Live Play (OpenRPG)

Shadow Shack's picture
Shadow Shack
September 21, 2009 - 6:05am
I'm really itching for some live play SF (D&D with the wife is fine, but she is no longer a fan of SF and I'm really jonesing).

I participated in some live D&D via OpenRPG but I have no idea how to host such a game. I've done several trial solo runs but just can't seem to figure out how to open a room (and keep it open) let alone load maps.

Anyone know anything about that?
I'm not overly fond of Zeb's Guide...nor do I have any qualms stating why. Tongue out

My SF website
Comments:

jedion357's picture
jedion357
September 21, 2009 - 6:10am
I've been very currious about this please keep up posted!!!!!!!!!!
(I have even less of a clue than you about trying to set something up)
I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers!

Anonymous's picture
w00t (not verified)
September 21, 2009 - 7:44am
Please post your minimum needs and a list of wants. I'll work up the technology to address each issue.

OpenRGP - I need to read up on the latest revision
sf.us Game Room - Not working? (Incorrect Server. Please check your link code)
Tom's site - Does it meet your needs?
Custom - I have a way to share your desktop but it might be slow with your Internet connection.

Minimum Requirements (I'm guessing)
- d10, d100 dice roller
- Ref can have multiple chat windows to play NPC's
- View maps


Imperial Lord's picture
Imperial Lord
September 21, 2009 - 3:09pm
Open RPG is awesome!

Larry played it with me in the Outer Reach campaign.  (Remember Tandoor Praeger?)  The main advantage is that it has the whiteboard that you can draw simple maps with.  That feature is really cool.  Maps can be pre-drawn and then loaded as you go from encounter to encounter.  With a little preparation, it is a really cool system.

Plus, you can change the fonts and font sizes too.  You can also whisper to other players and/or refs and you can lock the room down if you don't like people barging in.

There are also features that you can use to plug in stats for various monsters, and you can assign GM privileges to whomever you want. 

Ascent's picture
Ascent
September 21, 2009 - 3:20pm
Don't you have to pay for the GM priveleges? Players don't have to pay, but the GM does.
View my profile for a list of articles I have written, am writing, will write.
"It's yo' mama!" —Wicket W. Warrick, Star Wars Ep. VI: Return of the Jedi
"That guy's wise." —Logray, Star Wars Ep.VI: Return of the Jedi
Do You Wanna Date My Avatar? - Felicia Day (The Guild)

Shadow Shack's picture
Shadow Shack
September 21, 2009 - 7:07pm

Tom's room looks good, but I liked the idea of a live map that can be futzed with by all participants.


But really, a map is a nice thing to have but not exactly neccesary either.


I'm not overly fond of Zeb's Guide...nor do I have any qualms stating why. Tongue out

My SF website

Anonymous's picture
w00t (not verified)
September 21, 2009 - 7:33pm
I just downloaded the lastest version.
I like the software but it's complicated.
I enjoy our game room for it's simplicity... and I have a way to share maps using a secure meeting product - so you would have two windows; Game Room and Map.




Ascent's picture
Ascent
September 21, 2009 - 9:49pm
I'm up for games in OpenRPG.
View my profile for a list of articles I have written, am writing, will write.
"It's yo' mama!" —Wicket W. Warrick, Star Wars Ep. VI: Return of the Jedi
"That guy's wise." —Logray, Star Wars Ep.VI: Return of the Jedi
Do You Wanna Date My Avatar? - Felicia Day (The Guild)

jedion357's picture
jedion357
September 22, 2009 - 6:23am
I'm open for a friday night game (i'm in the eastern time zone) as either player or GM but would like to just play for a time.
I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers!

Anonymous's picture
w00t (not verified)
September 22, 2009 - 6:47am
In the past its been difficult to get a weekly game on.
I would suggest we have a few GM's that could rotate if need be (if someone does not show or sched conflict).

To start I would suggest the following;
  1. Get a list of PC's together so players can choose a character, or bring one.
  2. Invite up to x players. What is the min players to start a game?
  3. Announce a time and what server (Game Room, openRPG or Tom's site) - I would suggest email as the followup method.
  4. Start playing.
Sound like a plan?

TerlObar's picture
TerlObar
September 22, 2009 - 12:45pm
I like OpenRPG as well, very cool features.  I had always planned on standing up an openRPG server on my site as well so we wouldn't have to go hunting for an open server.  Maybe I should look into that some more.  In any case, w00t's suggestions sound good.  The chatroom on my site works well and does provide side conversations and private rooms as well. 

