UK here, so GMT exactly.

I've also set up a persistent chatroom:

PlayNow!

pw: inawickedage

--- In play_now@yahoogroups.com, "Brennen Reece" <brennen.reece@...>
wrote:
>
> I'm using jabber.org as the server.
>
> my contact info is brennen_reece@...
>

--- In play_now@yahoogroups.com, "Brennen Reece" <brennen.reece@...>
wrote:
>
> Hey Aaron,
>
> I'm signed into coccinella now using my googletalk password, which is
> brennen.reece@... If you're up for messing around with it, let
> me know. I'm available.

Ok, I added you if everything worked and I'm online now. If not, you
can try to each me under lordminx@...

aaron

I'm using jabber.org as the server.

my contact info is brennen_reece@...

--- In play_now@yahoogroups.com, "nheastvan" <nheastvan@...> wrote:

> I think this is a great idea.  I'd much rather add a second account
> than try to simply make my existing IM account(s) work.  I think
> jabber is a great way to go, but it could be anything.  Though, does
> jabber support "shouting" to everyone?

Not AFAIK. It does support chat rooms and group chat though. So if we
all got an account at the, funno, jabber.org server, somebody there
could create a chatroom called "Play Now" that other people can join
when they feel like it. It doesn't even have to "exist" all the time,
as long as pople know what to look for.

Disclaimer: This is, at this point, theoretical, as I haven't played
around with chatrooms much. I'm also not 100% sure that Jabber
supports group chat, although I'm 99% sure. This still needs testing,
but I think the idea is sound.

> I think it's the way to go.  As for what IM service, as long as
> there's a client I can use (I run Ubuntu Linux) I'm happy.  The
> ability to shout to everyone currently logged in would also be good.
> So when I'm available for play, I'd have my client running and anyone
> could go "I want to run In A Wicked Age, anyone interested?" and I'd
> see the notice along with anyone else online and "in the group."

Yeah, well, i don't think Jabber supports this. But I think it
shouldn't be a problem to go to the "Play Now" Chattroon on
whatever-we-choose.org and ask there. :)

Maybe it's even possible to set "Looking for a Wicked Age game" as
your customized status message. (I thin Jabber supports those.)

But, like I said, testing needed. :D

Aaron

I decided not to use the yahoo storage space because it would get
filled too quickly, so I used Rapidshare and added a load of new
tokens to make up for your troubles.

Link:

http://rapidshare.com/files/87369256/Tokens1.rar.html

--- In play_now@yahoogroups.com, "Brennen Reece" <brennen.reece@...>
wrote:
>
> Like Ryan said in an earlier post, we need to get everyone on the same
> page as far as the applications are concerned. In order to do this, we
> need to address the needs of the somewhat quirky games we like to play.
>
> This is my short list:
>
> 1) Text Chat
> 2) Whiteboard w/Image upload
> 3) Dice Roller
> 4) Card Deck
> 5) Multi-platform
> 6) Free
>
> I think we can run most indie rpgs with this small set of features.
> MapTool is almost there, but it needs a lot of work in a lot of areas.
> Maptool with Skype is great. There are some awesome Skype plugins as
> well, such as WhiteBoardConnection (which may sadly be Windows-only).
>

Well, there is Yuma Skype, which allows whiteboarding/desktop sharing,
and I do believe there is a die roller plug-in for Skype as well. All
of that is free and multi-platform so that covers everything but a
card deck. I personally like Maptool best, but it does have connection
issues with some routers. Adding a card chucking element to Maptool
should not be too hard, but it also seems they have a list of things
they want to develop before that :)

OpenRPG can do everything Maptool can do, just not as easily, and I
think someone did a card plug-in for it as well. OpenRPG documentation
is sparse and, to me, it is not intuitive to use.

What do I know though, I'm just the guy that makes tokens :)

Okay. The Coccinella whiteboard has dice (6-sided) and cards.

Hey Aaron,

I'm signed into coccinella now using my googletalk password, which is
brennen.reece@.... If you're up for messing around with it, let
me know. I'm available.

