It’s August and that means that the annual #RPGaDAY ‘question a day’ is here to celebrate “everything cool, memorable and amazing about our hobby.” This year we’ve decided to join in the fun and will be canvassing answers from the ENWorld crew, columnists and friends in the industry to bring you some of our answers. We hope you’ll join in, in the comments section, and share your thoughts with us too… So, without further ado, here’s Day 27 of #RPGaDAY 2017!
#RPGaDAY Question 27: What are your essential tools for good gaming?
Darryl Mott: Dice, pencil, paper. I’m pretty low tech. Some systems like Pathfinder or Shadowrun where there are a lot of widely varied character options, a solid character generation is incredibly useful. Sometimes, a tablet or a TV linked to a computer or phone can be nice to put up a reference image.
Michael J Tresca: a RPG, friends, and a comfortable place to play. Everything else is gravy.
Angus Abranson: Imagination and the desire to have fun. One of the best gaming experiences I had was back around 1990/91 when a few friends were round mine and we decided we fancied a game. We had nothing prepared to we just started storytelling. We had three GMs and two players. Each GM played a scene in sequence, alternating the player whose scene it was (as the players characters were not together). So we had GM1 = Player 1; GM 2 = Player 2; GM 3 = Player 1; GM 1= Player 2; and so forth. The GMs didn’t communicate between each other in regards to plot and just took the story up where the previous GM for that player had left it. No dice, no character sheets, only everyone’s imagination and desire to have a fun evening with friends. The evening was immense fun and the story weaved was fantastic. The two characters never actually met, but they did both end up in the same location at the end of the game. The Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco…. A hundred years apart.
Paul Mitchener (Age of Arthur; Hunters of Alexandria): Honestly, I'm not a tech heavy gamer. As a player, give me a pencil, a character sheet, some dice, and a notebook to take notes and I'm a happy bunny. And as GM, I'm much the same, with the addition of a few pages of handwritten notes on what I'm running. I'm not even high tech with online gaming; give me a video connection and a dice app or physical dice at hand, and I'm very happy. More complexity gets in the way for me.
Mike Mason (Chaosium; Games Workshop): Commitment, a desire to participate, and good humour. Importantly, don't wait for the GM to ‘make things happen’ – get involved and help drive the story forward yourself, while picking up on the GM’s cues. I get tired of hearing “my character wouldn't do that” or “I don't see why my character would want to go there,” etc. If that’s the case, you have created the wrong character for the game/scenario you will be playing. Ditch that character straight away and make a new one who will be engaged – that will help you to be engaged too – and the GM can get on with building the story with everyone around the table/monitor.
Charlie Etheridge-Nunn (RPG Reviewer; Who Dares Rolls): Index cards. Admittedly post-its will do in a pinch, but index cards. They’re great for: Sessions – Just sketching down scenes which need to be hit NPCs & Monsters – Stat blocks, interesting details Maps – I love being able to make maps with index cards and move them around. That’s why Inventory Quest uses them, why my Mario Kart RPG will and my Assassin’s Chores one will use cards roughly the size of them Random stuff – Aspects in Fate, table tents for names, items to hand out I may have an index card problem. Just a bit. You can’t tell, can you?
Garry Harper (Modiphius Entertainment; The Role Play Haven): Good resourceful players and a good location.
Kevin Watson (Dark Naga Adventures): Dice (if the system uses dice), the framework or material the GM will run, paper, pen or pencil, a rule reference in case of confusion and half a dozen people who are engaged in the game. Everything else is a cool addon, but not essential
Martin Greening (Azure Keep, Ruma: Dawn of Empire): It used to be an erasable grid mat and small whiteboard (for initiative), but for the past few years I’ve found myself playing without them. Now, my essential tools are simply dice, pencils, and paper/index cards.
Federico Sohns (Nibiru RPG): Aside from the obvious essentials, a small whiteboard and marker are just great tools to have at hand! Being a narrator you will always find yourself in situations in which a simple sketchup is much easier to understand, no matter how thoughout out your voice description is. It really helps, very often, to keep things in perspective, so make use of it!
Stephanie McAlea (Stygian Fox Publishing, The Things We Leave Behind): dice. map. less books. No interruptions.
