We’re still looking for people that would be interested in becoming a Warden and running Alpha Omega demos and events at local game stores, gaming clubs, and conventions!

If interested, please send an email to <!—e—>community@mindstormlabs.com<!—e—> for more information!

January Bump Sequence initiated!

Wow, tempting!  I barely have time to game for myself, however…which is a shame because I’d love to get my hands on the pre-generated missions (the last time I DM’d a game, I ended my campaign swearing the next one I ran would be out of book….heh!)

I’d be interested in being one of the wardens if you didn’t mind play test sessions over the internet.

I live in abilene kansas and I think the nearest game store is about an hour and a half away in Topeka as the one in manhattan closed down a couple years ago.  But I do have a number of friends through facebook and such that love to play.

In fact I’ve already got a ventrillo play test being set up at this time.  Just gotta wait for the books to get to me in the mail (probably next monday) and then I’ll read through em and make an adventure.

Is that something that would be acceptable?  I do understand I’d have to get people set up for play tests that haven’t done alpha omega before.

Sablehawk - 04 February 2010 10:44 PM

I’d be interested in being one of the wardens if you didn’t mind play test sessions over the internet.

I live in abilene kansas and I think the nearest game store is about an hour and a half away in Topeka as the one in manhattan closed down a couple years ago.  But I do have a number of friends through facebook and such that love to play.

In fact I’ve already got a ventrillo play test being set up at this time.  Just gotta wait for the books to get to me in the mail (probably next monday) and then I’ll read through em and make an adventure.

Is that something that would be acceptable?  I do understand I’d have to get people set up for play tests that haven’t done alpha omega before.

No, I think it’s possible for you to become a Warden and be able to host games over the Internet. I think the biggest challenge is that it’s two fold: one, you’re introducing them to the game and secondly, you’re introducing them to the methods online being used, e.g. orientation to a new VGT/VTT. There are tools now that are making it better to take the storytelling one step further with your group and for those who are interested in joining your campaign.

It’s becoming easier now than when I first tried to host a game online two years ago. VGT/VTT can now share with a group online maps with FoW (Fog of War); ambient music and sounds; keeping track of character stats, chatlogs, a good dice roller that everyone in the group can see (except for those GM rolls, of course ;D). Most are geared for the D20 but the devs of these tools are now realizing that not everyone wants to play DnD 4e.

The concern that devs have, however, is more in line with the Living campaign where your players will take their sanctioned characters to another AO:E in another city and use that same character and there would be this risk of abuse. I think however they realise that it is an honour system and it wouldn’t matter if he/she takes his/her character from one RL convention to another or if he/she plays the campaign online and then goes to a RL convention. I think however that good communication with the other Wardens willl go a long way to preventing that if that happens.

The biggest headache for me as an online GM is the technical difficulties with Peer-to-Peer networking but the VTT I was using was good except that it had some stability problems. So if one crashed, then the whole application crashed which was very interruptive in the middle of encounters. Everyone would have to log in and get up set up again. Still, it hasn’t totally dissuaded me from trying again.

So, in a nutshell, I would encourage you to apply for a Wardenship. The worst that can happen is that TPTB say no. 

Myridean
Storyteller GM/Admin
NeoPangea.net

I’d like to second what Myridean has said.  It is interesting to see how fart VTTs have come in only two years.  I remember the first session of Myridean’s Neo-Pangea game; fun, but rather frustrating with the tech. problems.  Felt like we all kept failing our Computer Technologies rolls.    These days, there are options that make gaming over the ‘net much easier, and that’s a great thing.  I would hope TPTB allow Virtual Wardens, and I have no reason to think they wouldn’t. 

My advice; apply and have a game-plan with how you’d like to proceed. 

And let me just say, it IS good to be back on the forums.  Nice to have the time to dedicate to something besides RL again.  :D

I’m definitely going to apply to the wardens at some point but I think I’ll concentrate on finding people who want to do VTT and such first.

With no local players or game stores VTT is my only option really and finding new players, and by that I mean people I don’t know, who want to try out alpha omega is a real pain.  The only “gathering” area for AO is pretty much here.  But I’ll spend some time getting more familiar with the system and then as I become more proficient at it I’ll try to drum up some interest in some other sites I know about and see what happens. 

If they accept a virtual warden then that is great, if not, well gameplay is never a waste of time.  Unless of course you’re playing farmville from facebook. 

Sablehawk, once you have a stable platform, give me a PM. I’ll be happy to help you test it out. I’ll even run one or two of the existing Warden Demo’s for your group to see how well they do over the internet.
Then you can take that experience and vet it to the powers that be at the Wardens (I can hook you up there too by getting you some names) and maybe they’ll let you carry it forward.
Once you have the platform good and stable, you can post games on something like “pen and paper games” or “obsidian portal”, because they allow you to list internet only games.
Check it out when you have some time.

