The Shadzar Challenge

Dean · Post by **Dean** » Thu Jul 11, 2013 7:46 pm

Aryxbez wrote:If referring to this thread, not really, as I said before, he has blocked you, and seems he has no interest in seeking out this thread

There is no way he didn't read this thread, block or not. I have shadzar blocked and if he started a thread called "Deanruel Read This" I would. My firm belief is he is a troll and his unwillingness to respond to this only strengthens that belief in me as doing a game (of his FAVORITE game remember) would require actual effort to Shadzar it up at other people's demand.

deaddmwalking · Post by **deaddmwalking** » Thu Jul 11, 2013 8:50 pm

To be fair to Shadzar (which, admittedly, he doesn't deserve) he seems to be extremely worried about 'strangers'. The fact that we've all spoken to him through a text-based forum doesn't mean that we won't treat him to a special version of chat-roulette. I wasn't planning on it, and I doubt anyone else, was, but if he were afraid it would happen, I don't think there is any assurance we could offer.

I don't know why he's so morbidly afraid of exposure...

shadzar · Post by **shadzar** » Thu Jul 11, 2013 9:00 pm

not a teeny-bopper so my phone doesnt have camera, nor does my computer. decline the free video phone when AT&T tried offering it to me in '94.

like i said teamspeak worked until it didn't. there is no virtual tabletop that works well enough. OpenRPG is trash, just doesnt exist yet such that will offer a game beyond the NWN and i dont even think i can get it to run anymore, and lost my 2 gigs world of world that i painstakingly designed for it.

aside from the fact, the majority of the people on here, i just wouldn't play with, same for the drunkards/CCG players that infest where i live.

as to the thread itself.. i dont gode or give into peer-pressure, thus why i quit playing the obnoxious sit-ins for 3.x, so try someone that has no will power if you want to play jedi mind tricks on them.

you are barking up the wrong tree.

thus this thread has run its course, or is just an attempt at a personal attack, either case should probably be closed.

to continue the Star Wars theme... nothing to see here, move along.

fectin · Post by **fectin** » Thu Jul 11, 2013 9:42 pm

infected slut princess wrote:Do you think Shadzar games resemble this in at all?
http://youtu.be/kDJ1UOpxjt4

Why is the kid at 0:22 lactating so fiercely?

Neurosis · Post by **Neurosis** » Thu Jul 11, 2013 9:59 pm

Um I'm willing to give it a try. I've never played anything older than 3E before and I feel like I should.

Stinktopus · Post by **Stinktopus** » Thu Jul 11, 2013 10:08 pm

Well, Shadzar, even if you don't see this, thank you for stopping by to acknowledge my invitation, even if only to turn it down.

Though, regarding your specific objections:

1. I figured on just doing voice. I don't want to see your superfluous third nostril or anything like that.

2. Who needs an "online tabletop program" to play 2E? I figured you would describe stuff, I'd scribble it down on a sheet of graph paper, and most things could be handled narratively.

shadzar · Post by **shadzar** » Thu Jul 11, 2013 10:35 pm

handouts, handouts, handouts.. that is what it is missing. OpenRPG with enough system expertise with its stupid python programming language COULD offer them, but you need something more advance that "screen sharing" currently offers for that. take N4 for example that has a DM map, and a page representing the same map with the important bits filed off for the players. you find a map, i give a map via paint, PS, gimp, Core Rules, etc so i dont have to described all that the map shows in minutia. a picture is worth a thousand words and all. ergo the NWN Aurora engine gave a decent enough (if not for the radial controls and 3.5 rules embedded) to let people SEE what they actually see as characters. sometimes let the dice decide and active DM move things around like a dead monster set to not attack as a miniature, or let the UI and AI control the monster and the DM agree the computer did it right and the players had the same chance as they would have had if TT play was involved.

none of the online "whiteboards" are even decent enough for handouts and the like. cause sometimes a written poem has more meaning than the word-wrap mode on a computer can display and requires the text to align in such a way as to show OTHER possible meanings when you read between or even maybe DOWN the lines.

online hasnt made it there yet to offer TTRPG gameplay properly. PbP too slow even though it does offer handouts via linking to offsite images.

TTRPG remains a dead-tree stock product and technology sees no reason to advance beyond f2f since people would play a MMO instead of trying to get a group together. WotC had a chance to change that but it turned into vaporware since it was announced in 2007...6 years to make a VTT, because they tried to make it solely for 4th edition, not for ALL TTRPGs.

