Asynchronous/play-by-post mode

Apologies if this has been suggested before, but for me, wrangling half a dozen nerds into spending one night a week in front of their computers is a lot more difficult than it sounds. I'd like to suggest an alternative method of playing turn-based games. In its most basic form what I'm asking for in an play-by-post room is essentially an cloud-based image editor with a shoutbox on the side. When your turn came up you'd be able to open an interface similar to the existing Roll20 room and move whatever tokens you've be given permission by the GM to move. When your turn is over, you'd save the image as a .PNG or something; everyone else in the room would see only that PNG, instead of the full interface. This would take up fewer resources and essentially make Roll20 the center of the play-by-post universe as well as the virtual-table world. I've been holding off on donating to this wonderful site because Flash is an inherently unstable platform and I'm not sure I want to spend my money on something I can't use reliably. If your dev team could implement something like this, even if it was only for donors, I'd pay all my money to use it.

Just wanted to stress that Rol20 -as it is now- already works perfectly for asynchronous gaming. I have used it that way without any problem. As it is persistant, any player can login when he wants without any need for anybody else to be logged at the same time. The player moves what he has to move and leaves a message if needed. I don't really see the need for a png export (what difference does it make if you see the map or a snapshot of the map?).

Patrick, I have to disagree about it being perfect for asynch gaming. Good, not perfect. There is no timestamp option (an option I really really want). Ahhhh well. :) - Gauss

Thanks for the replies, all. Maybe for my next game I'll try a Google+ hangout, and that way we can have a live session whenever we can all make it. Darn, now I need to give you guys my money though =P

Things I would need for a asynchronous system using the Roll20 maps: 1) (optional) Time stamps on the in-game chat so we can keep track of how long ago things occurred. 2) A 'history' of moves in the game. There are a number of ways this could be implemented (co-ordinates in the chat, an undo/redo move option, or a line that shows where you moved from to where you moved to).   3) A way for players to access certain resources that are currently GM only (for me, this means other maps that the GM determines are appropriate).  - Gauss

Given the way that Roll20 is currently set up, I believe that #1 and 2 come along for free once you put in timestamp logging, because you'll never want to have timestamp logging of just the chat, you'll want it on all events that take place as a modification to the board (at least in the first cut). Of course, that will require coding a system that accumulates all of the changes during a particular session and then goes through and combines like-types so that the final committed change doesn't contain two dozen tiny things but only a fistful of things that actually changed from beginning to end. For example, if I move a token 5 m west and then 5 m north and then 5 m east and then 5 m south, each of those events should get logged but there should definitely be an option to have the final difference that is reported be "no change." Likewise if I change the health value on my token from 5 to 7 to 5, that should ultimately be reported as "no change." This is a nontrivial problem, I recognize that. But it's definitely the way things would have to get rolled up if you want a proper asynchronous playspace. If only to preserve your sanity when looking at the logs.

Guys, I appreciate that you're looking into this. For what it's worth I think Roll20 is already the best online solution for elfgames, this would just be gravy on the cake. I'm pretty sure that's how that saying goes.

Just nitpicking, but I think that asynchronous gaming (or another new expression) is more appropriate than play by mail, play by post or play by forum. Those things already exist and are something else. This is a way of playing that is only available in Roll20 (correct me if you know another VTT with a persistant feature) and, I think it should be promoted as a distinctive feature.

Alexander W. said: Of course, that will require coding a system that accumulates all of the changes during a particular session and then goes through and combines like-types so that the final committed change doesn't contain two dozen tiny things but only a fistful of things that actually changed from beginning to end. For example, if I move a token 5 m west and then 5 m north and then 5 m east and then 5 m south, each of those events should get logged but there should definitely be an option to have the final difference that is reported be "no change." Likewise if I change the health value on my token from 5 to 7 to 5, that should ultimately be reported as "no change." I am not sure than logging anything else than the final result is needed to be able to play. When it is your turn, you take a look at the new situation, notice the changes, read the messages, move your token and write something if you want. That seems enough to be able to play (it was when we tried anyway).

1) (optional) Time stamps on the in-game chat so we can keep track of how long ago things occurred. 2) A 'history' of moves in the game. There are a number of ways this could be implemented (co-ordinates in the chat, an undo/redo move option, or a line that shows where you moved from to where you moved to).  ^ I could get behind those (just in case people don't know ctrl+z undoes)

Well, for Play-by-Post gaming I would say that a time/date function is absolutely essential.

Patrick C. said: I am not sure than logging anything else than the final result is needed to be able to play. When it is your turn, you take a look at the new situation, notice the changes, read the messages, move your token and write something if you want. That seems enough to be able to play (it was when we tried anyway). In a system that allows move-act-move, I move 5m north into bow range, fire my bow, then move 5m south. If you only log delta from previous end state, all you see if that I fired my bow and hit a target 5m outside my range. This is why you log all game change events but provide the facility to filter presentation.

Having auto-timestamp would be nice, as well as move-tracking, but as an alternative you could trust the player to leave an accurate timestamp for his actions, and for character movement, you can have them draw their path that they took and it would remain until A) a new turn starts and the GM removes it, or B) their next turn. Another nice thing that would be awesome for Asynchronous gaming would be a map hidden token activation function when moving along a path. If they trigger a trap in that path then it could be automated. Which would be cool.

Alexander W. said: Patrick C. said: I am not sure than logging anything else than the final result is needed to be able to play. When it is your turn, you take a look at the new situation, notice the changes, read the messages, move your token and write something if you want. That seems enough to be able to play (it was when we tried anyway). In a system that allows move-act-move, I move 5m north into bow range, fire my bow, then move 5m south. If you only log delta from previous end state, all you see if that I fired my bow and hit a target 5m outside my range. This is why you log all game change events but provide the facility to filter presentation. Not really. If the system allows this move and fire, there is no problem. I am the GM and I am supposed to understand the system I am using. And if I am a stupid enough GM who doesn't know how the game I am mastering works, I can always ask the player to explain what happened. Anyway, whatever you do, you'll have to describe it somewhere for the GM to implement the results. Roll20 is not automated enough to make your move, roll a die and have Roll20 adjudicate the result and change the hit points of the target.  In the situation you describe, if you don't say anything, the GM shall see no token moved and a dice rolled. If you are going to type "Kronar fires his bow", you could as quickly write "Kronar advances into range, fires his bow and moves back in place". Asynchronous gaming is not the same as online game, you are going to have to type all the stuff you would just say through voice normally.  There are lots of actions that won't leave a trace (drawing a sword, hiding, starting a fire,...), all those actions have to be declared. The situation you describe is just one of them. It is no more indispensable to have Roll20 log the moves than to have it record what weapon is on hand, if a crossbow is loaded or if a character is prone or standing. It could be nice, but it is not needed to be able to play asynchronously. Same thing, for the timestamp, your player can enter it if you think  you need it in your game. I don't want to say that those wouldn't be nice features, maybe even useful ones. I just want to say that you can play Roll20 asynchronous without them. Roll20 works already for it - as it is.