http://mydialcampaign.weebly.com/index.html

One of the fine folks playing on the Combat Cast is Greg. He has really grabbed Maptools by the horns and created some out-of-this-world macros for our game. I was so stoked to see this stuff in action tonight that I just had to post a screen capture. Thanks a ton to Greg for all the work he has put into this for our campaign. This is a great example of what you can do with these tools. Click on it to enlarge.

It was a decent break from games, the computer, and the normal pace of life. But now that I am back in the familiar forests of home, I am ready to get the next show done. Keep an eye on your podcatcher and Twitter for when the next episode comes out. I’ll bet it is done by Wednesday or sooner.

The first session of this campaign was played over Skype (with a Push to Talk addon), Twiddla for map sharing, and a custom dice roller for Skype (written by the host). For the next session, we are planning to use Gametable for map sharing and dice rolling. There were some technical difficulties with recording so I’m not sure if any of the first session will be released. If it does, great! If not, we will recap the first session in the first episode that makes it out.

So what was it like? As someone who has fond memories of the gaming table at my local hobby shop growing up, I wasn’t sure if it would be something I could really get into. One of the things I really like about gaming is the personal interaction at the table. The sound of the dice being rolled, the taste of cheetohs and soda, stepping outside for fresh air in between encounters; these are some of the things I dig about gaming in person with people. Over the Internet, dice is rolled with software, miniatures are avatars on the screen, and you can’t exactly get up and keep an ear on things if you have to hit the bathroom real quick.

Despite those things, I had a great time playing over the Internet! Our party consisted of people from various locations. I’m in Michigan, another is in St. Louis, but I don’t know where the rest of the party hails from. And honestly, it didn’t matter. Getting us all on the same page in the story was pretty easy. We gradually formed a party on a dangerous road to a larger city and agreed that there is strength in numbers. At least it wasn’t in a tavern. We were able to get going right away.

Almost immediately, we came upon what we assumed were kobolds. They didn’t see us, so we had a surprise round. As combat ensued, the various tasks associated with it were tested in our virtual game for the first time. Dice rolling was not a problem, though it would have been easier with macros such as are available in Gametable or Maptool. Moving our virtual miniatures on the map via Twiddla was OK, but again, Gametable or Maptool would probably have handled that better.

First lesson learned: Gametable or Maptool (or similar software) is indispensable for playing over the Internet.

Combat is combat and we eventually slaughtered everything. Roleplaying wasn’t hard in my opinion. Depending on what kind of RP’er you are, speaking in first person or not, voice chat software lets you say what has to be said.

Given that we were five strangers getting together for the first time, I think it went really well. I can definitely see the possibilities for people that either cannot or will not get out to play with people in person. Even more so, I got excited about the possibility of playing a game with people I actually know well.

I won’t be leaving the gaming table for a virtual setting completely, but I can see this working into my game playing with friends that are far away. (Dale, I am looking at you!)