Ken Spencer (Rocket Age; Why Not Games): Open minded and creative friends. Sure, maps, minis, dice, apps, books, and such are great, but you don't need them. In fact, without open minded and creative friends, none of the rest matter, nor will they make a bad game good.
Richard August (Conan, Codex Infernus): All Rolled Up manufacture the best dice bags and dice trays in gaming. Full disclosure: they are my friends and I love them deeply, so I am biased. But they did win a Gold Ennie award so all the praise is objectively verified!
Simon Brake (Stygian Fox): Dice for each player, so you don’t have to keep reaching across the table. Pencil and paper (although I’m terrible at taking notes).
David Donachie (Solipsist, Starblazer Adventures): Notebooks, lots of sketch maps, lists and lists of names (of NPCs met, or potential). For some games I'll use an iPad at the table for music, or for checking PDFs, but I prefer to run games without a screen in the way. I've used miniatures in a few games, generally Playmobil, which can be positioned, and customised in terms of weapons and equipment. (Less good for pure fantasy than semi-historical).
Marc Langworthy (Modiphius; Red Scar): Pen, paper, and eraser. What else do you need?
Ed Jowett (Shades of Vengeance; Era: The Consortium): I usually travel pretty light when gaming - a pile of D10s and character sheets. However, I do have one further thought...
I think there's only one thing you always need: a character concept which is thought-out and understood in your own mind. Dice are replaceable with software now, character sheets can be roughed out on blank paper if need be (I've done that a lot with Era: Lyres!).
If you have a character idea, you know how this individual would act in a situation, and where they would and would not be willing to push their boundaries, what their hopes and dreams are... you're well-equipped for any roleplaying experience, in my opinion!
And, even if that character is an unpleasant individual (which I've never played, but I know people who have), other players will respect that you're acting in character and are probably not that much of a git in real life!
In short, I think planning is important, whichever side of the table you're on, and I think that sometimes people forget that and turn up unprepared to sessions as players...
Mike Lafferty (BAMF Podcast; Fainting Goat Games): The last few years – Roll20 has been indispensable.
****
Originally created by Dave Chapman (Doctor Who: Adventures in Time & Space; Conspiracy X) #RPGaDAY os now being caretakered by the crew over at RPGBrigade. We hope you’ll join in, in the comments section, and share your thoughts with us to
#RPGaDAY Question 27: What are your essential tools for good gaming?
Darryl Mott: Dice, pencil, paper. I’m pretty low tech. Some systems like Pathfinder or Shadowrun where there are a lot of widely varied character options, a solid character generation is incredibly useful. Sometimes, a tablet or a TV linked to a computer or phone can be nice to put up a reference image.
Michael J Tresca: a RPG, friends, and a comfortable place to play. Everything else is gravy.
Angus Abranson: Imagination and the desire to have fun. One of the best gaming experiences I had was back around 1990/91 when a few friends were round mine and we decided we fancied a game. We had nothing prepared to we just started storytelling. We had three GMs and two players. Each GM played a scene in sequence, alternating the player whose scene it was (as the players characters were not together). So we had GM1 = Player 1; GM 2 = Player 2; GM 3 = Player 1; GM 1= Player 2; and so forth. The GMs didn’t communicate between each other in regards to plot and just took the story up where the previous GM for that player had left it. No dice, no character sheets, only everyone’s imagination and desire to have a fun evening with friends. The evening was immense fun and the story weaved was fantastic. The two characters never actually met, but they did both end up in the same location at the end of the game. The Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco…. A hundred years apart.
Paul Mitchener (Age of Arthur; Hunters of Alexandria): Honestly, I'm not a tech heavy gamer. As a player, give me a pencil, a character sheet, some dice, and a notebook to take notes and I'm a happy bunny. And as GM, I'm much the same, with the addition of a few pages of handwritten notes on what I'm running. I'm not even high tech with online gaming; give me a video connection and a dice app or physical dice at hand, and I'm very happy. More complexity gets in the way for me.