--- In play_now@yahoogroups.com, "lordminx" <lordminx@...> wrote:
>
> --- In play_now@yahoogroups.com, "Brennen Reece" <brennen.reece@>
> wrote:
> >
> > Coccinella, which is a jabber client with a whiteboard, may be just
> > what we're looking for. I might have to do some research, but the
> > whiteboard looks awesome.
> >
>
> Argh, damn you Brennan, beat me by three minutes! ^_^
>
> Yeah, Coccinella is awesome. (And so is Jabber in general, I might
add.)
>
> Aaron
>

--- In play_now@yahoogroups.com, "Brennen Reece" <brennen.reece@...>
wrote:
>
> Coccinella, which is a jabber client with a whiteboard, may be just
> what we're looking for. I might have to do some research, but the
> whiteboard looks awesome.
>

Argh, damn you Brennan, beat me by three minutes! ^_^

Yeah, Coccinella is awesome. (And so is Jabber in general, I might add.)

Aaron

--- In play_now@yahoogroups.com, "Brennen Reece" <brennen.reece@...>
wrote:
>
> Like Ryan said in an earlier post, we need to get everyone on the same
> page as far as the applications are concerned. In order to do this, we
> need to address the needs of the somewhat quirky games we like to play.
>
> This is my short list:
>
> 1) Text Chat
> 2) Whiteboard w/Image upload
> 3) Dice Roller
> 4) Card Deck
> 5) Multi-platform
> 6) Free
>
> I think we can run most indie rpgs with this small set of features.
> MapTool is almost there, but it needs a lot of work in a lot of areas.
> Maptool with Skype is great. There are some awesome Skype plugins as
> well, such as WhiteBoardConnection (which may sadly be Windows-only).
>
For Whiteboard, Chat and VoIP there's <a
href="http://thecoccinella.org/">Coccinella</a>, a cross-plattform IM
Client for the Jabber/XMPP service. (Free, I might add.)

For dicerollers, you can't really beat something like <a
href="http://catchyourhare.com/diceroller/">Grahams Dice Roller</a>,
IMO. It's browser based, but that also means it's pretty plattform
independant and you can even "password" your rolls so that all people
see the same rolls.

No idea about Cards, though.

--- In play_now@yahoogroups.com, "Brennen Reece" <brennen.reece@...>
wrote:
>
> Hey Joey,
>
> I'm in GMT-6, but I work what is effectively 2nd shift (musician,
> private guitar instructor), and I'm an insomniac. I might be available
> to play early afternoon or mornings for me...afternoons or evenings for
> you.
>
> - Brennen
>
> --- In play_now@yahoogroups.com, "Joseph Bach Hardie"
> <joeymacguffin@> wrote:
> >
> > Do we have anyone from over the pond here yet? I ask this because,
> > being in GMT+1 where I am, games scheduled in EST are generally going
> > to fall at weird hours of the night.
> >
>

I'm in Austria, so I'm at GMT+1 too.

Aaron

Coccinella, which is a jabber client with a whiteboard, may be just
what we're looking for. I might have to do some research, but the
whiteboard looks awesome.

Like Ryan said in an earlier post, we need to get everyone on the same
page as far as the applications are concerned. In order to do this, we
need to address the needs of the somewhat quirky games we like to play.

This is my short list:

1) Text Chat
2) Whiteboard w/Image upload
3) Dice Roller
4) Card Deck
5) Multi-platform
6) Free

I think we can run most indie rpgs with this small set of features.
MapTool is almost there, but it needs a lot of work in a lot of areas.
Maptool with Skype is great. There are some awesome Skype plugins as
well, such as WhiteBoardConnection (which may sadly be Windows-only).

--- In play_now@yahoogroups.com, "Ryan Stoughton" <ryanstoughton@...>
wrote:
>
> It sounds like you're looking for a custom gaming-focused tool for
> gaming, which would be cool...

No, not at all. I'm not looking for any specific kind of tool, I'm
looking for, well, a "procedure" for lack of a better word, to make
Play Now into an even more ... "instant" kinda thing.

