SPECIAL NOTICE
Malicious code was found on the site, which has been removed, but would have been able to access files and the database, revealing email addresses, posts, and encoded passwords (which would need to be decoded). However, there is no direct evidence that any such activity occurred. REGARDLESS, BE SURE TO CHANGE YOUR PASSWORDS. And as is good practice, remember to never use the same password on more than one site. While performing housekeeping, we also decided to upgrade the forums.
This is a site for discussing roleplaying games. Have fun doing so, but there is one major rule: do not discuss political issues that aren't directly and uniquely related to the subject of the thread and about gaming. While this site is dedicated to free speech, the following will not be tolerated: devolving a thread into unrelated political discussion, sockpuppeting (using multiple and/or bogus accounts), disrupting topics without contributing to them, and posting images that could get someone fired in the workplace (an external link is OK, but clearly mark it as Not Safe For Work, or NSFW). If you receive a warning, please take it seriously and either move on to another topic or steer the discussion back to its original RPG-related theme.

Where to find VTT groups?

Started by Tod13, September 02, 2022, 07:55:42 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

Tod13

Any suggestions of where to find VTT groups that aren't D&D 5e or Pathfinder? My wife and I are looking for a VTT group to join.

We'd prefer a VTT (as opposed to just using Zoom or something similar, although VTT plus Discord is OK).

We also need one that works on Linux (so something browser based like Owlbear or with a Linux client like Fantasy Grounds or Virtual VTT -- or even that actively supports Wine).

Roll20 seems to be the only VTT that has a decent "Looking for" setup but is crazy skewed towards 5e and Pathfinder.

HappyDaze

I have friend that's currently playing in two Rolemaster games and a MERP game on Roll20, so I know other options are out there. I'll ask him if there's anything special he searches for when looking for such games. However, it might help if you specify what games you want to play.

Tod13

Quote from: HappyDaze on September 02, 2022, 09:58:43 PM
I have friend that's currently playing in two Rolemaster games and a MERP game on Roll20, so I know other options are out there. I'll ask him if there's anything special he searches for when looking for such games. However, it might help if you specify what games you want to play.

I'm just not finding places to even look for games, other than Roll20. Roll20 has hordes listed -- true -- but 90% are 5e or Pathfinder. My plan if nothing else worked was just to keep checking there until something comes up. We're also limited by playing Saturday or Sunday (possibly Friday if the timing is right) and we're Central US time. We have real full-time jobs where we get up at 6 each morning, so we can't really game until 2 in the morning.

I was trying to avoid the issue you sometimes get where, if it isn't on the list, people won't recommend it. However...

We prefer rules light games (which if automated by VTT can be a bit crunchier I suppose). BareBones Fantasy is our favorite because of how it encourages role-playing. We like to role-play and roll dice.

Some examples we like are: BareBone Fantasy, BFRPG, or some of the OSR/older DnD type games (S&W, C&C, ACKS, etc.)
We'd love to try some version of Traveller (Cepheus / 2d6) since my wife has created lots of characters but never played.

I don't mind Rolemaster as a system, but would need some hand-holding during character creation if the other players are the kind that know how to max out skills based on stacking otherwise unrelated skill choices. (Something I ran into 30 years ago playing it.)

FATE isn't on the list, but I wouldn't mind trying it. Same with Call of Cthulhu or lots of other games.

More important is the kind of GM or style of play -- something where the GM is challenging the players and helping them to have fun, not just trying to kill them.
A game/campaign with some sort of plot is preferred -- I'm not sure how either of us would deal with the sandbox that seems so popular. But we're willing to try.
A group where they're trying to have fun, not one-up each other or put one over on the other players.
No "adult content" -- so, not one of Venger Satanis' games or Gor. (I have several of VS's adventures and most of the Gor books -- just not what we want to play.)
Trying to avoid politics, so leave it at a group where they aren't going to ask us our pronouns.

HappyDaze

I know he's played some Traveller on Roll20 (or maybe elsewhere online), so I'll ask him and get back to you on a few days.

HappyDaze

He does use Roll20 for most games, but he says to check Fantasy Grounds too. He also mentioned a third option, but I can't remember what it is. Now, he has a pretty open work schedule and games whenever the fuck he wants, so that gives him a lot of options. I imagine the more filters you put on your search, the harder it will be to get the hits you're looking for. Perhaps start a game in the slot you want and see if anyone else joins up...maybe you could even talk one into running things if you play it right.

Tod13

Quote from: HappyDaze on September 04, 2022, 10:34:24 AM
He does use Roll20 for most games, but he says to check Fantasy Grounds too. He also mentioned a third option, but I can't remember what it is. Now, he has a pretty open work schedule and games whenever the fuck he wants, so that gives him a lot of options. I imagine the more filters you put on your search, the harder it will be to get the hits you're looking for. Perhaps start a game in the slot you want and see if anyone else joins up...maybe you could even talk one into running things if you play it right.

Thanks. We'll keep looking. I think we found a John Carter group we are going to try out next weekend.

Snark Knight

These days if it's not DnD your best bet is probably Discord servers specifically for that game, be they official or not.

