ACKS and Virtual Tables

General ACKS Forums General Discussion
1

Are there ACKS rulesets for any of the Virtual Tables yet?

2

Which ones are people using?
I thought the G+ hangout for Dwimmermount was very successful in every way except mapping. Zak S. was skilled at making one with Twiddla but I had a hard time mastering it and it looked functional and not hand-crafted the way pencil and graph paper can.
Since the Dwimmermount maps are pre-existing just a way to move a single dot through the space and wipe away the fog of war to track their progress would do - having light and field of view would be gravy. I don’t think precise individual tactical positioning is necessary, which is the new-school combat assumption VTTs seem to expect.
Here’s a place where the mapping proficiency might be helpful in a way Alex might have intended but I didn’t think of - cases like online, nightmare mazes, or miniatures layouts where it is technically more convenient to show the map rather than describe-and-draw, but you don’t want to lose awesome old-school flavor like “kobolds stole your map, what now?”

3

I haven’t used it but I’m hereing good things about “dragons for dinner” over on Gplus. Kits in beta. Youtube video somewhere but I cant cut and paste from fire

4

I am almost done with an ACKS framework for MapTool. Is anyone interested in playtesting it once it is done (hopefully by next week)?
If you have not used MapTool, I think it is a really good tool for virtual gaming, so this can be your opportunity to give it a try. If you have used it, the framework will contain the definition of tokens for heroes and monsters, and several macros to automate some of the more common tasks, like attacks or saves. It does not support voice, so it has be combined with other software like G+ or Skype for that.
I will post a new topic once the framework is done, with a couple of proposal for play testing.

5

If you’re on G+ Table Top Forge (https://plus.google.com/110771920494591644897/about) has started their open beta testing.
They’ve got instructions on the G+ page, but here is a cut and paste:
Instructions on how to test Tabletop Forge 1.0. Please note this is still pretty much a manual process but does allow anyone to spawn up a “project” on their own and invite their group members without needing me to do anything.

  1. First you need to create a project. Go to https://code.google.com/apis/console/ and Create a Project. After is it created you can rename it whatever you want.
  2. On the menu on the left will be a menu called “Services”. Here you want to find the slider for Google+ Hangouts API and turn it on. You should be prompted for a couple of Google terms of service agreements.
  3. On the menu on the left will be a menu called “Team”. Here you want to add in the Google+ account email of anyone you want to be able to access your project (a.k.a. your group).
  4. On the menu on the left will be a menu called “Hangouts”. Under the Application URL paste in this url and hit “Save”: https://tabletopforge.com/TabletopForgeApp/TabletopForge.xml
  5. Underneath the Application URL should be a “Enter a Hangout!” URL. Click this to start the developer Hangout. Once you are in you should see an Apps button at the top. Click that and select the name of your project from the dropdown and hit “Load App”.
  6. Share the URL of the Hangout (at top of your screen) to anyone on your team for them to enter. Make sure before the first time they have visited one of the pages of the project so they get prompted for the Google terms of service agreements.
    TTF Website here: http://tabletopforge.com/
6

that looks awesome!! I will be trying TTF out for sure. I need to get all this work out of the way so I can play :slight_smile: