The KGB Oracle Forums General Public Discussion (SPECIAL) The KGB Back Room D & D on new tabletop tablet ( I just nutted)

OMFG!!

It's finally here. My old friends and I were talking about his concept almost 15 years ago for interactive table top games that can reduce the informaiton load on the DM and speed up play time, while still allowing for enriching character development.

Yes, I just nutted at work, and it felt good.

CNET Article

HOLY SHIT I WANT ONE!

NO

NO

NO

NO

NO

As a purist I have to say this is fucking so wrong I don't even know where to start. First off role playing is about developing a character, like a actor portrays a role, your building the persona and interacting with other persona or characters. Character concepts being key here people. If your just boiling role playing down to stat crunching your a "min-maxer" and missing the point of role playings fundamental purpose. There are several types of role players but imho only one that matters

Harlequin Romancers - People (usually couples) who play for the deep passions, steamy sexual innuendos, and erotic fetishes of being someone else, usually these misguided people play Vampire role playing games, and do what I like to call "pulling a New Moon"

Min-Maxers - These are the stat crunchers, the fantasy football guys who transitioned into a new realm of gaming from their old one, and while it is true they usually understand the rules and have the game dialed in to a fine point so much so that they are able to build a character template that is uber bad ass, they also quite ironically are the dumbest players, because when it comes to playing using their imagination they fail epically, a lot of video gamers fit in this bracket too.

Shakespearean - These are your thee and thou art types, who fail to grasp that some concessions need to be made to play a game in the 20th century, not everything can be period, otherwise the enjoyment of the game fails.

Realist - These guys are worse then Shakespearean types due to the fact that they put too much of a healthy dose of realism in their game, so real in fact that a players character won't live past level one, if he in fact allows his players to even start at level one, a realist wants his players characters to live and experience things as they should be or were in the medieval times, in a historical context.

Mickey Mouse - These campaigns are child's play literally, your a super hero for all intents and purposes, and you can kill a hundred guys 7 levels higher then you.

Monty Haulers - Everything you do under a GM or in a game with these guys yields wealth and riches and magic items and all the goodies you could ever want.

I classify myself as a Thespian/Purist. I believe in making the game fun, accessible, and welcoming, however you play it as it stands, use your gray matter, figure out things for yourself, use your imagination dammit, that's what God gave it to you for, be creative, learn problem solving skills and leadership within a team environment, envision your character concept,and play that part as a real actor might. When you dumb a game like this down all your really doing is inviting people to be lazier.

For MMORPG's that's fine but for table top role playing it will kill off our last great means for true story telling, and socialization, with the advent of miniatures, maps, laptops, dice rollers, and various other things this game gets killed off more and more each year. While some things are nice to use to expedite a game, over use hurts it, that's why it's called ROLE playing not ROLL playing. I watched that video and I kept asking myself, where is the story, and why are they fighting in the first place? However nowhere in the video is anything mentioned about story which is a principle aspect to role playing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iaKehq6qsdY&feature=related

This is cool...

Drakiis: TLDNR OMG wall of text crits you for 08745074054098500945.


Are you insane?!?!?! This is AMAZING. Just for not having to keep up with character sheets and dice bags. Most of the folks I've gamed with recently are all dragging around laptops to do all of the stuff this thing does anyway. But best of all it looks like this thing keeps up with what your scores are and with what actions you can take. I bet it cuts down on rules lawyering and lies about die rolls too. I WANT ONE!

Besides all that Drakiis, this LETS you role play because you don't have to spend so much time wrapped up in the numbers of your character. As long as you have a good DM then this will improve your role play, not just be a min max tool. In fact I'd bet that since the characters are all loaded in there will be less min maxing because you won't be able to do the kind of "house rule" "DM call" rules lawyering that people currently get away with.

As for your story development comment... ITS A VIDEO ABOUT THE DEVICE! Wow dude, you could pick apart the problems with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich "yeah, it looks nice, but there's way too much peanut butter on the left side, the jelly isn't evenly dispersed, and the crust on the bottom piece of bread is too flakey." Shut up and eat the damn thing! It tastes good! The whole point of the video is to showcase their new toy, not to point out what good DnD geeks they are, and oh by the way, check out the pretty lights. Move away from the dark side brother. Everything is not doom and gloom and the end of an era. Eat a prozak and smile occasionally

hey I am old school what can I say, I still enjoy playing in and running 1st and 2nd Edition D&D. All I was seeing were players fascinated with the dice roller, the stat blocks, and imaging which is why I got bent, if you can't picture something using your imagination then your a fucking retard, and while I agree it will make all of this easier;



I worry that any time you present your players with distractions, and/or situations where they don't need to ask questions to understand their environment it creates a situation where they are not thinking, or concentrating because they are too busy admiring or tinkering around with those things instead of listening and participating. I have seen it happen so many times with so many different role playing groups. If the technology is handled responsibly by the whole group, or the GM controls how its used and when then there may be a way to use it and still maintain the focus and participation levels of your group, otherwise the guys/girls will just sit back eat Doritos, drink coke, and let the technology do the thinking for them.

