GoblinStop

The Apple iPad debuted yesterday to mixed reactions.  While many championed its HD-ready touch screen, feather-weight sleek design, and decidedly reasonable price, much criticism was made claiming that the device is more of an iPhone than a Mac.  Regardless of what my overall opinion of the device is, I had to ask the important question: What can the iPad do for D&D players?

Some fantastic D&D iPhone apps already exist, and have been written about extensively on the web (check out this blog post at DorkandBeans.com for a few great suggestions).  However, most of these apps are designed for use by individuals at a gaming table, and rightfully so; character managing apps can only display one player’s character at a time, and it would be annoying to pass around something as small as an iPhone so everyone could roll their dice on it.  But I think that with the iPad, we will begin to see apps designed around communal use. 

With almost 10 inches of touch screen, so many different possibilities open up.  An app could be developed to use it as a miniatures surface, displaying pre-rendered dungeon tiles for smaller rooms.  DM’s would no longer have to print large poster-sized dungeon rooms, or waste time drawing details onto a dry-erase grid.  A prototype of a program like this was shown in the Microsoft Surface D&D video, but that setup and technology looked super expensive to replicate.  The iPad could make this technology accessible, practical, and somewhat economical.

An app could also be developed to manage the party’s collective inventory, so that items could be removed or added in real time, in front of everyone, instead of forcing one player to keep a micromanaged running tally of what’s in the Bag of Holding.  This would make it a lot easier to keep track of exactly how many potions of healing are left. 

There really is a huge realm of possibility surrounding the tabletop gaming uses of the new Apple iPad.  Do you think we will ever see apps like this developed for the device?  What other ways do you think the iPad could alter the way a group plays D&D?

In my many years as a DM, one of the biggest hurdles I have encountered is a lack of focus on the game, which can stem from any number of causes.  Players sometimes have to arrive at different times, they’ve just come from busy days at work or school, they all want to talk about their Dragon Age: Origins characters or something funny they saw on 4Chan (gag!).  Everybody is glad to be with their friends and understandably wants to chat it up.  There is nothing wrong with this.  However, at some point, everybody needs to reach a consensual focus and start playing the game.

I have seen a lack of focus kill many game sessions.  If you are unable to grab your players’ attention even before the game starts, you will notice your session failing pretty quickly.  Joe will start checking his email on his BlackBerry.  Amanda will text her boyfriend every 3 minutes…THE WHOLE NIGHT.  Robert will pull out his Nintendo DS for some Tetris even though he “swears he’s paying attention.”  Aaron will flip through his sourcebooks making level-up plans during an important encounter.  You will see your entire game session disintegrate in front of you.  So what’s a DM to do?

The key is to do something communication-heavy that everyone must take part in together.

Have dinner together.  Having the whole group share a meal around a table immediately prior to the game encourages everyone to engage each other face to face and focus on a single topic at a time.  Plus everyone likes to eat with their friends.

Play a short board/card game.  Anything under an hour and that requires fairly intense focus will do the trick.  I highly recommend Settlers of Catan, because similar to D&D it has the players cooperating for the greater good while at the same time serving their private motives, which will get them into the correct mindset for D&D.  Tsuro, a Japanese tile game, is also great, because it really forces you to look at both the immediate consequences of your actions, and their possible long term effects as well.

The point is to get everyone into the Game Night frame of mind, which can be difficult without some kind of primer activity.  Whatever you do to foster this focus, it needs to require a lot of attention, and put the players in close physical proximity to one another. 

What tricks do you use to get your gaming group focused on the game?

You’ve been in this scenario before.

You’re at work on Monday morning after an awesome all-day gaming session yesterday.  You head to the coffee machine and your boss greets you while he finishes putting cream and sugar in his little Styrofoam cup.  “So what’d you do this weekend?” he asks.  Uh-oh.  None of your coworkers knows you play D&D, and you don’t want to lie.  Do you brush it off with a witty retort, or do you tell your boss that you spent the day gaming with your buddies?

As acceptable as Dungeons and Dragons has become as a somewhat mainstream pop culture icon in the last decade or so, the fact remains that there are a lot of people who still view the game as some creepy, anti-social fringe hobby that is only played by awkward, comic-convention-attending Star Trek fans living in their parents’ basements.  Unfortunately, many of these people are your bosses, family members, clients, pastors, and others in positions of relative power with whom you want to remain in good standing.  At what point, if ever, should you let these people know about your pastime?

