Myself and two other guys are starting an online game. We will play for two or three hours a week on a weekday evening starting at 8:30 GMT+9. We will use Skype and optionally Fantasy Grounds (only for those players who want to see that maps, etc., live as we play). The game will be light, fast, and chaotic. Player commitment is minimal, and I will encourage players to show up late and miss sessions as their families and jobs dictate.
We would love to have some more players join us over the few months as we gear up for the official release. If you are interested respond here or message me.
I'm interested in learning more about your game myself. But I kinda doubt that the Time frame will work for me I suspect I'll be at work most days at that time (if i'm calculating the differences right!)
Thanks for showing an interest. We are planning to start this week. We will meet on Wed. evenings from 8:30 p.m., GMT +9 time zone (Japan).
We have not worked out the technical details. We will use Skype, and I will have Fantasy Grounds up and running. I will use Fantasy Grounds to track initiative order, party location, marching order, throw dice and keep a few of the more handy tables at my finger tips. One player expressed a desire to connect to FG, and see as much of this as I will permit, as well as use FG to throw dice. However, another player says he wants nothing to do with FG. “Theatre of the mind,” were his exact words. I like that too, and I want to keep that option open. I am not sure what to do about dice though. I have experimented with some options, but quickly gave up as I could not get them to work for me. For example, I tried Skype dice extras function, but it did not start after I loaded it.
Anyways, my goal is to create a game in which a player can show up, pick up a character (or three) that either they made or I made, and start playing right away. The plot choices will be straightforward, and not linked to the characters or the players, but rather to the party as a whole. The level of the combat difficulty will be balanced on the fly. This way if a player cannot come back next week, the game still goes on.
I want to stick to the idea of a high fatality rate. This is something I am a bit nervous about, as I have never tried it. However, I am hoping that the players realize “easy come, easy go.” Particularly, if I (or the players) provide a pool of PCs for the players to grab from, then I hope they cannot begrudge their deaths. This is going to work fine for the zero level game, and I am really looking forward to trying this out. But what about higher levels? By then the players will have an invested interested in a specific PC, and after years of 4e, how do they swallow the PC’s seemingly random death? I will cross that bridge when I get there.
As for the current adventure, here is some background flavour. The PCs are… you guessed it, average run-of-the-mill villagers. The village is being molested by an ogre (DCC0 – Heroes are made, not born). The threats have increased in intensity, motivating the one-armed dwarven blacksmith to seek help. He marched for a day and a night without stopping to arrive at the capital city. There he begged a rather arrogant civil servant to send help. The servant pulled out the official map of the known world, and some “Request for Military Services” forms. Well, surprising to all, the PCs’ village is not even on the map. This led to an argument. “How can we send aid to a village if we do not know where it is?” The dwarf lost his temper, snatched the map, and fled. The authorities quickly organized, but gave up pursuit when they realized that they did not know the location of the village. After all, it is not on the official map of all known places.
The dwarf arrived back to find the village frozen with fear, and to discover that the ogre had now started taking hostages. The villagers were despondent when the dwarf told them no help was coming. However, he quickly rallied everyone, and organized a rescue party. So off they went to find the ogre and rescue the hostages. In the heat of the battle, the dwarf takes a mortal wound. His dying wish is that the PCs accumulate enough fame and fortune to put the village on the map.
Of course, there is now a spiteful and corrupt civil servant that will go out of his way to see that the party never succeeds. In the end, will our lowly PCs prevail, and how much blood and sacrifice will it take?
If you are interested respond here or message me.