I'm pretty sure the DM was in control of the board. That's what the shot of the computer was, him making the monsters attack.

I'm that guy. When I play with my laptop I usually end up surfing the web and ignore the dumbfuckery going on around me.

I have a strict no cells unless its a emergency or laptops rule in my games, because I want full participation, I hate to repeat myself, I think its disrespectful to not only the other people who took time out to show up for a game, but also me since I am sponsoring the game and put in the effort to present the challenges your playing through. People not paying attention, whether due to "dumbfuckery" or not may not know the circumstances they face from the actions of others, and therefore will usually commit more "dumbfuckery" because they would rather play mine sweeper then listen to what's going on. My advice is you can drink coke, eat chips and masturbate at home why bother to even show up if that's all you want to do, save your self and others the trouble and stay home next time.

Drak, I can only compare this to modern sailing. Some "Purists" insist on not using GPS, Chartplotters, and Radar. These new tools make it funner!

This stuff allows you to focus on the game and the play aspect of it, instead of arguing with your character sheet in hand.

I think its AWESOME and dont knock it till you try it.

well I know the attention span of ADD gamers, and I can tell you that from my experience when I tell someone they were just confronted by a rather large and hungry Ogre named Bob, and they look up from their cell phone, or laptop with a blank look in their eye and ask how that got by them, and why is it happening, then I get called for being exsessively unfair, it pisses me off because had they been paying attention they'd have known why and how, and it certainly shows a great deal of disrespect to me and those who are playing, technology has it's place I am not saying it doesn't, I wouldn't be here if I thought that way, I just feel that it needs to be tightly controlled for some aspects of D&D. If guys are fondling their miniatures or checking football scores then their fucking with the program and should have just stayed home.

/wet

Which is precisely why this thing is GOOD. Notice how the players are all clustered around the table (like we all were when we first found D&D when we were 12) instead of spread out all over the room and playing with their laptops and cell phones.

Rule #1

No laptops or phones unless on a break. If I was DMing and someone was on the phone or not paying attention, an exploding skeleton would jump out from around the corner and kill them.

Exactly, however then the whining starts....and then your just being "excessively cruel"

First rule of DnD, shut up, I am the DM, God's answer to me, this is my world, and I will end your stupid ass in under a second flat. Then you can take your whinning ass out of my fortress of man-dom never to fucking return.

And no, my fortress of man-dom isn't in my mom's basement. Its in MY basement, because besides being a super nerd, I just happen to be the life of the party and socially adjusted enough to have a good education, and a good paying job, even it I do work for the Evil Empire.

You want me to come be your roommate don't you Tas?

Not to toot my own horn or anything, but my games were so good, that people would put up with the abuse.

It's the KFC crown....

TRADER JOES!

I think it's the banana peels personally, but yeah I can control my groups and yes people generally will put up with my dickish nature because I pack a lot into a prepared game of 5 hours on Sunday, attending a game of mine is like going to the super bowl, having Christmas, and sex all rolled into one day.

Who told you what sex is like Drakiis?

Apparently they didn't do a good enough job on the description because he thinks a D&D session can be like sex...

no I said is as good as sex, but sex is still better, it's either that or JetStar lied to me

He lied.

LOL - "dumbfuckery" "who told you what sex was like"

I dunno why this thread caught my attention but it gave me my laugh for today.

You guys are gonna make me read every f'n thread on the Oracle for these nuggets of KGB wisdom.

My Lord...I AM in good company.

If sex was better then role playing then this conversation wouldn't have taken place at all, however it's my experience that people (mainly guys) role play because too many women withhold sex in the first place. Guys would probably take more time to spend with their significant other if she wasn't so bitchy or needy as to push them away and seek fun or relaxation elsewhere. I say be more open, fair, and communicative in a relationship (especially with sex) and this game wouldn't even exist.

I think this is where Tas would say, "you don't have any of those hang ups when you rent your love for the evening."

Or something like that.

WRONG!


The Tas I know would only make a statement like that as long as I was implied somehow.

No, I put your ass up for rent in Leather-n-Lace. Your personal ad went out two weeks ago, circulating in the greater Texarcana area.

wow

told ya...what did you expect from a old guy?

Don't be jealous because I have enough ammo to hold off a zombie horde for a couple of years.

Can't be jealous of something I believe is a constitutional right of all Americans.