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Author Topic: campaigns with players across multiple platforms  (Read 943 times)

staggerlee

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campaigns with players across multiple platforms
« on: September 13, 2020, 12:06:41 AM »
Has anyone had luck with this?  Say, running a couple people as PbP, someone by email, someone in person? 


I ask because I'm itching to run something, and a group is just not happening in the next few years.  I've never run or even really tried to run anything in this manner.  So I'm a little wary. 

HappyDaze

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Re: campaigns with players across multiple platforms
« Reply #1 on: September 13, 2020, 03:19:09 AM »
Closest I've seen was an in-person group with one player that was regularly on the road and frequently played over Scype. Somewhat of a pain in the ass since the Scype guy was our face/leader.

Samsquantch

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Re: campaigns with players across multiple platforms
« Reply #2 on: September 16, 2020, 07:00:19 PM »
My current group is made up of a married couple I've known for 10 years who have been playing with me since 5e was released. They were new to RPG's in general as were the others in that campaign. This fell apart with that group and we three reformed early last summer with another friend. We played in person in both cases and had the friend's new bf join by just showing up uninvited... Was a big red flag right there but we all liked our friend so we did our best to accommodate him and make him feel welcome.
Unfortunately this fellow was a shining example of that guy and a toxic gamer. Still, we did everything to ignore it and make do as we cared about our friend. We started looking forwards to our next sessions less and less due to his behavior but we persevered and we kept trying to make him less of pain to be with by telling him to let others speak and play their own characters and a bunch of other tactics. Shouting back at him at times as well. No matter what we did this guy just didn't get it, even stating directly that he had to stop the cheating and bullying only worked for a session or two.


Then came covid. We played via discord and streamed video of minis and a battlemat. It was good but dude now would be playing video games instead of just gaming on his phone between turns... And he started being emboldened by the virtual setting and reverted back to his old ways and somehow surpassed his previous levels of asshattery.


It came to a head one session where he was blatantly cheating and we called him out on it. A hissy fit ensued and after 15 minutes we resumed play. That was his and our friend's last session as they quit because "we were bullying him"... SMH So far from reality..


Anyhow, we had 3 new players ready before we got word the two were quitting as we didn't expect they would be back anyhow. So now we had myself running the game via discord, another player at my place, my married friends at theirs, and the new couple literally across the country. Much better group dynamics, no drama, actual rp once again, and lots of respect for other players... We had all of the local players able to meet and stream from one location as covid restrictions lifted, and still include the others across the country. It's working well. We've been able to share files via discord and a site called World Anvil for online character sheets, campaign information, maps, etc. It works well for us given the situation and as people have had to isolate we adapt.


I still vastly prefer an in person game as I don't have hundred of dice and minis just for show and I love to make props. It's also a much more social atmosphere in person. That being said, using multiple platforms is workable, even with a bad group trying to make it good, and even easier with a wonderful group that want to treat others as they wished to be treated themselves.


Anyhow, bit of a rant but that's my experience with multiple platforms...

S'mon

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Re: campaigns with players across multiple platforms
« Reply #3 on: September 17, 2020, 02:30:58 AM »
I hated running tabletop with one player Skyping in (especially as he turned out to be a cheater); what I do do is run online text-chat (now on Roll20 with the VTT) while my son is with me at the table playing the same game. We can chat OOC I ask him to post all his in-game actions to the game so other players see what's going on. This works very well. I recommend standardising on a single interface that puts everyone at an equal footing.

S'mon

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Re: campaigns with players across multiple platforms
« Reply #4 on: September 17, 2020, 02:34:26 AM »
Another thing I do is run open world campaigns where different PC groups use different mediums. In my Faerun Adventures campaign one group uses play-by-post, while another has live text-chat sessions on Roll20. I could equally run live tabletop sessions too.

Bedrockbrendan

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Re: campaigns with players across multiple platforms
« Reply #5 on: September 17, 2020, 03:18:44 PM »
Has anyone had luck with this?  Say, running a couple people as PbP, someone by email, someone in person? 


I ask because I'm itching to run something, and a group is just not happening in the next few years.  I've never run or even really tried to run anything in this manner.  So I'm a little wary.


Presently I conduct all my campaigns on Skype or Discord (just easier to schedule these days). But I used to run a home game and two of our players moved, so we would bring them in via google hangouts by placing an iPad in the middle of the table. It certainly had some issues (and this was back when these platforms were a little less reliable) but most of the time it worked fine and it was occasionally amusing. Not the ideal set up, but it can work. One issue you will run into is having someone on a platform like that will mean their audio may not pick up as much as people in the room are hearing, and that they will have more limited visual information too. I run strictly theater of the mind, so I don't really have to worry about things like miniature placement. If you are using miniatures and grids, it may get a bit tricky.

LiferGamer

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Your Forgotten Realms was my first The Last Jedi.

If the party is gonna die, they want to be riding and blasting/hacking away at a separate one of Tiamat's heads as she plummets towards earth with broken wings while Solars and Planars sing.

Eirikrautha

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Re: campaigns with players across multiple platforms
« Reply #7 on: September 17, 2020, 10:07:57 PM »
I mostly game with my friends from high school, and we've been playing together for the last 35+ years.  One has moved to Texas, another to Miami, and a third is too ill to leave his home.  So we Skype in those three, while we sit around a table with the remaining three of us.  The whole group uses roll20 for tactical.  There's a few more devices at the table now, but the games are still fun.  I wouldn't let fear of tech issues or varied mediums discourage you from gaming with friends; it's worth it...

Shasarak

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Re: campaigns with players across multiple platforms
« Reply #8 on: September 17, 2020, 11:29:59 PM »
My current game has four of us at the table and two connecting in via discord.

It seems to work ok.
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Spinachcat

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Re: campaigns with players across multiple platforms
« Reply #9 on: September 18, 2020, 04:54:01 AM »
I'm too much of an immersion junkie to handle these digital intrusions. I've been in a couple groups with somebody playing by Skype (or on the phone back in the day) and I always feel pulled out of the game.


But I don't allow cellphones at the table when I run. Even for our boardgame nights, its put the damn thing in your pocket and keep it there unless there's a crisis.