Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 creinr Apr 17, 2011 15:36:42	Hello everybody, Im interested in playing D&D but I have a big problem. There is know one in the area to play D&D with. So im wondering if its possible to play it with skype or another chatting program? And if so, does anybody know a group or a website I can join to play D&D online. Thanks for reading and please reply if you can help me :D
#2 morandir62 Apr 17, 2011 15:57:25	If you join DDI you can hope for the Virtual Table, which is doing beta testing now. But I have used a webcam and Ventrilo/Skype to play with my Canadian friend. Careful of the term "D&D online" as it is the same for the free game also known as DDO.
#3 Fireclave Apr 17, 2011 22:15:07	My group uses a combination of Skype and Maptool.  Works just fine for us.
#4 Kingpin000 Apr 18, 2011 3:21:10	My group uses a combination of Skype and Maptool.  Works just fine for us. for me ,too. for every edition of D&D, you will find Frameworks for Maptool (pre-programmed settings and functions). for the organisation of the group i would advice Epic Words because this site has free calender function to schedule gaming sessions with email reminders.
#5 copycatzero Apr 18, 2011 16:30:48	My best friend, and one-fourth of our long-standing gaming group, moved away a few years ago.  We had been restricting gaming sessions at that point to his twice-or-so visits to the area, but it wasn't really working out.  However, we discovered that Skype did work as a stand-in, of sorts.  I have a netbook with a built-in camera and mic, so I just set it up at the table, angle the camera down to where it can see the playing field, and he's able to attend sessions -- albeit with some slight difficulty in determining where his character is in relation to the rest of the field, and with some of the visual cues being missed (not to mention the audio quality issues).
#6 spiralzanta Apr 18, 2011 20:09:12	If you are looking for people you could always try penandpapergames.com or try obisidian portal but the only luck I have is creating my own campaign for online.
#7 trebor_rjf Apr 18, 2011 22:04:01	i use skype+obsidian portal+maptools for all my games at it works just fine. with the use of frameworks combats actually run faster because most of the math is take care of by frameworks.
#8 ghaladen Apr 21, 2011 0:51:00	@copycatzero we had the same problems with Skype giving horrible quality, so our remote player couldn't make out the squares. We fixed it by using a piece of software called WebcamXP. Essentially it turns your computer into a video streaming server, that the user can access the webcam feed via a webbrowser. Framerate is terrible (< 8 FPS), but when you're looking at a gameboard, framerate isn't a huge concern. In fact with my Lifecam Cinema, we were able to get a nice crisp 720p resolution. Only downside is you have to portforward your router (so if your IP address is say 71.2.50.120, and you port forward port 8080 to your laptop, your online player would just open up 71.2.50.120:8080 in their browser). If you're familiar with virtual tabletops like d20pro and maptools then it's pretty much the same concept. Hope that helps.
#9 bone_naga Apr 21, 2011 14:30:03	My group uses a combination of Skype and Maptool.  Works just fine for us. Pretty much the same here. Maptool for the VTT but instead of skype we just used the voicechat function on Yahoo Messenger.
#10 copycatzero Apr 22, 2011 14:05:17	@copycatzero we had the same problems with Skype giving horrible quality, so our remote player couldn't make out the squares. We fixed it by using a piece of software called WebcamXP. Essentially it turns your computer into a video streaming server, that the user can access the webcam feed via a webbrowser. Framerate is terrible (< 8 FPS), but when you're looking at a gameboard, framerate isn't a huge concern. In fact with my Lifecam Cinema, we were able to get a nice crisp 720p resolution. Only downside is you have to portforward your router (so if your IP address is say 71.2.50.120, and you port forward port 8080 to your laptop, your online player would just open up 71.2.50.120:8080 in their browser). If you're familiar with virtual tabletops like d20pro and maptools then it's pretty much the same concept. Hope that helps. Thanks for the recommendation, but I'm quicker to blame the problem on the webcam setup itself than on Skype.  I use an Asus EEE as my Skype-cam-platform, so trying to angle the camera built into the screen in such a way that it gets a good view of the battle mat (without closing the screen so far that it puts the thing into sleep mode) is really the issue.  If I had a standalone webcam, I could probably do a setup that would be easier for him to get a good view of the mat, but... That, and the EEE runs Unix, so the program wouldn't work on it. Thanks anyways.
