PB-Sk

I just wanted to share an experience regarding "play by X" games that I've had recently...

I, in light of my father's passing, have decided to attempt to "bury the hatchet" with a family member who I had not spoken to for a very, very long time. So, I decided to introduce him to boardgaming, which he was always on the periphery of, but never seemed to get deep into, but he had some older games around that he hadn't touched for years.

So, I offered up a game of Dungeonquest, but since we live a ways away from one another, it wasn't all that shithot an idea...until...Skype.

I set a board up on my side, he set a board up on his side, and we played the game with the camera set up to see the boards. I know it messed up the amount of tiles and the number of cards and whatnot, but what we did was basically pull a couple of each type out of both sets so it wouldn't take forever to mirror the boards while looking to match tiles.

It didn't work "perfectly" as there was some digging for tiles to match things up properly, but it was a neat experience.

I'm just wondering if there's a game that would be better to run over Skype. It's a bit like PBEM, without the lags and with the addition of conversation, in real time, which is brilliant.

superflytnt wrote:

I just wanted to share an experience regarding "play by X" games that I've had recently...

I, in light of my father's passing, have decided to attempt to "bury the hatchet" with a family member who I had not spoken to for a very, very long time. So, I decided to introduce him to boardgaming, which he was always on the periphery of, but never seemed to get deep into, but he had some older games around that he hadn't touched for years.

So, I offered up a game of Dungeonquest, but since we live a ways away from one another, it wasn't all that shithot an idea...until...Skype.

I set a board up on my side, he set a board up on his side, and we played the game with the camera set up to see the boards. I know it messed up the amount of tiles and the number of cards and whatnot, but what we did was basically pull a couple of each type out of both sets so it wouldn't take forever to mirror the boards while looking to match tiles.

It didn't work "perfectly" as there was some digging for tiles to match things up properly, but it was a neat experience.

I'm just wondering if there's a game that would be better to run over Skype. It's a bit like PBEM, without the lags and with the addition of conversation, in real time, which is brilliant.

Depending on the game, one great combo is VASSAL combined with Skype. Vassal allows live play with both looking at the same board and live chat via typing; the ability to talk over Skype is gravy.

I believe there's a Vassal module for Arkham Horror now, too...

This is definitely a good situation for VASSAL. You can talk on skype and don't have to worry about your boards matching up---they automatically will.

How much of a bitch is Vassal to use, though? I've heard it's a bit of a pain...?

superflytnt wrote:

How much of a bitch is Vassal to use, though? I've heard it's a bit of a pain...?

Aside from being somewhat memory-intensive, the pain factor is almost entirely module-dependent. Some modules are a literal recreation of the out-of-the-box game--so you place the counters and manually flip, etc. Others have a lot of helpful scenario set-ups and some automation built into them; e.g., when you play X card, Y event [certain counters automatically appear, cards get removed, whatever] happens on the board.

So, it's really a matter of how the particular game module works.


Edit: Cyberboard, on the other hand, can be a little intimidating to the uninitiated; however, since CB doesn't have a live simultaneous play option [purely turn-based], it's not appropriate for what you're looking for.

Vassel is easier than its reptuation gives credit for.

Sorry to hear about your father.

Sorry to hear about your father.

+1

mjl1783 wrote:

Sorry to hear about your father.

+1

Wow, yea. My apologies for having glossed right over that part. My condolences to you and yours.

Vassal. Vassal. Vassal. One day I will get it right.

Vassal is easy, you just have to remember coming in that all it does is show the board and offer up cards and dice. The rules and the movements are all yours just like on a real board.

My sympathies on your father's passing, and good for you for taking the time to reforge your relationship with your relative. That is tough ground to cover.

S.

See, you bastards will comment all day long on my articles and you STILL haven't signed up for my blog to be emailed to your inbox. What hosers! How do I know this, you ask? This is why...you'd have known had you been readers!

superflycircus.blogspot.com/2010/10/dont-buy-green-bananas.html

Anyhow, thanks for the kind words, mates. I have had the dubious pleasure of not just having to fly to CA to bury (well, burn up) my dad, and then, as if that wasn't excruciating enough, I just got back from PA for a SECOND memorial service for the majority of my family (on his side) that couldn't make it to CA.

The first service was a full military honors ceremony, and we were in a hall with a door at the back. They shot the 21-gun salute (which, incidentally has been truncated to 7 guys shooting thrice..) and because it was behind us all, it scared the shit out of half of the bereaved. It was right out of Kill Bill...people thought the military was shooting INTO the hall, cutting them all down like chaff. My dad would've gotten a kick out of it.

The second service was at the Lutheran church where I grew up, very "serene" until the "let's talk about his life" memories came up. Pretty funny shit, what my dad did when he was a kid, like when he took his brother's model airplanes, and not the shitty plastic, but the hand-made balsa and parchment paper kind, and lit them on fire and tossed them out the upstairs window to the street below, all while the actual owner, his brother, was fighting the commies in Korea. He came back from Korea and was looking for the models, but nobody fessed up. It wasn't until many years later when my dad left for the Air Force did anyone tell his brother what happened to the planes!

Good shit, but totally, unabashedly brutal.

Vassal is a piece of piss - and here is a funny story. My 11 yr old lad plays the odd board game with me but basically is a video game addict. Anyway last saturday he saw me doing my Vassal turn for the Arkham game I'm in with FAT lads here and asked what computer game it was, I told him it wasn't a game but a program to play board games. He was interested so I showed him the Memoir'44 module as he used to play that quite often with me, still interested so I got two computers on the web beside each other and fired up vassal on both and started a M'44 game and got him to join then talked him through using it .... of course Vassal recognised me straight away and my infamous dice rolls appeared (to his total entertainment) and he overrun me at Pegasus Bridge. He then asked to see Arkham Horror so I went through all the main bits slowly but could see the 'too much' glaze come over his eyes so stopped.
Next morning he rang me from his mums and wanted a game on Memoir'44, so we hooked up into Vassal and fired up Skype (for some banter and so I could remind him of all the rules he had forgotten) and had a great game .... and I got my revenge.

So, after all that:

1. Vassal and Skype is a great combo

2. Sad state of affairs today when a kid will play a board game because it's on a computer.

LOL! Great story, mate, and you sound like one hell of a dad!