Will do Kane .. Thanks for the assist. 

I’ll let you know when I have everything set up.

We understand that many people do not have enough friends in their area or the ability to attend conventions and therefore playing online is one of the only options available.  We’ve tagged Myridean as our Warden in charge of developing virtual games - you can work with her in determining the best tools and tips for running virtual games.

All Hail Myridean !!!

Glad to see that the company is willing to support the idea and lend assistance to those who live in less populated areas.
That will definately help the game grow in area that were previously low in demand.

I used to be one such unlucky individual, living in Rural Texas, where the nearest comic shop was almost 2 hours away in San Antonio.
And that meant I could only get with a group once a month when I drove over there and participated in a weekend game night.

Thanks MSL for coming to the rescue of the oppressed

hjorhrafn - 12 February 2010 11:03 PM

I’d like to second what Myridean has said.  It is interesting to see how fart VTTs have come in only two years.  I remember the first session of Myridean’s Neo-Pangea game; fun, but rather frustrating with the tech. problems.  Felt like we all kept failing our Computer Technologies rolls.   

And let me just say, it IS good to be back on the forums.  Nice to have the time to dedicate to something besides RL again.  :D

hjorhrafn,

First off, let me just that you’ve been missed. I do hope you come back to play Tanglewood or another character online with us when I get Neo running again on a better VGT. Once I find what I’m looking for, I can adapt the modules or continue to work on the content for Neo’s PW. At this moment however, the current situation with me has been finding a balance between style and substance with these VTT/VGT systems. For example, one of them I’m currently investigating includes videocams that be used for videoconferencing during a campaign session with several people but the app doesn’t contain a dice roller. *rolls eyes*

Sablehawk - 12 February 2010 11:17 PM

I’m definitely going to apply to the wardens at some point but I think I’ll concentrate on finding people who want to do VTT and such first.

Sablehawk,

Yup, that was my plan too but I was brought on anyway which I’m totally very humbled as they were asking for Wardens to be at RL cons and game stores.

Sablehawk - 12 February 2010 11:17 PM

With no local players or game stores VTT is my only option really and finding new players, and by that I mean people I don’t know, who want to try out alpha omega is a real pain. ... But I’ll spend some time getting more familiar with the system and then as I become more proficient at it I’ll try to drum up some interest in some other sites I know about and see what happens.

Count me in as well on some of the testing. Some of these systems I’m looking at enable GMs to have an additional licence (I’m trying to find a “free” system as we’re all already cash-strapped in this economy.) so you can test with someone combat scenarios and situations with. Trying to ascertain in what a client vs. GM sees on his/her screen and uses which functions would be most beneficial in finding a good VGT/VTT that our community can get behind. There are links as well on some of these applications sites that suggest other related tools to make the campaign creation process easier, eg. sites to sound archives, map makers, etc.

KaneSolo - 13 February 2010 11:02 AM

All Hail Myridean !!!

Glad to see that the company is willing to support the idea and lend assistance to those who live in less populated areas.
That will definately help the game grow in area that were previously low in demand. ....
Thanks MSL for coming to the rescue of the oppressed

KaneSolo,

Thanks for the hail! It’s not an easy task, by far. Just trying to host a half-decent secure forum that includes a decent dice-roller and a working spoilers tag has been a challenge without being kicked off by your ISP because you’re not a security expert and your site gets continually hacked. (Yes, I’m still feeling a wee bit bitter about that still. )

When I first started this over three years, the learning curve was I think even a little too steep for me but now that there’s a growing interest in the game and the fan base is expanding, I’m hoping not only to find more players who are interested in playing the game online in this format but also people with knowledge and skills who can help me bring me closer to what I envision the game to be like on a player’s screen. I fast realised then when I first started adapting Milk Run and starting on production for NeoPangea’s campaign that it was going to turn into a production and I’d be in the director’s chair.And like one director was saying in his acceptance speech, he’s only good because of the team he’s assembled around him who have the knowledge and experience to accomplish what he had in mind. His award, he said, really belonged to all of them.  I know now I can’t pull this off alone. :(

MSL-CD - 13 February 2010 10:43 AM

We understand that many people do not have enough friends in their area or the ability to attend conventions and therefore playing online is one of the only options available.  We’ve tagged Myridean as our Warden in charge of developing virtual games - you can work with her in determining the best tools and tips for running virtual games.

