How Did I Become a Grognard?

Maybe I'm looking more at myself since I turned 40, but I'm wondering what traits led me to become a grognard?

1) Not using projectors for maps at the game table
2) Backing off from 4E to play Pathfinder a decade ago
3) Backing off from 5E to play 4E currently (haha)
4) Not following Critical Role
5) Not active on Discord or Reddit but preferring message boards like ENWorld
6) Using miniatures and tactical combat over "theater of the mind"
7) Not using D&D Beyond
8) Not getting into Virtual Tabletops like Fantasy Grounds or Roll 20
9) Using dice instead of die rolling apps
10) Not liking people using PDFs at the table (preferring physical copies)

None of those elements seem to be "whine and moan about things not being the way you like".

I don't think being a grog is the same as being tech savvy. The nature of table top RPGs being well, table top lends to them towards being a sort of in-person activity. Like, you can certainly play plenty of soccer games online, and have whole online soccer teams and such, but the nature of the game is really intended to be for an "in person" sort of experience.

I'm a pretty tech savvy guy, I spend a lot of time online in various things, but TTRPGs are my time away from that. There are definitely some in-person elements I think tech can help (such as texting secret information) and I like that PDFs can allow you to print off a couple of relevant pages or make a large ungainly book light and portable, but I do like the physical nature of the game.

1. You're getting old.
2. If there is a D&D edition you don't like its easier than ever to play an older one.

When I think of grognard, I don't think of technophobes. Rather they are usually older individuals who have been gaming for a long time and have preference for older systems. In the 80s these were the guys at Gen Con playing sand table war games and Avalon hill tactical board games instead of TTRPGs.

Now it seems to be used for OSR fans and is morphing into meaning "gaming curmudgeon."

I started gaming in the 80s and am well into my 40s, but...

1) I use a digital display for maps. Easier and less expensive than printing to-scale battlemaps or drawing them out

2) Never played 2e, 3e, 4e, or Pathfinder. Played OD&D and 1e and now play 5e.

3) Happy with 5e. But I've enjoyed some DCC and MCC one-shots for some old-school feel.

4) I don't follow Critical Role, but I've enjoyed many of their episodes.

5) Prefer ENWorld and more traditional forums, but also like Reddit. Don't have much use for Discord as I don't watch streams live and play on-line.

6) I use both minis and battlemaps and theater of the mind. Never understood how this became an either/or choice.

7) Use D&D Beyond and love it. All my players can access my material. Really helps speed looking things up, though I still have the paper books nearby as well.

8) Not into VTTs but that's because I only play in-person games. I do use RealmWorks to display exploration and battlemaps.

9) I require physical dice, rolled in the open, with easy to read fonts. I'm quite the grognard on this point. If I were playing a game on Roll20 or Fantasy Ground remotely, then I think I would prefer the dice apps.

10) Don't understand the PDF hate. Waiting for someone to flip though pages to find something hasn't gotten any more tolerable in my 40s than it was in my teens.

MNblockhead said:

10) Don't understand the PDF hate. Waiting for someone to flip though pages to find something hasn't gotten any more tolerable in my 40s than it was in my teens.

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My hate is because no one uses searchable PDFs and it's a matter of "wake up my device, find correct document, open document, scroll through pages of text, wait for the device to populate pages, etc." Also tends to be the players who are less inclined to purchase content and are the same to less knowledgeable about their characters and their abilities.

I've yet to see any online service (D&D Beyond included) that is as fast as just using a book to look up something. [D&D's 4E character builder was a great resource for character creation, however.]

Retreater said:

My hate is because no one uses searchable PDFs and it's a matter of "wake up my device, find correct document, open document, scroll through pages of text, wait for the device to populate pages, etc." Also tends to be the players who are less inclined to purchase content and are the same to less knowledgeable about their characters and their abilities.

I've yet to see any online service (D&D Beyond included) that is as fast as just using a book to look up something. [D&D's 4E character builder was a great resource for character creation, however.]

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Players using PDFs at my table are expected to:

1. Not use pirated material

2. Have a the PDFs open and use a device with instant wake-up (a kindle, iPad, or a laptop with flash drive and proper sleep settings - e.g., create a custom "gaming" power-management profile to prevent device from going to sleep)

As for D&D Beyond, it is far faster than books.

1. As a player, I can just tap on an ability or spell can get all the info. No need to even run a search.

2. As a player or DM I can carry my entire 5e library in my pocket and search all material from all books at once. I don't have to remember where the rule is printed.

In my home games I still have the books handy with certain pages tabbed, but I find for commonly referenced tables or rules I is better to have that info on a few reference sheets in a binder or on a DM screen.

For me, Beyond has too many broken links (just trying to navigate the Basic Rules). But the worst feature is when I use my phone's back arrow it just exits the app and takes me back to the phone's homescreen.

I may be a redne..grognard.


At least, sometimes.

I prefer minis & dice, yes. But I have played TotM and used dice rolling programs as far back as the 1980s.

Ecpven though I have opbought character sheets for most of the RPGs I own, I made my first Excel spreadsheet-based character sheet for HERO back in 1990, and started typing my characters onto portable devices when I got my Palm Tungsten. I continued when I got my iPod Touch, and now store them on the cloud so I can access them via any of my portable devices.

...but I don’t use any of the apps, and have barely touched the few gaming PDFs I own, preferring to use a mix of physical books and the odd website or two (like SRDs). That also means no Critical Role, no gaming blogs of any kind, no YouTube vids, no VTTs.

I liked 4Ed enough to buy the core and the books that had player info- classes, feats, powers, etc., but knew I’d never run it, so never got any of the DM-centric products beyond the first 2.

Didn’t even bother with 5Ed based on the threads- pro and con- I saw here.

Half of those are specifically technology-related, which is interesting. I wonder if that's the issue?