Cult of the Turtle

Joe Tortuga's musing on life,tech and gaming

Shattered Earth: Clarification

October 29, 2010

Okay some people have said that it’s a bit confusing what I’m asking from players for the Shattered Earth game, and as I’m still looking for responses and players, let me clarify:

The idea is to mimic table top role-playing style over the internet, in real time.

So, the most important thing is the time commitment, which is 2-4 hours every other weekend, probably on Saturday or Sunday afternoon EST.  We can make it a little later, but I don’t see us starting after 4pm EST, as some of us have to get up early.  If we can get enough players, it’ll be possible to miss a session, or drop in occasionally as my plan is to wrap up short story lines each session, with a longer arch storyline that ties sessions together.

You’ll need a couple of tools, which are free and multi-platform:

First, RPTools. RPTools, particularly MapTool, is a java-based program that shows a map, and has some basic IRC-like chat in it.  It’ll handle those moments where we have combat, allowing us all to see the map and move ‘miniatures’ around on it.  I don’t know how much of this we’ll do — it depends on how the pacing goes, but it’s hard to do D&D without any combat. (If you were doing this, just play something other than D&D, I think.)

We’ll use Skype or some other group-based voice chat to talk, or at least the chat section of RPTools. I think voice is an important part of pen and paper gaming, and adds a lot to how things work. If voice makes you uncomfortable or doesn’t work with your setup, but you still want to play, let me know, and we can talk.

That’s pretty much it.  A willingness to play, a desire to set aside some time, and a couple of basic tools that are negotiable and I’ve gotten running, so I can help with, technically.

If you think you have any interest, comment here, or on any of the Shattered Earth posts — or contact me directly — and I’ll be in contact with you.