#11 xtimmyx Apr 23, 2011 0:32:10	i'm a DM and i DM a group in person,  but i also have a friend down in oregon in the U.S.  and he plays over skype.    he sends me his feed of his mic and webcam for me to see him as him being "there" with the others.   i have two webcams set up, one on the group and the other on the grid/map lay out and he can see the fight in person as if he was there.   for my webcam set up i use xplit, and its an amazing program u can use for multiple scenes so u can have the cam centered on the group to be big and the cam centered on the grid to be small when role playing.   or visa versa when we're doing the fighting scenes.   its kind of a trust issue though when it comes to rolls though.  he can fudge anything. but then again so can my other players.   but i trust him completely.
#12 copycatzero Apr 24, 2011 14:56:54	its kind of a trust issue though when it comes to rolls though. Yeah, there's this with my friend who joins us over Skype.  There will be these times where he gets amazing streaks of good rolls (usually trivializing the encounter in the process, since he plays an extremely defense-oriented Paladin), and then there'll be other times when he suddenly gets these streaks of really bad rolls (which always seem to coincide with him not really caring about the encounter because he's doing something else on his end). It's not that I don't necessarily trust him, but it's one of those things that makes me wish he was here rather than there.
#13 creinr Apr 27, 2011 3:25:34	thnx evryone, it looks like its possible. Im going to look on the site's you guys gave me, and see if I can find a group to play with.
#14 SpacyRicochet May 16, 2011 8:11:10	thnx evryone, it looks like its possible. Im going to look on the site's you guys gave me, and see if I can find a group to play with.  You can also look at RPG-chats for now. They don't require you to have a group, just a character and internet. I myself have a lot of fun on Sharn Chat at the moment. Be aware the RPG chat's are more about the roleplaying than having a lot of adventures, but it's quite nice. Yeah, there's this with my friend who joins us over Skype.  There will be these times where he gets amazing streaks of good rolls (usually trivializing the encounter in the process, since he plays an extremely defense-oriented Paladin), and then there'll be other times when he suddenly gets these streaks of really bad rolls (which always seem to coincide with him not really caring about the encounter because he's doing something else on his end). It's not that I don't necessarily trust him, but it's one of those things that makes me wish he was here rather than there. If it's really a problem, then online dice rollers like Rolz can provide a good solution as well.
#15 hellcat64 Mar 10, 2012 21:44:10	im willing to play.. i have same issue at home. no one to play with or if friends play i all ways run game and they use my books so u lose my page. i like to read the hole book
#16 silverwing72000 Mar 12, 2012 21:27:33	Anyone think of Google Hangouts? good setup. text, drawing, and screenshare.
#17 Avenger_jr Mar 25, 2012 16:19:09	I DM a group on my college campus, and for our games we use one of the private lounges. I bring my laptop to help organize my stuff when DMing, so that gets some more use when we factor in our Online player. Our online player is a friend from home of one of my On-Campus players, so we use Skype call through my Laptop and chat in order to have him here with us. I have a USB Webcam attached to a small Tripod (formerly a waterbottle filled with rocks) that I can place infront of my DM Screen and angle down at the map. When he needs another POV or is unsure what he is looking at, we gladly move the camera for him and give him the level of zoom and focus he needs. We do run into some issues, however: Internet Connection - This is a major factor for most issues from communication problems to call dropping, so a stable and preferrably private connection is best. Point Of View - Depending on how the webcam and game board is set up, the player may have a skewed perception of what is where. They may be unable to accurately identify which mini's are which or precisely announce movement. So it becomes nessecery for the DM or other Players to help him by moving him and picking his targets given his specifications Communication - Depending on Internet connection, Communication can be slow, delayed, or broken. Microphone and speaker problems  can also hinder communication by the player not being able to hear the group, or the group not being able to hear the player. In the case of a chatty group, it leaves the single player unable to pick out who is saying what. Again, whomever is in charge of the webcam could play advocate for the player, restating group communication to the player and visa versa. Noise - Playing in a not-so-private-place can lead to outside noise that interferes with what the player can hear. We have a noisy vent that he can hear all too clearly. Absence - The player isn't there, and if he is not actively being called upon or trying to communicate, it can lead to the rest of the group forgetting or overlooking his presence. Inventory -  Call it miscommunication, or call it a duplication glitch. If communication is an issue, this can occur. Sometimes when rewards, items, treasure or 'loot' is given out the Skype player in our group tends to write down everything, not just his share or the specific items he is taking. This leads to Multiple +1 magic longswords, Quest related items, twice as many healing potions, and the  ever present argument - "You can't use that! I have it!" Make sure communication is clear and concise, or this can stall your game. And that's my opinion from experience with this - If you can find a great use for this besides my rough College-Dorm-room set-up, Go ahead and have fun! Having your friends together, in any form, for D&D makes it all the better.