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Author Topic: Ideas wanted to play group games in isolation?  (Read 2532 times)

Offline Menelduir

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Ideas wanted to play group games in isolation?
« on: March 20, 2020, 01:33:09 AM »
Hello to all socially separated gamers

Any recommendations on how best to play miniature games with players that are not in the same room, house, city?

Looking at maybe having a game set up in one players home then allowing others who are not present to play. Maybe Skype, or some other platform that would allow multi users to interact at the same time other than emailing. Ideally there would be a video feed as well. Also keen not to invite the whole world, just a few friends, so some privacy would be nice.
 (Warning, in case you have not guessed I am not too tech savvy)

Another thing might be some sort of computer program that can be used to facilitate solo games or even group games.

Certainly Pulp Alley has a solo version, and The Men Who Would be Kings has a Babbage option, and of course Two Hour Wargames allow for solitaire games, or co-op games versus the game system.

I am looking at running a fantasy campaign with some local mates, it may or may not include the miniature component, dependent on the logistics of the whole thing. It would be nice to fight out the battles created by the strategic movements, as they happen, but I have a few systems that can be used to resolve these fights with pen and paper.

Of course these pen and paper battles could also become the basis of 'historical refights' after this isolation thing has passed, to see if the players can 'change history', as it were.

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Offline Inkpaduta

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Re: Ideas wanted to play group games in isolation?
« Reply #1 on: March 20, 2020, 02:33:26 AM »
Not sure what to tell you. My son is intending to have several friends come over to play Axis and Allies.
Wife is concerned about it but is safely under the government rule of no more than ten people. I usually
run a monthly game that is coming up. We are a group of five so I may still do it. Have to wait and see.

Offline Hami

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Re: Ideas wanted to play group games in isolation?
« Reply #2 on: March 20, 2020, 01:22:24 PM »
Depends what type of tech you have, i know you said you are not tech savi so unsure what you would have.

I have recommend to my dad that he should set up an old external web-cam and then hold it like a Skype meeting where only invited people can access it.

The joys of the old style external web-cams is that the host can move it around the game showing different angles etc. the only  down side is that judging distance will be difficult.

Offline Elbows

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Re: Ideas wanted to play group games in isolation?
« Reply #3 on: March 20, 2020, 05:59:16 PM »
Unrelated to the Covid-19 thing, I recently started looking at some online role-playing sites...including a few which are by chat (some rooms you simply respond once or twice a day from the looks of it...others are active live-role-playing via chat, etc.). 
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Offline Ultravanillasmurf

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Re: Ideas wanted to play group games in isolation?
« Reply #4 on: March 20, 2020, 06:25:08 PM »
The joys of the old style external web-cams is that the host can move it around the game showing different angles etc. the only  down side is that judging distance will be difficult.
Depending on the period, this can simulate your commander's points of view.

Worth taking overhead shots for the AAR and post game discussions.

Offline has.been

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Re: Ideas wanted to play group games in isolation?
« Reply #5 on: March 20, 2020, 07:00:37 PM »
I would suggest a few players, each one a head of a country (or an independent
general/commander). They send you 'Orders' (Can be by e-mail) you then do the campaign
movement until a battle happens. Their orders will then determine what the table-top
generals do. For example:-
player 'A' (king of Barovia) Has declared war on player 'B' (Republic of Ruffrick).
'A' Orders a rush to the enemies capital, attack, attack, ATTACK!!!!
'B' Orders destruction of the bridges on the approaches to his capital, while sending
cavalry units out to each flank to guard the fords & lesser bridges.
The scene is then set for the battle.
A major river which 'A' army MUST attack across, meanwhile 'B' cavalry might attempt
a flank attack.  The likes of Mr Grant's 'Wargames Campaigns' gives loads of ideas, even down
to randomly generated lower level commanders. That way if you have to decide will the 20th
Dragoons will stay guarding the ford, or try a flank march... dice for their commander.
A risk taker (Prince Rupert) will go for it, but a lesser commander (Lord Sackville) will
stay & guard the ford.

I once wrote a one page set of rules, for a club campaign. It reduced everything down to
the unit would do what the owner wanted, or what the opponent wanted, (with certain restrictions, eg slingers would skirmish, advance to cover or retire, but NOT charge, while
Knights would Charge, advance, hold, but NOT run away.) This led to some great fun,
such as when an opponent insisted upon a 'suicidal' charge by a group of knights, who proceeded
to ride down unit after unit.

Offline Sparrow

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Re: Ideas wanted to play group games in isolation?
« Reply #6 on: March 20, 2020, 07:17:43 PM »
Have a look at the Tony Bath book about running a Wargames Campaign. His long running Hyboria was run as a remote wargames campaign for many years (without e mails or even computers) and he came up with loads of ideas how to make remote gaming work (his book is in Kindle if that helps?).

Hopefully that will get some creative juices flowing!
Put your trust in God and keep your powder dry!

Offline Menelduir

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Re: Ideas wanted to play group games in isolation?
« Reply #7 on: March 20, 2020, 08:09:28 PM »
Have a look at the Tony Bath book about running a Wargames Campaign. His long running Hyboria was run as a remote wargames campaign for many years (without e mails or even computers) and he came up with loads of ideas how to make remote gaming work (his book is in Kindle if that helps?).

