Gamers Who No Longer Have Time to Game

[AlioTheFool]

I've been trying to address this in nearly every thread (and I'm sure it is annoying some), but this game has to be:

1. easier to learn
2. faster to start playing
3. come with great adventures, you know, published stuff people can pick up and play
4. feel like you can play for 1 hour or 4 hours or 6 hours, and still be playing the game

Without new players and DMs, this game is dead. And so I fully endorse anything (including putting calculators/cheap "tablets" in the entry box for characters, which you all thought was stupid) that makes the game quick to pick up and play.

It's funny you say that. I was just talking about D&D with my wife this morning. I mentioned that I posted to Twitter that I think Chris Perkins should run a game of D&D for Vin Diesel, Nathan Fillion and Eliza Dushku to promote D&DNext, in order to capitalize on star power to promote the game.

While she agreed that getting Hollywood names would be helpful, she also mentioned that her biggest reason for not really being enthusiastic to play is the complication (or at least the appearance of it).

While many of us grew up with the game and learned textbooks worth of gaming material, so are used to it, not everyone has that patience. If Wizards wants to expand the market (which I'm sure they wouldn't mind doing) they need to make it more beginner friendly, and that translates to "easier to pick up and play."

I've gamed for 12 years online; it's where I started DMing.

With Chat interfaces, it's not just a necessity of rules light, but a lack of a grid, that is important. 4e is very grid-intensive, which is very difficult to pull off in a purely text medium like a chatroom. Then it becomes two blind men playing chess.

With VTT, the issue is not just system preptime, but prepping the VTT. With Maptools (Which I am the most versed with), you have to create the maps and also program attacks into what is representing the monsters, so it takes time. This is the biggest stumbling block for me (outside of the other issues of online play, i.e. group reliability); building maps and programming monsters takes a long time.

Out of curiosity, have you played around with the Wizards VTT in Beta? I'm sympathetic to the time investment involved in getting a VTT game up and running. I believe the WotC one has 4E monster stats in it.

 

[Rechan]

Out of curiosity, have you played around with the Wizards VTT in Beta? I'm sympathetic to the time investment involved in getting a VTT game up and running. I believe the WotC one has 4E monster stats in it.

I have not, no. Partially because it only uses Dungeon Tiles to make maps, and partly because I just dont' have the time/energy/gumption to invest in an online game. Life is a bit chaotic right now, and when I secure a job I'm moving to a much more gamer rich environment.

 

[Viking Bastard]

TV!?! What's this TV you talk about? I gave it up years ago to have enough time to plan adventures, draw maps and design RPGs...er, which I should go back to doing now...

If I were forced to choose between TV and my daughter, I'd choose my daughter, but I'd think about it.

 

[Aeolius]

If 5e can find a way of incorporating their "Quick Session, Low commitment" requirement, WOTC will succeed in holding on to its most faithful market.

In fact that's how I run my current 3.5e chat-based game; combat-light and roleplay-heavy with an emphasis on story over stats.

TV!?! What's this TV you talk about?

"When I was your age, television was called books." - The Princess Bride. I get loads of inspiration for my undersea game from the likes of NatGeo and Discovery.

Exactly. My problem isn't necessarily that I don't have any time at all to play, it's more that I can't simply leave my 4 year old, drive 40 minutes to my buddy's house, and play at his table for 4+ hours on a school night.

On the nosey! I have seven kids. My oldest son has cerebral palsy and uses a power wheelchair. When we do not have help in the afternoon, I am the only one who can lift him. So, any face-to-face game would have to be held at my own house. Hopefully players would not be allergic to dogs, cats, birds, and the like. I do not allow smoking in the house. Playing online is the easiest way to get around these stumbling blocks.

 

[S'mon]

IMO PBP and especially text-chat is still gaming, my text-chat campaigns are just as 'real' as my tabletop games.

However I do *not* want a lot of high tech support for my remote gaming, unless it's so advanced as to 'get out of the way'. I really dislike stuff like virtual tabletops where I'm supposed to program in/script terrain, monsters etc. A chat room & dice roller and a place to upload files is plenty.

What I do want and need for my remote gaming is a simple ruleset, like 1e AD&D (sans bells & whistles), or B/X etc. Clones like Labyrinth Lord & OSRIC are great for this. Complex, minis-centric systems like 4e and 3.5e are great at the table; online they suck. For me - YMMV of course.

 

[S'mon]

Oh, congrats on the 7 kids BTW, that was a sound and enjoyable use of your time!

 

[Aeolius]

Oh, congrats on the 7 kids BTW, that was a sound and enjoyable use of your time!

Ages 8, 8, 10, 10, 13, 17 and 18...3 by birth, 4 by adoption... never a dull moment

 

[Gamer McSmartypants]

...

 

[gloomhound]

What about rules for DM-less and or soloplay? Should they be included as well?

 

[Nylanfs]

Aren't those called books?