Roll20 Anyone?

[Psullie]

Hi All

Recently I've been tempted by Roll20 as a way to play. I've never tried it before and rather than join an established group with the risk of not liking the technology I'd consider running my own game for 2 -3 sessions by means of a trail. Anybody open to giving it a spin?

I'm looking at Sundays 2 - 6 UK time.

Cheers

 

[Snork]

Might be plausible

[Balakatun]

I wish, but time difference wont work for me (Pacific time) - good luck with that and let us know how it goes!

[styopa]

Once the rules are released, absolutely.

[Gryphaea]

I would be happy to give it a go, I am on UK time and Sundays are OK.

The best advice is to post a listing on Roll20 and just give it a try - I have found the community to be accepting and happy to support you and give technical advice as you learn the ropes and work out if you like it.

The technology for Roll20 is simple but functional. I would suggest its a more visual medium than tabletop - but that may just be me.

You need to work out how you will do the audio, many use Discord. I have had mixed results with the Roll20 audio, I know some people who don't have problems with it, others who refuse to use it. What ever you use for the audio be prepared to have a back up plan if it goes down. At least one of your potential players will have opinions on the best audio, and you may find that a good deal of the early part of the first session is actually devoted to getting everybody up and running on the same audio system

The big potential difficulty you may have with running RQ on Roll20 is finding a Character sheet that works for you. Roll20 works very well if you are using an integrated character sheet as all the information is there for you as a GM and your player and on the best Character sheets the dice required for a roll are integrated into the character sheets as macros which roll the dice and work out success, failure and criticals etc. There are Character sheets for RQ3, RQ6 and Mythras, there are no sheets for RQ2 or RQAG. If you are wanting to play RQ2 this is means that you won't see Roll20 at its full potential. I have tried playing the Quickstart RQAG using the RQ3 sheet, which was the best fit, but is far from an optimal solution. Getting a workable character sheet for RQAG would be a important step forward and really good idea to have ready for the full launch (if anyone is listening...)

If you post a invitation to players on Roll20 you will probably fill it before the week is out, but be aware that not everyone who applies will actually end up turning up for the first session and if you get more that 50% of your initial players beyond session 2 you are doing well. Its nothing personal, its just the way it works.

Despite the vast majority of the players on the platform playing D&D I think you will find interest for RQ and Glorantha and goodwill from people on the forums for offering a game.  I would strongly recommend asking a few simple questions as part of an initial application/screening process- eg time zone?  do you own the books? have you played before? and also an open ended question, perhaps to facilitate an amusing answer (an example would be - If you could choose a chaos feature to have in real life what would it be?) If they can't be bothered to give the answers to a few simple questions they really aren't committed to making a commitment to a game. Also don't invite the first people who apply wait till you have a decent short list to make a choice from - don't panic enough will apply eventually, they always do.

 

Good luck and I hope it works out for you

[Psullie]

Thanks Gryphara for taking the time to respond with some excellent advice - I started looking at setting up the scenario and realised how the Character sheets work, but as I'm not yet committed to a paid subscription I'll have to fudge them for the first game as you suggest.

I'll keep you posted, and of course send an invite when I'm ready

Cheers

 

[Snork]

Can I suggest posting on this thread when you start the Roll20 invites

I use Roll20 intermittently so might miss the game

I concur that discord works better for sounds 

[Pentallion]

That's how we do it.  We use Roll20 and have Discord for sound.  Here's what it looks like.  And some of the cool stuff you can do.

[styopa]

Very cool, Pent.

[Psullie]

looks great! I'd be happy with b&w sketches to start with - if it works for me then aspire to that level of visuals  

[Pentallion]

It's easier than you'd think Psullie.  You'll be making awesome sets in no time.

[Gryphaea]

The old RQ supplements can be cannibalised  fairly easily with a scanner and the liberal use of the Microsoft paint app eraser rubber (or something better if you have the skills). It not pretty and you may need to scrounge some additional artwork, but they are functional.

Dungeon Paint Studio is on steam and though a little fiddly and still a work in progress you can get usable maps which you can use on Roll20.