And finally to MSL,

I’d like to echo KaneSolo’s sentiments to thank you for expanding your vision to include virtual gaming. I know when I went to my first con and met with some of the gamemasters, some were saying that RPGs were meant to be played solely around a table with a bunch of players with the GM behind a screen with some chips and beer. Some would admit, it would be difficult to be in-character with other players. There’s a lot more methods, avenues and technology to bring characters and stories to life and albeit, it’s nowhere near the magnitude of an MMO, this small step in that direction in multimedia storytelling will hopefully attract enough players for them to become subscribers for a future AO MMORPG. (Yup, I’m still dreaming but in the meantime, I’m hoping I have another chance to “knock your socks off” again )

Thanks for the detailed reply Myridean.  Definitely appreciate you coming on and letting us know what’s up with VTT.

I’ve run internet games before with cyberpunk and we used Ventrilo for the voice, I emailed maps out and used a secure dice server with a password for dice rolls for the group in the past.

Going to run it the same way basically for AO except this time I’m going to try and run using MapTools from http://www.rptools.net as it is one of the better free VTT programs I’ve found for sharing maps between the group.  The only thing I really don’t like so far is the lack of maps so I’m still looking for something better.  I need maps that can be put together quickly and easily and MapTools does fail in that instance.  Campaign Cartographer isn’t much better and has a learning curve that’s kinda tough.

One program I was looking at is FantasyGrounds http://www.fantasygrounds.com but there is a big hitch with this one.  Not only that but it’s shared by a lot of other VTT programs.  Fantasy grounds and many other VTT programs share maps, dice rolls, chat, pictures, sound and other general stuff that any program can do.  But for character infomation I have not found any VTT systems that support Alpha Omega and so that limits many combat interactions like the program managing to hit information which would make combat flow easier.  Don’t get me wrong, you can make character sheets and input how combat works into these systems but it’s a pure terror from looking on the boards.  This doesn’t stop people from playing though ... after all, I just keep track of it from my end as gm and it does the job but it’s not as immersive and takes more time.

I know some of you ask why that would be a big deal?  Well if I had a program which did everything I needed then I could have like 3 windows up on my system.  One for the VTT program, one web browser and IM so I can get private tells from the players if they are going to do something sneaky.  Right now when I play I have MapTool for the map, Ventrilo for the chat, firefox for my dice rolls, trillian for my chat program, up to 4 different pdf’s open if I’m checking character stats to make sure players are playing fairly and then the AO DR Calculator and AO Combat Matrix from ao tools along with module and npc stuff on my side.  But if FantasyGrounds or some other program had the AO information in there so I could save npc’s, pc’s, encounters and roll combat IN the program and pull up modules and such right there then WOW .. that would be nice.

VTT is fun though ... But it is much harder than playing in person in my opinion.  But I love it cause its all I’ve got. 

And Myridean, I will more than likely apply to the wardens at some point but I want to make sure that I can drum up enough interest in VTT to actually contribute to the program.  I would hate to get into the wardens and then I can’t get folks to try VTT and hence sit there with my thumb in my rear.  I don’t like being part of the group and not contributing.

Oh, and as far as an AO MMORPG .. I think that you could DEFINITELY do it with this game.  Seriously ... if a company would make Neocron then someone could definitely turn this game into mmorpg and I think it would do great as long as the feel of the world stays intact.    Speaking of Neocron .. I can’t believe that game is still up and running.  Wonders never cease.

Myridean - 13 February 2010 07:00 PM

hjorhrafn - 12 February 2010 11:03 PM

I’d like to second what Myridean has said.  It is interesting to see how fart VTTs have come in only two years.  I remember the first session of Myridean’s Neo-Pangea game; fun, but rather frustrating with the tech. problems.  Felt like we all kept failing our Computer Technologies rolls.   

And let me just say, it IS good to be back on the forums.  Nice to have the time to dedicate to something besides RL again.  :D

hjorhrafn,

First off, let me just that you’ve been missed. I do hope you come back to play Tanglewood or another character online with us when I get Neo running again on a better VGT. Once I find what I’m looking for, I can adapt the modules or continue to work on the content for Neo’s PW. At this moment however, the current situation with me has been finding a balance between style and substance with these VTT/VGT systems. For example, one of them I’m currently investigating includes videocams that be used for videoconferencing during a campaign session with several people but the app doesn’t contain a dice roller. *rolls eyes*

Myridean, anything I can do to help with Neo, just ask.  I have fond memories of the little time I got to spend in that world.    I know what you mean about the compromise of features.  I’ve yet to find a single program to fill all the needs an Wired Moderator needs to run a game.  I’ve run two AO games using a variety of programs, and with the second game, an assistant GM made things run much smoother.  Assuming I run virtually again, I’ll definitely stick with that. 

Hmmm, an assistant gm.  I had never thought of that ... had always taken the full load.

I’m gonna give that some thought.

I would sincerely consider doing this, if my schedule wasn’t on the haywire side - I’m a southern Nevadan, see, so the weekends for everyone else are when I get busy at work - and I work graveyard, so it’s harder yet. Hm.