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Tabletop QOTD 2020-03-17


#Tabletop #QOTD

@Eric Franklin
@frasersimons
@Board Games Forum
@Curt Thompson
@Douglas Bailey
@Jesse Butler
@Keith Davies
@Martin Ralya
@Martijn Vos
@Nathan V
@Marsha B
@Stuntman
@Nathan Weaver
@Moe Tousignant
@PresGas (OSR) Aspect
@Craig Maloney
@Patrick Marchiodi
@Nathan Norway
@silverwizard
@Stephen Gunnell

Borrowing from the idea of the Pluspora Check-in get some tabletop conversation going. If you have any questions that you want to get on the list to be asked, let me know. Also, if you'd like to be added or taken off the list of participants, let me know.

How is the COVID-19 Pandemic affecting your gaming habits?

My last face-to-face gaming group died out a few years ago. Well, more than a few. It was some people at work, and we'd play after hours in a conference room. We started out with D&D4e- playing in Eberron and then Dark Sun. Then we moved on to FATE 3.0 (DFRPG). We also had a Board Game group where I live, but they repurposed the clubhouse to make it only for the golfers and more high scale clientele.

As a result, my gaming has moved online, so it's not really affecting me, other than the sporadic visits I'd make to Barnes and Noble and the couple of game shops in the next town.
in reply to Chuck Dee

I've moved my weekly board game night to Board Game Arena, which is straining under the pressure of so many more people doing the same.
This entry was edited (4 years ago)
in reply to Chuck Dee

My current FTF group is going into abeyance for a while due to Covid-19 but we are looking at Roll20 to maybe carry on.
This entry was edited (4 years ago)
in reply to Chuck Dee

I haven't been able to play RPGs regularly for a while now, so that's still out of the question.
I did start to see some friends and play boardgames with them from time to time, and that's not possible for me anymore.
I also have some friends who live far from my town and usually have playing groups, who are now setting up RPG campaigns to play online, which I might join 😁

I'm playing a lot more videogames recently, and working through my comics and books backlog ^^
in reply to Chuck Dee

Last Saturday we were supposed to play Steam Over Holland with my dad. We cancelled because my dad is 70+ and I don't want to risk his health for a game.

I also expect next month's RPG session to either get cancelled or move online.
This entry was edited (4 years ago)
in reply to Chuck Dee

These days, most of my gaming is solo, anyway. If anything, it's been a positive effect on that. At least one publisher has made their solo RPG PDF's free because of this.
This entry was edited (4 years ago)
in reply to Chuck Dee

It is having little to no effect, almost entirely because we haven't gotten together for games outside my family in months. I still play online via Discord and Roll20 and whatnot, but that's mostly because my group is all over the continent.
This entry was edited (4 years ago)
in reply to Chuck Dee

I'm not attending any boardgame events. Many are being cancelled anyway.

Also, I broke out Pandemic for the first time in years. It's been several years since I played myself. I did run several Pandemic Survival tournaments in the past few years, but never played for much longer.
in reply to Chuck Dee

My D&D5e Rappan Athuk group all agreed to an "in person only" rule when this campaign started about 15 months ago and have managed to have 2-3 sessions every 2 weeks, but we've realized that if we don't take this online someone's going to get the D&D DTs over the next several weeks (maybe months), so we're giving it a try! The first online session of our D&D5e Rappan Athuk campaign takes place tomorrow night, using D&D Beyond for character sheets (I do enjoy using paper, but tracking spell/ability slots and doing all the math are much easier with this—and gameplay moves along faster) and Roll20 for a virtual tabletop. Fingers crossed it goes smoothly!
This entry was edited (4 years ago)
in reply to Marsha B

I'd love to hear how it goes, if you mean to report after the game pleas tag me in 😁
in reply to Chuck Dee

Update on my group's first online D&D session: There were five players and the DM, and everything went very well! The Beyond20 extension (https://beyond20.here-for-more.info/) nicely connected Roll20 and D&D Beyond. This group is pretty tech savvy, so tech-related issues didn't come up; this group has also been playing together for a while and is already comfortable interacting with each other (which might be an issue for new-to-each-other players whose first session together is online). The biggest "problem" is that the Rappan Athuk setting isn't in the Roll20 catalog, so the DM had to manually create the maps, etc., in there. Even though that takes a bit of prep time, it's not an insurmountable obstacle. We are looking forward to more sessions with this setup! (@Patrick Marchiodi and anyone else who's interested)
in reply to Marsha B

Thanks for the report, it's nice to see there are tools that help people connect over the internet too! 😁
in reply to Chuck Dee

Basically it's been a fucking disaster.

Right now I should be in Toronto working at Breakout Con. I should be in a panel right now taking notes and after that I should be playing Sentinel Comics.

Leading up to this and going forward we have had to cancel our Gloomhaven live stream. Now for most people this doesn't seem like a big deal but those live streams help pay the bills.

I also host game nights at a local FLGS and a video game cafe and both of those places are now closed for public play events.

No more Monday night group playing at my house, which again makes it really hard to talk about and review games when I have no one to play them with. My Pile of Obligation is sitting here gathering dust.

On a positive note it has meant more gaming with the kids which is cool and fun a a great way to spend time with them, but doesn't help getting any work done.
in reply to Chuck Dee

@Moe Tousignant - maybe a spin on your normal reviews and such to family type reviews and things to do when you're quarantined? A lot of people have the kids in the house and are getting cabin fever- a few ideas of things to do and games to play and reviews from a family perspective might be helpful to some of your followers.
in reply to Chuck Dee

Yep, that's what I'm working on, the review going live today is Talisman Legendary Tales a kids game and the next advice post is on games to play when stuck at home for an extended time.

That will only get me so far, not sure what I'll do for the next 18 months. At least I'll finally get through all the two player games in my pile of shame 😁