Internet Traveller Play?

[robapol]

I'm looking at playing a Classic Traveller session on the internet between friends and family - we are quite spaced apart.

What programs would you chaps recomend?

I'm veering toward Klooge at the moment. Have heard lots about GriP, but finding the demo seems to be quite hard.

What are the current recomendations?

Thanks
RobP

 

[Easterner9504]

room

RPoL

http://www.rpol.net/?date=1263776193

Can set up multi rooms, keep some of them secret (hidden), lots of dice options.

 

[Tellon]

lol -- oh man -- I haven't used RPoL in , oh man -- over 10 years iirc .. I am glad it's still around

 

[Hemdian]

I quite like MapTool ... which can be found at RPTools.Net.

 

[far-trader]

I knew I'd seen something just recently here when you first posted, but couldn't for the life of me recall or see it. Then I had a D'oh! moment just now. There it was posted right in the gallery at the top of the page. Fantasy Grounds Virtual Table Top, with some CT conversion work being done. Here's a link to the thread:

http://www.travellerrpg.com/CotI/Discuss/showthread.php?t=21484

 

[RobG]

I've been using Google Wave a lot recently which works really well. Fantasy Grounds II is great too, though you have to pay for it and it can be tricky setting up the server.

 

[robapol]

Thanks All,

It appears I posted this one in the wrong forum - should have gone under software.

The Fantasy Battlegrounds looks pretty good, especially the conversion.

Will download the demo tonight and will have a play.

Thanks
RobP

 

[aramis]

Thanks All,

It appears I posted this one in the wrong forum - should have gone under software.

agreed. moved.

 

[Foen]

Hi RobP

Unfortunately I don't think you can try out the CT conversion on Fantasy grounds using only the demo licence, because that is just to showcase the underlying FG platform and doesn't allow non-d20 rulesets to be loaded. If you want to try CT before you decide on which VTT to chose, I might be able to find some kind soul on the FG forums with an Ultimate* licence to let you test-drive the ruleset for free. If you're interested, please send me a PM or else post on the FG forums and I'll try to connect you with someone.

Stuart

* Ultimate licences allow a Referee to have unlimited free player connections, they just cost the Referee an arm and a leg, so I've never bought one myself.

 

[Foen]

Just a quick 'thankyou' for posting your screenshot in the gallery - it really shows off the scope of the conversion well.

Foen

 

[NickP]

I stumbled on this thread from nearly a year ago as I too am planning on launching an online Classic Traveller campaign in January and would like to use one of the Virtual Tabletop programs as part of it.

There now seems to be quite a large range of such programs available, but most of them seem to be predominantly focussed on fantasy. I don't think that I would have the technical skills to make any major changes to such programs.

So does anyone have any new suggestions regarding which system might be the easiest to use along with Traveller?

Many thanks for your help with this.

 

[Foen]

I haven't seen anything other than Fantasy Grounds which can run Classic Traveller almost straight out of the packet (you just need to download the free add-on), but then I'm not close to any of the other VTTs. The FG Classic Traveller add-on doesn't, however, come with the CT rule books or adventure modules (the add-on is free, so there are no royalties to pay for access to that copyright material).

On the negative side, FG itself isn't free and it can be frustrating to get it working as the GM, because you have to set up your router to allow incoming connections from the FG port. That said, the folks on the FG forum are really helpful.

RobP may be able to shed more light on this, and you can see from his screenshot earlier in this thread that he did a great job of using FG to prepare a classic adventure.

Stuart

 

[CosmicGamer]

Is this for a group of loyal friends who will stick with you while you work things out?

My personal experience is that it is tough enough to get a group together and to meet regularly. Debating with players as to what software to use, dealing with internet lag some of these software have when manipulating maps and graphics, and working with software people are unfamiliar with and trying to figure out while playing will probably keep the game from going anywhere.

Little is needed for a live internet game besides live chat - heck, if you have free long distance and conferencing you don't even need your computer. Share maps and other images on any one of the sites that is meant for this and provide links to them in your chat session. Have the GM make any rolls or use one of the many on-line dice rollers.

If you are trying to do some kind of tabletop combat simulation I'd say why play Traveller; just go play a multiplayer computer game.

Your mileage may differ. Good luck with it.

 

[NickP]

Many thanks for the feedback.

@ Foen - I did take a look at the screenshot for the Fantasy Grounds II expansion and it looked absolutely excellent. I didn't know that there was already an exiting add-on that could be download, I thought that it was perhaps something that RobP had created himself.

I agree with you regarding the disadvantages though. The fact that it costs a bit, while not a complete dealbreaker, is a bit of a negative. The major factor though is that it looks hellishly complicated and I'd rather spend my time roleplaying than programming.

@ CosmicGamer - I am in total agreement with you. I was really looking for something pretty basic, just a diceroller, a chat program and something a little better than a whiteboard for showing positions when necessary.

One of the main reasons why I love Traveller so much is that the possibilities are endless and I could quite happily play games without any combat at all. So the vast majority of times, maps etc. would not be necessary. But for combat, I think it would help for everyone to see where their characters are meant to be.

I spent a few hours researching possibilities last night. For anyone who is interested there is a very comprehensive list of all of the Virtual Tabletop programs at:

http://www.battlegroundsgames.com/links.html

Many of them either seem to have been abandoned or else they are just as complicated as Fantasy Grounds 2. I did find one that I liked though, which is called Gametable:

http://sourceforge.net/projects/gametable/

All of the basics seem to be there without so many options available that I didn't know where to start and it's even more simple for players as there really isn't that much that they need to know apart from dragging their icon around and rolling their own dice.