Hi everyone. I would like to ask a question.

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Truwen
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Hi everyone. I would like to ask a question.

Post by Truwen »

Hey guys, I am new to the forums and have been reading through a bunch of the play by post threads. I am very excited and inspired. I love D&D and I love DMing so I am thinking I might put together a PbP campaign.

My question is, while I enjoy DMing, I also enjoy playing! Is it generally bad form for the DM to play a character with the party? We tend to do this in our groups, since we don't play as often as most of us would like to. I am just curious if any DM's here have played a character while they DMed.

I guess I have another question, do you all incorporate TOS+ in your PbP's? How does that work?
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Re: Hi everyone. I would like to ask a question.

Post by admin »

(moved to the Dice Room)
Truwen wrote:Hey guys, I am new to the forums and have been reading through a bunch of the play by post threads. I am very excited and inspired. I love D&D and I love DMing so I am thinking I might put together a PbP campaign.
Yay!!!
Truwen wrote:My question is, while I enjoy DMing, I also enjoy playing! Is it generally bad form for the DM to play a character with the party? We tend to do this in our groups, since we don't play as often as most of us would like to. I am just curious if any DM's here have played a character while they DMed.
Do you mean play one of the Player's Character while that Player is away? Or play an NPC (which is a .tos character)?
Truwen wrote:I guess I have another question, do you all incorporate TOS+ in your PbP's? How does that work?
There is a TOOL: DMSheet available which can be used to 'load' all the .tos Characters from Players.

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Truwen
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Re: Hi everyone. I would like to ask a question.

Post by Truwen »

Playing an NPC. I guess that's not necessary in a pbp format. Since I will have enough to do to manage the game itself. Thanks for the link to that tool dmsheet. I will take a look at that.
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Re: Hi everyone. I would like to ask a question.

Post by admin »

Truwen wrote:Playing an NPC. I guess that's not necessary in a pbp format....
In my current PbP, Cain Eyebright, the Game Master for {PbP} Escape From Zanzer's Dungeon {Pathfinder} is playing "Axel", one NPC in the Group :)
He also is one to use MapTools... one heck of a good tool to allow for 'visibility' on dungeon Maps!
(Note that I also used MapTools in the PbP I used to DM - I found it a bit confusing initially, so I had a look (or 3!) at the tutorial video to get the hang of it - awesome tool for DMs! )

So I guess it depends on the situation!

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Truwen
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Re: Hi everyone. I would like to ask a question.

Post by Truwen »

admin wrote:
Truwen wrote:Playing an NPC. I guess that's not necessary in a pbp format....
In my current PbP, Cain Eyebright, the Game Master for {PbP} Escape From Zanzer's Dungeon {Pathfinder} is playing "Axel", one NPC in the Group :)
He also is one to use MapTools... one heck of a good tool to allow for 'visibility' on dungeon Maps!
(Note that I also used MapTools in the PbP I used to DM - I found it a bit confusing initially, so I had a look (or 3!) at the tutorial video to get the hang of it - awesome tool for DMs! )

So I guess it depends on the situation!

admin
I like map tools and d20pro. When you use Maptools do you just take a pic/screenshot of the map so people can see positions on the map? I am waiting (impatiently) for d20pro unlimited, which is my VT Of choice.

at any rate, I am going to be utilizing a couple of things to run a campaign. I am very inspired to get a game going. Since I have never done a PbP I am just reading threads and playing around with some things while I plan stuff out.

Have a good day guys.

:LuvTos:
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Re: Hi everyone. I would like to ask a question.

Post by admin »

Truwen wrote:When you use Maptools do you just take a pic/screenshot of the map so people can see positions on the map?
I can't speak for Cain (i.e. on how he does his game) but for my part, I 'edited' the Maps (from the PDF) to remove the 'DM eyes only' stuff (like traps and secret doors), then I used that map as my basis for Maptool. In maptool, I then defined the 'visibility' area (i.e. what are 'walls') - this helps use visibility on the maps!

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Cain Eyebright
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Re: Hi everyone. I would like to ask a question.

Post by Cain Eyebright »

I would not play a 'PC' character in a PbP that I was running, but the NPC that Admin mentions (Axel) is part of the module itself, so I run the NPC just as I would if I was DM'ing a game in person.

As for maptool, I draw them myself in the tool based on the original .pdf or physical map, then add doors, vision blocking layer, and props (lots of these in Zanzer's Dungeon). My favorite thing to tell my players the first time I did Zanzer's in person using maptool was "what you see is what you get"...if there was an item the character could see, it was mostly on the map I made. For me, editting .pdf versions, or scans of originals is a pain, and I don't always want to use the identical grid either. For example, the map in Zanzer's Dungeon has been pretty much doubled in size, as the original was just too small for fun combats.

I cheat a little for the screenshots. I open two copies of MapTool, run up the campaign as the DM in one copy, then start up a server and use the second MapTool to connect to the server as a player. I then take the screenshot from the player MapTool. It only takes about 30-45 seconds to get the server up and connect, and that automatically hides all of the DM only stuff that I have in the campaign, so I don't need to edit the screenshot. In my live game, I have the players connect to a server, so each player can only see what his character sees on their own laptops...or if someone doesn't have their laptop, one player will output to the TV I have near the table so everyone has a view.
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