Stephen Collins12h ago

I haven’t played #ttrpg or #boardgames regularly for a long time. The group I played with as a younger person dissolved long ago as we moved, found long term relationships, and built careers.

Recently, I’ve been feeling nostalgic for those pastimes, and pulled some things out of storage to refresh my relationship with them.

I definitely want to find a way to play both RPGs and board games regularly. Now the challenge is to work out the shape and size of the community here in rural NSW, or to find a decent group online. The game hub/store in Bega closed down over a year ago as the number of people playing couldn’t sustain the rent on their shopfront.

Keen for thoughts and ideas from anyone who is playing with some of the barriers I have.

Show threadTalya (she/her) 🏳️‍⚧️✡️11h ago
@trib
i'm gonna be a bit of a dick and say that the best way to have a group is to run a group. that's what i did.
online helps a lot. i gathered friends that live in a different country than me and managed to get us used to a weekly routine.
of course none of this is particularly easy. but it's better than one might think.
Show threadStephen Collins10h ago

@Yuvalne I absolutely agree. I’m considering spinning up a group online of friends now scattered.

I’m out of the loop, so knowing the best places to host with the most useful toolset is my next challenge.

Show threadTalya (she/her) 🏳️‍⚧️✡️10h ago
@trib depends on what exactly you need. if you do theatre of the mind with occasional screen sharing and everyone has their own dice then a mere Signal call will suffice.
if you need some fancier graphics, virtual dice and music (especially if you need it all in one place) then most VTTs will do regardless of the system, my personal favourite is Foundry but that's just me.
Show threadStephen Collins

@Yuvalne see, recommendations are a Good Thing™. With Wizards’ official, Roll20, and other VTTs, you don’t know what to work with unless you try them all or get recommendations on a couple to dig a touch deeper.

Thanks a bunch!

11:33pmWeb
Show threadTalya (she/her) 🏳️‍⚧️✡️10h ago
@trib cool, i'll do some more rec'ing then :)
i was drawn to Foundry because it's pay once for a perpetual license. at first i ran it from my laptop, but latency was too big for my players' content so we moved to managed hosting at Sqyre, each contributing part of the (admittedly not high) cost.
btw it may be that if i return now to self-hosting it'd work better because i optimised some stuff as well as moved to a different ISP, but if the current solution ain't broke i won't try to fix it.
Show threadStephen Collins10h ago
@Yuvalne the idea that Foundry is a one-off cost (unless you’re buying digital content for it) is a strong temptation.
Show threadTalya (she/her) 🏳️‍⚧️✡️10h ago
@trib exactly!