How do you guys game?

[KPhan2121]

Most of my RPGing is done electronically even if my group plays face to face we use laptops instead of character sheets and dice. We use a software called Maptools and I've been using a modified version of Booga's CoC 6th Edition Framework. How do you guys game? Do you prefer online using voice chat or in person? Do you use electronic tools or use good old fashion character sheets and dice? If so, why do you prefer one over the other? 

[nclarke]

FTF or Hangouts with distant friends.

[Nakana]

I'll have either a laptop or iPad to reference sources quickly in lieu of a stack of books. (Even though there is usually still a book or two close by.) 

Everything else is good ole' fashioned pencil, paper, and dice. I just get into it more that way; call it atmosphere, environment, ambience, etc. but it is the overall experience of a PnPRPG. 

Even if I played online over Skype I'd probably still use a character sheet and pencil. 

In my opinion, something is lost if it's all done through an app. I might as well be playing a video game. =\

 

In short: It kills the theatre of the mind. (At least for me.)

[KPhan2121]

FTF or Hangouts with distant friends.

When you play on Google Hangouts, what software do you use to help you play? Or do you simply have a character sheet and some dice?

[KPhan2121]

I'll have either a laptop or iPad to reference sources quickly in lieu of a stack of books. (Even though there is usually still a book or two close by.) 

Everything else is good ole' fashioned pencil, paper, and dice. I just get into it more that way; call it atmosphere, environment, ambience, etc. but it is the overall experience of a PnPRPG. 

Even if I played online over Skype I'd probably still use a character sheet and pencil. 

In my opinion, something is lost if it's all done through an app. I might as well be playing a video game. =\

 

In short: It kills the theatre of the mind. (At least for me.)

 

Ah, understandable. I and all of my friends are videogamers, so I guess that sentiment is lost on us. But, I think alot of the appeal of RPGs for my group is the cooperative story-telling experience that we simply don't get in video games.

[mysterycycle]

These days, by necessity I play through Google+ Hangouts and Roll20, mostly with my old home group but sometimes with folks I've met through podcast-related G+ communities and online conventions like ConTessa and LUGCon. I still prefer face-to-face tabletop gaming for the most part, but there are definite advantages to playing via computer, chief among them being bridging the massive geographic distance between us.

[nclarke]

When you play on Google Hangouts, what software do you use to help you play? Or do you simply have a character sheet and some dice?

No software as it gets in the way, I've been doing this for over forty years and software never improves a game where imagination is required. Dice when needed I roll and report the result mostly. Some games do have the option to use Dicestream for die rolls.

[K Peterson]

FTF with character sheets and dice. I do use my Surface as an aide - recording my GM notes in OneNote; displaying images to the players; and playing subtle soundtracks or sound effects. But that's about the limit of tech involvement.

[seneschal]

Purely pencils, paper and dice.  Character sheets courtesy the local library copier or copy shop.  Only electronics allowed are pocket calculators.  My tablet is college lined and never needs charging or batteries. 

[tooley1chris]

I use MapTools as well but only for placement reference. I find it helps with player tactics during combat.

However i recently found this and may move back to minis. ..

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1534484023/flat-plastic-miniatures

[Spellslinging Sellsword]

I only do face to face with dice, paper, and pencils. I'm not opposed to gaming online via Google Hangouts or Roll20, but have never actually done it.

[KPhan2121]

I use MapTools as well but only for placement reference. I find it helps with player tactics during combat.

However i recently found this and may move back to minis. ..

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1534484023/flat-plastic-miniatures

 

I prefer to use Maptools to store information like character sheets, NPC stuff and whatnot because for some reason my entire group is really OCD about erasure marks on physical character sheets. 

[Simlasa]

I play in a regular face-to-face game and also in various online settings... Roll 20, Google Hangouts, Skype. Ideally I'd always prefer face-to-face, 'theater of the mind'.

Some of the features of Roll20 are nice but can taint the experience a bit IMO. The last one-shot of CoC I played on there had a distinct boardgame feel to it because everyone focused so much on the map and markers.

[sladethesniper]

I have a geographically dispersed group so there are some players that are FtF with books and dice, and the other players are on Hangouts.  It is...not optimal.  I prefer FtF, but since a gaming group  is not something that just happens, you have to take the good with the bad.

 

-STS

[KPhan2121]

I have a geographically dispersed group so there are some players that are FtF with books and dice, and the other players are on Hangouts.  It is...not optimal.  I prefer FtF, but since a gaming group  is not something that just happens, you have to take the good with the bad.

 

-STS

Yeah, I had to run a game where one of the players was out of state. It worked in the end, but that player could not follow what was going on a third of the time in the game. You either go full FTF or online voice chat and don't mix the two.  

[auyl]

I prefer FtF. I've done the whole Roll20 and Skype gaming and didn't care for it. Don't get me wrong, it's a handy tool if you're in a secluded place or else don't know any other gamers in your area, but it just wasn't the same for me. I've always preferred to roll dice, mark the advancements and defeats on my sheets and recently making 3D card stock buildings for the miniature part of the game.

[1000buffalo]

Purely pencils, paper and dice.  Character sheets courtesy the local library copier or copy shop.  Only electronics allowed are pocket calculators.  My tablet is college lined and never needs charging or batteries. 

