Google Wave

[RobG]

Hi,

I've been running a play by post (sort of) Classic Traveller game using Google Wave for a while and I'm planning to try out some real-time games using Wave next week.

If this interests you and you have a Wave account you can join in the discussion here: https://wave.google.com/wave/#restored:wave:googlewave.com!w%2BSmXDBZJFA

If you want to be involved but don't have a wave account, let me know, I've got a bunch of spare invites.

The current plan is to play a short tournament-style one-off adventure on Monday 28th 3pm - 7pm GMT (9am-1pm CST, 10am - 2pm EST), though this is still in it's early stages of discussion.

Thanks,
Rob

 

[RobG]

Well this has gone very well so far, we're playing a third session tomorrow.

I've published the results of the first session here:
http://classictraveller.wordpress.com/2009/12/30/death-station-part-1/

That's copied from the in-character wave.

 

[Cthulhuvong]

Hey Rob,

I was considering using Google Wave with my players since we're spread all over the country. I was wondering if you could tell us any pros or cons that you see with the use of it. That would be a great help.

 

[RobG]

Pros and Cons of Using Google Wave to Run Games

I've tried a number of different methods for playing over the web, though I've found the best two to be Fantasy Grounds II and Google Wave.

You can of course just talk to each other using Skype or something similar, but I find people get much more into roleplaying their characters when just using text.

Google Wave Pros

• It's Free.
• You don't need to install anything or set up a server.
• You can organise and run games in the same tool.
• Multiple people can edit text at the same time, you can go back and fix mistakes or clarify things.
• You can add gadgets to your waves for maps and dice rollers etc. (Though there isn't really a good map gadget yet)
• You can run PbP style games or realtime games or a mixture of both.
• PbP games are much easier to run and follow what's going on than using a forum.
• You end up with a quite readable record of the game.

Cons

• Since it's in pre-alpha it's missing key features, like being able to remove people from waves.
• Similarly it can start acting kind of wierd at times during realtime games, there's lots of little quirks though you can find workarounds.
• The only gadget available for maps that I know of currently is Fighty which is rather basic. I find it good enough for running Classic Traveller though.
• If you use something like Fantasy Grounds II you get great looking themed interface which adds a lot to the game, Google Wave just looks like Google Wave.
• Products like Fantasy Grounds have lots of nice features like being able to just click on a skill in your character sheet to roll dice. This kind of thing could be added to Wave using Gadgets but no-one has written them yet.

If you are interested in checking out Fantasy Grounds II there is a Traveller ruleset available by Valarian.

 

[jappel]

Rob, a question about the FG II ruleset - what Traveller version is that for? From the name I'm assuming either Mongoose or MegaTraveller.

 

[RobG]

It's intended for Mongoose Traveller but would be fine for Classic Traveller.

 

[jappel]

Thanks! I'm an FGII user, I will definitely check this out.

Thanks for the updates on your Wave game.

 

[Cthulhuvong]

Thanks for the info, I'll see if my players are interested in switching from AIM to Wave.

I have FG II, but most of my players don't, so thats probably not an option. How do you get the Traveller extension to work? I might buy my players FG II if I can get it to work.

 

[mmbutter]

I use a combination of MapTool and TeamSpeak with my games. Works well, and all the software is free, and works on Linux, Mac, and Windoze.

 

[aramis]

For small games, Skype and a die-roller works really well. Especially since skype does text, 4-line voice, and small file sharing.

 

[RobG]

Another Google Wave Classic Traveller Game

I'll be running another Classic Traveller game using Google Wave starting on Saturday January 23rd 7pm - 11pm GMT (1pm - 5pm CST, 2pm - 6pm EST).

We will most likely be playing the module "One Crowded Hour" by M J Dougherty. It should take about 4 sessions I think.

If this is of interest, you can join the discussion here:
https://wave.google.com/wave/#restored:wave:googlewave.com!w%2BSmXDBZJFA

I still have some spare wave invites if you want to play but don't have an account.

The in-character text from our previous game is here:
http://classictraveller.wordpress.com/2009/12/30/death-station-part-1/

(you might want to read a bit of that to see if we play the style of game you like)

thanks,
Rob

 

[Leitz]

Hey RobG, interesting reading! I'm going over the Death Station write up, sounds like...err...fun... Would turn me off beans for a while, anyway.

Have you seen any success with Wave games played not in real time? The issue I have to overcome, besides geography, is schedule. I'm up early most days and in bed when most game are just starting. Doing something on wave, where I can post and read on my own scheduel, would be cool.

Leitz

 

[RobG]

Yeah, the Hellhawk campaign is not really played in realtime, though sometimes there will be a few people on at the same time. Most of the players are in the US and I'm in the UK, and we had a guy in Sydney playing for a while.

http://classictraveller.wordpress.com/2010/01/02/hellhawk-episode-1/

We're actually up to episode 13 now, I haven't had much spare time to update the blog :-/

If you already have a wave account here's the link:
https://wave.google.com/wave/#resto...,restored:wave:googlewave.com!w%2BIgyRc0AsA.1

We're currently kind of full though there are always people coming and going.

Rob