Foundry VTT has LFG categories on their Discord, but obviously it comes with the expectation you'll be using that.

There's also various LFG Reddits and Discord servers I'm quite certain, though I couldn't tell you any specific ones.

Tod13

Quote from: Snark Knight on September 08, 2022, 07:38:38 AM
These days if it's not DnD your best bet is probably Discord servers specifically for that game, be they official or not.

Foundry VTT has LFG categories on their Discord, but obviously it comes with the expectation you'll be using that.

There's also various LFG Reddits and Discord servers I'm quite certain, though I couldn't tell you any specific ones.

Thanks. I've started looking on Discord despite it being Discord. I hate Discord -- no organization beyond simple channels, horrible search "functionality", atrocious interface. Basically, an excuse not to run and manage a real message board.

Tod13

I did find one thing I really, really like about Discord. You have individual volume control of each person on a channel. So when you have one person who is really, really soft and won't adjust their microphone, you can turn up just their volume.

Zelen

Quote from: Tod13 on September 11, 2022, 05:40:53 PM
I did find one thing I really, really like about Discord. You have individual volume control of each person on a channel. So when you have one person who is really, really soft and won't adjust their microphone, you can turn up just their volume.

Discord has some good features in this respect. I hate other so-called conferencing tools that don't have basic features like per-user volume or an easy way to zoom in on a shared screen.

Greentongue

I think most VTT Discord channels have a LFG section. I know that even the new "The RPG Engine" does.
What you might also find is the GMs you would want to play with have a full "stable" of players.
Can't hurt to ask and get your name in the pool.

ForgottenF

#11
The Foundry VTT Discord has separate player and GM LFG channels. Unfortunately, they aren't very well sorted so you have to just check back periodically to see if anyone is posting something you're interested in. (you could also Ctrl+F the channel for a specific game, and see if any of the results are recent) They have individual channels for lots of different games, but those are only for people discussing how the game runs on the VTT.  I'll also warn you that the mods pretty constantly tag everyone in the discord on announcements for content/software releases, so be prepared to ignore some notifications.

If you haven't been exposed to Foundry, it's quite a good VTT, albeit far more tech-intensive than Roll20. One of the players in my ASSH group has consistent problems running it on his macbook. It's paid for GMs, but free for players. (and is browser based, albeit seems to run best with Google Chrome)

The only other system I use is Roll20. Their search engine is much better, but the 5e bias is real. Honestly, I think you're going to see that anywhere. 5e just has about 30 times as many players as most other games. I've found it useful when searching to always put in lots of different games, as a lot of GMs put in games that are only similar to the one they're running in the tags for their games. And always include "Other Games" in your search criteria, that alone will filter out the 5e and Pathfinder games, which almost never include that.

Roll20 is also an easier system for running games that don't expressly have packages built for the specific VTT, so I find you generally see a wider variety of games being run there.

EDIT: as an example, I'm running a Dragon Warriors campaign on Roll20. It's a game that almost no one has heard of, let alone plays, but some generous soul had made a Character sheet in Roll20, and I can do everything else I need to just using the dice roller a scratch pad. When I was looking for players, I advertised it under "Hackmaster", and "Castles and Crusades" (as well as "Other Games"). Neither of which I'm actually running, but I had players reach out and say "Hey I was looking for a C&C game, but this looks cool. Can I try it out?"   

I've heard of there being OSR discord groups out there, but I'm not in any of them. It seems like a lot of people find games through Facebook groups or https://www.reddit.com/r/lfg/, but I have no experience with either.

ForgottenF

Looking around on Roll20, Dungeon Crawl Classics seems to have a lot of games going, so if that meets your criteria, it's probably worth searching for.

Tod13

Thanks for all the suggestions. We found a Traveller game (via a Traveller Discord that I think was posted elsewhere on this site) we're really liking on a Foundry setup. (We tried a 2d20 game, but it wasn't fun at all -- no role playing and combat and skills was all about managing the metacurrency, not about having fun, in our opinion.)

The Traveller game is rather interesting, since we didn't know any of the other people before the game started. But we all chat about the game on the Discord server in the weeks between games. Some people will do IC chats related to the game, but it isn't required. If a new person is rolling a character, we try to join the voice chat for that. First session was a lot of fun. We still don't have a group leader (either for the PCs or the Players) but everything is working out so far. It is my first time not being a GM in decades, so that is fun too.

ForgottenF

Quote from: Tod13 on October 07, 2022, 09:36:54 AM
Thanks for all the suggestions. We found a Traveller game (via a Traveller Discord that I think was posted elsewhere on this site) we're really liking on a Foundry setup. (We tried a 2d20 game, but it wasn't fun at all -- no role playing and combat and skills was all about managing the metacurrency, not about having fun, in our opinion.)

I was wondering which game it was when you said you were trying a Mars game. Yeah, I'm in a 2d20 Conan game, and my experience has been similar. I've got a good group I'm playing it with, so the RP goes on, but the system ends up fighting it as much as helping it along. The more exposure I get to Modiphius products the more I find they're the kings of ideas that sound good on paper, but completely fall apart in practice.