I recently started a new campaign, but unfortunately, one of my players will be moving away by the end of September. We're playing weekly, so we'll be getting a few more sessions in before then, but this still isn't an ideal situation.
The player let me know about the issue before the campaign started and has expressed an interest in continuing to play using Skype or something similar once he moves. He's also a nice guy who's created a great character and is clearly very engaged in the game, so this is something I'm at least willing to consider.
My problem - I have no experience running a game this way, and I'm concerned about keeping the player involved when he's not physically present. I also worry that this could be disruptive to the game and may not sit well with the other players. I haven't talked to the rest of the group about this yet, but I'm planning to do so.
I'm looking for some advice on this situation. Does anyone out there have experience with running games where one player is connecting via Skype or another similar interface? I'd like to make this work if possible, and so I'd appeciate any tips on how to make things run smoothly. Alternatively, is there no good way to do this without sacrificing too much of my game? And so should I tell the player this just won't work?
Help me out DMs! I'd also love to hear from anyone that's played D&D this way, especially whether they actually enjoyed the experience.
I don't have experience of games running this way but do this kind of "conference call" regularly at work. If everyone is considerate it shouldn't be a problem, but it is easy for participants not physically present to be drowned out by enthusiastic and loud participants physically present.
I think making a point of giving the not-present player their few minutes per "round" (even out of combat) would help keep things going well.
It could work, but it's really dependant on the table. I've seen it work where the person skype calling ended up using Webcam, and introduced Meme's and GIFs for displaying how his character was reacting to the situations. It was fun, lively, and didn't detract at all. We'd already been using roll20 on the big screen for our "map" so adding his little webcam box in the corner was easy.
But I've also seen it not work. Where the guy skyping in ended up being mostly a negative energy. He often complained about feeling ignored or left out of situations, didn't feel the group took his character seriously as a part of the action, and mix in a few technical problems going the extra mile to include him was more a headache than a perk.
The very first thing you need to do is set up a test run before they move. Get you laptop or whatever at your game table, test the connection strength on your end. Have a conversation with them on skype(or whatever) with you laptop sitting wherever you will have it in game. Keep in mind its important for YOU AND THE OTHER PLAYERS to be able to see the skype caller and also for the skyper to see as much of the game as possible.
This will immediately identify potential issues. and since you'll be doing this with the player they will see first hand how it will feel for them. They may just opt out. However if this all goes smoothly you might find it will work just fine for you.
I've done pretty much this in the past when a friend had an accident and was stuck at home resting - we "conferenced" them in for the weekly game for 5 sessions.
It certainly wasn't perfect and had some issues, which we worked through.
The first session we tried it, the biggest issue was the remote player not being able to hear everything that was going on - we were using a laptop with a webcam on it and the mic just wasn't designed to pick up 5 people seated around a table. We'd rearranged ourselves so most of us were in view, but still half the conversation cut out.
I purchased a decent mic for about £20 off Amazon and set that up and that made a massive difference, but we had a few issues with feedback, as the remote player was on speaker so that we could all hear them. A bit of messing around with mic position solved that.
There are other issues, such as the remote player not being able to see facial expressions - that's something that requires the DM and other players to adapt what they're doing.
I also like to use miniatures when the combat situation gets complicated, so had to rig the webcam so that I could show what was happening on the table.
As ThoughtsofaDame says above, if you have time, you should absolutely do a trial run with the player while they're still there, so check any issues.
It could work, but it's really dependant on the table. I've seen it work where the person skype calling ended up using Webcam, and introduced Meme's and GIFs for displaying how his character was reacting to the situations.
Gah - If this happened in my campaign, "Rocks Fall, Character Dies" happens with the first posted meme or gif :p
And you kids stay off my lawn while you're at it ....
Never tried this - but I've seen it used on Critical Role with mixed results. Know how you're going to handle "technical difficulties" if/when the player gets cut off - and what to do if they can't get back.
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I have 2 players that call in regularly and we use Facebook Video Conference. Stupid-easy to set up. Have a laptop or monitor with a camera at one end of the table and all the call-ins can be there. Tilt it down just a bit and they can usually see the map okay too for fighting. They announce what they're doing and someone moves their mini for them. FB Chat can be used for sending secret messages as well.
