Changing Methods

My D&D group is getting a little difficult as of late, mostly because we're starting to really spread apart.  Aaron is on the Southside of Brisbane, Scott and I are still in one place, and Richard is up in Townsville.  In the past, we've made do by having our D&D set placed down in front of a Webcam to allow Richard to join in.  We haven't had a problem, except for Richard not listening too often and Aaron finding it really difficult to get motivated to cross town since he's the only driver out of the three of us in Brisbane.  (Which shall soon change, but still)

Aaron has been pushing for an alternative by playing over the internet through D&D Insider, which provides a program that gives us everything we need in computerised form.  Health tracking, a playing grid, player graphics, etc etc etc.  It's all well and good until I have to fork out money for it, which I would rather not do because I'm saving for Jenny.

My suggestion was rather than using D&D Insider, use Vassal.  Eventually we want to play the Iron Kingdoms RPG system, which is significantly different to D&D itself and more like the Warmachine/Hordes game, and I think Vassal will be perfect for it since the Module already supports the majority of the game, the Module developer just needs to apply a few things once the books come out and it'll be ready for play.  Hopefully.

The only other thing we have to worry about is voice command.  Because rather than having to type it out, it's simply easier to just say what you're doing.  There are a few options with that, the first of which Aaron suggested was Skype.  I've got Skype, he has Skype, I don't think Richard has Skype, and Scott Definitely doesn't.  The alternative to that is MSN messenger, which I'm fine to use, but whether Aaron is even able to we may never know.

Though I do remember last time I used MSN Messenger, I kept getting messages from Bot Spammers saying "Come visit my webcam".  Hmm.

I am keen to do Vassal for the IK RPG so we can fight something mad, such as a Dire Troll or a Juggernaut.  If we can build up ourselves enough, we could even try and take on a Colossal or a Gargantuan, which would be awesome.