In this episode, we are going to have a chat with Matt Egar about his play by mail adventures and I talk about the positives of virtual gaming. Welcome to Mythras Matters Season 1 Episode 27 - Mailing the Adventure
Hello and welcome to Mythras Matters, a podcast dedicated to the Mythras ruleset and all its supplements. As always, I’m your host, inwils, and welcome to August
I'm currently on vacation from work, but that doesn't mean that the podcasts and the videos are as well. I have wondered in the past whether I could have a month off from Mythras Matters - one month every year when there is not an episode. I know I did it during the first year, but this was purely by accident since I actually lost track of time and had to publish a humbling apology! What do you think? I guess during August most of us are on vacation so we have more time to listen to podcasts - so thinking about it maybe that's not a good month to have no episode.
I did think about December, but I really like doing the Christmas special. - maybe we should just stick to one every month - maybe it's just easier - keep me in a routine.
I've shared some ideas about the future episodes with the Team, and they have been approved, so some great content is on its way. I also have an Evernote page with some ideas about what I call a solo episode. These are when you listen to just me all episode! These are the hardest episode for us all I think! The list is getting longer so hopefully, it will be just as informative and interesting as the other episodes.
But let's not spend the whole episode looking ahead, let's focus on the present and let me share with you some of the positives of our virtual gaming set-up.
Probably like most of us, I started my RPG life huddled around a table in someone's house, rolling dice, moving metal figures, laying floor plans and GM from behind a Screen. I have to admit that the last time I played like this was when we did a 24 hour charity AD&D session for Rag Week at university.
Although I have still got all those floor plans and figures, our games have moved away from the face to face environment to a more virtual set-up.
Rather than talking about the negatives of this approach and the reduction of face to face interactions, I would like to share some of the positives that I have found with a more virtual approach to gaming.
Although you might think it is easy to get people together in a virtual game rather than a physical game you would be wrong. But the virtual game does allow for a wider range of people to join. If I was only playing a physical game, then three of our four players would not be able to attend. Longshanks lives in the UK, the same as Medivac and myself, but at the other end of the country and Mr Pickles and Captain Kangaroo live across the Atlantic ocean in the USA. Time zones can be an issue, the same issue that I overcome for interviews for this podcast, but with careful organisation, it can work. Of course, real-life often can delay a session, but that is the same for any game I think.
I have watched virtual games when people roll dice off-screen. I'm sure the majority of us would be completely truthful about our dice rolls if they were off-camera, but I have seen some games that I have been amazed when all the important rolls seem to have been nat 20s! - maybe I'm just cynical! Many people say that they would miss the physical rolling of the dice if they were to play virtually. Personally, I don't and, from the reaction of the players when those crits are rolled, I don't think the players do either. For me, the ease of being able to ask Roll20 to roll specific dice with or without modifiers is rather nice. For example, when rolling for experience rolls, Roll20 will remember your dice rolls so you only need to enter them once and then use them over and over again. Also - with the character sheet set up in Roll 20 skill rolls are so easy and I have even made a macro to work out the value for augmenting rolls. Although we became very suspicious of the macro for hit location that always seemed to come up with the right arm!
While sorting out some old papers and folders from my AD&D days, I came across my old D&D log! This was a book where I would actually record the adventures in full. It is really great looking back at some of our games. Some were just between me and my brother, me DMing and my brother controlling a full party of 6 characters. One aspect of playing virtually that I really like is the option to record the session. This allows us not only to provide content for my YouTube channel but also provide us with a record of the sessions for players who might have missed the session or for people who just want to go back and find out what the name of the barkeeper was! This is especially useful for me since I often makeup names on the spur of the moment and then forget them - am I the only GM that does that?
My final positive for virtual gaming is the wealth of tokens and maps that are out there. Often I would have to spend considerable time making detailed maps to share with the players or use floor plans that never really communicated the atmosphere effectively. I am not using how much I have spent on the Roll20 marketplace to purchase floor plans. Often this is a spur of the moment thing when I suddenly realised that I am going to need some plans for the local castle or starport. I'm not very artistic so find it hard to create my own and like to think that I am supporting others who have the skill and talent to make the wonderful floorplans that I then purchase. Coupled with the artistic content of these plans are the effects that can be used alongside them. Dynamic light is brilliant, establish when the party are exploring with only a couple of torches and a stiff breeze blows them out. The players literally see nothing at all on their screens!
Hopefully, that has given you some positives of playing virtually and, if you have any questions please do reach out on forums and/or discord and I'll try and provide answers.
I was lucky enough a few months back to be invited to play an online game that was similar to the play by mail method. I wanted to share with you all the possibilities for this method of playing and so grabbed Matt for a chat about how he set his campaign up.
Over to you Matt,
Interview - no transcription available
I am really enjoying playing through the campaign and must say that it has inspired me to start my own discord game up! What this will be I'm not sure, but I've definitely put it on the sometimes list to get it done!
Remember, if you would like to share anything with the podcast then why not just drop me an email or message and let me know what you would like to cover. I am always looking for reviews or interviews with people. So if you are interested, you can email me at inwils@gmail.com or send me a message on the various forums I frequent.
And that’s it, another episode of Mythras Matters completed.
Don't forget you can check out all my content by following my YouTube channel and the campaign areas on World Anvil. I really appreciate your support and do check out the TapaTalk forums, there are some great people there sharing their ideas within the discussions.
So, until next time have a great month of gaming and I will chat again to you all in September
Until then I hope that all our opposed rolls succeed and provide you with a well-deserved special.
Thanks for listening cya - Bye!