My thought is this: Right now, even with a Yahoo group, you don't
really have an idea of whether somebody is, RIGHT NOW, looking for a
game. At best, you happen to check your email right when somebody puts
an active "Looking for a game" call out there. At worst, you check
them earlier, see nothing that interests you, play WoW for a bit and
later find that not only did you miss it by a bit, the guy is also not
online anymore. And if you are the person sending out the mail, it's
just the same problem seen from the other side. It's not real-time,
it's "only" a more decentralized forum. (Or at least one you can check
from more places.)

Now picture the following: All people of the group get themselves a,
dunno, Jabber Account, preferably a seperate one from any they use for
their normal IM presence. (Like I said, this works with most IM
services out there, I'm just using Jabber/XMPP as an example. Could be
Yahoo, Skype or ICQ, doesn't really matter for now.) People then post
it here on the group, or somebody collects it into the Database or
maybe they put it into their profile, whatever.  It's only important
that anybody interested can add anybody else in the group to their
contact list.

(If the service supports it, they also agree on the name for a general
user created "chat room", like "Play Now", where they can meet each
other and do one-to-many type communication.)

People then make a group/folder in their IM clients contact list
called "Play Now" and put all those addresses and accounts in there.
They also only go online using their "Play Now" account when they are
looking for a game, talk about a game or talk about the group, ie.
when they are actively interested in participating, even though they
might not have anything to say at the moment. Not when they are just
doing work or chatting with other people on their other accounts.

NOW, if this happens, we have a situation where a random Play Now guy,
for example me, can start up my IM client and go online using my Play
Now Account, and see immediately whether people are looking to play or
not. If the Service supports it, I can even look up what kind of games
these people like to play or maybe even what they are looking for
right now. I can also go to the "Play Now" Chat room and talk to them
and write, for example, ideas about games I'd like to run.

None of the above needs any specialized "gaming messenger", it could
be done with pretty much any IM service and IM client out there. The
only thing necessary is that people agree to do this and that they
follow this procedure.

(Ok, people also need to agree on an IM service if we want to use chat
rooms or something. But as it would, IMO, be best to make a special
account for Play Now anyway, this shouldn't be too much of a problem,
IMO. Of course, I could be wrong. :D)

> Play Now needs to focus on just getting the people to gather.  We
> need a people-heavy meetingplace mroe than we need a new
> application.

My idea would only enhance this groups role as a meeting place and add
instant communication and "recognition" ("Ah, That person is also
looking to game right now.") to it and make it less time-lagged.
People could and would still use the mailing list to communicate with
people who are not online at the time.

> This is especially true since there are already so very, very many
> instant messaging clients, sites for gamers, and interactive
> tabletops.  Not to mention the fact that people are hesitant to
> install new things.  We need to get away from the debate about which
> software is best and just get people looking at the same place.
>
> Play Now needs to be a meeting place and just a meeting place, not a
> place to develop a program where we will meet at some later date.

Even if I could develop a new plattform, I wouldn't want to. So far, I
haven't seen a singly dedicated "online gaming solution" that
satisfied me and thus I would be the last to propose something like
that. My idea is just to use existing solutions to add a real-time
connection to this group here.

After all, most people here already use one Instant messaging service
or other. They probably even use it on an multi-service client like
Pidgin/GAIM or Miranda, so adding an account for a service they don't
use normally would be trivial and I think it would greatly enhance the
use of this group for spontaneous gaming. After all, this was meant to
be a meeting stone, right? This would bring it even closer to that, IMO.

Aaron

Hey Joey,

I'm in GMT-6, but I work what is effectively 2nd shift (musician,
private guitar instructor), and I'm an insomniac. I might be available
to play early afternoon or mornings for me...afternoons or evenings for
you.

- Brennen

--- In play_now@yahoogroups.com, "Joseph Bach Hardie"
<joeymacguffin@...> wrote:
>
> Do we have anyone from over the pond here yet? I ask this because,
> being in GMT+1 where I am, games scheduled in EST are generally going
> to fall at weird hours of the night.
>

Do we have anyone from over the pond here yet? I ask this because,
being in GMT+1 where I am, games scheduled in EST are generally going
to fall at weird hours of the night.