You roll hard, friend. That takes me back.

[NickMiddleton]

Most of my RPGing is done electronically even if my group plays face to face we use laptops instead of character sheets and dice. We use a software called Maptools and I've been using a modified version of Booga's CoC 6th Edition Framework. How do you guys game? Do you prefer online using voice chat or in person? Do you use electronic tools or use good old fashion character sheets and dice? If so, why do you prefer one over the other?

Face to face. Theoretically, I have two regular groups. Wednesdays a group associated with my FLGS meet in town at a pub and play a variety of RPG's (done one guys homebrew, Shadows of Esteren, Cypher in Golarion - I'm about to start running a Space: 1889 game powered by BRP) and Thursday another group meet at a friends house two doors up - that group tends to play Call of Cthuolhu in the winter and other games spring / Summer - we've just finished a run of D&D 5th, I'm TRYING to slip in a short "taster" for Horror on the Orient Express this coming winter anf then we are resuming a friend Gloranthan game (RQIII with extensive borrowings from the BRP BGB).

Cheers,

Nick

[Questbird]

Face to face, monthly (it's a compromise but it is sufficient). Pencils and paper. We don't use laptops but we do have ebook readers and tablets, to store adventures etc. I prefer rolling real dice to electronic ones.

[lawrence.whitaker]

Face to face. I have two groups that meet biweekly. First is in Toronto where we play a variety of games (Agon, One Ring, ORE, Barbarians of Lemuria, RQ, D&D, Trail of Cthulhu) and the second is at my flgs where a group of RQ and roleplaying newbies are exploring Glorantha.

[KPhan2121]

Wow, this thread is overwhelmingly FTF w/o electronic assistance. It's a little strange for me to see that, since nearly everyone around me uses some form of digital sheet and electronic dice. Must be some generational gap since most of the people I know who RPG are under 25 years of age. 

[Skunkape]

I prefer face to face. One group meets on the 1st and 3rd Saturday of the month, and currently we're running episodic games where 1 GM will run a set number of sessions, then once we've finished that GMs story line, we move on to a different story line, with a possibility that the GM will changes. Another group meets every other Wednesday night where I'm running my weird west game, and finally the last group meets on the 4th Saturday of the month and I'm running my fantasy game.

 

I've considered running an online game, but currently really don't have plans to do so.

[Mankcam]

Pen and paper and rolling dice with friends is what is has always been about for me. It just wouldn't feel like Tabletop roleplaying to me otherwise. 

 

The same group does a weekly MMO over Voice chat, and we think it pales incomparison to the fun we have with face-to-face roleplaying. It doesn't have the freeform narrative flavour of Tabletop roleplaying, and it doesn't feel anywhere near as social. 

 

Our face-to-face sessions are infrequent, about once every six to eight weeks when in campaign (less regular with one-shots), but they often turn out to be alot more fun than sitting in front of the PC gaming. Wouldn't change them for the world.

 

When I GM I sometimes have a pdf of the rules and scenario handy in my tablet (currently an iPad Mini), but I still tend to have a paper print-out of the scenario during gameplay so I can make scratch notes on it, and I have a notebook handy.

 

I have my own folder with useful charts in it for quick GM reference, so I don't need to have the actual rulebook at the gaming table. If playing at my house I occasionally get the rulebook out of the bookcase just for Spot Rules reference, and if playing at another location I just hand wave all that.

 

My players currently have home made character sheets (done in MS Excel) which are tweaked to the setting and whatever houserules apply. If we don't have too many house rules that affect the character creation, then they use print-outs of official digital character sheets. They amend the sheets with pencil, just like we have always done, except once the sheets get a bit worn we tend to edit and update the digital versions and print out nice new ones.

 

Each player has a character folio, which has the character sheet plus any other useful information (ie Spell descriptions, background, hand-outs, etc), and this works well. All the character sheets have a character portrait on the title page, and the next page is purely a narrative summary of the character's background and personality. That way the stats themselves feel secondary to the character.

We do this with whatever system we are playing ( If not GMing White Wolf Storyteller, I GM primarily BRP/RQ/CoC). Having the actual character sheet further back in the folio tends to allow players to move more seemlessly between systems, as they are more focused on their character concept rather than game stats.

 

As a GM I sometimes use the internet (via a tablet or laptop) during a game session to bring up images of locations, creatures, and NPCs, I find that this has been perhaps the best addition to tabletop gameplay

[smjn]

I play FTF in one group every one or two months with one GM and five players. We all have our laptops on the table, GM sometimes has two. Our character sheets are all in a spreadsheet format and we type our notes on the computers, especially me, because I kind of make the official campaign log from my characters PoV.

 

We use a wiki for campaign background and house rule information. We also use IRC and XMPP for private communications and when a player can't make it, because we live far apart. But we use physical dice and the GM scribbles his ad hoc maps on pencil with paper.

[Mankcam]

Face to face. I have two groups that meet biweekly. First is in Toronto where we play a variety of games (Agon, One Ring, ORE, Barbarians of Lemuria, RQ, D&D, Trail of Cthulhu) and the second is at my flgs where a group of RQ and roleplaying newbies are exploring Glorantha.

That would be a great FLG to hang out at !!!