I'm currently looking into Roll20 for this but with half my players still at the table not sure how I'll do it
My campaign, we have one person who is out of state and video calls in every week using Discord (find it to works better than Skype, there was just too many dropped calls with Skype). While we would all love to have him at the table, it works pretty well and rarely causes issues. We have a webcam that one player can easily detach from the laptop to hold over the map so he can easily see what's going on, and we got a cheap pair of speakers to make sure everyone at the table can hear him with out issue when he speaks. If he finds anything that I have a prop for, or a magic item, etc, that I made a card for, they will take a picture of it and send it to him. We all work together to keep it running smoothly.
Not a problem at all. I ran a group then had my brother join it, he facetimes in from across the country. I have slow internet and we are still able to make it work just by turning off unnecessary devices using the net and we're all using iPads and laptops hooked to DnDB. I dedicate one iPad tilted down to see the maps and minis that he calls in on. Then use an external speaker plugged into it so he's loud enough. We've been successful with two players abroad using Google hang out as well. It doesn't take away from the table at all.
Sweet! I'd love to join. Let me know when and what I would need. I got a homebrew I wanted to try with a gnoll. Worked in my last session like a boss but we had to stop in the middle and really would like to use him. If not I'll reroll a new PC.
As a variation on a theme, I didn't like the lag of Skype in our own situation for whatever reason, so we ran a muted Skype session so the player could still see the action through his webcam, but all the audio was done through a phone call on speakerphone. That provided the performance we wanted and made for a satisfactory experience.
I've been on games with videoconferencing, as well as using VC gear for mm job, and I think there are two points that will increase the chance of success.
First, two or more screens, one facing the GM and one facing the players. That way everyone can see the remote player's face.
Second, two cameras. One focused on the GM, so the remote player can see them. The second camera faces the players but is moved to focus on the battle mat when combat starts.
Also, it is more important to maintain "only one person talks at a time" in a remote game.
Finally, the quality of the camera and mic really, really matters. Don't be cheap.
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I recently started a new campaign, but unfortunately, one of my players will be moving away by the end of September. We're playing weekly, so we'll be getting a few more sessions in before then, but this still isn't an ideal situation.
The player let me know about the issue before the campaign started and has expressed an interest in continuing to play using Skype or something similar once he moves. He's also a nice guy who's created a great character and is clearly very engaged in the game, so this is something I'm at least willing to consider.
My problem - I have no experience running a game this way, and I'm concerned about keeping the player involved when he's not physically present. I also worry that this could be disruptive to the game and may not sit well with the other players. I haven't talked to the rest of the group about this yet, but I'm planning to do so.
I'm looking for some advice on this situation. Does anyone out there have experience with running games where one player is connecting via Skype or another similar interface? I'd like to make this work if possible, and so I'd appeciate any tips on how to make things run smoothly. Alternatively, is there no good way to do this without sacrificing too much of my game? And so should I tell the player this just won't work?
Help me out DMs! I'd also love to hear from anyone that's played D&D this way, especially whether they actually enjoyed the experience.
I don't have experience of games running this way but do this kind of "conference call" regularly at work. If everyone is considerate it shouldn't be a problem, but it is easy for participants not physically present to be drowned out by enthusiastic and loud participants physically present.
I think making a point of giving the not-present player their few minutes per "round" (even out of combat) would help keep things going well.
It could work, but it's really dependant on the table. I've seen it work where the person skype calling ended up using Webcam, and introduced Meme's and GIFs for displaying how his character was reacting to the situations. It was fun, lively, and didn't detract at all. We'd already been using roll20 on the big screen for our "map" so adding his little webcam box in the corner was easy.
But I've also seen it not work. Where the guy skyping in ended up being mostly a negative energy. He often complained about feeling ignored or left out of situations, didn't feel the group took his character seriously as a part of the action, and mix in a few technical problems going the extra mile to include him was more a headache than a perk.
The very first thing you need to do is set up a test run before they move. Get you laptop or whatever at your game table, test the connection strength on your end. Have a conversation with them on skype(or whatever) with you laptop sitting wherever you will have it in game. Keep in mind its important for YOU AND THE OTHER PLAYERS to be able to see the skype caller and also for the skyper to see as much of the game as possible.
This will immediately identify potential issues. and since you'll be doing this with the player they will see first hand how it will feel for them. They may just opt out. However if this all goes smoothly you might find it will work just fine for you.