I should be available this Friday if we stand something up by then.
Ad Astra Per Ardua!
My blog - Expanding Frontier
Webmaster - The Star Frontiers Network & this site
Founding Editor - The Frontier Explorer Magazine
Managing Editor - The Star Frontiersman Magazine

Anonymous's picture
w00t (not verified)
September 22, 2009 - 1:59pm
I'll play Friday as well. Player unless we need a GM. Maybe SS is ready with Basically Speaking?

Before we use openRPG I think it's a good idea to have someone write up a simple HowTo with the basics (couldn't find anything on the openrpg.com website).

About players... there are TONS here, DOH! Surprised
http://starfrontiers.us/character

Ascent's picture
Ascent
September 22, 2009 - 6:27pm
After downloading all the crap (I have always been loathe to have to download multiple programs must to get one to work), it seems to me that OpenRPG is geared only for d20. It would take special programming, it seems, to gear it to Star Fronties (at least for the automated features and character sheets). That is, the Referee should have the adventure descriptions and maps ready along with preparing and sharing the Star Frontiers game data file folder. (Which I recommend naming SFADKH, to identify the original rules set.)

Also, everyone, I think, would need time to familiarize themselves with the program before using it.
View my profile for a list of articles I have written, am writing, will write.
"It's yo' mama!" —Wicket W. Warrick, Star Wars Ep. VI: Return of the Jedi
"That guy's wise." —Logray, Star Wars Ep.VI: Return of the Jedi
Do You Wanna Date My Avatar? - Felicia Day (The Guild)

Shadow Shack's picture
Shadow Shack
September 22, 2009 - 6:28pm
True, OpenRPG is set for d20 but there is a d100 feature on their dice roller. As for the rest, I have no idea how to upload files for the interactive map.
I'm not overly fond of Zeb's Guide...nor do I have any qualms stating why. Tongue out

My SF website

Ascent's picture
Ascent
September 22, 2009 - 7:21pm
For rolling d10/d100 dice, yes, but not set up for rolling up and tracking Star Frontiers characters.
View my profile for a list of articles I have written, am writing, will write.
"It's yo' mama!" —Wicket W. Warrick, Star Wars Ep. VI: Return of the Jedi
"That guy's wise." —Logray, Star Wars Ep.VI: Return of the Jedi
Do You Wanna Date My Avatar? - Felicia Day (The Guild)

TerlObar's picture
TerlObar
September 22, 2009 - 7:26pm
And I have a SF character sheet for OpenRPG that I created for Imperial Lord's Outer Reach campaign that I can upload and provide people if they want.  Although I agree, there is a bit of a learning curve to OpenRPG that everyone may not be able to climb by Friday.
Ad Astra Per Ardua!
My blog - Expanding Frontier
Webmaster - The Star Frontiers Network & this site
Founding Editor - The Frontier Explorer Magazine
Managing Editor - The Star Frontiersman Magazine

jedion357's picture
jedion357
September 22, 2009 - 7:42pm
Man i hate learning curves- an openrpg for dummies would be helpful
I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers!

Ascent's picture
Ascent
September 22, 2009 - 9:39pm
TerlObar wrote:
And I have a SF character sheet for OpenRPG that I created for Imperial Lord's Outer Reach campaign that I can upload and provide people if they want.  Although I agree, there is a bit of a learning curve to OpenRPG that everyone may not be able to climb by Friday.

That would be great if you could host it here or on starfrontiers.com.
View my profile for a list of articles I have written, am writing, will write.
"It's yo' mama!" —Wicket W. Warrick, Star Wars Ep. VI: Return of the Jedi
"That guy's wise." —Logray, Star Wars Ep.VI: Return of the Jedi
Do You Wanna Date My Avatar? - Felicia Day (The Guild)

TerlObar's picture
TerlObar
September 22, 2009 - 10:52pm
Here is the the SF character sheet for OpenRPG I created.  You should download the file (10 kB) and save it to disk.  To add it to your OpenRPG installation, right click in the tree view on the left hand side of the window and select the 'Add node' option.  In the dialog that pops up pick the character sheet file from above (SF_char_sheet.xml).  That will add the blank character sheet to your system and you can fill it out with your character information.  It is also possible to just send it between players but they have to both be logged into the same server.

I'm a OpenRPG noob myself only really having used it for a couple months to play the Outer Reach game.  However, to just play, it pretty easy to use.  Mainly a chat window, die rollers and a place for the GM to show a map.  However, if people are interested, we could get together in the chat room tomorrow or Thursday night and I'd be willing to walk people through the little bit I do know about it.

