The Gaming Den

I'm curious, do you think as things like tablets and airbooks become more commonplace, do you think there will be more rpgs with systems that take advantage of the fact that players will likely be using digital dice?

I mean most of my players already use digital character sheets rather than paper ones and just look at their phone when they need to know what number goes where. And then of course there are services like roll20.

Do you think there will be games specifically designed to use dice rolling programs instead of actual dice? I have noticed that when I play games with dice buckets online as opposed to meatspace, they move much much faster. Roll and keep systems for instance were so much less tedious when I played them online.

I don't think its a good idea to go for more complex calculations just because everyone has a calculator in their pocket because the person making the decision to 'roll the dice' is still a human being.

Using a virtual tabletop to track movement and triggers can be helpful though... but the opposing idea is that using a virtual tabletop to play asynchronous means interrupt actions that are easy to do when you're face to face are a pain over the internet.

The biggest use I get out of online tools is wikis to quickly search up how different parts of the game are resolved, what happens when you chop a kraken's tentacle, etc.

The main benefit of a virtual tabletop isn't more complex calculations, but easier logistics. You can have a game that runs on d9s if you want, or standard boss encounters that roll 40+ d6s and count up their successes every turn, and you don't have to worry about where people are going to buy a d9 or how inconvenient it is to roll 40d6 each round every time the party fights a primogen.

Virtual tabletops have their uses but simple dice rollers will never be a killer app worth crowing about on their own. The biggest problem with ttrpgs isn't that the MC is using graph paper and dice instead of a tablet, it's that you need a MC at all.

Chamomile wrote:The main benefit of a virtual tabletop isn't more complex calculations, but easier logistics. You can have a game that runs on d9s if you want, or standard boss encounters that roll 40+ d6s and count up their successes every turn, and you don't have to worry about where people are going to buy a d9 or how inconvenient it is to roll 40d6 each round every time the party fights a primogen.

Yes thank you, this is what I was trying to say but you summed it up better.

I could make a table top game where people used d13s, I have no fucking clue what that would even accomplish but I could do it. All I need to do is put somewhere near the beginning of the book "this dice is physically impossible and you will need an online roller to play."

Or even giving a new lease on life to older clunkier systems. Heck exalted is almost a functional product when you don't need to count dice manually. Almost.

shinimasu wrote:I'm curious, do you think as things like tablets and airbooks become more commonplace, do you think there will be more rpgs with systems that take advantage of the fact that players will likely be using digital dice?

I mean most of my players already use digital character sheets rather than paper ones and just look at their phone when they need to know what number goes where. And then of course there are services like roll20.

Do you think there will be games specifically designed to use dice rolling programs instead of actual dice? I have noticed that when I play games with dice buckets online as opposed to meatspace, they move much much faster. Roll and keep systems for instance were so much less tedious when I played them online.

FFG horrible Star Wars dice system had an online app that made things... better. Sort of.

The problem with virtual tabletop is that the user interface for MC will never be as smooth, fast, or conductive to improvisation as physical tabletop.

When it takes about as long to sketch up a map as it does with a battlemat and some dry erase markers, that's a step forward. The problem is that all the terrain and map making features and stuff make great looking maps, but they aren't anything you can use on the fly.

Tablets can mitigate this a little because people can draw with their finger, but one of the big issues I've seen with virtual tabletop is that on the PC at least, drawing with a mouse sucks for most people.