Aging and Gaming

[ldvhl]

I quit when 2e came out, but I had been having doubts for quite a while. I had hoped their would reign in the power level and expand the combat system, but it was not meant to be.

There were some interesting combat options in the Player's Option books. They brought in BECMI's weapon mastery, 1e-style combat, and a few other things. As it always was though, it was up to each DM to use what rules they wanted to at their table.

 

[Clint_L]

One of the best things you can do to combat brain fog is learn new stuff to exercise your brain. There’s heaps of amazing TTRPGs that aren’t D&D; they might be just the thing to give the old coconut a boost.

 

[ldvhl]

One of the best things you can do to combat brain fog is learn new stuff to exercise your brain. There’s heaps of amazing TTRPGs that aren’t D&D; they might be just the thing to give the old coconut a boost.

Oh I keep myself mentally engaged so I'm working on that front. It's just hard to find hard copies of games I can study along with an in-person group to play with.

 

[The Soloist]

My latest pair of glasses didn’t work out. Text is fuzzy. Went back to optometrist. Further test show my left eye is becoming ´lazy’ verticaly. There are no corrective exercices for that. Getting my new lenses free of charge today. A prism has been included for my left eye. No idea how it will look. Hopefully I will be able to read confortably again.

 

[Koloth]

Invest in stuff to improve gaming ergonomics. If you host, replace those metal folding chairs and hard wood dining room chairs with more comfortable chairs. If gaming causes pain, you will game less. Better lighting - this is very person dependent. Ask your group before making expensive changes. More isn't always better. Indirect may be better. Replace those hard to read dice with easy to read dice. Consider gifting your old dice to someone younger/poorer then you. Paint your minis(or hire it done). One unpainted gray/white mini looks like all the other unpainted minis. Don't be the one that plans a whole wonderful attack sequence only to discover you just planned to kill your party's unpainted cleric instead of the nearby unpainted ogre because they all looked like fuzzy gray blobs across the table.

If you travel to games, invest in better luggage for carrying your gaming stuff. Carry a padded seat cushion for the host's folding metal chairs. Even if you prefer books over pdfs, consider switching to pdfs for those books you rarely need but still want to be able to access. Bonus points for pdfs is most readers allow zooming in to allow easier reading.

Consider investing in a pair of gaming glasses that has the prime focal length the distance from your chair to the center of the gaming map. You just have to tell the optometrist what that distance is. They won't be good for driving as long distance stuff will now be fuzzy but for gaming they will be a big improvement over that thin middle band of a tri-focal. Helps avoid the attack the cleric issue mentioned above.

For online gaming, buy a bigger monitor. That bargain 19" monitor is fine for the quick message or such but a larger good quality 24+" monitor lets you zoom in on the map better. A 16:10 ratio is often better then the more common 16:9 ratio(more vertical space). Invest in a good microphone and speakers/headset. If you are struggling to hear each other, it won't be a fun session. Consider a dual monitor setup. Map on one, the other stuff on the 2nd one. Again, a comfortable chair.

A more morbid concern. If you have a bunch of gaming stuff and your family/relatives don't game, be sure to list your stuff and mention it in your will. Otherwise, your collection of hundreds or thousands of dollars of gaming stuff will likely be tossed in the trash by grieving relatives.

 

[The Soloist]

My latest pair of glasses didn’t work out. Text is fuzzy. Went back to optometrist. Further tests show my left eye is becoming ´lazy’ vertically. There are no corrective exercises for that. Getting my new lenses free of charge today. A prism has been included for my left eye. No idea how it will look. Hopefully, I will be able to read comfortably again.

Back home with my adjusted lenses. Reading is much better. The prism is not visible.

 

[schneeland]

For online gaming, buy a bigger monitor. That bargain 19" monitor is fine for the quick message or such but a larger good quality 24+" monitor lets you zoom in on the map better. A 16:10 ratio is often better then the more common 16:9 ratio(more vertical space). Invest in a good microphone and speakers/headset. If you are struggling to hear each other, it won't be a fun session.

I agree with your general sentiment, but as we're talking about getting older: I remember liking them, too, but 16:10 desktop screens have become incredibly rare in the past decade. Also, you can get a 27" 4K screen with 120+ Hz for ~$300 (at least with tech, there's also some upsides to the passage of time ).

 

[Koloth]

I agree with your general sentiment, but as we're talking about getting older: I remember liking them, too, but 16:10 desktop screens have become incredibly rare in the past decade. Also, you can get a 27" 4K screen with 120+ Hz for ~$300 (at least with tech, there's also some upsides to the passage of time ).

I scored a Dell Ultrasharp P2425 off the Dell Outlet store for $169 last winter. Nice 24" 16:10 monitor. But yes, 16:10s are currently a rare beast. The purchase was a tariff hedge against the possibility of one of my 10+ year old 24" Ultrasharps dying. The old monitor was repurposed as a portable video map display.

You can sometimes find used monitors at thrift stores selling cheap. Good way to add that second monitor for displaying static stuff.

 

[SlyFlourish]

Yep. Early 50s here and lots of things are catching up. Eye glasses, sleep woes, and so on. I worry about cognitive decline both for running and playing RPGs and making useful RPG stuff for other people. The hard part is how to even know it's happening. Are we good at knowing our own cognitive decline? I wouldn't think so. I guess as long as we find ways to have fun with our friends and loved ones, it doesn't matter too much in the end. So far I don't feel like any particular ruleset has gone beyond my capability to run, even if I do seek the lazy ways around it (have to stay on brand!).

I worry about a decline in the effectiveness of my writing as well but who knows. Hopefully I can write a decent blog post the day I fall over.

 

[The Soloist]

Yep. Early 50s here and lots of things are catching up. Eye glasses, sleep woes, and so on. I worry about cognitive decline both for running and playing RPGs and making useful RPG stuff for other people. The hard part is how to even know it's happening. Are we good at knowing our own cognitive decline? I wouldn't think so. I guess as long as we find ways to have fun with our friends and loved ones, it doesn't matter too much in the end. So far I don't feel like any particular ruleset has gone beyond my capability to run, even if I do seek the lazy ways around it (have to stay on brand!).

I worry about a decline in the effectiveness of my writing as well but who knows. Hopefully I can write a decent blog post the day I fall over.

I'm 60 and don't see any decline. I'm still able to learn, understand and play new games regularly. Some people can't integrate new rule sets at my age. The brain is a muscle; keep exercising it, and all should be fine. (Let's not talk about the dreaded disease we should not name lest it manifests.)