I just uploaded 181 random character tokens to the file area. I got
lazy and just used the basic token overlay from Tokentool. They should
work well with any VT and were designed to fit a variety of genres
both fantasy and modern. All were ripped from Suikoden concept art,
enjoy. More coming later.

It sounds like you're looking for a custom gaming-focused tool for
gaming, which would be cool...

But I've seen a LOT of tech-heavy attempts at gathering gamers and
from what I've seen they usually end up far too focused on the
technology.  There's bugs, or custom features start to overwhelm the
dev team, development stalls or is poorly documented... feature
requests go completely unanswered, etc.

Play Now needs to focus on just getting the people to gather.  We
need a people-heavy meetingplace mroe than we need a new
application.

This is especially true since there are already so very, very many
instant messaging clients, sites for gamers, and interactive
tabletops.  Not to mention the fact that people are hesitant to
install new things.  We need to get away from the debate about which
software is best and just get people looking at the same place.

Play Now needs to be a meeting place and just a meeting place, not a
place to develop a program where we will meet at some later date.


--- In play_now@yahoogroups.com, "lordminx" <lordminx@...> wrote:
>
> Over on Storygames, there have been a couple
> <http://www.story-games.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=5455>
of
> threads
> <http://www.story-games.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=5440>
> where people talked about using Instant Messengers together with the
> Play Now Idea.
>
> Personally, I find this idea preferable to a yahoo or facebook
group,
> because it has the instant, real-life component going on. Adding to
what
> I said here
> <http://www.story-games.com/forums/comments.php?
DiscussionID=5455&page=1\
> #Item_11> , I think a IM service would need/could use the following
> things to work really well for Play Now:
>
> 1. A way to generate chatrooms or groups as a way for One-to-Many
> communication, so that somebody can go online and ask all the other
> online users for a game.
>
> 2. A way to organize people in their contact lists along groups, so
they
> can, for example, make a "Play NOW" group, but all the other Play
Now
> people into it and see on one glance who's online.
>
> 3. A way to customize their profiles to add information like "Games
I
> like to Play" or "Seeking players for THIS campaign" type
information.
>
> 4. A way to set customized Status messages like "Gaming", "Looking
for
> Game", "Just Lurking" and so on
>
> 5. Support for VoIP and other useful things like File Transfer,
> Whiteboards or Dice Rollers.
>
> 6. It should be OS-independent both service and client side, so
people
> on any operating system can play.
>
>
> -----------------
>
> Now, some of those points are more important then others. For
example, I
> find 1, 2 and 6 pretty integral, while something like 5 can also be
done
> by using other things, like a web-based dicerollers or map-viewing
> applications.
>   There are also a whole bunch of IM services and clients that
support
> some and/or all of those points, but getting everybody to agree on a
> service might be a problem, even with the availaility and use of
> Multi-Service clients like Pidgin or Miranda. I have a few ideas for
> Clients/Services that could work, but I'd like to hear peoples
opinions
> on the general idea first.
>
> Aaron/Lord Minx
>

--- In play_now@yahoogroups.com, "hdtvdinner" <hdtvdinner@...> wrote:
>
> --- In play_now@yahoogroups.com, Ryan Stoughton <ryanstoughton@>
> wrote:
> >
> >
> > If anyone's interested, I can run In A Wicked Age Monday night (Jan
> 28th) at 7:30 PM EST.
> >
> > New players welcome, if you don't know the rules it's fine, if you DO
> know the rules you're doubly welcome!
> >
> > I haven't worked out rules for this list yet but please don't post if
> you can't come - only if you can.
> >
> > Cheers,
> > Ryan Stoughton
> > _________________________________________________________________
> >
> Hey, If there's room for another, I should be able to play tonight.
>
Hey, that means we'll be playing in the same game again! Cool,
continuing the story of Shalmanizar.

--
Veles S.
(I was signed in on someone else's account, apparently...)

--- In play_now@yahoogroups.com, Ryan Stoughton <ryanstoughton@...>
wrote:
>
>
> If anyone's interested, I can run In A Wicked Age Monday night (Jan
28th) at 7:30 PM EST.
>
> New players welcome, if you don't know the rules it's fine, if you DO
know the rules you're doubly welcome!
>
> I haven't worked out rules for this list yet but please don't post if
you can't come - only if you can.
>
> Cheers,
> Ryan Stoughton
> _________________________________________________________________
>
Hey, If there's room for another, I should be able to play tonight.

