Post by lkmjbc3 on Jun 4, 2020 15:25:12 GMT -5
I just wanted to share my experience with running Legends over Roll20.net during these trying/socially distanced times.
Not being to meet in person for our weekly gaming session caused much stress for our group. In order to fix the situation I cast around for ways of running games over the internet. Roll20.net seemed a likely option. I created an account, created a game, read to help screens, and blundered my way through.
It worked surprisingly well once I figured out the software. We completed "Echoes of the Old Ones" and are well on our way through "The Dark Vale".
Here are some tips.
1st. Roll20.net grew out of a hacker/small programming group. It has a lot of idiosyncrasies and a few existing bugs. The documentation and approach is not the easiest to understand for a new user. Once you learn the "language" however, it works fairly well.
2nd. You really only need the "free" version to play. The two pay versions are great... If you like the software you may want to pay for it just to support the company. You don't need them however. The pay versions buy you more storage and the capability of programming the system. The programming requires knowledge of both CSS and Java. You can do some amazing things with it... but it will consume you more than the gaming!
3rd. The system has a Generic mode/setup. It also has many programmed modes for different game systems. If someone wanted, they could program a mode/setup for Legends and have it listed for everyone to use. You don't however need this.
4th. The Generic setup allows you to define Attributes and Abilities. Attributes are what you think they are... You can setup St, Dx, IQ, and Mv. There are two fields for each... the first a "current" value and the second a "Maximum" value... PERFECT! But, these fields are alphanumeric. So, I setup fields for Armor... both the protection and the type ("Leather" or "Chain" or whatever).
5th. Abilities are not what you think they are... they are macros to roll dice. So, you can write them for a standard die rolls and make them appear on the playing area for folks to roll. An example would be a Standard Check... that rolls 3d6. Another would be a Difficult Check (we call it that) of 4d6. You can also setup ones for weapon damage rolls.
6. For die rolls you can use the visual 3d-die rolls. Warning... on old machines or folks that have slow internet the feature takes up a lot of resources. We have one player that gets doubled rolls often as his system lags. No, you can't take the better of the two!
7. You LOTAW maps will scan well and load into the game. The game does feature a built in Hex map. It also allows the map to regulate movement. You don't need either feature with one exception. The problem is getting the game's hexes to align with the map's hexes. It is possible... but not worth it.
8. To contradict what I just said... when setting up maps for your game... you probably want to branch out beyond the DCG maps. While a few of Dario's maps are on the interwebs, there are few other hex based resources/maps that I have found. The easiest solution if you don't want to draw your own... is to find some maps that aren't squared off... you can find plenty of these. All you need to do is to import them and then add the built in hex grid. I still wouldn't use the option for regulating movement. Your players can move their own tokens within the hexes by themselves.
9. Macros. The macros are fairly simple to write. The output format however is not the prettiest. You can write them to make use of the default built-in format. It makes the output look better, but most folks will only be looking at the cool 3d- dice roll across the screen. I go back and forth on this one.
In any case... give Roll20.net a try.
I'll post some examples of the macros that I use later.
Joe Collins
Not being to meet in person for our weekly gaming session caused much stress for our group. In order to fix the situation I cast around for ways of running games over the internet. Roll20.net seemed a likely option. I created an account, created a game, read to help screens, and blundered my way through.
It worked surprisingly well once I figured out the software. We completed "Echoes of the Old Ones" and are well on our way through "The Dark Vale".
Here are some tips.
1st. Roll20.net grew out of a hacker/small programming group. It has a lot of idiosyncrasies and a few existing bugs. The documentation and approach is not the easiest to understand for a new user. Once you learn the "language" however, it works fairly well.
2nd. You really only need the "free" version to play. The two pay versions are great... If you like the software you may want to pay for it just to support the company. You don't need them however. The pay versions buy you more storage and the capability of programming the system. The programming requires knowledge of both CSS and Java. You can do some amazing things with it... but it will consume you more than the gaming!
3rd. The system has a Generic mode/setup. It also has many programmed modes for different game systems. If someone wanted, they could program a mode/setup for Legends and have it listed for everyone to use. You don't however need this.
4th. The Generic setup allows you to define Attributes and Abilities. Attributes are what you think they are... You can setup St, Dx, IQ, and Mv. There are two fields for each... the first a "current" value and the second a "Maximum" value... PERFECT! But, these fields are alphanumeric. So, I setup fields for Armor... both the protection and the type ("Leather" or "Chain" or whatever).
5th. Abilities are not what you think they are... they are macros to roll dice. So, you can write them for a standard die rolls and make them appear on the playing area for folks to roll. An example would be a Standard Check... that rolls 3d6. Another would be a Difficult Check (we call it that) of 4d6. You can also setup ones for weapon damage rolls.
6. For die rolls you can use the visual 3d-die rolls. Warning... on old machines or folks that have slow internet the feature takes up a lot of resources. We have one player that gets doubled rolls often as his system lags. No, you can't take the better of the two!
7. You LOTAW maps will scan well and load into the game. The game does feature a built in Hex map. It also allows the map to regulate movement. You don't need either feature with one exception. The problem is getting the game's hexes to align with the map's hexes. It is possible... but not worth it.
8. To contradict what I just said... when setting up maps for your game... you probably want to branch out beyond the DCG maps. While a few of Dario's maps are on the interwebs, there are few other hex based resources/maps that I have found. The easiest solution if you don't want to draw your own... is to find some maps that aren't squared off... you can find plenty of these. All you need to do is to import them and then add the built in hex grid. I still wouldn't use the option for regulating movement. Your players can move their own tokens within the hexes by themselves.
9. Macros. The macros are fairly simple to write. The output format however is not the prettiest. You can write them to make use of the default built-in format. It makes the output look better, but most folks will only be looking at the cool 3d- dice roll across the screen. I go back and forth on this one.
In any case... give Roll20.net a try.
I'll post some examples of the macros that I use later.
Joe Collins