Hopefully that will get some creative juices flowing!

Thank you, I will look for it!

While I did not mention it in my original question, I have thought about running a campaign that would allow distant players to participate (some in other cities) prior to the current situation.
I would like to continue a campaign after things return to normal.

Offline Menelduir

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Re: Ideas wanted to play group games in isolation?
« Reply #8 on: March 21, 2020, 03:32:05 AM »
Great food for thought HAS.BEEN!
Also I like the remote camera and chat room ideas, thank you all

I have been looking at a number of campaign rules, for any number of genres, including a very old RPG game, Chivalry and Sorcery 2nd ed, which had a Strategic Warfare System.

I also still have my copy of Mighty Empires. Back in the day, we tried to use M/E to generate table top games, but it never worked as the campaign game always took over, and we never had time to play all the battles that were generated. Now however, I am less concerned about getting together to play table top games so it might be fun just to let loose with a, modified, M/E, with C&S warfare system, and battlefields generated using the Age of Reason battlefield map generator. Maybe some ideas from
 2 hour wargames to allow the units to react to each other (assuming we do not do some sort of live stream/communication)

If this all works I will post up what we did.

Offline Sparrow

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Re: Ideas wanted to play group games in isolation?
« Reply #9 on: March 21, 2020, 06:30:37 AM »
“Chivalry and Sorcery”?  Never thought of that... I’ve just come over all nostalgic! Will have to have a good ferret around today to gush my copy out!

If you do grab the Tony Bath book one of the issues he had to contend with was fighting battles where players were many miles from each other (and him) so worth reading for ideas.

I do wonder if there are certain periods that lend themselves better to remote gaming? Colonials come to mind straight away eg players can control the ‘imperial” forces and the organiser/umpire the “natives” (hate that phrase but you’ll get the point?). There are already quite a few systems out there to facilitate that and you can control the pace of the game quite well? Something like Napoleonics feels like it may be harder (though not being a Napoleonic gamer my opinion not worth a fig here!).

Offline has.been

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Re: Ideas wanted to play group games in isolation?
« Reply #10 on: March 21, 2020, 07:20:08 AM »
Looks like you have many ideas, so things going well.
I would love to see how you get on.
One possible problem is that (at certain times) you may get
a bottleneck of battles, i.e. too many in a short space of time.
My advice is to use one of the systems/random charts or tables
to resolve most of them, fight the ones you want to 'on the tabletop',
& have a bit of creative fun with the battle write ups. e.g. the third
cohort was sent to quell a small Germanic revolt. Settled it on a throw
of the dice, got a double one! The report can go into (lurid?) detail
about what happened to the legionary prisoners. Result = Roman player
now has a blood feud with that particular Tribe. Battle cry at the next
big battle is, ' Remember the IV !!!!'  Those little bits of lead do begin
to take on their own characters, plus it is fun, especially at this time
of isolation.

Offline Antonio J Carrasco

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Re: Ideas wanted to play group games in isolation?
« Reply #11 on: March 21, 2020, 09:33:33 AM »
Not sure what to tell you. My son is intending to have several friends come over to play Axis and Allies.
Wife is concerned about it but is safely under the government rule of no more than ten people. I usually
run a monthly game that is coming up. We are a group of five so I may still do it. Have to wait and see.

In Spain we have been forbidden from any gathering of any size. Even in a car, only two persons can travel and that only if one of them is a dependant that is being transported to a hospital. Western governments aren't taking the pandemic seriously enough until it starts biting their asses. Better safe than sorry, but I would recommend you that you implement your own no-gathering policy in your home. Look, it only takes one of the kids to be infected for all of you to get infected.

Offline Ultravanillasmurf

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Re: Ideas wanted to play group games in isolation?
« Reply #12 on: March 21, 2020, 10:27:33 AM »
I did see this on the Wyrd Games blog:
https://www.wyrd-games.net/news/2020/3/18/waldos-weekly-black-smokes-a-rising
Quote
While it may be ill-advised to get a playgroup in the same room together right now, there are an assortment of digital tools out there to offer the same level of enjoyment, such as Vassal for our Malifaux players or Discord and Roll20 for our Through the Breach players.
They might be of use for other games.

Offline mcfonz

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Re: Ideas wanted to play group games in isolation?
« Reply #13 on: March 21, 2020, 01:16:13 PM »
Not sure what to tell you. My son is intending to have several friends come over to play Axis and Allies.
Wife is concerned about it but is safely under the government rule of no more than ten people. I usually
run a monthly game that is coming up. We are a group of five so I may still do it. Have to wait and see.

UK wise, the Government has actually put out stronger advice than that now. Essentially to avoid all social contact unless necessary.
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Offline WuZhuiQiu

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Re: Ideas wanted to play group games in isolation?
« Reply #14 on: March 21, 2020, 03:04:12 PM »
Apparently, Tony Bath's books have been republished as a compilation:

http://www.soa.org.uk/joomla/publications/53-tony-bath-s-ancient-wargaming