Hello,

A local group of friends of mine are going to start soon. The Age of Rebellion Beginner box soon, and we're really excited for it. We're new to Pen and Paper, so will be learning as we go. My friends that I grew up with all live in different states now, and I wanted to see if they wanted to try it out, which is what brought me looking at virtual tabletop systems. I was wondering what everyone's experience is with them, and what works the best for Star Wars.

Thanks.

I've only ever used Skype for realtime online roleplay (no maps or anything), and it works incredibly well IMO. Just connect with your friends, everyone rolls their own dice on the honor system, much fun is had by all.

I've also seen roll20.net used to great effect, although I haven't used it myself to play or GM any games. As far as I know, roll20 is pretty much the standard these days. I think you'll need to pay for premium content in order for roll20 so support this system specifically, but like I said I've watched games being played on roll20 and it's a very cool and slick service. If I needed an online tabletop, that's where I'd start.

I use Roll20 and it works well. I do pay for the integrated content. I also play in a game that uses Roll20(free)+Google Hangous+Diceroller app, and while not as fancy, it works roughly as well.

Tabletop simulator I haven't used for Star Wars, but I have used for other games, and I've mucked about with the Star Wars mods for it. A little more complex in the setup, but it's usable.

I should mention in both cases I tend to prefer to use Skype for the voice comms as it tends to be clearer and more reliable.

I use Skype with a friend as well. If I need to send him visuals (maps, street shots, interiors, characters), I just name them incrementally by number and send by email before the game. Then I just say "open image2" or whatever. Works well enough (and I trust him not to preview them).

As others have mentioned, Roll20 + Google Hangouts works really well. My group has been using it for over 2 years now. There was recently a bit of snag with Roll20's Soundcloud integration, but they found a perfect replacement with Fanburst.com. Here are some clips of the set-up in action:

Here’s another vote for roll20.

I’m not the GM for this game, so I can’t speak for what it’s like from that side.

But as a player, I think it’s the best solution I have seen yet for getting people together to play an RPG online.

It’s not perfect, not by any stretch of the imagination. But it is definitely the “least bad” solution that I’ve seen in this space.

Of course, YMMV.

I've always used Maptools , but there are many pros and cons here which make it less than ideal for many people.

Pros:

• Highly configurable and customization basically allows you do nearly anything and track anything.
• There is an existing Framework for Edge of the Empire which can be modified to be used in AoR/FaD with some work.
• Very adjustable Web UI, font sizes can also be changed on the fly for Chat, or even use full HTML if you want to be crafty.
• Free as in free beer.

Cons:

• The scripting language used to create frameworks/rulesets, while powerful is complex unless you have some experience in scripting/coding.
• Community has quieted down in the past year on producing frameworks/rulesets.
• No audio component, which may or may not be a problem depending on online play style.
• It's locally hosted, so network issues with connecting/hosting can be problematic.

I've played around with several other virtual table tops, and I keep coming back to it because in my case most of the cons are irrelevant. Mileage will vary on how big of a deal breaker the cons are, though.

Just a heads-up. My understanding is that Google is phasing out Hangouts for some fancy new thing. Anyone know if it will support the same plugins?

Just a heads-up. My understanding is that Google is phasing out Hangouts for some fancy new thing. Anyone know if it will support the same plugins?

The NEW hangouts is phasing out plugins and the dice rollers don't work. However...

YouTube Live... When you turn on an instant broadcast... (Tell it to start immediately) it will load the OLD version of hangouts for you and the dice rollers load. You can then choose to broadcast or simply never hit the button to start broadcasting and it's a simple hangout.

I have tested this a lot lately so please hit me up with any questions.

YouTube Live... When you turn on an instant broadcast... (Tell it to start immediately) it will load the OLD version of hangouts for you and the dice rollers load. You can then choose to broadcast or simply never hit the button to start broadcasting and it's a simple hangout.

I have tested this a lot lately so please hit me up with any questions.

Hmm. I wonder how long THIS is going to work.

I mean, Google basically kills pretty much everything they ever do by replacing it with something new that goes by the same name, or by a similar name. Right?

Wow, lot of great info. I was on vacation, so wasn't able to see the replies till today. I'll probably check out roll20 first, but I do like the idea of Maptools, since I'm a programmer and always like to use open source when possible.