Old dog needs to learn new tricks

[Crossfire]

Hello all, I'm looking for some advice. I'm an experienced Hero gamer going back to the 80's and lookin to launch a pulp campaign online game with my friends scattered across North America. I'm looking for an online experience that can:

• provide an online chat with audio and video capability
• ability to share maps and layouts, I would be uploading PDFs... fog of war would be really nice lol
• tokens or character pictures, also that I can upload, to allow the players to move their characters on the map
• share content such as player handouts and character sheets

 

What I don't really need:

• dice roller - I can use one online or use the Hero System Mobile App
• the character sheets can be view only, I don't need them to interact with software

 

Being old school, the group is used to rolling dice. What I need is a great environment to share maps, handouts, move pieces and most importantly - see my friends! 

 

If anyone has some suggestions or advice I'd really appreciate it. Thank you.

[Spence]

I've been looking for something too.  All the suggestions I ever got on this required PHD's in techno-babble.  I guess my definition of the word "easy" is not the same as others

 

[Sketchpad]

I've been using Roll20.net for my remote gaming and have really enjoyed the experience. It does have a dice roller included, but you don't have to use it. The map functions tend to work well, and it has a handout feature, as well as character sheets.

[Crossfire]

1 minute ago, Sketchpad said:

I've been using Roll20.net for my remote gaming and have really enjoyed the experience. It does have a dice roller included, but you don't have to use it. The map functions tend to work well, and it has a handout feature, as well as character sheets.

 

Thank you! I've done a BRIEF look at Roll20. I take it the character sheets are for viewing only? Is that the 5E template I saw?

 

I see that it has a dice roller, but Hero dice are so complex... for dice rolling I was thinking of Hero System Mobile and/or Hero Combat software. How do you handle that? I'll be running pulp so it shouldn't be as complex as it could be.

 

I appreciate the comments. As a group we haven't gamed together for a long time and even then it PBEM for a quite a while. This will take some adjusting as it is and the last thing I want to us to get frustrated by is technology. 

[Scott Ruggels]

What you are looking for to me seems to be Toll30.net for Msp, Token, Fog-of-War, Character sheets as simple PDF, or JPEG display, handouts and yes, maybe there is a Hero Dice roller, but for voice , video(in necessary), and also a dice rolling bot, you use Discord. The native Roll20.net voice is suboptimal.

 

That being said, the TTS Hero mod has been radically simplified, and will be entering beta in a week or two. 

[Crossfire]

1 hour ago, Scott Ruggels said:

What you are looking for to me seems to be Toll30.net for Msp, Token, Fog-of-War, Character sheets as simple PDF, or JPEG display, handouts and yes, maybe there is a Hero Dice roller, but for voice , video(in necessary), and also a dice rolling bot, you use Discord. The native Roll20.net voice is suboptimal.

 

That being said, the TTS Hero mod has been radically simplified, and will be entering beta in a week or two. 

 

Thank you very much for the reply, added confidence for me that Roll 20 is a good option. I've read in other threads on here about the voice/video issues, one reason prompting me to post this in the first place, so I figured I'd use Zoom. I haven't looked into Discord, although I've heard my youngest mention it before. 

 

I've looked at TTS (and should really watch the video I saw on YouTube about the Hero mod) and I am admittedly looking at it a little sideways - I want to simulate a tabletop game but I don't need to simulate an actual visual tabletop. LOL. I'm not being judgmental when I say that, its just quirky to me. I will look into it further. I did look at other threads before posting this and it seems there are a lot of folks on here using it. 

[bluesguy]

1 hour ago, Crossfire said:

 

Thank you very much for the reply, added confidence for me that Roll 20 is a good option. I've read in other threads on here about the voice/video issues, one reason prompting me to post this in the first place, so I figured I'd use Zoom. I haven't looked into Discord, although I've heard my youngest mention it before. 

 

I've looked at TTS (and should really watch the video I saw on YouTube about the Hero mod) and I am admittedly looking at it a little sideways - I want to simulate a tabletop game but I don't need to simulate an actual visual tabletop. LOL. I'm not being judgmental when I say that, its just quirky to me. I will look into it further. I did look at other threads before posting this and it seems there are a lot of folks on here using it. 

 

Zoom works very well.  We tried Discord and had problems (at least one person could never get audio to work).  We also used Google Hangouts.  I ended paying for a one year Zoom license and that has worked out perfectly.

 

Simple & inexpensive setup:

• $50 for the GM to pay for a GM license.  Players just use the free client.
• You can use jpg or png for maps and tokens.  Not sure about PDF as a map background.
• Supports Hex & Squares
• Easy to setup very simple Hero dice rolling that you can save.  For instance a generic skill roll that can be used for any skill or roll to hit.  And you can save your favorite damage rolls and get it to total up all the dice rolled.  However it can't handle counting body for you so you will have to do that yourself.
• We used it for years with practically no issues
• Downside:
  • Windows only
  • One man shop doing the support/development
  • Very small community

Not as simple & slightly more expensive

• TTS is a much more immersive experience.  It feels more like sitting at a gaming table, especially if your players like using miniatures and terrain
• For the last couple of months I have 'fiddled' with the TTS Hero Mod so I could prepare for the group moving from Epic Table to TTS. @Brennall has done a really good job building the TTS mod and enlisting help with testing and other tasks.
• My group has been using it for about a month now and it has made running & playing the game go much smoother..
• On our table every has their PDF character sheet at their seat.
• Huge community of people who model terrain, miniatures, buildings, etc. for TTS.  Generally it is all for free.
• You can find 'whole scenes' and just put them on the table
• Creating your own scenes from your own maps isn't hard
• Downsides:
  • Everyone has to buy their own license.  Sometimes they have sales on 4 packs of licenses - which you can gift to people.
  • Steep learning curve for the GM
  • Steeper learning curve for the players (compared to Epic Table) to learn how to navigate around the table using their mouse and keyboard.  The more familiar you are with modern computer games the easier this is
  • Can easily become a rabbit hole to look for just the right scene for an adventure/encounter
  • Technologically challenged people may just give up.  We just had this happen.