Also you can buy maps and supplements. I am a fan of Forge Studios and support him on Patreon, you can check out his work on DriveThruRPG. There is of course the amazing Dyson Logos as well...

[Pentallion]

Irfanview is the free tool I use.

[Psullie]

Pre Gens are done, so time to get the game going.

Character choice is: 
Ekron, Rathori Hunter, 
Twyla, Safelstern Kafl merchant,
Lalira, Horse Nomad from Pent,
Kannil, former tea plantation worker from Seshnela,
Orstanor, Esrolian herbalist,
Kyung Mi, warrior from the Kingdom of Ignorance, and
Pathin, Damai Tribesman 

So if you are interested post a response or PM me. I'll post invites on Roll20 in a week or so but felt I'd give first call to BRP members...

 

Edited December 6, 2017 by Psullie
new art

[Psullie]

As I'd like to play 2-3 consecutive Sundays and with the holidays fast approaching I've decided to start on the 7th of January, with a follow-up session on the 14th and all going well the 21st. Also RQG should be available (fingers crossed) by then as a pdf so we can have some fun with that too.

So if you are interested post a response or PM me. I'll post invites on Roll20 in a week or so but felt I'd give first call to BRP members...

[g33k]

On 11/21/2017 at 9:43 AM, Gryphaea said:

... Getting a workable character sheet for RQAG would be a important step forward and really good idea to have ready for the full launch (if anyone is listening...)

I am quite sure that someone official from Chaosium (likely @MOB, but maybe someone else ... ?) has previously stated their desire to have RQG in a VTT like Roll20 / FantasyGrounds, hopefully released at the same time as the core rules.

Similarly, they hope to have character-creation software such as AlterEgo's Metacreator or LoneWolf's HeroLab (I know both of those support CoC already).

I don't know what the status of either of these endeavors is, however.

Having these roll out WITH the RQG release instead of months (or more) after would IMHO be a VERY nice thing...

Edited December 6, 2017 by g33k
thinko

[Psullie]

Yes having RQG fully integrated with character sheets would be great. If I'm impressed by roll20 enough to upgrade my account (necessary to create character sheets) I'be be happy to give it a go.

Jason was going to run a game on Roll20 for AetherCon but it fell through at the last minute, but it was just using the QuickStart pregens - perhaps a free scenario pack with art etc would be good too...

[Flesh Man]

On 16/11/2017 at 9:20 PM, Psullie said:

Hi All

Recently I've been tempted by Roll20 as a way to play. I've never tried it before and rather than join an established group with the risk of not liking the technology I'd consider running my own game for 2 -3 sessions by means of a trail. Anybody open to giving it a spin?

I'm looking at Sundays 2 - 6 UK time.

Cheers

 

I did a quick hack of the RQ3 sheet to handle runes, passions strike ranks etc, if you have a pro or know someone with a pro who set you up as GM I can send yo the source to use as a custom sheet.

[Pentallion]

On 12/6/2017 at 9:45 AM, Psullie said:

Yes having RQG fully integrated with character sheets would be great. If I'm impressed by roll20 enough to upgrade my account (necessary to create character sheets) I'be be happy to give it a go.

Jason was going to run a game on Roll20 for AetherCon but it fell through at the last minute, but it was just using the QuickStart pregens - perhaps a free scenario pack with art etc would be good too...

Yeah, I had a game all ready for AetherCon, but I misunderstood how open games work on Roll20, having only run private games.  I didn't realize what was needed to invite people onto the server and thought they could just join if it was a public server.  So the game dropped at the last minute.  Next time I'll be ready.  Unfortunately, I can't contact the fellow who created the RQG character sheet.  He does excellent work - his RQ3 character sheet is the best Character sheet of any game on roll20 - but he hasn't replied to me since that incident.  Bad enough I screwed up AetherCon, but I hope the experience didn't put him off too.

Edited December 8, 2017 by Pentallion

[Gryphaea]

It's nice to see some discussion about RQG and roll20 starting, I hope that more people feel able to chip in and that some kind of specific community can gather together. 