If you were talking about where to host a server, it would be on the starfrontiers.info site.  That definitely couldn't happen by Friday,  I just won't have the time.  If we use OpenRPG in the short term, it will have to be using a public server.
Ad Astra Per Ardua!
My blog - Expanding Frontier
Webmaster - The Star Frontiers Network & this site
Founding Editor - The Frontier Explorer Magazine
Managing Editor - The Star Frontiersman Magazine

Shadow Shack's picture
Shadow Shack
September 22, 2009 - 11:50pm
I didn't even realize OR was even set up for generating/tracking characters of any kind. The 8 week AD&D session I participated in, we organized OR meets for rolling dice to generate a character, and then did some pen/paper work to submit the character drafts to the GM via forum PM.
I'm not overly fond of Zeb's Guide...nor do I have any qualms stating why. Tongue out

My SF website

Ascent's picture
Ascent
September 23, 2009 - 12:38am
TerlObar wrote:
To add it to your OpenRPG installation, right click in the tree view on the left hand side of the window and select the 'Add node' option.  In the dialog that pops up pick the character sheet file from above (SF_char_sheet.xml).

What version of OpenRPG are you using? I don't have that feature. I'm using version 1.8.0.
View my profile for a list of articles I have written, am writing, will write.
"It's yo' mama!" —Wicket W. Warrick, Star Wars Ep. VI: Return of the Jedi
"That guy's wise." —Logray, Star Wars Ep.VI: Return of the Jedi
Do You Wanna Date My Avatar? - Felicia Day (The Guild)

TerlObar's picture
TerlObar
September 23, 2009 - 7:30am
I have 1.7.3.  I'm going to download 1.8 today and see how to do it there.  I'm sure the functionality exists, it's just a matter of finding out what it is called in the menu.  I had to hunt a bit last night to figure it out in 1.7.3.
Ad Astra Per Ardua!
My blog - Expanding Frontier
Webmaster - The Star Frontiers Network & this site
Founding Editor - The Frontier Explorer Magazine
Managing Editor - The Star Frontiersman Magazine

TerlObar's picture
TerlObar
September 23, 2009 - 7:34am
Quote:
I didn't even realize OR was even set up for generating/tracking characters of any kind.

I'm not sure about the generating part but you can definitely set up any kind of sheet for recording information, and IIRC, you can set it up so everyone can see everyone else's characters in game.  Plus you can add all kinds of other information as well.  In theory, you can have everything on-line and the ref can just share as needed to the group or individual PC's.  It's a pretty nice system.
Ad Astra Per Ardua!
My blog - Expanding Frontier
Webmaster - The Star Frontiers Network & this site
Founding Editor - The Frontier Explorer Magazine
Managing Editor - The Star Frontiersman Magazine

TerlObar's picture
TerlObar
September 23, 2009 - 7:49am
TerlObar wrote:
I have 1.7.3.  I'm going to download 1.8 today and see how to do it there.  I'm sure the functionality exists, it's just a matter of finding out what it is called in the menu.  I had to hunt a bit last night to figure it out in 1.7.3.

It's the "Insert File" option.  First one in the menu.
Ad Astra Per Ardua!
My blog - Expanding Frontier
Webmaster - The Star Frontiers Network & this site
Founding Editor - The Frontier Explorer Magazine
Managing Editor - The Star Frontiersman Magazine

Anonymous's picture
w00t (not verified)
September 26, 2009 - 7:17pm
I'm really excited about playing online again. (Found memories of Imperial Lord's campaign and SS's Basically Speaking).

So... I've decided to take the lead in organizing online play hoping that we will have enough GM's and Player's to keep-it-rolling!

Vision
  1. In the past it's been difficult to get every-one's scheduled synched up. This new format will allow us to GM and Play without having to commit to a time.
  2. The new format is to Create pre-made Sessions that include maps, NPC stats, etc... Everything to run an online game. (Of course the GM can bring their own.) The idea is to have pre-made Sessions so we have something to run on Game Night. We want a prepared Session. This can be a collaborative effort, writing as a community or tweaking someones idea/post (like the Hull Rakker).
  3. Have a couple of GM's available to run sessions on Game Night.
  4. Player's sign up for Game Night.
  5. Join openRPG and start playing.
  6. Anyone is welcome to "watch" a game in progress.
openRPG
The first step is to get everyone on board with openRPG.
  • Downloading
  • How to use
  • How to add your character
  • How to change your name
  • How to share your character with the GM
  • etc....
Sessions
Sessions are short adventures that can be played in 1, 2 or 3 hours. Several Session can be tied together to create a campaign. A session is simply a pre-made adventure that is ready to run. Sessions would include Text to cut-n-paste into openRPG, Maps, NPC's.. everything a GM needs. *** Sessions will be in a standard format so each one is the same.

