Last night I tried my first attempt at playing D&D with 2 of the 3 PC's in the room, while the third was watching via the webcam.
We had a mic set up so that he could hear everybody around the table, and we had the speaker pointing at me, but in such a way that the other PC's could hear him, and there would be no feedback into the mic. Apples, from a player perspective, found it tiring to have to concentrate on 3 different worlds at once. There was the real world, with me and the other PC, there was the digital world, with Tylth in Connecticut, and there was the game world.
I didn't think of it until she mentioned it, but it's true how that can easily break ones focus. Normally, when sitting around a table, you are able to see people's expressions, and gestures, and what they're pointing at. But even if we had positioned the camera so that Tylth could observe the entire room, we still would be unable to see who he was gesturing at.
These attempts at online D&D are by no means a replacement for sitting around a table. Personal interaction turns out to be the most satisfying and enjoyable part of almost any adventure.
Example: The starting quest I had planned was full of exciting tracking and chasing, ambushes, booby traps, and a manhunt through the woods to the bandits lair. This was entirely overshadowed as the players were spending so much of their energy getting accustomed to the fact that one of the players wasn't really there. The online locale turns out to be a big drain. However, I believe that of the diffferent methods I've considered so far, this one seems to be the best. As all new things take some getting used to, this method might simply take a little practice and fine tuning, and we might be able to work it into a regular campaign.
Next attempt: I'm going to see if there's a way we can get two webcams going, one pointed at the players, and one pointed at the game board.
Yesterday's post was delayed due to an extremeley gorgeous summer day. I will be doing an extra one today to comepensate.
We had a mic set up so that he could hear everybody around the table, and we had the speaker pointing at me, but in such a way that the other PC's could hear him, and there would be no feedback into the mic. Apples, from a player perspective, found it tiring to have to concentrate on 3 different worlds at once. There was the real world, with me and the other PC, there was the digital world, with Tylth in Connecticut, and there was the game world.
I didn't think of it until she mentioned it, but it's true how that can easily break ones focus. Normally, when sitting around a table, you are able to see people's expressions, and gestures, and what they're pointing at. But even if we had positioned the camera so that Tylth could observe the entire room, we still would be unable to see who he was gesturing at.
These attempts at online D&D are by no means a replacement for sitting around a table. Personal interaction turns out to be the most satisfying and enjoyable part of almost any adventure.
Example: The starting quest I had planned was full of exciting tracking and chasing, ambushes, booby traps, and a manhunt through the woods to the bandits lair. This was entirely overshadowed as the players were spending so much of their energy getting accustomed to the fact that one of the players wasn't really there. The online locale turns out to be a big drain. However, I believe that of the diffferent methods I've considered so far, this one seems to be the best. As all new things take some getting used to, this method might simply take a little practice and fine tuning, and we might be able to work it into a regular campaign.
Next attempt: I'm going to see if there's a way we can get two webcams going, one pointed at the players, and one pointed at the game board.
Yesterday's post was delayed due to an extremeley gorgeous summer day. I will be doing an extra one today to comepensate.
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