Hello again!

In my last entry I discussed that training new players into the FG system is a bit of additional work for text-only games. I laid out a few things to make it easier (videos and such), but the work is still there when trying to get the freshmen through that first difficult hour in FG.

Dulux-Oz mentioned the idea of making a training module for teaching new players. Basically everything that I planned on typing anyway, pre-typed and ready to go. Linked pictures would also be available for pop-up to point out selection items rather than have to type out a description on the location. This is a fantastic idea, and something I will be working on. If anyone else has been working on such a project, let me know, and I can just send you some of my stuff to help you complete yours instead.

On the topic of pre-typing, I will lead into one of my new favorite things as a Text-Only DM in FG. That is how FG allows us to add chats for stories and NPCs ahead of time. Having things to cut and paste has been a staple of text gaming long before I ever showed up, but is difficult to organize and is often just left being room descriptions and such. FG allows for a grand organization and clarity between what is supposed to be shown to players and what is for the DM only.

I still type most things as they happen, but I like the time spent entering things in ahead of time. I call it pre-playing. I anticipate the things the players will ask about and get those things entered into a chat-box for them early. I get all the fun of thinking out my witty wording, and then later get to see it in action on my players. It gives me a way to be connected to them before they even join my server.

The trick is to not go overboard. (Actually that is the trick in all things “DM”). Try not to layout vast text walls for every possibility as you might find yourself railroading in order to keep those blocks from going to waste. You do know that the players will immediately type “search!” “What does it have?!” “Search it!!!!” long before your NPC’s severed head hits the ground. You can have a description particular to that search all ready to go. “The table the blind, one-armed Orc was guarding has a single copper on it and a note written in common ‘Dear mom…’” or whatever works for your brand of murderhobos.

I have discovered a weakness in the text-only realm! I can usually type as fast as voice, and with just as much imagery. Plus, FG grounds makes us for anything else lacking.

The weakness is in training people for Fantasy Grounds. I trained 14 people this week. And it is a bit hard to show the ropes via pure typing. I do send people emails with advice to watch the videos and include some early tips. I do get each player proficient, but seems like it would be so much faster if it wasn’t all in text.

I wonder if anyone else out there has some tips that could help me speed up training and lower the wear on my fingers?

My friends, players, and DM’s all know that my favorite niche is text-only games. It’s not for everyone, but those of us who like it, are really passionate about the experience. There hasn’t been a lot of innovations that spark our collective interest until Fantasy Grounds came along.

Fantasy Grounds solves so many burdensome mechanical and administrative details for the text-only gamer. All the time wasted getting dice rollers to work, email scans, correct turn order, and other background stuff is all gone. All that saved time is now spent on role-playing and having fun with friends!

And minis… we now get to have minis!!! Sure, that isn’t a pure text thing, but everyone loves miniatures. I mean isn’t Matthew Mercer like a professional voice actor? He is the epitome of vocal talent and improvisation, but he still like his minis. Miniatures are transcendent across all forms of gaming!

So anyways, this blog is going to be all about text-gaming on Fantasy Grounds. I will share my tips and tricks that I have learned (and am still learning) for making a smooth text based experience. There are many reasons people might prefer text-only (disability, bandwidth, ESL, etc..) but I will detail those in a much later post. For now, I encourage everyone who hasn’t tried it to take a peak and see if any of these methods spark your interest.

To start things off, I will share the number one rule of Text Club: “The first rule of Text Club is you don’t worry about spelling in Text Club.” This can be a hard habit to get into at first, especially for Americans as we are overly critical of English usage. Whenever a typo appears, we immediately have to follow up with an correction. *a correction. This takes up extra time on something everyone understood anyway. If you say, “I swing my axe at the orr,” everyone knows what you meant and probably even missed the typo. The only person judging your spelling and grammar is you. Don’t stress it and enjoy the game!