Revision as of 15:57, 7 August 2021

logo derived from Angela Taylor's beautiful art for Grand Tribunal 2008

Image From The Wizard Torn 4

An Online Ars Magica Weekend; 13th to 15th August 2021

Hello and welcome to Image as I call the con when time is short. This is our fourth run, so I am going to put the start putting up a lot of material. This time we are running in conjunction with the physical Grand Tribunal convention in Cheltenham, UK, and the convention discord channel will have live streams from that at various times.

Firstly, I am listing the games available and various sessions here. Obviously games are by their nature limited in how many players they can take, and I think the only fair way is to assign people first come first served. Hopefully there will be enough games for everyone to play at least twice over the weekend, and many of you will find once quite enough.

First of all though, let us start with...

How To Register

The Registration form is below. If you would like to buy a ticket to support Image and Grand Tribunal please do -- select Image from the Wizard Torn option to donate £5 -- buy tickets here for 2021; and obviously continue to support Atlas Games' Ars Magica role-playing game. Maybe go buy yourself a gift there? You can also support our friends at Sub Rosa magazine.

The Registration form is here:

The form to offer a game is here: https://forms.gle/da7w2UBvJtECXWjN7

How To Offer A Game

We very much encourage you to offer to run an Ars Magica scenario, or even a different Atlas Games rpg (Unknown Armies, Rune, Feng Shui etc) at the convention. All you have to do is fill in this form: offer a game here! and CJ will message you to confirm.

Schedule for the Weekend (will update frequently)

The current proposed schedule is (ALL TIMES ARE GMT+1) as follows

FRIDAY 7th May

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• The Social

Everyone is welcome to meet up and discuss games, life and generally chat from 8pm GMT till late! No need to register just follow this link to the Discord Server: https://discord.com/invite/yZPAxnvcn7

Convention Rules

Our Ethos and policies are available here. Please that the ANTI-HARASSMENT POLICY applies to ONLINE GAMES as much as GRAND TRIBUNAL games. If you are made uncomfortable, please message CJ or another mod at any time. Becky will also be available to discuss issues in total confidence if you do not which to raise them with an organiser. Email smith.becky@talk21.com if required.

A Quick Guide to Software for the Convention

Software comes in two forms for our purposes - voice chat software, and virtual table tops/dice apps. What you need will depend on the games you sign up for and what your Storyguide is using.

Chat Software

Pretty much essential unless playing by typing, which certainly can be done and is welcome. The default though is you will need a working MICROPHONE and speakers or built in sound; so we can hear you and you can hear us. You can use a webcam if you want, though if bandwidth is an issue in a game it might be best not to at times, but usually it is nice to see the other players. Check your microphone works: you can usually do this in your software. We may be able to help with technical issues though through the Discord Server. There are several alternatives, and which are in use will depend on your Storyguide personal preference, though both Zoom and Discord will be used on Friday night and both can be installed on most PCs without any great technical expertise. If you can, having both will always be useful, but you only use one at a time. Both Discord and Zoom work on Apple, Android or PC machines and phones.

1. DISCORD is a popular app used for gaming. "Discord download". There are useful instructions on how it works here "Discord Guide". Your username will begin with a # symbol and have a four digit number after it, so mine is chrisjensenromer#7319 and you should send me a friend request. The section you are joining (called a 'server') is called Image From The Wizard Torn and contains both text and voice channels. Text channels are good places to leave messages, and there is a space called "The Grand Tribunal" for exactly that.

Once you have installed DISCORD you can join the convention server Image from the Wizard Torn here

There are also Voice Channels, which is where some games will be run, or at least the voice part of the game. Storyguides can create new text channels for individual games to share images etc as well if they wish, and I will put a dice roller in the channel so everyone can roll dice on Discord. The default for the channel by the way is not to alert you to notifications unless you are tagged by name, so if you can pop in several times this week to keep up to date with plans.

2. ZOOM is a lot simpler to use. The Storyguide emails you a link and you click on it: this takes your to a Waiting Room, and they admit you. Each Zoom session can have a unique link. I will email everyone registered with a Zoom link for the Friday social sessions. Unlike DISCORD you do not need to create an account or do anything much beyond click on the link, but you can speed things up by installing the app now (on a phone got your APP Store) using this link, first option unless on a mobile device ["https://zoom.us/download"]. Zoom has a number of options for screen sharing and sharing files, text chat but is mainly video or voice chat.

Virtual Tabletops (VTT)

These are computer programs that are designed specifically for playing RPGs online. There are quite a few of them, and I will add to this list as people express an interest in using them. None of them currently offer official support to Ars Magica, but Fantasy Grounds has a very good fan built extension that works quite well. You do not need to use a VTT to play, unless your Storyguide wishes to -- some games can run in just Discord or Zoom, or even Facebook chat -- but several of the games will use this software so it is worth learning about it.

1. FANTASY GROUNDS comes in two versions, Classic or Unity. You want Fantasy Grounds Unity that only officially left development in November. We have been using it since March, and it will slowly replace the older Fantasy Grounds Classic which probably still has more users. The expansions that run on them are work on either version, but you need to download and install the right version for your Storyguide's game. In all cases so far this is FANTASY GROUNDS UNITY, not the old Classic version. Installing it also takes time, and possibly fiddling with settings, so if you plan to use it you will need to download it from here: ["https://www.fantasygrounds.com"]. You do NOT need to buy a license; only the Storyguide needs that, you can use the free demo to play endless games forever. (You can also referee games with people who have a licence). You will need to register for their forum, and create an account, then install, then run update. Updates are frequent, and to connect you must all be running the same version, so run update ten minutes before the game start. To connect you will need the GM's user name and the password for the adventure from them. Fantasy Grounds does not include a chat program, so you will also need to use Zoom or Discord, which ever the Storyguide specifies.

2. ROLL20 This is a very simple and easy to use VTT that is incredibly popular, and free (though there are pro versions that you can license if a GM). You just need a link and a password from your Storyguide, and they will need your email to issue the invite through the program. The good news is ROLL20 has built in video and voice chat, so theoretically there is no need of Zoom or Discord -- however it is decidedly unstable at times and hard to get to work properly, so we often end up using something else for voice. There are Roll20 apps, but I don't think there is much to install, and you just learn how it works as you go. This tutorial ["https://wiki.roll20.net/Roll20_Crash_Course"] will teach you how to set up a campaign, use characters etc and is very simple to follow.

Image from the Wizard Torn convention for Atlas Games' Ars Magica role-playing game.