Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 question2 Jan 22, 2011 11:13:32	(Before anyone askes, we play online) On our first session, we went from tavern->quest giver's house->quest location to retrieve the macguffin fairly smoothly, although i think we could have skipped this part, because no adventuring group says "no" to a quest unless the player is trying to troll. However once we reached the "valley" where we were supposed to retrieve the macguffin, the DM's response time seemed to dramatically drop. We ended up taking close to an hour to do "you enter the valley, you spot some tracks that belong to a huge dragon, you descend a slope, encounter a NPC, talk a bit, and get attacked by orcs". Most of it was spent waiting for the DM to roleplay the NPC or to describe what was happening(e.g., you descend the slope). The encounter also went really slowly, although to be fair this is mostly the fault of the players, and we had a really large group(something like 8 players, 2 NPCs and 6 attacking orcs), as well as technical problems. We ended the session after defeating the orcs. Alright first session, iron the kinks out, not a problem. The second session though, we spent 1 hour in the valley. This 1 hour was mostly spent on waiting for the DM to do NPC text for "you retrieve the macguffin and return back to the quest giver's house". At some point the DM admitted he was typing everything from scratch for this conversation, which i take to mean he was "winging it". The rest of the session was wasted when a player had the heatsink fall off his graphics card, and when he came back 2 of the players said they were too tired to continue anymore. Our third session is tentaively scheduled for next weekend. Im trying to figure out what we can do to make it more productive, because i know at least some of the other players are starting to think this is a waste of time(same kind of stuff happened in our last campaign by a different DM). Im...not sure how to approach this really. Its kinda assholish if i went to the DM and just said "Hey, i think this/you are going too slowly", but from my perspective this seems to be what is happening. Has anyone here encountered anything like this before in your experience? I mean, all of us started playing this to adventure, kill bad guys, get loot, etc, but as it is we seem to spend more time just...waiting than actually playing.
#2 magniloquent Jan 22, 2011 14:20:46	Use a program like ventrillo, teamspeak, rogerwilco etc. and get the others to speak. We used to have this exact same problem. The only thing that my group uses chat for now is to act as a combat log and initiative tracker. Also, we encourage people to place emotes there for non vocal things, since it is non vocal. E.G. Ted gives you a knowing wink, Bills eyes connect with yours then slowly drift to the guards sword hanging loosesely at this then to the rope that is holding the gate aloft.
#3 Langrishe Jan 22, 2011 16:20:03	Magniloquent has the right idea. I use teamspeak and I'd recomend it. Other tips would be using shorthand in your chat log if your not already doing so. ATK. = Attack for example. The DM could have the main text ready in a word document and copy/paste as needed. Don't every worry about giving the DM advice for moving the game along faster, they want the story to progress just like you do.
#4 Nibelung_ajr Jan 23, 2011 13:38:13	+1 to Teamspeak/Ventrillo. When I DM online I use the main chat for playing in character, and voice chat for off topics, rules questions, brief descriptions (long descriptions goes on chat), and combat. This helps a lot to speed things up. Typing is slower than talking, and maintaining an off-topic on voice chat while the roleplay stay alive on chat don't feel like you're waiting just to read. Second, 8 players may be another problem. For me, I found out that 4-5 players are my limit to maintain a good speed in the table. Think about splitting it into 2 groups, maybe with someone else DMing, so your actual DM can play too. Third, typing everything from scratch isn't that bad. This put the text in sinchrony with what is actually being said on the table. Pre-writen lines looks like the NPC would say that no matter what you reply. Like a bad call center. The DM just need to be sure he can sustain it. Type faster, write many short answers instead of one long, express emotions on voice chat, tell the players to stop a second while he types the reply... Last, but not least, try to keep on mind that online gaming is slower than live table. Even if you play 100% on voice and never had connection problems. People that play live and never played online will feel that more than others. Just be sure that, even if it is slower, they are progressing. Just be patient.
