Your gaming track in a box

[petrea_mitchell]

Yesterday was Smofcon 37¼. Not much of general interest happened, but I was struck by a comment in a Zoom chat from someone who had yet to go to a virtual con this year that handled gaming well. Dedicated gaming cons have had the easiest transition of all to the online world, so for anyone struggling with this problem, here are the basic tools:

• Schedule & signups: If your con is already using Grenadine, I believe it can handle game signups. Otherwise, the current standard is Warhorn. Individual accounts are free and allow users to view schedules adjusted to their time zone.


• Voice chat: This is what Discord was originally created for! Set up a section for gaming with voice channels for each gaming table, and note which table to use in your event listing. Warhorn will allow you to put a direct link to Discord in every listing.


• Virtual tabletop & text chat: Allow GMs to use whatever they're comfortable with, but make sure the game listing is clear about how much setup players need to do. For instance, Tabletopia and Board Game Arena just need new users to sign up for a free account on a Web site, whereas Sovranti requires a download, and Tabletop Simulator is a paid app that only runs on top of Steam.