D&D solo gaming

acctingman · October 19, 2016, 09:03:58 AM

Has anyone ever tried to be DM AND player?

I've always wanted to try and see if D&D could be played solo (none of my friends are into D&D gaming). I've looked at online D&D but it seems most decent groups aren't allowing new people in as they already have their group(s)

Anyways, just wondering if anyone in grogland has attempted this.

Bison · October 19, 2016, 09:24:17 AM

By online are you talking about Fantasy Grounds or Roll20?

acctingman · October 19, 2016, 09:32:39 AM

Quote from: Bison on October 19, 2016, 09:24:17 AM
By online are you talking about Fantasy Grounds or Roll20?

Yep

I'm VERY reluctant to go this route. I'm a pretty laid back guy, easy to get along with, HOWEVER, I have zero patience for internet cowboys and the general azzhat.

gameleaper · October 19, 2016, 10:14:11 AM

http://grogheads.com/forums/index.php?topic=17699.15

have a look at my free solo app, its in the last post in the above thread, also look at Nefs links to GM apprentice decks.

and bbmike has led me to the keep RPG manager app

I play solo only

Bison · October 19, 2016, 11:12:22 AM

Quote from: acctingman on October 19, 2016, 09:32:39 AM
Quote from: Bison on October 19, 2016, 09:24:17 AM
By online are you talking about Fantasy Grounds or Roll20?

Yep

I'm VERY reluctant to go this route. I'm a pretty laid back guy, easy to get along with, HOWEVER, I have zero patience for internet cowboys and the general azzhat.

Metaldog, I, and a couple of others did some Fantasy Grounds D&D last spring and I think everyone enjoyed themselves. The problem we had was time zone differences and some real life priorities.

What days and times do you think you would have open to join a group? I'm interested in getting a Fantasy Grounds group going again, but it'll depend on what times everyone is available. A friend and I are discussing starting to play again either on Friday or Saturday nights around 10 PM CST, which is problematic for above mentioned reasons. And we have discussed just posting the group on FGs calendar and testing the waters. We are not min/max gamers. I generally prefer role play over roll play gaming, but must admit I do enjoy a good combat encounter.

As far as Fantasy Grounds or Roll20 go, I think the benefit is you are not committed to any group. If you don't enjoy the style or personalities, you can always move on and try another group. I know if I cannot get an organic group formed that I'm going to try some of the public groups on FG.

acctingman · October 19, 2016, 11:32:09 AM

Quote from: Bison on October 19, 2016, 11:12:22 AM
Quote from: acctingman on October 19, 2016, 09:32:39 AM
Quote from: Bison on October 19, 2016, 09:24:17 AM
By online are you talking about Fantasy Grounds or Roll20?

Yep

I'm VERY reluctant to go this route. I'm a pretty laid back guy, easy to get along with, HOWEVER, I have zero patience for internet cowboys and the general azzhat.

Metaldog, I, and a couple of others did some Fantasy Grounds D&D last spring and I think everyone enjoyed themselves. The problem we had was time zone differences and some real life priorities.

What days and times do you think you would have open to join a group? I'm interested in getting a Fantasy Grounds group going again, but it'll depend on what times everyone is available. A friend and I are discussing starting to play again either on Friday or Saturday nights around 10 PM CST, which is problematic for above mentioned reasons. And we have discussed just posting the group on FGs calendar and testing the waters. We are not min/max gamers. I generally prefer role play over roll play gaming, but must admit I do enjoy a good combat encounter.

As far as Fantasy Grounds or Roll20 go, I think the benefit is you are not committed to any group. If you don't enjoy the style or personalities, you can always move on and try another group. I know if I cannot get an organic group formed that I'm going to try some of the public groups on FG.

There's the kicker....availability. 10pm CST, a year ago wouldn't be a big deal for me, really. However, 11pm is way past my new bedtime. With trying to be more healthy, this is including a better bedtime for me. I hate getting older.

Thanks Bison, but that's just too late for me. Another reason why I think I MMO....I can play whenever I want but I do miss a good PnP session/group.

Bison · October 19, 2016, 11:36:45 AM

Yeah that's the issue we ran into last spring too. MD was good to go up around 11 CST or so, but then it got too late. My buddy couldn't start before 10 CST, because he's on PST and the kids bedtime is 8 PST or 10 CST. I don't even want to think about his poor brother living in London. That guy was committed though and got up at 3 AM his time to play. Scheduling is a nightmare.

acctingman · October 19, 2016, 11:45:10 AM

I appreciate the offer and info. Think it would have been a blast to play D&D with you guys. O0

Best of luck in finding a group.

It will be a never ending quest for me!

bayonetbrant · October 19, 2016, 11:58:51 AM

y'all could all come to Origins and play a 2-day f2f game there

Bison · October 19, 2016, 12:02:38 PM

That could be pretty epic I think.

Double Deuce · October 21, 2016, 12:09:24 AM

Many of the 'established' groups can be pretty fickle when opening slots to new players but I think alot of that is from the facts that probably 3/4 of them will just drop out and never say anything, they just stop showing up. Many of them jump from game to game doing the same to multiple GM's which IMHO, from experience is pretty F-ed up. I suspect a good chunk of them are from the younger twitch-kiddy generation. I am usually pretty open to letting new guys in my games knowing (and planning for their disappearance) and plan sessions when they enter accordingly. I also see new GM's offer to run things, get everything scheduled and organized, then they disappear. Recently seen a GM work to organize a group for several weeks (had 10 interested players) then about 1 hour before official gametime we got the "sorry, guys, got called into work" message. Since PnP is not like MMO, you can't just jump into another game and start playing. I suspect that puts a lot of people off of playing online using VTT.

The next biggest obstacle, as Bison mentioned, is coordinating times where everyone is available, especially playing across multiple timezones. I work weekends through the night so that time frame is out for me and that is when most are free to play. Surprisingly, I got myself into an Wednesday morning, 8:30 AM CDT game with a GM from Sweden and the other players are either European or American with messed up work schedules like mine.

Double Deuce · October 21, 2016, 02:37:29 AM

Quote from: acctingman on October 19, 2016, 11:32:09 AM
There's the kicker....availability. 10pm CST, a year ago wouldn't be a big deal for me, really. However, 11pm is way past my new bedtime. With trying to be more healthy, this is including a better bedtime for me. I hate getting older.

I run a weekly D&D 5e group using Fantasy Grounds on Wednesdays (7-10 PM CDT/CST). We do not use a voice client, just the built in text chat tool of Fantasy Grounds. We lean more towards RP as opposed to combat so it can slow down sometimes while people type. If you are free during that time you, or anyone else for that matter, are free to connect and follow along. You would need the FG Demo at minimum.