First completely remote session

[sushi]

Continuing on with our campaign, we tried a complete remote session. Only three remote players this time around, and with me covering the rest. Again, MapTools worked wonders. The only complications came from time where I had to move corpses off the visible map area so that the players weren't confused. I then moved them back after they left the area.

We initially tried to set up on a TeamSpeak server, but the duplex audio was very poor compared to Skype. We'll have to consider how to work around Skype's conference limitations (I think it's currently 5).

Couple o pics:

http://twitpic.com/dt4sv
http://twitpic.com/dtf5c

I was running a dual monitor configuration (iplay4e and the campaign on the main laptop screen and MapTool on the external), plus a laptop connected to the 42" TV (as I was expecting a local player that couldn't make it).

The other players were using a mix of Mac/PC.

[Azhrei]

Again, MapTools worked wonders.

Heh, that's what we like to hear.

The only complications came from time where I had to move corpses off the visible map area so that the players weren't confused. I then moved them back after they left the area.

Yeah, that's kind of a bummer. I'm using a framework that moves them to the Object layer; the players can still see them (as can the GM) but they're not selectable. I'm thinking I might start putting the NPCs gear into the Notes field so that when they are moved to the Object layer, the players can simply click on them to see their loot.

If you want to hide the bodies from the players, you can always move them to the Hidden layer (so you can still see them but they won't be selectable) or right-click and unselect "Visible to Players" (so you can still select them).

We initially tried to set up on a TeamSpeak server, but the duplex audio was very poor compared to Skype. We'll have to consider how to work around Skype's conference limitations (I think it's currently 5).

Check out the "Skype vs. Ventrilo" thread. I recommend Ventrilo.

The other players were using a mix of Mac/PC.

That's one of my favorite things about MapTool.

I'm looking for a Pathfinder character editor and RPGXplorer and HeroLabs (the top two contenders so far) are both Windows only. I may have to look into getting CharTool to grok the PF stuff, but I'd have to add the JavaScript implementation to my Tiger install of Java 5... (And I have other things to do right now.)

[trevor]

Thanks for the post and the pics sushi, always fun to see and hear.