Characters

GM's might require you to make your character rolls online or he may have pre-made characters. Especially if he needs higher-level characters. Additionally the Session might have pre-made characters that Player's can choose from.


Final Thoughts
This idea is all about saving time for the GM and creating a fast and fun play time that we can all join and play. I have this crazy notion that if we do a good job this could grow into having multiple Star Frontiers Rooms. Wow... awesome thought.

Note that with this format you may not get to play the same character each time.
GM's might not get to run their adventure each week if they have a scheduling conflict. Another GM should be able to easily pick up.

Of course this is just my ideas. Please comment. Criticism welcome with suggestions. Smile



Rum Rogue's picture
Rum Rogue
September 26, 2009 - 7:43pm
"something" 
There I said it... you happy now?

Anyway. This is some good info.
For those that mess with this regularly, how about an SFMan corner to OpenRpg?  describing tips and even game experiences.
At the very least. keep up the tips here

Time flies when your having rum.

Im a government employee, I dont goof-off. I constructively abuse my time.

TerlObar's picture
TerlObar
September 26, 2009 - 8:22pm
Sounds like a plan.  The more I think about it though, I believe it is going to be hard to get full adventures in in even 3 hours.  You'll have to play in parts.  When we were playing with Imperial Lord, we'd get through part of an encounter in 3 hours.  Definintely not enough time for a major plot.  The sessions are going to have to be very small and very contained to be able to get through them in one sitting.  I'll definitely play when I can and will take my turns as Ref.
Ad Astra Per Ardua!
My blog - Expanding Frontier
Webmaster - The Star Frontiers Network & this site
Founding Editor - The Frontier Explorer Magazine
Managing Editor - The Star Frontiersman Magazine

Anonymous's picture
w00t (not verified)
September 26, 2009 - 8:53pm
Rum Rogue said; For those that mess with this regularly, how about an SFMan corner to OpenRpg?  describing tips and even game experiences.
At the very least. keep up the tips here.
-----


What kind of tips?
My thought was we would have a PDF download with How To's and pictures.


Anonymous's picture
w00t (not verified)
September 26, 2009 - 10:34pm
@TerlObar

I don't know if it will work but I'm pushing for uniform Sessions. For GM's as well as Players. 
The GM's uniformity will be the Session layout that contains the information necessary to run the adventure (PDF, online doc, Word, whatever).

Player's will have a guideline to help the GM and keep playing time fast and fun.
For example when a Player makes a skill check;

>> Declare what your character is doing. If you make a skill check make sure to post that for the GM (Remember he can see your character sheet).

Gruggle: I'm firing a laser pistol at Mook1 on the map. It's set to 5. RW53

>> Player clicks on d100 button

Gruggle: [1d100] => [19] = (19)

We also talked about using Skype. That might be faster than having everyone type.
I'm sure others have experience with openRPG that can help us caft a solution for Fast, Furious, Fun online play.

I hope I'm making sense?
The idea is to have a game night ppl can easily join and not be bogged down with unpreparedness if a GM cancels and another one has to pick up or some other event....

Which reminds me I missed an idea in my post below....

Game Masters
GM's are responsible to notify fill-in GM's if they can not make a Session. The Session material should follow the standard format.

In conclusion - not everyone can commit to a dedicated day to play online. This format allows us to know that a GM will be available and prepared. We can pick a day or decided on-the-spot we want to play later tonight. "Hey guys, I'm free at 9pm EST. Can we get a game on?"

Did I just say 'game on'?
I think I did.
Foot in mouth

openrgp1

Ascent's picture
Ascent
September 26, 2009 - 11:50pm
Great screenshot, w00t. I definitely want to be a part of this. I'm set up and ready to go.
View my profile for a list of articles I have written, am writing, will write.
"It's yo' mama!" —Wicket W. Warrick, Star Wars Ep. VI: Return of the Jedi
"That guy's wise." —Logray, Star Wars Ep.VI: Return of the Jedi
Do You Wanna Date My Avatar? - Felicia Day (The Guild)

Shadow Shack's picture
Shadow Shack
September 27, 2009 - 4:08am
During my brief foray into OpenRPG, the group was using TeamSpeak. I didn't/don't have a mike hooked up (but understand it isn't tough or pricy either) and have no idea how to establish such a session, but that could forego a lot of typing if anyone else is familiar with it.
I'm not overly fond of Zeb's Guide...nor do I have any qualms stating why. Tongue out

My SF website