--- In play_now@yahoogroups.com, Ryan Stoughton <ryanstoughton@...> wrote:
>
>
> If anyone's interested, I can run In A Wicked Age Monday night (Jan
28th) at 7:30 PM EST.
>
> New players welcome, if you don't know the rules it's fine, if you
DO know the rules you're doubly welcome!
>
> I haven't worked out rules for this list yet but please don't post
if you can't come - only if you can.
>
> Cheers,
> Ryan Stoughton
> _________________________________________________________________
>
I'm definitely in.

--
Veles S

That's right.  Maptool and Skype. :)

Maptool is free (rptools.net) - get version 1.2
Skype is also free (skype.com)

--- In play_now@yahoogroups.com, "Brennen Reece" <brennen.reece@...>
wrote:
>
> Count me in. I just got permission from my wife.
>
> I assume we're using maptool and skype?
>
> --- In play_now@yahoogroups.com, Ryan Stoughton <ryanstoughton@>
> wrote:
> >
> >
> > If anyone's interested, I can run In A Wicked Age Monday night (Jan
> 28th) at 7:30 PM EST.
> >
> > New players welcome, if you don't know the rules it's fine, if you
> DO know the rules you're doubly welcome!
> >
> > I haven't worked out rules for this list yet but please don't post
> if you can't come - only if you can.
> >
> > Cheers,
> > Ryan Stoughton
> > _________________________________________________________________
> >
>

Count me in. I just got permission from my wife.

I assume we're using maptool and skype?

--- In play_now@yahoogroups.com, Ryan Stoughton <ryanstoughton@...>
wrote:
>
>
> If anyone's interested, I can run In A Wicked Age Monday night (Jan
28th) at 7:30 PM EST.
>
> New players welcome, if you don't know the rules it's fine, if you
DO know the rules you're doubly welcome!
>
> I haven't worked out rules for this list yet but please don't post
if you can't come - only if you can.
>
> Cheers,
> Ryan Stoughton
> _________________________________________________________________
>

If anyone's interested, I can run In A Wicked Age Monday night (Jan 28th) at
7:30 PM EST.

New players welcome, if you don't know the rules it's fine, if you DO know the
rules you're doubly welcome!

I haven't worked out rules for this list yet but please don't post if you can't
come - only if you can.

Cheers,
Ryan Stoughton
_________________________________________________________________

--- In play_now@yahoogroups.com, "the_orklord" <orklord@...> wrote:
>
> Odd question, but why do you even need a VGT for PTA?

Perfectly valid question. We don't need a VGT to play PTA. However...

The group was started as a group of people who have been using VGTs
as their primary method of gaming and want to branch out from the d20
hack-n-slash culture into something more creative and thought-
provoking. We made a list of the indie games we wanted to try and
decided to play a season of PTA as our inaugural game.

One of our group had participated in a PTA session once. In
restrospect, it's overkill, but there are some nice features.

The Savage Worlds ruleset for Fantasy Grounds allows the GM to deal
cards to the players. Players can run several characters, each with a
separate portrait. GMs can create several personalities, and the
scene description is a different visual style from the rest of the
text, so the chat window reads like a screenplay. Basically, it's a
glorified chat app.

For other games, you can draw pictures, use tokens, roll 3d dice that
bounce around, use interactive character sheets, etc. It's designed
primarily for d20 games, but can be used for just about anything.

Odd question, but why do you even need a VGT for PTA?

--- In play_now@yahoogroups.com, "Brennen Reece" <brennen.reece@...>
wrote:
>
> This is the online gaming group I belong to. We are currently playing
> Primetime Adventures using Fantasy Grounds every Sunday.
>
> http://groups.google.com/group/story-gaming-vgt?hl=en
>

This is the online gaming group I belong to. We are currently playing
Primetime Adventures using Fantasy Grounds every Sunday.

http://groups.google.com/group/story-gaming-vgt?hl=en