"Virtual tabletop" RPG software

From GodOfDarkness

Many of us are gamers. At this point, all of us (I think) live farther than an hour's drive away from each other. Still, all of us want to game with each other. Conclusion? We need to game, online.

Online gaming comes in many varieties, from archaic text-based MUDs and MOOs, to their more modern cousins MMORPGs, to audio and video environments. We are looking for an intermediary solution: we are all men and women of story, so we don't need extensive graphics; but it would be nice to have a few neat utilities that would record vital game statistics, roll dice, etc.

Of course, such a solution already exists. It is OpenRPG, a python-based GUI server & client application pair. The server allows a user to create a dedicated game server, publish it on the server list, set up game rooms within it, and generally run things like a Game Master would. The client allows a user to connect to said game server and play. The software has quite a few features, including:

Robust dice rolling

includes [mdn] commands that roll m dice of sides n], with a few extra options (take lowest p, highest p, etc.)

Name and status commands

each player can easily assign him/herself a name (perfect for rpgs, where one rarely plays a character named as oneself), as well as set his/her status (here, away, dinner, etc.)

Battle maps

virtual grids where players can easily place, move, and rotate icons representing their character. Very useful for tactics-heavy RPGs.

...and many others. Finally, the software is plugin-capable, so anyone who knows how to write in Python (I'm not one of these people, not really anyways; I've modified pyhton code for class projects, that's about it) can add further features. There are, unfortunately, a few downsides to using OpenRPG:

• These 'further features' need to be written, as they can make our gaming lives a lot easier.

• The software is buggy. It works... but even the simplest things are often annoyingly hard to do and tend to break the game down. I feel qualified to say this as I've played a good two years' worth of gaming with earlier versions of this software. I had hoped that most of the problems would be cleared away by now, but no, they aren't.

So here's what should be done:

• First and foremost, the software (which is open-source... I don't know if it complies with open-source standards or anything, but the code should be linked to off the main site... if it's not a dead link, sigh) should be tested. If there is no way to fix it, then we need a set of conditions under which it runs, and a detailed manual for setting those conditions up, which is also easy to follow. What I mean by 'a set of conditions' is the following:
  • This afternoon I tried to get the software to run, host a game, create a room in the game, and use a plugin. The software offers options to host servers on-the-fly, or create dedicated servers, through a GUI, but the interface does NOT have a help file, nor does it list a number of useful commands. Only using the text-based version was I shown such a list. Also, it is not immediately obvious what IP the server is bound to (again, see below).
  • Even using the text-based version, after I "registered" my game on the list of servers, and ran an instance of the OpenRPG client to try and connect to it, the game showed up as grayed out and would not connect. I was only able to connect by typing in localhost:6667 in the "connect" text box in the client's "Connect to Server" window. THEN, I opened another instance of the client, and the game was no longer greyed out, but still would not connect, except manually. Sigh.
  • The plugin I wanted to use, one that plays a sound whenever one's name is mentioned in chat, was also extremely buggy - the help file displayed incorrect information about using the plugin, and was very confusing about its proper implementation. A full twenty minutes were wasted trying to get that simple feature to work.
  • This may all sound like an angry rant, but it's not. It's just a small list of the things that can go wrong when one of us, especially those who are less computer-savvy, tries to connect to this client. If we were all in the same room, the problem would be quickly resolved... but then we wouldn't need OpenRPG in the first place. I remember sitting for a good half hour in front of a computer screen freshman year, talking the players through logging on, trying to troubleshoot this piece of software, and being very frustrated; this is not how I want to game. So we need to know what these problems are, and how they can be fixed/avoided.
  • Note from Dan: OpenRPG does not appear to run with the latest (development) version of wxPython, which is the only version that has a universal build for Intel Macs.

• Second, we need to add plugins to OpenRpg. These include, but are not limited to:
  • An extended die-roller, that allows for SW d6 rolling: roll nd6 and note the sum S, as well as the highest individual roll H, roll 1d6 (call it W).
    • If W comes up a 6, reroll W until W doesn't come up a 6, and note the sum W_s of all rerolls + the original roll on W. Add S+W_s for the final result. (I really should use the math keyword for all this, but I gotta run soon so I'll edit this later)
    • If W comes up a 1, show an option of S-H
  • A complex initiative tracker. There is a d20 initiative tracker already in effect, but it doesn't cover declaring (which can be done easily), initiative passes for Shadowrun (slightly harder), and multiple actions for d6 SW and RIFTS (much harder). RIFTS is a priority, since that is what we'll be playing soonest. This is a real programming as well as design task.
  • Basic stats for the various games. RIFTS should include: current MDC, current PPE, current ISP.
  • Itunes plugin for Dan's music (Dan seems to be on top of this)
  • If we want to get really fancy, character sheets.

There are obviously more features to be added. I will be working on the init tracker at least, teaching myself Python along the way, and Dan's got the Itunes plugin, but there is plenty more work to be done. Everyone who's got spare time is very welcome to help.

All for now, to be edited later.