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D&D Beyond FoundersI've done pretty much this in the past when a friend had an accident and was stuck at home resting - we "conferenced" them in for the weekly game for 5 sessions.
It certainly wasn't perfect and had some issues, which we worked through.
The first session we tried it, the biggest issue was the remote player not being able to hear everything that was going on - we were using a laptop with a webcam on it and the mic just wasn't designed to pick up 5 people seated around a table. We'd rearranged ourselves so most of us were in view, but still half the conversation cut out.
I purchased a decent mic for about £20 off Amazon and set that up and that made a massive difference, but we had a few issues with feedback, as the remote player was on speaker so that we could all hear them. A bit of messing around with mic position solved that.
There are other issues, such as the remote player not being able to see facial expressions - that's something that requires the DM and other players to adapt what they're doing.
I also like to use miniatures when the combat situation gets complicated, so had to rig the webcam so that I could show what was happening on the table.
As ThoughtsofaDame says above, if you have time, you should absolutely do a trial run with the player while they're still there, so check any issues.
Good luck!
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One of my members skypes in from across the country. Haven't had any issues yet and he is generally one of the more exciting characters.
Gah - If this happened in my campaign, "Rocks Fall, Character Dies" happens with the first posted meme or gif :p
And you kids stay off my lawn while you're at it ....
Never tried this - but I've seen it used on Critical Role with mixed results. Know how you're going to handle "technical difficulties" if/when the player gets cut off - and what to do if they can't get back.
My DM Philosophy, as summed up by other people: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rN5w4-azTq3Kbn0Yvk9nfqQhwQ1R5by1/view
Disclaimer: This signature is a badge of membership in the Forum Loudmouth Club. We are all friends. We are not attacking each other. We are engaging in spirited, friendly debate with one another. We may get snarky, but these are not attacks. Thank you for not reporting us.
I have 2 players that call in regularly and we use Facebook Video Conference. Stupid-easy to set up. Have a laptop or monitor with a camera at one end of the table and all the call-ins can be there. Tilt it down just a bit and they can usually see the map okay too for fighting. They announce what they're doing and someone moves their mini for them. FB Chat can be used for sending secret messages as well.
I'm currently looking into Roll20 for this but with half my players still at the table not sure how I'll do it
My campaign, we have one person who is out of state and video calls in every week using Discord (find it to works better than Skype, there was just too many dropped calls with Skype). While we would all love to have him at the table, it works pretty well and rarely causes issues. We have a webcam that one player can easily detach from the laptop to hold over the map so he can easily see what's going on, and we got a cheap pair of speakers to make sure everyone at the table can hear him with out issue when he speaks. If he finds anything that I have a prop for, or a magic item, etc, that I made a card for, they will take a picture of it and send it to him. We all work together to keep it running smoothly.
Hi. If this is still a thing I'd like to join.
Not a problem at all. I ran a group then had my brother join it, he facetimes in from across the country. I have slow internet and we are still able to make it work just by turning off unnecessary devices using the net and we're all using iPads and laptops hooked to DnDB. I dedicate one iPad tilted down to see the maps and minis that he calls in on. Then use an external speaker plugged into it so he's loud enough. We've been successful with two players abroad using Google hang out as well. It doesn't take away from the table at all.
Sweet! I'd love to join. Let me know when and what I would need. I got a homebrew I wanted to try with a gnoll. Worked in my last session like a boss but we had to stop in the middle and really would like to use him. If not I'll reroll a new PC.
As a variation on a theme, I didn't like the lag of Skype in our own situation for whatever reason, so we ran a muted Skype session so the player could still see the action through his webcam, but all the audio was done through a phone call on speakerphone. That provided the performance we wanted and made for a satisfactory experience.
Obviously be aware of potential billing issues :)
"Not all those who wander are lost"
I've been on games with videoconferencing, as well as using VC gear for mm job, and I think there are two points that will increase the chance of success.
First, two or more screens, one facing the GM and one facing the players. That way everyone can see the remote player's face.
Second, two cameras. One focused on the GM, so the remote player can see them. The second camera faces the players but is moved to focus on the battle mat when combat starts.
Also, it is more important to maintain "only one person talks at a time" in a remote game.
Finally, the quality of the camera and mic really, really matters. Don't be cheap.