I’ll admit to not telling people right off the bat.  Until I began writing this blog, I usually waited at least a few weeks to even mention it, and even then, it really depended upon the person in question.  Here’s my reasoning:

Because of common preconceived notions about D&D perpetuated by the media over the last few decades, I want to ensure that people I meet get an accurate idea of who I am as a person before I share that information.  I want them to see that I am a pretty cool guy, that I am fairly responsible and industrious, and that I am outgoing and conversational.  Letting someone get to know you reasonably well will help prevent unwarranted comparisons to Screech, or the cast of Freaks and Geeks. 

I certainly would not recommend actively hiding your gamer status or lying about it.  I just think there is no reason to mention it too early if nobody asks.  So what are your thoughts?  Do you shout it from the rooftops?  Do you actively try to keep it secret?  I’m interested in other opinions.

Social media has mixed with just about every possible hobby and business to some extent over the last few years.  There are Facebook groups for every possible niche interest, Twitter tags for any subject area, and blogs about everything under the sun (and some things beyond it).  Since Dungeons and Dragons players tend to be a rather tech-savvy lot, much information related to the game has been digitized and shared socially online. 

The most significant result of the crossing of D&D and social media has been the unlimited potential for player-generated content. 

Aspiring game designers can collaborate on detailed, professional-quality campaign settings the way that software developers collaborated on Firefox.  Players can tweet links to interesting Paragon Paths and magic items they run across.  Startup publishing companies can hook up with independent adventure authors to produce downloadable modules and source books that rival first-party content at a fraction of the price.  DM’s can podcast their game sessions, or even broadcast live video feeds via USTREAM in order to share their experiences playtesting new rules and game mechanics.  There is literally no ceiling for the amount of player-generated supplemental content. 

What does this mean for the future of D&D?  We will begin to see the D&D community really take charge of organizing all this information.  For example, I think we will see a few bookmarking sites similar to Reddit and Digg pop up that focus solely on tabletop RPG content and related articles.  I also believe we will see more social networking sites like Pen and Paper Games, which allows gamers to locate others in their area who share similar gaming styles and schedules. 

D&D has always been a game that encourages individual ownership.  Players and DM’s have always made their own house rules, created their own character classes, and developed their own playing styles.  I think the digital organization and sharing of these ideas is going to drive a revolutionary surge of interest in D&D specifically, and tabletop games in general.

What do you think is the biggest contribution social media has made to D&D?  Do you believe social media tools are actually having a negative impact on the game?  I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Every time I hear someone talking about Monopoly being a game that “teaches you about business,” I can’t help but disagree.  While Monopoly a great game with a long history and an instantly recognizable brand, I think Settlers of Catan is a more accurate board game representation of what running a business is really like.

For those of you unfamiliar with Settlers, you can read about it here.  While they are both a lot of fun, I tend to prefer Settlers, and here is the reason:

Settlers of Catan has a reduced, more realistic degree of randomness. 

In a game of Monopoly, everything you have built can be completely destroyed just by accidentally landing on someone’s triple-hotel properties twice in a row (or even once, in some cases).  While there is a fair amount of strategy involved in Monopoly, you accept from the beginning that there is a possibility you can be completely wiped out in 2-3 turns, and you might not be able to do a single thing about it. 

While die-rolling is present in Settlers to give it a little uncertainty, the ultimate result of the game is usually not completely changed by a player having a couple of bad turns.  You develop a general strategy at the beginning of the game, and hone it to a specific, long-term plan as you gain more resources and make more deals.  At most, a few unfortunate rolls will force you to reevaluate your resource-trading strategy in order to make sure you maintain your success.

Monopoly is not a business game.  It is a gambling game.  This is fun every once in awhile, but it’s just a little grating to hear Monopoly so widely heralded as the “game that teaches you about business.” 

I know Settlers of Catan has not proliferated anywhere close to the extent that a game like Monopoly has, but if you ever get the chance, play it with some friends, or on Xbox Live Arcade.  It’s a blast, and quite frankly, I think it’s far more realistic from a business point of view. 

I’d love to hear the thoughts of those of you who’ve played both.  Do you think Monopoly’s higher stakes more accurately portray your own experiences in the business world?