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Post by redshirt on Aug 15, 2009 21:40:43 GMT -6
Ok, several people have been interested in using a VTT in our D&D games. I've been looking into it and think Maptool is the one we need. You can download it here: www.rptools.net/First thing you need to do is get the latest edition of Java. Just follow the link on the rptools main page. Then go to the download section and get the newest version of Maptool. Unzip and your good to go. That's the easy part. As to how the program itself works I'm not sure as of yet. I know you can run it over the internet or a LAN network which is what we want. (Looks like my wireless router I have at home works for a LAN connection. It should work on Jeff's just fine) I will post again when i figure out how to set up the system. Here is a link to a video that shows how to install the program. rptoolstutorials.net/videos/StartingMaptool/StartingMaptool.html |
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Post by redshirt on Aug 15, 2009 22:00:47 GMT -6
Here is a player video I found that shows some of the things you can do with maptool.
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Post by redshirt on Aug 15, 2009 22:13:26 GMT -6
And here is one about images.
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Post by redshirt on Aug 15, 2009 22:21:49 GMT -6
And some cool drawing tips.
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Post by Ixos 2: the Sequel on Aug 16, 2009 12:57:36 GMT -6
Looks pretty cool. Are we going to try and use it sometime? I wouldn't mind, as a player, but not sure if I have enough time to really mess with it too much when setting up an adventure. I think it's worth trying it out at least once, though.
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Post by Ixos 2: the Sequel on Aug 16, 2009 13:03:39 GMT -6
Another thought; if it works over the internet, we could conceivably play at home. Wouldn't be as much fun, but if the weather is bad and roads are icy, we could play in our underwear from the comfort of home! Course, if it's that bad, chances are that the electricity would go out, but it's just a thought...
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Post by redshirt on Aug 16, 2009 13:06:37 GMT -6
I think it might be useful to try it as a virtual battle map. Mainly at your house and to some extent Jeff and Rachel's space is at a premium so it is hard to use a big map.
I've actually been reading about hooking a second monitor up to my laptop. I can have it turned toward the players and displaying the player map. No promises but it looks pretty simple.
Jeff and Tim both were very interested when I mentioned it. My game would be a perfect test for it, I can do all the work and see how it goes if you don't mind.
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Post by Ixos 2: the Sequel on Aug 16, 2009 13:12:18 GMT -6
Rock on! I'll dl it sometime in the future.
Space is at a premium at my house, but not so much Jeff and Rachel's--we just like to have too many necessities out at once (all books, food, dice, drinks, food); course, such a big table makes it inconvenient to reach all the way to the map; sometimes I have to stand up!
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Post by redshirt on Aug 16, 2009 14:37:29 GMT -6
I may not have made it clear but it is a java program which means it is not actually installed on you computer. You can keep the file on a flash drive and just open it up to start the program. Might be useful for those of you with small hard drives or work computers you dont want stuff like that on. Just got back from Wally world and have a new 18.5 inch monitor and ethernet hub. Now I need to fiddle with it to get it to work. Have to do what I can to keep Joey from having to stand up!!  |
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Post by redshirt on Aug 16, 2009 15:44:21 GMT -6
Ok, i've been playing with this some and it is the coolest thing i've seen in a long time. With 2 monitors I can do it all on my laptop and have a player view and a DM view. Looks like I wont be doing paper minies for the Friday game after all. ;D
Oh, and it has templates you can use for blast's, burst's and wall's. real handy for spell's and whatnot.
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Post by Ixos 2: the Sequel on Aug 17, 2009 7:48:17 GMT -6
Ok, i've been playing with this some and it is the coolest thing i've seen in a long time. With 2 monitors I can do it all on my laptop and have a player view and a DM view. Looks like I wont be doing paper minies for the Friday game after all. ;D Oh, and it has templates you can use for blast's, burst's and wall's. real handy for spell's and whatnot. So that means that the rest of us don't need to have the program/java thing/a laptop/whatever to play? You'll do all of the moving stuff around and whatnot? Or did I misunderstand? That might be kind of a pain for you. But if you think it's that cool, we should definitely try it. I'm very curious to see how it works. |
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Post by redshirt on Aug 17, 2009 16:42:10 GMT -6
At least for the my Friday game another computer is optional. You are the only one who has one anyway. If you want to hook it up that's great (and would be a bit easier on me), but it's not something you have to do. I can pass my wireless mouse around so people can move their own guy.
The Co-op game is a different story. It needs to be an all or nothing kind of thing, IMHO.
