Do some people play with online groups?

[Uppsala]

Hello forumers!

It's my first post, and I just want to say, I am extremely excited to be here.

To make it short, aside from being a huge Tolkien fan, based on the systems this rpg implements, this seems just like the one I have been waiting for. What I hear about the the way the game is written, the details of the environments, its systems, this seems also just up my alley. I am super eager to get give it a go.

With that being said, I want to know if there are any suggestions for playing this game with an online group. I'd rather play non-digitally, but I am not sure if I could find players in my area, and with that being said, I may not be idle in my current city longterm. Sure, I could always find a new group, but I am just curious to know whether people have been known to playing this rpg online, and if there are any current groups playing.

One good example of this is White Wolf's World of Darkness rpgs. They had (not sure the state of it now) a medium that allowed users to enter a room equipped with chat and dice mechanisms. All one would need to do is join team speak, skype, or something else, and join the chatroom. Of course, that's a fancy option, and I don't expect none of that, but it gave me the inspiration years ago that if I wanted to play a game with an online group, it'd be possible.

So that's my question. Thanks for having me here guys! And thanks for all of your responses.

[Heilemann]

I'd check the Roll20 or Fantasy Grounds community forums, I don't know if there are open TOR groups on them currently, but those are the best bets AFAIK.

[Hermes Serpent]

You should look at Roll20 for the virtual tabletop. Several people on here have done macros for the game and they can be found in the section of the Roll20 wiki that covers various game implementations. The video and audio built-in to Roll20 used to be less than stellar but now they've implemented HTML5 features found in Chrome and Firefox that make those a lot better. Some people use VOIP like Skype for the audio portion and things like teamspeak but that shouldn't be necessary.

Google+ Hangouts can be used to run games as well and you can run the Roll20 app inside a Hangout if you want features found in Google Docs for your game. If the connectivity in your area is a bit spotty then the algorithms used by G+ seem to be more tolerant than Skype for example.

I've had luck posting here for players for an on-line game and also in the One Ring G+ Community.

[Uppsala]

Thanks for the post guys!

You both recommended Roll20. Funny enough, I've never even heard of that website. It looks like quite a platform. I'm real excited to see something like this come along.

Well, that's good news to hear Hermes, about finding players on here or through G+.

I think I am definitely going to buy the book now.

[Glorelendil]

I'm in Hermes Serpent's group using roll20 and although the virtual tabletop does impose a bit of overhead, once you get used to it (and get macros set up) it works pretty well.

I'm working with Heilemann on a TOR character sheet for roll20, which should make things even easier once they've officially released that.

[zedturtle]

Well, yes.

There are two primary types: the online chat types through things like Roll20 or Google Hangouts. They are "everyone in different places but at the same time" online games. There's also play-by-post games on various fora. These are "everyone in different places and at different times" online games.

All play-by-post games are tricky to keep running, but TOR does a good job of helping out as much as any traditional roleplaying game. Traits and the very limited skill list keep things simple for players, I insist on (as LM/GM) making all rolls... that way we're never waiting on one person so that we can find out how the round ended.

[Mordagnir]

I'm working with Heilemann on a TOR character sheet for roll20, which should make things even easier once they've officially released that.

Can't wait to see it. We're decidedly low-tech in my group.

[Hermes Serpent]

I'm working with Heilemann on a TOR character sheet for roll20, which should make things even easier once they've officially released that.

Won;t it need two styles of character type sheets one for the Heroes and one for the adversaries or will the adversaries only have the option of macro driven tokens?

[Heilemann]

That's a good question, one I'm not sure I have an answer to. It's early days still, but maybe there's a way to switch between the two on the character sheet itself.

[Glorelendil]

This is being discussed on the roll20 forums, but the devs have acknowledged that one game might need multiple types of character sheets.