#5 mock26 Jan 24, 2011 2:30:35	(Before anyone askes, we play online) On our first session, we went from tavern->quest giver's house->quest location to retrieve the macguffin fairly smoothly, although i think we could have skipped this part, because no adventuring group says "no" to a quest unless the player is trying to troll. However once we reached the "valley" where we were supposed to retrieve the macguffin, the DM's response time seemed to dramatically drop. We ended up taking close to an hour to do "you enter the valley, you spot some tracks that belong to a huge dragon, you descend a slope, encounter a NPC, talk a bit, and get attacked by orcs". Most of it was spent waiting for the DM to roleplay the NPC or to describe what was happening(e.g., you descend the slope). The encounter also went really slowly, although to be fair this is mostly the fault of the players, and we had a really large group(something like 8 players, 2 NPCs and 6 attacking orcs), as well as technical problems. We ended the session after defeating the orcs. Alright first session, iron the kinks out, not a problem. The second session though, we spent 1 hour in the valley. This 1 hour was mostly spent on waiting for the DM to do NPC text for "you retrieve the macguffin and return back to the quest giver's house". At some point the DM admitted he was typing everything from scratch for this conversation, which i take to mean he was "winging it". The rest of the session was wasted when a player had the heatsink fall off his graphics card, and when he came back 2 of the players said they were too tired to continue anymore. Our third session is tentaively scheduled for next weekend. Im trying to figure out what we can do to make it more productive, because i know at least some of the other players are starting to think this is a waste of time(same kind of stuff happened in our last campaign by a different DM). Im...not sure how to approach this really. Its kinda assholish if i went to the DM and just said "Hey, i think this/you are going too slowly", but from my perspective this seems to be what is happening. Has anyone here encountered anything like this before in your experience? I mean, all of us started playing this to adventure, kill bad guys, get loot, etc, but as it is we seem to spend more time just...waiting than actually playing. Are you having fun?  If so then keep playing.  If, however, you find it to be more of a waste of time than it is a pleasurable use of your time then "walk away."  There are plenty of games out there on the internet.
#6 question2 Jan 24, 2011 5:40:40	(Before anyone askes, we play online) On our first session, we went from tavern->quest giver's house->quest location to retrieve the macguffin fairly smoothly, although i think we could have skipped this part, because no adventuring group says "no" to a quest unless the player is trying to troll. However once we reached the "valley" where we were supposed to retrieve the macguffin, the DM's response time seemed to dramatically drop. We ended up taking close to an hour to do "you enter the valley, you spot some tracks that belong to a huge dragon, you descend a slope, encounter a NPC, talk a bit, and get attacked by orcs". Most of it was spent waiting for the DM to roleplay the NPC or to describe what was happening(e.g., you descend the slope). The encounter also went really slowly, although to be fair this is mostly the fault of the players, and we had a really large group(something like 8 players, 2 NPCs and 6 attacking orcs), as well as technical problems. We ended the session after defeating the orcs. Alright first session, iron the kinks out, not a problem. The second session though, we spent 1 hour in the valley. This 1 hour was mostly spent on waiting for the DM to do NPC text for "you retrieve the macguffin and return back to the quest giver's house". At some point the DM admitted he was typing everything from scratch for this conversation, which i take to mean he was "winging it". The rest of the session was wasted when a player had the heatsink fall off his graphics card, and when he came back 2 of the players said they were too tired to continue anymore. Our third session is tentaively scheduled for next weekend. Im trying to figure out what we can do to make it more productive, because i know at least some of the other players are starting to think this is a waste of time(same kind of stuff happened in our last campaign by a different DM). Im...not sure how to approach this really. Its kinda assholish if i went to the DM and just said "Hey, i think this/you are going too slowly", but from my perspective this seems to be what is happening. Has anyone here encountered anything like this before in your experience? I mean, all of us started playing this to adventure, kill bad guys, get loot, etc, but as it is we seem to spend more time just...waiting than actually playing. Are you having fun?  If so then keep playing.  If, however, you find it to be more of a waste of time than it is a pleasurable use of your time then "walk away."  There are plenty of games out there on the internet. For americans maybe. So far ive posted on 6 different websites and i have not found a single person who wants to play D&D, that is not from america. Im making the effort for this game because its started up by a IRC group that i am familiar with outside of D&D. Voice chat is an interesting idea. I will see if i can get the group to use it.
