Case Study: Young families 1st Pathfinder adventure (also 1st with Roll20)

Hello Everyone, This thread will be a case study of my families experience playing Pathfinder for the first time (for real). It just so happens to be the first time we also used Roll20 (I am a new subscriber). We have done some practice run with the Box set but they never got to keep their XP. /evil grin I thought someone may find how we use Roll20 useful or interesting. If not, please feel free to turn the channel. =) My first post on Roll20.net was a series of questions that turned into our experience. I think it is better if I break them out as my questions have been answered. For completeness sake I will include our first two experiences that I already posted about below. Accounts I used: DM Eric: Subscriber Player Tonya: Free Displays: DM Control Monitor: DM Eric | as DM | Chrome --> main control on DM only computer monitor Battle Map TV: DM Eric | as Player | Chrome Incognito --> Battle map on flat TV on kitchen table DM Info TV: Tonya | as Player | Firefox --> on DM Info TV to show pictures of monsters, handouts, and also displayed rules found on internet when we had questions (as we are all new) We tried our first Roll20 with two different FTF setups. First Setup: DM Control Monitor: It is hard to see but by it is by the DM keyboard in back corner. I bought acrylic to protect the TV so we could use my Pathfinder pawns (3 sets). We ended up not using pawns as the digital ones worked so well. When the got his with 9 skeletons it was so easy to keep track of individual initiative and individual hit points. It sped up play SO much. DM Info TV: It is the one sitting up like a normal TV. I would display a premade picture of the monsters they were fighting on it along with overland maps. If we had to look up a rule I would look it up on the screen so we could all read it (those of us that can read that is). =) Battle Map TV: It is the one laying flat. As this was our trial run it was sitting on two 2"x4"s to keep it level but that caused it to be a bit too tall. It was not as easy to see as we thought it would be. The kids on the other side were also looking at if upside-down. We had 5 players (played one) and it was a blast (Preschool, 2nd, 3rd, Mom, and Dad/DM) Things went MUCH faster with Roll20. As we play Pathfinder I was easily able to teach everyone about threat range and Attacks of Opportunity by just displaying a black and red square aura. As it stands right now the DM moves all pawns. That may change, and may not. I am not quite sure. I don't know if I could go back to "pen and paper". If this lasts, I may be able to get rid of my 1,000 paper pawns. They are so cool but a pain to find and hard to store especially when compared to digital pawns. We don't do any dice rolls or macros nor do we want too. The best way for us all to learn the game system is to get our hands dirty. Second Setup: The only difference on our second setup was to sit the Battle Map TV up normally. As we didn't use pawns we didn't need it flat and it was easier to see this way. It also gave us much more table room. While the setup was much better, we added two self aware Chaos Vortexes (CR23 each). As it stands that takes some of the fun out of it. =) This will be a Friday night after little one's bedtime me thinks. We liked this setup better and I think it will be the base of Setup Three. I need to prefind all monster stat blocks and become familiar with their attack style. I need to get all of the players spells and special abilities printed for their easy reference. Roll20 is good suff! Hints, Tricks, Tips, Questions are all welcome, Braxon

We played last night and changed the setup a bit more. Third Setup: This has been the best setup so far. The two tables together allowed us to push the screens off of our main table freeing up tons of room. The screens were further away and right now I want to control the digital pawn's movements (for various reasons). I got a small laser pointer that while very bright on the wall, it is very dim on any monitor screen. It would be neat if I could use one of my tablets or phones as a movement input device with only arrows. It would also know each character's movement rate so they could not "overmove". The player whiteboard is useful so the entire group sees the treasure, notes, and XP they gained (well, if they can read). =) We will be playing for a bit tonight with this same setup. Once I get a DisplayPort to HDMI cable I may add a 4th monitor (portrait) for DM pdf reference and web searching. That way the DM could always have his Roll20 control screen displayed. Roll20 "Too Many Tabletops" Issue (resolved?) I create a tabletop spread for, overland maps, battle maps, NPCs, handouts, mood art, and even monsters for an entire module. Because of this I have tons of tabletops and it was very slow to slide over to the correct one. I wished this aspect of Roll20 could be improved. The next night I stumbled on "Archive Page". My party was on Battlemap lvl 1 so I archived everything else and this made things much better so my issue may be resolved or there may be room for improvement. /shrug Roll20 "Resize DM Info Monitor too often" Issue Well, I don't know if I would call it an issue per say but I am running our campaign again in 30 minutes and can't think of a better word. If feels like I fells like I have to resize the DM Info Monitor often but it may be just how I created all of my tabletops. I will have to pay attention to it tonight and see how it goes. Play <SPOILER ALERT>: We are playing The Crypt of the Everflame. It took us 1.5 hours to get though the trap area. I need to see how to speed up traps and trap finding. The neat thing was that they really started to work together and stop saying, "I don't know what i can do". My wife is used to playing computer games which really limit player options. I think she is coming to grips that she can try anything. The incorporeal shadow fight was REALLY hard for them. They put the fire out once they realized they couldn't hit it. They thought that without light it might go away, that was my 2nd grader. That just caused choking smoke that gave a -4 to hit rolls. =) Then they cast light on it, thinking that it may harm the shadow, again my 2nd grader. The pally smited it, but didn't have a magic weapon. Finally the Sorcerer finally landed Acid Spash (with a little DM help) and they got some hope. With a religion check the Oracle realized it was undead and started to kill it with"Cure Light Wounds". The Shadow never once landed a STR drain, thankfully. I just looked more into it, they actually do STR damage that heals normally. They loved how tough it was and I loved how they were starting to "get" role playing. =) Thoughts, comments, ideas welcome, Braxon

Eric C. said: ... With a religion check the Oracle realized it was undead and started to kill it with"Cure Light Wounds"... Really great that everyone's starting to pickup, especially an advanced system like pathfinder! When granting hints about monsters for new players, I usually hint that X knowledge can identify it, or at least give some yielding information about it. Have you tried adding a sound setup? Adding music can enhance the mood especially during RP or exploratory elements. It does however add a level of micromanagement and hopefully Roll20 will get more support on their sound framework.

Hello Ken, I have added some sound but it has just been a bit of background music. When the party was first introduced to the Rock Hound they found her injured and attacked by three wolves. I used some cool sound bites then but I didn't see a way to use it within Roll20. Regards, Braxon

Eric C. said: They thought that without light it might go away, that was my 2nd grader. That just caused choking smoke that gave a -4 to hit rolls. =) Then they cast light on it, thinking that it may harm the shadow, again my 2nd grader. First off, good on you! It's wonderful to see a whole family gathering around a game like this, reminds me of my childhood. Of course we didn't have anything like this at the time, but Risk and Monopoly served much the same purpose: getting the family together to have some fun! Secondly, your 2nd grader sounds like a real thinker! The way (s)he incorporated (heh, undead pun!) real-world knowledge and thinking into the game here was really smart of them! I know the rules don't say anything about this kind of thing having any affect, but I personally would have bent the rules a little, to reward them for coming up with such a good idea. A +1 to hit, or something like that, maybe. I hope you praised their thinking outside-the-box at least; I can just imagine their disappointment when their good idea didn't work. Remember, the game is about having fun, and especially with kids, I would tend to bend the rules in their favor when they come up with something clever like that! Anyway, keep up the good work, sounds like you're raising a new generation of future GMs! -Phnord