Chat improvements

Hi, Some people prefer to play only by chat. I wish to suggest to improve the chat system by adding different text colours in order to describe different kind of actions: 1. Character actions. 2. Dialogs. 3. Thoughts Each kind of text would be recognized by marking it with different signs. For example: *I wield my long sword and stare at the orc.* (One colour, marked with **) You are going to die! (Another colour, normal text) *I shout by the time i charge against him* (Again, the first colour, the one to describe actions) (Tempus, protect me in the battle!) (Another colour, used to express thoughts and marked with () )

Not sure what "thoughts" would be for. If it has an effect on game, it could be done through a message to the GM "Kornar is praying his God". If it has no effect on the game, there is no reason it should be displayed to anyone, if characters have no way to know the thoughts of other characters.

While the "emote" command displaying text with another color currently is fine, I want to support more chat features for playing only via chat, such as descriptive text, actions and others (here is a thread with suggestions about this, <a href="http://community.roll20.net/discussion/1096/chat-modalities-for-roll20#Item_1" rel="nofollow">http://community.roll20.net/discussion/1096/chat-modalities-for-roll20#Item_1</a>). For what is worth, or if these chat features are going to be implemented very slowly, "Thoughts" could be addressed by means of "Character actions", if Roll20 supports it. For instance "/me thinks 'Tempus, protect me in the battle!" Now, in this way the text color would be the same than with "Character actions." But as Patrick C. is pointing, the GM may forbid this practice since usually characters can't know the thoughts of others. In most cases, it would be only a descriptive element that helps with the narration.

Yes, you're right, it's not very useful or necessary to express thoughts, but in some cases it gives richness to the scene.

Another useful kind (and colour) of text would be one used to express offrol actions, marked with //, for example. I mean: DM: //Character X, throw 2d20, please

But as Patrick C. is pointing, the GM may forbid this practice since usually characters can't know the thoughts of others. In most cases, it would be only a descriptive element that helps with the narration. If it has no effect on the game, there is no reason it should be displayed to anyone, if characters have no way to know the thoughts of other characters. That is entirely dependent on the style of game being run. The idea behind sharing character thoughts is that it gives a good way to share information between ~players~ without sharing that information between characters or breaking the flow of a scene. As Aniras points out, doing so can add to the atmosphere of a scene greatly. There are many, many viewpoints on what the difference between character knowledge and player knowledge should be in a game, and whether they should be kept separate. While it is often referred to as 'metagaming' to use out-of-character knowledge in-game poorly, it is just as easy to use such knowledge to make the game more enjoyable for everyone. Some game systems / groups really want to have as little metagaming as possible, and want to only operate on the information that their specific character would know. Other game systems / groups really thrive around the ~players~ knowing everything, even if their ~characters~ do not. I have enjoyed campaigns with varying amounts on metagame knowledge. It is important that a group decide ahead of time how much metagame information is allowed, and then respect that social contract.

I have indeed some issues with metagaming, which I have always found destructive of immersion. And indeed, YMMV, no problem with that. Still, having a special way just to code thoughts seems a little excessive. After all, if the players know that high metagaming is in effect, describing the thoughts of the characters can be done easily within the normal description: -Dirty Harry has just put his hand into his pocket and is now clutching his hidden secret pistol, thinking "I'll shoot the guard as soon as Sam gets out of the way"

That is entirely dependent on the style of game being run. (. . .) Agreed. That is why I said "usually". On the other hand, something qualifying as "a descriptive element that helps with the narration" is good to me.