Getting Our Sea(Sky?) Legs...
So with renewed interest from our once-frequent GM who moved away, we've started up a game on Roll20. He had airships (a bit more magicpunk or aetherpunk than steampunk) in mind, and after some discussion, we settled on using the D&D 5E rules. Last night we really had our first interaction between characters as they, as a group, inherit a ship.
Now, I'm seeing that running a game with voice (and some video) chat has ups and downs as much as any other format. Voice is kind of nice, as you get inflection you don't in text. But there are still some awkward moments. Pauses in text often mean typing. Pauses in voice... well... It gets to feeling very awkward when the GM describes a scene and then trails off, allowing players to do something. But if no one speaks up... uhh... yeah. Playing in person, there's body language at work, so it's clearer when a player is not paying attention versus when a character is indifferent/has nothing to contribute.
The particular campaign raises a couple really big points of interest as well.
Since money matters, and is being calculated for maintaining the ship and travel and all that, there's a potentially very heavy bookkeeping element. That's another thing that doesn't work as well in voice - probably better in text than in person too. We're going to try to address that during the week in email between sessions. It's something I'm more suited to than my character (who's a pretty straightforward fighter type), so that's a little weird too.
And... there's a matter of leadership. We've got five (six if the last player ever actually shows up) co-owners of a ship that... sorta-kinda needs a captain. You can rule by council to a degree, but there are certainly times it's very useful to have one person step up. Unfortunately, as in politics, those who most want the position may be the least qualified. Heh. The "newbie" of the group (I think he's played plenty by now, but still less than the rest of us) built a warlock. Frankly, I think he did that so he could emphasize Charisma, which gives his character an on-paper advantage when it comes to social things like negotiating deals and making an impression. The problem here is while the character may be qualified, he's not really suited because 1) the character is flaky, impulsive, and insists on handing out fliers promoting his Elder One-ish pact source and 2) the player is a bit impulsive and really doesn't think things through. I could be misreading the "room," but I don't think anyone else really wanted to have that character in charge. And another actually stood up and challenged him successfully to a game of dice for the position, at least for now.
So... we'll probably handle some paperwork over the week and set out on our first mission next Sunday.
Also, I find it amusing how everyone seemed to brush off the Superbowl as a distraction last week, yet most people didn't show up until it ended.
Now, I'm seeing that running a game with voice (and some video) chat has ups and downs as much as any other format. Voice is kind of nice, as you get inflection you don't in text. But there are still some awkward moments. Pauses in text often mean typing. Pauses in voice... well... It gets to feeling very awkward when the GM describes a scene and then trails off, allowing players to do something. But if no one speaks up... uhh... yeah. Playing in person, there's body language at work, so it's clearer when a player is not paying attention versus when a character is indifferent/has nothing to contribute.
The particular campaign raises a couple really big points of interest as well.
Since money matters, and is being calculated for maintaining the ship and travel and all that, there's a potentially very heavy bookkeeping element. That's another thing that doesn't work as well in voice - probably better in text than in person too. We're going to try to address that during the week in email between sessions. It's something I'm more suited to than my character (who's a pretty straightforward fighter type), so that's a little weird too.
And... there's a matter of leadership. We've got five (six if the last player ever actually shows up) co-owners of a ship that... sorta-kinda needs a captain. You can rule by council to a degree, but there are certainly times it's very useful to have one person step up. Unfortunately, as in politics, those who most want the position may be the least qualified. Heh. The "newbie" of the group (I think he's played plenty by now, but still less than the rest of us) built a warlock. Frankly, I think he did that so he could emphasize Charisma, which gives his character an on-paper advantage when it comes to social things like negotiating deals and making an impression. The problem here is while the character may be qualified, he's not really suited because 1) the character is flaky, impulsive, and insists on handing out fliers promoting his Elder One-ish pact source and 2) the player is a bit impulsive and really doesn't think things through. I could be misreading the "room," but I don't think anyone else really wanted to have that character in charge. And another actually stood up and challenged him successfully to a game of dice for the position, at least for now.
So... we'll probably handle some paperwork over the week and set out on our first mission next Sunday.
Also, I find it amusing how everyone seemed to brush off the Superbowl as a distraction last week, yet most people didn't show up until it ended.
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