 August 10, 2008 - 7:17am | Hi Guys, This is my first post but have visited this site more than once in the past. See i found this great little Java program called Mptools, and wanted to share it with you all. I have been more of a Miniature war gamer over the past 15 years, but have a love for my fav SciFi RPG SF, and when I found this I thought not only could i use this to play Miniature games how about looking at SF. Well this tool is great, you have to check it out. I have messed around with other such programs like Screen monkey, and Open RPG. I liked Screen Mokey as there only needs to be one user the GM who needs the soft ware. Open RPG is well hard..... Mptool is easy!!!! All parties do need to have the software but it is very easy to use and 100% free. It take just a minute to install and get it up and running. www.rptools.net I hope you will give this a try and forget about PBM.and PBF gaming. Noel |
 August 11, 2008 - 2:05am | I've been an advocate for Maptool for awhile now... even had an ad for it put in the Starfrontiersman #6 when I submitted my new Zeb map. Hand's down the best free Virtual Table Top... and a lot better than most you'll pay for as well. |
 August 11, 2008 - 3:12am | We actually have a gameroom right here at SF.us (see the tabs at the top). Sadly it's been getting tough to get a group of people together and play lately, what with all our conflicting schedules. |
August 13, 2008 - 5:40am | We actually have a gameroom right here at SF.us (see the tabs at the top). Sadly it's been getting tough to get a group of people together and play lately, what with all our conflicting schedules. Any forum gameroom will have nothing on what Maptool could do for making an online Starfrontiers game rock-n-roll. Infact, due to nifty features like line of sight and individual views of the battlemap, in many ways Maptool produces a better gaming experience than playing in a f2f. A lot of people use it for their weekly home games because of that (not just online games.) Just watch some of the video tutorials to see what I mean: http://www.rptoolstutorials.net/maptool.htm That said, without a group of people committed to some kind of gaming schedule, no campaign can thrive. |
August 13, 2008 - 5:43pm | Well...I'm on dial up so loading video takes an extensive amount of time for me. I'd like to give it a whirl, but I'm afraid my connection would really slow the game down for others, unless the site is dial up frendly (I have enough issues with the simple java set-up here). Is there an actual link to this maptool site? I'm definitely interested in any SF game of any sort, online is my only outlet for the game these days. |
August 17, 2008 - 1:33am | Dial-up=Bad. The best experience in playing a MT game will be in conjunction with voice software (like skype, teamspeak, ventrillo, etc.) My D&D group uses Ooovoo which includes streaming video as well so it feels more like we're gaming in the same room like it did back in the day. Using voice software demands broadband. Now, that doesn't mean that a Maptool hosted game couldn't be played without voice, but without it things slow down and you get further away from the feel of a real pen'n'paper game. As for using Maptool and dial-up... it may be theorectically possible... but I would not advise it. |
August 17, 2008 - 4:00am | it may be theorectically possible... As a Sith, I only deal in absolutes... Thanks for the update. |
 August 17, 2008 - 8:56am | Dial-up=Bad. True, however Ass End of Frickin' Nowhere Land= No DSL, No Cable, No Nothing but Satellite Which Is Freakin' Expensive..... "You're everything that's base in humanity," Cochrane continued. "Drawing up strict, senseless rules for the sole reason of putting you at the top and excluding anyone you say doesn't belong or fit in, for no other reason than just because you say so." —Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stephens, Federation |
August 18, 2008 - 2:45pm | You too? We actually have all the modern stuff available here...but in the end it boils down to I'd have to go with satellite. Cox is our cable company but my house was built before Cox acquired the service from the old cable company, whose lines are anything but reliable. And since nobody's dug up my yard or street since I've lived here, safe to say we still have those old unreliable lines in the ground. And the phone company wants enough to set up a faster conection that I'd be able to afford another bike to chop. |
August 19, 2008 - 1:13am | I know what you mean, Shadow. The ironic thing is I had DSL, when we lived a mile further down the road...but, in our current locale, Windstream says there's no demand for it, so it's not available...same with the other phone and cable companies that provide service around here(even SBC Oklahoma), leaving satellite as our only alternative for faster Intenet..... "You're everything that's base in humanity," Cochrane continued. "Drawing up strict, senseless rules for the sole reason of putting you at the top and excluding anyone you say doesn't belong or fit in, for no other reason than just because you say so." —Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stephens, Federation |
 August 30, 2008 - 6:38pm | Sounds like windstream. Had them up where I used to live. They are the worst internet company I have ever had to deal with. We also had them at the school until we signed a contract with AT&T and Cibola which seem to know what they are doing. Confucious Says: Man with one chopstick go hungry. Man who eat many prunes get good run for money. Man who live in glass house should change clothes in basement. |
August 31, 2008 - 11:58am | Alltel did too...'til Windstream took them over.... "You're everything that's base in humanity," Cochrane continued. "Drawing up strict, senseless rules for the sole reason of putting you at the top and excluding anyone you say doesn't belong or fit in, for no other reason than just because you say so." —Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stephens, Federation |
October 23, 2008 - 2:56pm | I will check it out. I plan to start and online game, probably after the holidays. I have used Fantasy Grounds in the past, but want something that 1) the players do not have to buy and 2) works outside of Windows. Is customizing Maptools to Star Frontiers easy? (In other words, is it easy to configure a character sheet for SF?) |
October 23, 2008 - 3:31pm | I will check it out. I plan to start and online game, probably after the holidays. I have used Fantasy Grounds in the past, but want something that 1) the players do not have to buy and 2) works outside of Windows. Is customizing Maptools to Star Frontiers easy? (In other words, is it easy to configure a character sheet for SF?) Not sure what your asking.  There is an online tool on this site to play games called the GAMEROOM (link at the top of the page). Also, you can create or roll up a character here. http://starfrontiers.us/character |
October 23, 2008 - 7:20pm | I was actually asking about the Maptool application that the OP mentioned; but I will check out the Gameroom as well. |
October 27, 2008 - 8:01pm | I will check it out. I plan to start and online game, probably after the holidays. I have used Fantasy Grounds in the past, but want something that 1) the players do not have to buy and 2) works outside of Windows. Is customizing Maptools to Star Frontiers easy? (In other words, is it easy to configure a character sheet for SF?) Well, Maptool is both free and will work with Linux and Mac, so it covers both of those requirements. MT doesn't have built in character sheets (though there is a separate "charatertool" that I've never used.) But there is some pretty intense work being done by people for 4e that uses macros to create fully managed tokens in games. But, to my knowledge, I don't know of any Star Frontiers players using the program. SF just isn't very popular these days. The easiest way to start would be to create tokens with all the basic stats that are on a character sheet. I'd start by just having your players use real sheets until you gain a grasp of everything you can do with Maptools using its macro language. It's very powerful. And if there are certain things you are trying to do, there are a number of people on their forums that would be happy to help. In general, I think MT is very easy to use in its most basic form. But like any powerful tool, you'll have to spend some time learning exactly how to do some of the most powerful things. Check out the Maptool video tutorials to start with... then dive into the forums. http://rptoolstutorials.net/maptool.htm |
