Have people run much in the way of text-based games live in Roll20 or similar chat-based program? I’d like to run the game for some friends who are hard of hearing, so voice-comms are out of the question and webcams are a bit temperamental for lip-reading.
I’m just looking for tips on how to organise the DMing for that style of gameplay and keeping the pace up given the conversational nature of BitD.
Any help would be much appreciated!
I used to play tabletop in text all the time, back in the day. It’s slower, but can be really rewarding. As long as everyone is committed to paying attention and isn’t especially slow at typing, it’s not bad. Just requires more patience from everyone. It only really slows down when people are constantly filling the pauses by tabbing out.
Roll20 isn’t a great environment for typed roleplaying (the sidebar chat feels awkward to me, but that might be a personal preference) but it can work. You may want to consider using something like Discord or Slack (since both are reasonably text-focused) and just getting a basic d6 rolling script. I know Slack can take dice scripts, and I’m pretty sure Discord can too. With Blades you don’t usually need a ton of on-screen stuff anyway, though you can certainly get some use out of the sheets and handouts features. I’d poke around and see what you think would work best for your group.
If you want sheets and handouts organized you can use a separate ‘handouts’ channel and the players can simply refer back to that channel so they aren’t lost in the chatter. But it ultimately depends on whether the chat functionality, or the game support features that Roll20 has, are more important to the feel and flow of your game.
You could set up a BitD MUX/MUSH. That would be awesome, and is basically exactly the kind of platform you’re after. Of course, that’s a lot more work…
Chris O’Keefe Thanks for your inight! I’ve run text games of DnD before for people but was unsure how that would translate to the more conversational nature of BitD where interjections and other soft social conversation skills seem integral. I was worried it would seriously slow the game
Marcus Shepherd I’m afraid I don’t know what a MuX/MUSH is. Do you have any further reading? Google is saying its some kind of chat platfor but I’m unsure how that’s different from Discord/roll20 etc
Neil Anderson That’s a fair comment. A MUX (or MUD, or MUSH, or just MU* nowadays) is a persistent text-based online environment which has always (since the 70s) been targeted at emulating tabletop gaming. It’s built around the Telnet protocol.
At their best, they are built around compelling worlds which players have the ability to influence through their characters, and through playing as GMs for their fellow gamers. They are most beautiful when hundreds or even thousands of players can connect, find plots and groups that interest them, and play out scenarios in a world that changes around them.
Underlying the basic protocols are scripting languages that can be used to make character sheets, dice rollers and other useful gaming aids. And you can build a whole map of locales and things.
It’s a lot of work, yeah, but can’t you just see Doskvol working really well as such a thing? Especially if lots of players signed up.
If everyone has the Discord app on their smartphone, it is more like a “Play-by-Text message”. If everyone is in the same time zone, it can run pretty fast. Even if you have a set time you meet, you can run downtime, free time, giving XP, crafting ideas, etc… Outside your meeting time.
A lot of Discord bots can roll dice.
Last I checked, Roll20 doesn’t let free accounts access their site from a smartphone.
Here is a short post on preparing scores that I love!
games.nightstaff.net – Prepping Scores for Blades in the Dark – Nightstaff Games