All this techno stuff might suck anyway. Who knows? It will be a cool experiment at the least. (And I love my dual screen laptop. ;D)
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Post by redshirt on Aug 17, 2009 16:55:08 GMT -6
Another thought; if it works over the internet, we could conceivably play at home. Wouldn't be as much fun, but if the weather is bad and roads are icy, we could play in our underwear from the comfort of home! Course, if it's that bad, chances are that the electricity would go out, but it's just a thought... And a good thought at that. All you need extra is a voice IP program. Some of you already have Skype, another free download. So you can talk and play D&D over the intra-webs...nifty. |
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Post by Xombie on Aug 17, 2009 18:30:50 GMT -6
Me and rachel will have one soon, hers this weekend, and im gonna work 4 more of my days off.
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Post by redshirt on Aug 22, 2009 0:50:55 GMT -6
We used Maptool in our Friday game tonight and I told Jeff I would post how things went. No major problems getting everything set up. One minor problem with the display was easily fixed before everyone arrived. The one downside was lugging everything around. Using Joeys wireless mouse so we had 2 was a big advantage. First encounter: It was an arena fight, just a big open area. Pretty boring map wise. Everyone got the feel of the controls. No major pluses or minuses. Encounter's 2: Here was the first big problem i found. The party entered an underground sewer system. Having them move their characters when they were not in combat seemed very video gamey to me. I didnt know what would be the best solution, other than dont use it when not in combat. The Fog of War and Line of Sight features worked well here. The first fight against the Carrion Crawlers got a lot more interesting the the first player ran in and exposed the otyugh's as well. Encounter 3.1 & 3.2: The first part of this big encounter was a Kobold infested maze. The Fog and LOS really shone during this part of the fight. Even a pack of Minions are more fun when you cant see where they are coming from. How this part played out was a big plus for me at least. The second part of the fight led to the boss room and more Minions. All the conditions displays it has really helped me remember things during combat, or at least a bit better than usual. Another plus for me. Movement was a bit wonky at times. Nothing too bad, but it could be a bit better. Overall i was pretty happy with how things turned out. Some things I liked and some I didn't. Worth playing with more I feel. |
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Post by Xombie on Aug 22, 2009 6:57:37 GMT -6
drool
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Post by Ixos 2: the Sequel on Aug 22, 2009 13:00:36 GMT -6
Maptools was pretty cool, took up less space, but didn't seem to take less time (course, we were just learning how to use everything). There weren't a lot of knocking minis around or struggling with sodey-ring marks and stuff.
Encounter 1: Like redshirt said, not much special. It was pretty cool being able to zoom in and out, and we got a feel for how the program works. It is pretty video gamey, but using minis feels a little board gamey to me, so I guess it just depends on what you're used to.
Encounter 2: The Fog and LOS stuff seems pretty cool! Yeah, having a guy charge in and then revealing the five critters where we thought there were two was pretty cool. Probably could just move everybody as a group when not in combat, or let the DM place everybody in each new encounter. I'm not sure what the non-combat movement solution could be.
Encounter 3.1 & 3.2: The kobold maze was plenty annoying. Using Maptools like this adds another element to the game--you have to be sure that your character has a light source! This could be either good or bad; we just usually hand-wave it, and it's another book-keeping thing, but it could add atmosphere, too. Our squishies were getting nervous when Atoran (my bravolord) charged ahead to try and engage the enemy. The kobolds circled around and were taking pot-shots from the darkness; they were spread out and we couldnt' see em. It was pretty cool. (That was more a party tactics thing than a Maptools thing, but it was a lot more interesting thanks to Maptools.) Good for the squishies, though; they hardly ever take damage, so they needed to know how it felt.
The condition displays were cool, but kinda wonky; you had to move the displays and the character tokens one at a time; there should be a way to easily move them all at the same time. Maybe we just need more practice.
I agree that we should try to use it more. We might decide that we don't like it after a few more tries, but it's worth exploring more.
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Post by Gir on Aug 25, 2009 14:04:05 GMT -6
He spoke/typed a little too soon... we will be getting laptops, but not sure if it will be in time for our next game... if this idea does seem to work out really well then we are all for it! Free internet access at our place! ;D Well, for the rest of you anyway...  xombie and I have to pay for it... |
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Post by Ixos 2: the Sequel on Aug 25, 2009 23:29:50 GMT -6
Free internet access at our place! ;D Well, for the rest of you anyway... xombie and I have to pay for it... You'd be paying for it, anyway, whether we used it or not, so don't act like you're making a big sacrifice!   (And thanks!) |
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xombie and I have to pay for it...