Pentallion, I was sad to read about your experiences with Roll20 and AetherCon, but you seem determined to persevere. I ran the Quickstart for Roll20 con and enjoyed myself  and the game seem well received, but everything was improvised and it felt really rough and ready. I didn't feel motivated to try for AetherCon using my own dodgy set up and thought I would give it a miss. However... If I had know that someone else was trying I would have been more than happy to share the fruits of my own (very limited) labours and experience. (Hmmm... community)

Reading between the lines of the revised publishing schedule for Chaosium, their staff resources seem pretty well committed to the jobs they have in hand (which is fair enough) - and that things like Roll20 character sheets and other materials will need to come from the community rather than Chaosium. I suspect that the ball is in our court.

Edited December 8, 2017 by Gryphaea

[g33k]

4 minutes ago, Gryphaea said:

Reading between the lines of the revised publishing schedule for Chaosium, their staff resources seem pretty well committed to the jobs they have in hand (which is fair enough) - and that things like Roll20 character sheets and other materials will need to come from the community rather than Chaosium. I suspect that the ball is in our court.

I agree that they are fully committed with their RPG's.  I would -always- presume that the computer stuff would be hired-out or licensed-to someone who is a professional in that field.  Even if they produced something that was branded-as / published-by Chaosium, I would presume that it was work-for-hire by a freelancer, or similar...

But before throwing tons of amateur/fan effort at a project, I suggest contacting Chaosium directly & privately, to ask if they ALREADY have something under way (and if so, maybe can you contribute/join).

[Flesh Man]

2 hours ago, Pentallion said:

Yeah, I had a game all ready for AetherCon, but I misunderstood how open games work on Roll20, having only run private games.  I didn't realize what was needed to invite people onto the server and thought they could just join if it was a public server.  So the game dropped at the last minute.  Next time I'll be ready.  Unfortunately, I can't contact the fellow who created the RQG character sheet.  He does excellent work - his RQ3 character sheet is the best Character sheet of any game on roll20 - but he hasn't replied to me since that incident.  Bad enough I screwed up AetherCon, but I hope the experience didn't put him off too.

That fellow you cannot contact made the post right above yours.   

[Flesh Man]

14 minutes ago, g33k said:

I agree that they are fully committed with their RPG's.  I would -always- presume that the computer stuff would be hired-out or licensed-to someone who is a professional in that field.  Even if they produced something that was branded-as / published-by Chaosium, I would presume that it was work-for-hire by a freelancer, or similar...

But before throwing tons of amateur/fan effort at a project, I suggest contacting Chaosium directly & privately, to ask if they ALREADY have something under way (and if so, maybe can you contribute/join).

Which is why I have not created any amateur/fan to  be released to the production server and offered it as custom content. Apart from D&D all the sheets are made by fans / amateurs who pay for the privelege of expanding the service.Since you seem to despise that sort of thing you should probably stay awy from Roll20.

[Gryphaea]

For the sake of clarity I have just reached out and asked the question about Character Sheets so that we know were we stand. I'll update when I get an answer.

Waltshumate - thanks for your contributions already with the mods to the character sheet. I was not aware of that, and will try to get access to the amended sheets.

I made a comment of your sheet was 'far from an optimal solution' to play RQ:AG, I apologises if this inadvertently caused you any offence - I was not trying to disparage your work which is of high quality and far more that I feel I could achieve. I merely wanted the comment to make folk aware that none of the character sheets at the time of launch of the Quickstart enabled you to easily automate all the features of the game.

[Bilharzia]

My experience has been very similar to Gryphaea's on Roll20, I also go with the Roll20+Discord combo which so far has worked very well. Another popular duo is Roll20+Skype although personally using Skype like this hasn't worked for me but I think I'm an exception. Discord has a few more useful features than both Skype & Roll20 itself.

As far as sheets goes from my experience Matthew Carpenter's RuneQuest6 and now Mythras are the best RQ-related sheets on Roll20, whether he would be interested or have the time to develop a RQG one I don't know. He has been pretty active in developing and improving the Mythras one, he posts regular updates here https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/designmechanism/roll20-sheet-for-mythras-t2107.html

There are some spectacular sheets made by contributors on roll20, like the one for Sprawl is gorgeous, but it seems like a thankless task for the authors, the fact that any of them exist seems a minor miracle.