Need three more players for a four player asynchronous game of GMT’s Successors. I’ve played a couple of games so far. Living rules with the latest module, all optional rules in play. Would be convenient if we could all agree to play via Discord as it helps move the game along compared to email.
Sounds like fun. I could join!
Cool. Just need another two players.
I would be interested. What time zone would you be meeting in?
I’m on the U.S. East Coast, but this would be a mostly asynchronous game where we each take our turns and share logs, so we don’t all need to meet at the same time to play live. However it is nice to have the option to, for example, play a battle out live if both players involved are available at the same time, and that’s where it’s convenient to chat, share logs and do dice rolls via Discord and have the ability to sometimes interact live to expedite the game. If that works for you, then we just need one more player to make four.
Great, I’m EST also! You can reach me at anunziata1776@hotmail.com. Where are you from? I live on Long Island NY.
South Florida for many years, but I grew up in both New York and New Jersey. Hopefully we’ll get a fourth player soon.
Would you be interested in playing something in the mean time? What games are you interested in?
I prefer to wait to see if we get this game off the ground soon with a fourth player.
If it’s the latest Successors edition, I would like to join. I have played the other edition live locally about 8 years ago. I need to get the rules reread.
Thanks
Mark R
Maybe the latest isn’t GMT’s version, but it’s okay, I can print the rules off from the GMT site.
We would be playing GMTs 3rd edition using the living rules from GMT’s web site, my copy are called SUCCESSORS-LivingRules-Aug2019.pdf. The module is SuccessorsIIIv3_2.vmod from here on Vassal’s web site. You still in @schwissig and @mig15?
Yes, I’m still in. How are we communicating and sending files? I use Dropbox for all my Vassal gaming.
I’d like us to play at the Vassal PBEM Discord. I’ll request a channel for our game if our fourth player confirms. We do not all have to be there live at the same time to play. Consider it an asynchronous game where players can make turns on their own and share log files, but when key moments like battles occur between players from time to time we can also choose to resolve them live sometimes if feasible. We will communicate, share log files, and do the die rolls using the die roller bot right in the Discord channel. That worked really well in my previous games.
Why are we rolling in Discord? That would be confusing when in a file and trying to match up rolls. What am I missing?
There aren’t that many die rolls in the game in most player turns and they are easy to describe in the Discord as you roll them and explain the results in the chat log as one records it in Vassal. Doing it that way also has the benefit of being verifiable and unchangeable even in a friendly game. And finally, if and when two players are engaging in a battle, which is normally a big moment in a game of Successors, and they happen to be online at the same time, it’s a lot more fun to determine the outcome of the battle and the aftermath live and in the moment.
What is wrong with doing the die rolls in Vassal?
I tried to explain above, so let me now put the same ideas in different words:
1- Die rolls in Vassal can be rolled over and over again by a devious player to cheat to achieve the desired result. Doing die rolls in an outside system that is visible and verifiable by all players like a Discord bot or in ACTS puts each die roll on record so one cannot do that.
2- Every few turns or so, when there are major moments like a large battle between player armies that may or may not have an element of interactivity between players and may indeed decide the course of the game, it’s a lot more efficient and fun quite frankly to resolve the conflict live and in the moment if both involved players and any others spectating are available at the same time rather than doing it in an anticlimactic way via a die roll in a log file.
That’s been my experience having played a couple of games recently.
I’m in a lot of games and played on Vassal a long time. If you feel someone is cheating you shouldn’t play them. So basically you’re saying you don’t trust me or the other players. I’ve only felt that way once in the 20 years I’ve been playing on Vassal. Needless to say I don’t play that person. You can say the same for card draws. If I don’t like my hand or card drawn, I can make another file and draw again.
That’s the whole reason why a popular online game playing utility like ACTS exists for example, to have a common record for die rolls and also card draws in many games. Die roll bots in Discord are just a more contemporary extension of the idea since many games are played in Discord nowadays as players chat and share files, so it’s pretty convenient to do the die rolls there as well.
No one goes into a game expecting dishonesty but if a utility like a third party die roller exists to keep the honest people honest and it’s trivial to incorporate, that’s a good thing. Guardrails are in place to maintain the integrity of the game, no player ever has to “feel” anything, and even the appearance of impropriety is simply taken out of the equation.
I’m playing several different multi-player games now and I’m comfortable going along with whatever the person or people who set the game up want to do. Some of the games we’re using some combination of email, Dropbox, or Discord, and/or ACTS as utilities to chat, share files, or do die rolls. I suggested we do similar in this game of Successors based on my recent experience.