[Crossfire]

3 minutes ago, bluesguy said:

 

Zoom works very well.  We tried Discord and had problems (at least one person could never get audio to work).  We also used Google Hangouts.  I ended paying for a one year Zoom license and that has worked out perfectly.

 

Simple & inexpensive setup:

• $50 for the GM to pay for a GM license.  Players just use the free client.
• You can use jpg or png for maps and tokens.  Not sure about PDF as a map background.
• Supports Hex & Squares
• Easy to setup very simple Hero dice rolling that you can save.  For instance a generic skill roll that can be used for any skill or roll to hit.  And you can save your favorite damage rolls and get it to total up all the dice rolled.  However it can't handle counting body for you so you will have to do that yourself.
• We used it for years with practically no issues
• Downside:
  • Windows only
  • One man shop doing the support/development
  • Very small community

Not as simple & slightly more expensive

• TTS is a much more immersive experience.  It feels more like sitting at a gaming table, especially if your players like using miniatures and terrain
• For the last couple of months I have 'fiddled' with the TTS Hero Mod so I could prepare for the group moving from Epic Table to TTS. @Brennall has done a really good job building the TTS mod and enlisting help with testing and other tasks.
• My group has been using it for about a month now and it has made running & playing the game go much smoother..
• On our table every has their PDF character sheet at their seat.
• Huge community of people who model terrain, miniatures, buildings, etc. for TTS.  Generally it is all for free.
• You can find 'whole scenes' and just put them on the table
• Creating your own scenes from your own maps isn't hard
• Downsides:
  • Everyone has to buy their own license.  Sometimes they have sales on 4 packs of licenses - which you can gift to people.
  • Steep learning curve for the GM
  • Steeper learning curve for the players (compared to Epic Table) to learn how to navigate around the table using their mouse and keyboard.  The more familiar you are with modern computer games the easier this is
  • Can easily become a rabbit hole to look for just the right scene for an adventure/encounter
  • Technologically challenged people may just give up.  We just had this happen.

 

Thanks for the reply. Sorry - I'm a little confused by the last two paragraphs and don't want to misunderstand. These look cut and paste. Is the first paragraph about Roll20 and the second about TTS?

[Brennall]

My advice .. Watch some of the videos for TTS ... it is not about being at an immersive table, it is about a speeding up play while keeping all the detail.  A good group with hero system knowledge can play around 30-40% faster combat encounters when used to TTS hero mod, in a 3d environment which can give a first person view of the action which lends a unique perspective.

 

If you want more detail join the hero system discord channel and talk to some of the playtest teams using it.

 

 

 

[Accipiter]

Note on TTS: I'm not technologically challenged, at least by the standards of most gamers, but the interface is really unfriendly if fine motor motion is not your strong suit. My arthritis made it impossible to function well in TTS, since I kept knocking things over, and it became frustrating, and eventually painful due to joint strain. No such problems in Roll20, as long as you avoid trying to manually draw things.

[bluesguy]

7 hours ago, bluesguy said:

 

Zoom works very well.  We tried Discord and had problems (at least one person could never get audio to work).  We also used Google Hangouts.  I ended paying for a one year Zoom license and that has worked out perfectly.

 

Simple & inexpensive setup:

• $50 for the GM to pay for a GM license.  Players just use the free client.
• You can use jpg or png for maps and tokens.  Not sure about PDF as a map background.
• Supports Hex & Squares
• Easy to setup very simple Hero dice rolling that you can save.  For instance a generic skill roll that can be used for any skill or roll to hit.  And you can save your favorite damage rolls and get it to total up all the dice rolled.  However it can't handle counting body for you so you will have to do that yourself.
• We used it for years with practically no issues
• Downside:
  • Windows only
  • One man shop doing the support/development
  • Very small community

 

I somehow forgot or during my edits deleted stating that these comments were about Epic Table.

[Crossfire]

Great - thanks!

[archer]

On 8/10/2020 at 10:23 AM, Crossfire said:

 

 I haven't looked into Discord, although I've heard my youngest mention it before. 

 

 

Discord is very popular among Twitch users. But every time I download it to my computer, I end up uninstalling it within a couple of weeks. For me it's glitchy as hell when I'm using it and makes my computer either crash or freeze up at random when I'm not using it.

 

Apparently having that kind of experience with Discord is very rare but I can testify that it does happen to some computers.

 

My kid, on the other hand, successfully uses it in several different roleplaying groups...and has no idea why my computer hates Discord.

[Fedifensor]

My group uses Discord and a basic map-drawing site called Shmeppy.