Live Gameplay over the Internet: A Question

[Lord of the Vine]

I'm going to be running an over-the-summer D&D game, and none of us can meet in person (despite living relatively close by). So I've decided to take it to Skype, at least for now. My question is about how one would run encounters: I can't exactly project a map through my webcam (as it is built into my laptop), so how would I go about fixing this problem?  

[Michael Bladebreaker]

Scan your map into your laptop, and put the screensharing on that map so everyone knows what's where. You may need to simply take a picture of it, if you don't have access to a scanner.  

[Rain Yupa]

Arc Vembris likes to do his maps in his games with a grid system. Think battleship.

I would definitely have a map made/drawn/scanned prior to it for every part of the adventure. Upload them to a file/photo sharing site prior to the game's start.

Whenever a character/creature takes a turn, give an updated list of which creatures occupy which coordinates.

It might not be the best way or the most technologically modern way, but gosh darn it, it'll get the job done.  

[Arc Vembris]

Programs like OpenRPG can let all players log into the same livemap/chat window with an included dieroller program. I don't remember if it also has VoIP.  

[Lord of the Vine]

Thanks for the suggestions, guys. This really helps me out.

Right now, my best option is utilizing the grid system, since (and I probably should have mentioned this in the OP) I've been having issues connecting my game to the network I have set-up on Hamachi.  

[Laertes Ursus]

If you already have your players together, get them all to download a program called Maptool. Do all the game over Skype, use Maptool for the grid and dice.

 

[Lord of the Vine]

Hmm...I didn't consider that option...