#7 Krusk Jan 24, 2011 10:29:38	You aren't in america, try finding a group on a website hosted in your country. For instance, I would be suprised if no one in this french http://www.gameblog.fr/forum/ forum was able to direct you to a french language game. Key point being that you would probably need to be able to speak french. I found that in 3 min of googleing, and am totally unfamiliar with french RPGs (i have played some miniatures games though to keep it all truth). If you have a hard time doing this, go to google advanced search. Then limit the languages to the ones you speak. Then search for "I am looking for an online pen and paper RPG" or something.
#8 CorrinAvatan Jan 24, 2011 13:58:50	What program do you use to play? And when you say "it took an hour to do X", do you literally mean "it took an hour for him to essentially say we got down the valley, when it should have taken 5 seconds, because he didn't actually make us skill challenge or anything" Or Is he taking WAY too long to describe everything, giving you details about how many radial leaves the bush on your right has? Or does it just seem that he is chicken-pecking the keyboard, dear lord there can't be any other reason for why this is taking so damn long!
#9 mock26 Jan 24, 2011 14:32:57	Are you having fun?  If so then keep playing.  If, however, you find it to be more of a waste of time than it is a pleasurable use of your time then "walk away."  There are plenty of games out there on the internet. For americans maybe. So far ive posted on 6 different websites and i have not found a single person who wants to play D&D, that is not from america. Im making the effort for this game because its started up by a IRC group that i am familiar with outside of D&D. Voice chat is an interesting idea. I will see if i can get the group to use it. Have you thought about DMing?  I know that this is not an option for a lot of people (because they would rather be a Player, do not have the time, etc.), but I know that I would rather DM than not play or play in a crappy game. Again, it all comes down how much enjoyment versus aggravation you are getting out of this game.  At the end of the day If I was not able to DM I would rather not play than play and not have fun.
#10 dragonsblood Jan 25, 2011 1:18:36	Im...not sure how to approach this really. Its kinda assholish if i went to the DM and just said "Hey, i think this/you are going too slowly", but from my perspective this seems to be what is happening. Has anyone here encountered anything like this before in your experience? As a DM I LOVE constructive criticism. I've even gone so far as to print out surveys for my players to get any feedback from them. They're too polite. Overall I know they enjoy my campaigns, but I know I'm not the perfect DM. As long as you're respectful and willing to hear dissagreement, I suggest that you voice your concerns honestly and in private.
#11 question2 Jan 25, 2011 5:45:19	You aren't in america, try finding a group on a website hosted in your country. For instance, I would be suprised if no one in this french http://www.gameblog.fr/forum/ forum was able to direct you to a french language game. Key point being that you would probably need to be able to speak french. I found that in 3 min of googleing, and am totally unfamiliar with french RPGs (i have played some miniatures games though to keep it all truth). If you have a hard time doing this, go to google advanced search. Then limit the languages to the ones you speak. Then search for "I am looking for an online pen and paper RPG" or something. Im in Singapore, and the main language spoken here is English. I did do a google search and found a site, which then had links to two other local sites. However both the activity and response has been close to zero(other than the occasional guy coming into the thread to assure me that finding a group can be done, followed by dissapearing). On the upside i may have another campaign starting this saturday, most of the players are in asia so the game will actually start at a sane time for once. I hope it gets off the ground...so far, most of the groups ive been in fall apart before the first session can even start(DM or half the players dissapears). What program do you use to play? And when you say "it took an hour to do X", do you literally mean "it took an hour for him to essentially say we got down the valley, when it should have taken 5 seconds, because he didn't actually make us skill challenge or anything" Or Is he taking WAY too long to describe everything, giving you details about how many radial leaves the bush on your right has? Or does it just seem that he is chicken-pecking the keyboard, dear lord there can't be any other reason for why this is taking so damn long! We are now using gametable. When i says it took an hour to get into the valley, it took about an hour for him to call for two skill checks(to avoid falling down the slope) and narrate some NPC text(most of which was two NPCs talking to each other for a bit before the orcs showed up). So for most of the hour we were waiting for him to finish narrating the NPC conversation so we could grab the macguffin we came for. Ive thought about DMing, yes. Although i doubt this group would play if i DMed, since the americans would be playing in the morning.