any desire to raise money so they can get paid enough to focus on RQG and deliver a solid product, then I for one would be delighted to prepay in an informal Kickstarter style?

 

[astaroth]

Hello Rick,

As I'm working on FoundryVTT system and have a working Alpha of RQG for it, and can support creating content on Foundry, if it is of interest for Chaosium I volunteer my code and effort to improve / complete it.

If you need help on Roll20 or FG I can also help.

Edit: I ran my Gamehole and Gencon games using the system in an earlier Alpha. With community feedback and testing I would still expect significant improvement very fast.

Edited February 3, 2021 by astaroth