Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Problems with the New Game

The game went swimmingly for all and the players had a grand time. But there were a few problems. Nothing that made the game less enjoyable but they did hamper play and immersion.

First we had no hard copies of our game. I was surprised to find how much of a difference that made. We had enough computers, ebooks, etc for all players and the GM to be working off electronic copies but that is not the same as having a paper and ink version. I think giving away all my books, supplements, boxed games to the neighbor boy might have been a mistake. Especially in light of the price tag some of these game resources command on eBay.

Second, we had no dice. And by no dice I mean no dice. Not just a shortage of d4's or being forced to roll the same d10 twice to get a percentage, there was nothing. So we went with eDice, namely the D&D dice roller. It was both responsive, quick and easier than actual dice and yet it was not the same. Not even close.

None of the players complained but for me it was not the same, no pausing for a funny quip or that moment of prayer for a particular roll, no rattle of dice, no laughter as we chased a die across the floor and into the dog's water dish. I was surprised at how attached I was to my little talismans even after decades of not using them.

And finally, we didn't have any hard copies of the charts. Again, this is something that I thought would be a non-issue but that I actually found to be both time consuming and disconcerting. It was like reaching for a stick shift and finding you're driving an automatic.

Well that's all for now.

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