PoliteNewb · Post by **PoliteNewb** » Thu Jul 11, 2013 11:13 pm

shadzar wrote:PbP too slow even though it does offer handouts via linking to offsite images..

I've played online via IM and PbP...my PbP game has been going for 2 years now. It's entirely feasible.

The only reason PbP is slow is because of the normal posting rate (where everyone updates 1/day or so). If you could get a bunch of people to all be online at the same time, you could all post replies very rapidly, and it wouldn't run much (if any) slower than a chat game.

MSN Messenger allowed me to link to offsite images, which worked fine for handouts. I would think most IM clients would let you post a link.

I'm honestly not trying to argue...I'm trying to convince you to do this. Because I'd also like to try playing with you as DM, as an experiment. Same thing as the OP...I'll accept any house rules or rulings without argument...hell, you can make my character for me, or I will roll randomly for every aspect (class, race, alignment, etc).

I'm just curious.

Desdan_Mervolam · Post by **Desdan_Mervolam** » Thu Jul 11, 2013 11:24 pm

Handouts are easy. All VOIP programs have built in text chat. You scan the handouts, put them on a Dropbox account in the public folder, and then link them to the group as needed. Scanners are cheap as shit, they're on most printers these days. Dropbox is really easy, it takes about 30 minutes to figure out at most. Probably less.

Post by **fbmf** » Thu Jul 11, 2013 11:51 pm

[The Great Fence Builder Speaks]
Shadzar has requested the PMs re: this thread stop immediately.
[/TGFBS]

Previn · Post by **Previn** » Fri Jul 12, 2013 3:48 am

Desdan_Mervolam wrote:Handouts are easy. All VOIP programs have built in text chat. You scan the handouts, put them on a Dropbox account in the public folder, and then link them to the group as needed. Scanners are cheap as shit, they're on most printers these days. Dropbox is really easy, it takes about 30 minutes to figure out at most. Probably less.

I would suspect that most phone cameras would preclude the need for a scanner, and with a smartphone you can upload directly to a site to share it out.

Honestly complaining that you can't do handouts in this day and age is either a copout, or the sign of a luddite.

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Fri Jul 12, 2013 4:02 am

Shadzar has already said his phone doesn't have a camera because he's a geezer. I'm sorry, I mean not a teenybopper (neither am I, and yet I do not recoil from technological advancement like it were a lovecraftian horror from stygian depths).

However, I feel I should suggest roll20. You can turn off the cameras, put up maps and handouts, and it all works well enough if you have a gm who knows what they're doing and is dedicated (to my former players, I admit I'm not really either of those things).

But yes, Dropbox, Photobucket, Flickr, or even Google+ would all handle graphic handouts well enough.

vagrant · Post by **vagrant** » Fri Jul 12, 2013 4:03 am

I vote Luddite. Roll20 has drawn, buildable, and uploadable maps /and/ handouts and minis. TTRPG over the net, all set and ready.

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Fri Jul 12, 2013 4:05 am

I wouldn't say Luddite, he posts on an online forum. Presumably no one is holding a gun to his head to make him do so. He's just, apparently, old. I mean, he was in a position to buy a camera phone in '94. He's at least in his 40s.

vagrant · Post by **vagrant** » Fri Jul 12, 2013 4:07 am

My bloody grandmother is 60 and she uses a tablet. What besides Luddite explains this apparent reluctance to live in the 21st century?

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Fri Jul 12, 2013 4:08 am

That just means your grandmother isn't a geezer. Being old and a geezer are separate things. Luddites don't use technology recreationally.

vagrant · Post by **vagrant** » Fri Jul 12, 2013 4:10 am

Er, where I grew up geezer just meant slow old bastard you nicked booze from. Actually, that might fit Shadzar pretty well.

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Fri Jul 12, 2013 4:12 am

It all depends on what booze he has and whether you would want to nick it.

Maxus · Post by **Maxus** » Fri Jul 12, 2013 4:19 am

"MD 20/20, aka Mad Dog. It gained its nickname for its tendency to make imbibers urinate on public fixtures, then spin around three times and pass out in public."

infected slut princess · Fri Jul 12, 2013 7:57 am

EXCUSES EXCUSES.

SHADZAR -- LET'S PLAY SOME 2E!

Stinktopus · Post by **Stinktopus** » Fri Jul 12, 2013 1:55 pm

I wanted to play an Elf Mage/Thief. ;_;

Post by **fbmf** » Fri Jul 12, 2013 2:03 pm

[The Great Fence Builder Speaks]
This thread has served it's purpose.
[/TGFBS]