Roll20 and Star Warriors

[Leona Makk]

Hey RP.

A gamer friend of mine ran a D&D for our group so I could have a break from being GM and work on my game. He ran his game on this platform Roll20, and I have to say it was very stable, a tad tedious, but also very helpful for our long distance game!
He was dropping in photos and maps, having private chats with players, you name it.

I was looking at it for my long distance Star Wars D6 game. We had been using Googlemeetings and I was simply pointing my camera down at my gaming table with my old maps and Micro Machine Minis. I would ask them how they moved their Nova-3 around the asteroids and so forth. So as GM, I had to do a lot of explaining and moving of everything. Not good for player involvement.

BUT, this Roll 20 platform has a HEX GRID option and you can turn your Hex Tokens to face any direction with a simple mouse drag. WHAT IF I FORCED my players to learn Star Warriors for our starship combat!?

Any advice for running Star Warriors quickly? Has anyone else given this a try long distance?
If I am the first I will of course give you all a full report.

[CRMcNeill]

Personally, I'd like to see some sort of hybrid system that uses the Star Warriors grid maps, but resolves combat using the extant combat system.
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"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index

[Leona Makk]

[Dr. Bidlo]

I have been running tactical games via Teams using maps I create in Microsoft VISIO, but there are other options. I am using the straight D6 rules, but am using a hybrid adaptation of Star Warriors for squadron fighter combat that I can share if you are interested, but it is best when set in an Excel spreadsheet with formulas set to avoid it from getting too mathy. CRMcNeill has a squadron rule set as well.

VISIO is all based on X and Y coordinates, so there is no need for a hex grid - I just draw lines between ships to measure the distances and I even make the line look like laser bolts when marking declared shots between ships. In order to make it work, I assumed (perhaps incorrectly) that 1 space unit is 100 meters. I then draw various rings around the ships to indicate the maximum range of each ship's various weapons.

So, it is possible and it can work well if you have a reliable system to draw and measure. It does not have to be VISIO, of course, but you need something better than Word or PowerPoint.

[Leona Makk]

[Leona Makk]

Well I dipped my feet into roll20 with d6.

I did NOT try any combat yet, as it was a very Ship Modification/Armor Repair/ Sell left over Blasters/Exploration/Detective kind of session with a little murder mystery at the Cantina.

I did import a Sector Map of Elrood, over lade a simple grid, and make tokens for the party's ships. As they traveled from system to system, the captain moved his little ship token. This alone was a HUGE hit with the players. They had lots of questions about each system. You don't need Roll20 for this, but I was able to make a Nova-3 token for the parties freighter which help them get into it.

Roll20 has a 'pointer' option so players can generate little circles to get each other's attention on the map or grid and can draw temporary line of sight lines. Very useful for clarity.

I was able to simply drag art and pics onto the map from my desktop. Everyone could see what buildings and characters looked like without me holding up a book. Pretty fast and easy.

So far, I wouldn't say it is superior to other video chat tech, but I know my players are using it for their DND games so I am TRYING to keep them from having to learn too many new things. Positive overall.
I will let Space Pirates attack at their next jump point and see how combat goes.