Mike Mason (Chaosium; Games Workshop): Commitment, a desire to participate, and good humour. Importantly, don't wait for the GM to ‘make things happen’ – get involved and help drive the story forward yourself, while picking up on the GM’s cues. I get tired of hearing “my character wouldn't do that” or “I don't see why my character would want to go there,” etc. If that’s the case, you have created the wrong character for the game/scenario you will be playing. Ditch that character straight away and make a new one who will be engaged – that will help you to be engaged too – and the GM can get on with building the story with everyone around the table/monitor.
Charlie Etheridge-Nunn (RPG Reviewer; Who Dares Rolls): Index cards. Admittedly post-its will do in a pinch, but index cards. They’re great for: Sessions – Just sketching down scenes which need to be hit NPCs & Monsters – Stat blocks, interesting details Maps – I love being able to make maps with index cards and move them around. That’s why Inventory Quest uses them, why my Mario Kart RPG will and my Assassin’s Chores one will use cards roughly the size of them Random stuff – Aspects in Fate, table tents for names, items to hand out I may have an index card problem. Just a bit. You can’t tell, can you?
Garry Harper (Modiphius Entertainment; The Role Play Haven): Good resourceful players and a good location.
Kevin Watson (Dark Naga Adventures): Dice (if the system uses dice), the framework or material the GM will run, paper, pen or pencil, a rule reference in case of confusion and half a dozen people who are engaged in the game. Everything else is a cool addon, but not essential
Martin Greening (Azure Keep, Ruma: Dawn of Empire): It used to be an erasable grid mat and small whiteboard (for initiative), but for the past few years I’ve found myself playing without them. Now, my essential tools are simply dice, pencils, and paper/index cards.
Federico Sohns (Nibiru RPG): Aside from the obvious essentials, a small whiteboard and marker are just great tools to have at hand! Being a narrator you will always find yourself in situations in which a simple sketchup is much easier to understand, no matter how thoughout out your voice description is. It really helps, very often, to keep things in perspective, so make use of it!
Stephanie McAlea (Stygian Fox Publishing, The Things We Leave Behind): dice. map. less books. No interruptions.
Ken Spencer (Rocket Age; Why Not Games): Open minded and creative friends. Sure, maps, minis, dice, apps, books, and such are great, but you don't need them. In fact, without open minded and creative friends, none of the rest matter, nor will they make a bad game good.
Richard August (Conan, Codex Infernus): All Rolled Up manufacture the best dice bags and dice trays in gaming. Full disclosure: they are my friends and I love them deeply, so I am biased. But they did win a Gold Ennie award so all the praise is objectively verified!
Simon Brake (Stygian Fox): Dice for each player, so you don’t have to keep reaching across the table. Pencil and paper (although I’m terrible at taking notes).
David Donachie (Solipsist, Starblazer Adventures): Notebooks, lots of sketch maps, lists and lists of names (of NPCs met, or potential). For some games I'll use an iPad at the table for music, or for checking PDFs, but I prefer to run games without a screen in the way. I've used miniatures in a few games, generally Playmobil, which can be positioned, and customised in terms of weapons and equipment. (Less good for pure fantasy than semi-historical).
Marc Langworthy (Modiphius; Red Scar): Pen, paper, and eraser. What else do you need?
Ed Jowett (Shades of Vengeance; Era: The Consortium): I usually travel pretty light when gaming - a pile of D10s and character sheets. However, I do have one further thought...
I think there's only one thing you always need: a character concept which is thought-out and understood in your own mind. Dice are replaceable with software now, character sheets can be roughed out on blank paper if need be (I've done that a lot with Era: Lyres!).
If you have a character idea, you know how this individual would act in a situation, and where they would and would not be willing to push their boundaries, what their hopes and dreams are... you're well-equipped for any roleplaying experience, in my opinion!
And, even if that character is an unpleasant individual (which I've never played, but I know people who have), other players will respect that you're acting in character and are probably not that much of a git in real life!
In short, I think planning is important, whichever side of the table you're on, and I think that sometimes people forget that and turn up unprepared to sessions as players...
Mike Lafferty (BAMF Podcast; Fainting Goat Games): The last few years – Roll20 has been indispensable.
****
Originally created by Dave Chapman (Doctor Who: Adventures in Time & Space; Conspiracy X) #RPGaDAY os now being caretakered by the crew over at RPGBrigade. We hope you’ll join in, in the comments section, and share your thoughts with us to
