Skip to main content
Support Nerdica.net with the server costs via LiberaPay, Patreon or via Paypal.me.

Tabletop QOTD 2020-03-16
#Tabletop #QOTD

Sorry for the outage - was under the weather this weekend.

@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 do you use technology to aid in your gaming?

I use a gaming wiki to log the campaign and keep track of the essential in-game information. There's also areas for the players to log information about their characters. I also use my tablet instead of carrying a crate of books around- one less milk crate being carried around.
#tabletop #qotd @Martijn Vos @Nathan Weaver @Nathan V @Curt Thompson @Stephen Gunnell @PresGas (OSR) Aspect @Keith Davies @Eric Franklin @Moe Tousignant @Martin Ralya @Board Games Forum @Stuntman @Marsha B @Jesse Butler @Patrick Marchiodi @Nathan Norway @Douglas Bailey @frasersimons @silverwizard
in reply to Chuck Dee

Eric Franklin
Eric Franklin
•
For RPGs, I'm a huge fan of Obsidian Portal.

For board games, I've been playing a ton on Board Game Arena.
This entry was edited (4 years ago)
in reply to Chuck Dee

Marsha B
Marsha B
•
For D&D, we use D&D Beyond for character sheets and Slack for planning/RP/out-of-game chat (there are about 18 people involved in our West Marches–style campaign in the Rappan Athuk setting). Once we realized how quickly daily banter and meme-sharing made us hit Slack's 10,000-message limit for free accounts (and how expensive the paid accounts are!), we set up an Obsidian Portal page for stuff we didn't want to lose (e.g., campaign logs and wiki).

Now that we are in lockdown and in-person gaming won't be happening for a while (), the DM is looking into using roll20 for a virtual tabletop and Discord for chat and video conferencing.
This entry was edited (4 years ago)
in reply to Chuck Dee

Nathan Norway
Nathan Norway
•
@Chuck Dee @Craig Maloney @Curt Thompson @Douglas Bailey @Eric Franklin @frasersimons @Jesse Butler @Keith Davies @Marsha B @Martijn Vos @Martin Ralya @Moe Tousignant @Nathan V @Nathan Weaver @Patrick Marchiodi @PresGas (OSR) Aspect @silverwizard @Stephen Gunnell @Stuntman I use a couple of things. Written by myself:

* NARROWS: This is a system to play online. It's very different from play-by-forum software, playing this feels more like a Choose Your Own Adventure book, but you can write whatever you want for your character's reaction, instead of just choosing from a couple of presets. http://hardcorenarrativist.org/narrows/

* Lyre: A web app to aid narrators add images (including maps that can be uncovered piece by piece) and audio to their games: http://hardcorenarrativist.org/lyre/

* Wiki-Toki: A personal wiki I use to keep notes for (mostly past) games, ideas for new games, a list of games available that we can play, etc.

Not written by me:

* Tabletopaudio: https://tabletopaudio.com/

* (Modern) name generator: http://www.fakenamegenerator.com/gen-random-us-us.php

* Random generators for all kinds of things: http://www.random-generator.com/index.php?title=Main_Page
@Martijn Vos @Nathan Weaver @Nathan V @Curt Thompson @Stephen Gunnell @PresGas (OSR) Aspect @Keith Davies @Eric Franklin @Moe Tousignant @Martin Ralya @Chuck Dee @Stuntman @Marsha B @Jesse Butler @Patrick Marchiodi @Douglas Bailey @frasersimons @silverwizard
This entry was edited (4 years ago)
in reply to Chuck Dee

PresGas (OSR) Aspect
PresGas (OSR) Aspect
•
@Nathan Norway wish I could reshare this as a comment. May even deserve a post of its own (restricted to followers if you want traffic down).
@Nathan Norway
This entry was edited (4 years ago)
in reply to PresGas (OSR) Aspect

Nathan Norway
Nathan Norway
•
@PresGas (OSR) Aspect What do you mean, that it cannot be reshared because it's a comment instead of a regular post? If so, do you want me to write that as a regular post so it can be reshared?

I don't mind the traffic BTW!
@PresGas (OSR) Aspect
This entry was edited (4 years ago)
in reply to Nathan Norway

Chuck Dee
Chuck Dee
•
@Nathan Norway @PresGas (OSR) Aspect - I think that on Friendica we can re-share comments, but Diaspora* doesn't have that functionality (along with liking comments)
@PresGas (OSR) Aspect @Nathan Norway
This entry was edited (4 years ago)
in reply to Chuck Dee

Moe Tousignant
Moe Tousignant
•
I use Tabletop Audio for all my tabletop games
Syrinscapes to supplement that
Various Phillips HUE apps for lighting effects
Game specific apps like the Gloomhaven Helper, or the DCC app that I can't remember the name of.
This entry was edited (4 years ago)
in reply to Chuck Dee

Martijn Vos
Martijn Vos
•
For Pathfinder, we all used laptops with Herolab to create and maintain our characters. I hated it and preferred to olay something that is easy to do on paper, but our next campaign became Shadowrun, which is arguably even more complex than Pathfinder, so it's al laptops again.

Also: PDFs of books. I love paper books, but I'm starting to get used to PDFs.
This entry was edited (4 years ago)
in reply to Chuck Dee

Patrick Marchiodi
Patrick Marchiodi
•
Not much, to be honest (and I kinda feel like an outlier now xD). We happened to use tablets to have game manuals handy, but I hardly ever play any RPG that needs electronic support.
Even when I played D&D some 15 years ago, I mostly used to write down what I needed. I'm a programmer but I find it easier to find and remember stuff I wrote by hand, than searching through files.
in reply to Chuck Dee

Chuck Dee
Chuck Dee
•
@PresGas (OSR) Aspect - thanks for that link! I might try to just have a list of links that I consolidate all of this under and update as people find new resources.
@PresGas (OSR) Aspect
This entry was edited (4 years ago)
in reply to Chuck Dee

Stuntman
Stuntman
•
I use tackle box technology to replace the inserts in may games. Tackle boxes make organising many of the gaming bits easier and allows me to store games on their sides instead of always having to store them flat.

I use card sleeve technology on my cards. Sleeves protect the cards and they make shuffling easier, particularly for smaller sized cards.

I use deck box technology to hold my cards. Most standard inserts that come with a game are not sized properly and are often incompatible with cards that use card sleeve technology. Deck box technology is designed to hold sleeved cards.
This entry was edited (4 years ago)
in reply to Chuck Dee

Stuntman
Stuntman
•
For computer technology, I often use a spreadsheet to track things when necessary. I use one to track my campaigns I play in Sword & Sorcery. There is an app for it, but I personally like the flexibility of a spreadsheet. It can be shared easily with other people if needed.

About 20 years ago, I got a PocketPC (handheld device before smartphones). I used to keep notes on one of my D&D sessions I had going back then. I think I still have those notes on my computer somewhere.

I also use Chwazi to choose who goes first when playing a game.
This entry was edited (4 years ago)
in reply to Chuck Dee

Nathan V
Nathan V
•
There were a couple of games I either ran or played in that took place in IRC, but other than that, the only technology I tend to use is paper, pencils, dice, and books.
This entry was edited (4 years ago)
in reply to Chuck Dee

Keith Davies
Keith Davies
•
For TTRPG play online, we use Discord for voice and roll20 as our VTT. Though I'm looking at Foundry to replace roll20.

I have had an Obsidian Portal account for years, ascended. I should either use it or kill it. I also have a (free) WorldAnvil account I need to look into.
This entry was edited (4 years ago)
⇧