Thursday 29 August 2024

RPGaDay 2024: Day 29: Awesome App

Day 29: Awesome App

This one's easy. I only really use one app for RPGs, Roll20.
I'm not nominating it because it's amazing, it more or less does the job and I'm aware that it can do a lot more than I know how to do.
It's simply that we need a way to game online, and it seems to fit the bill. There's a regular cost, but that's unavoidable if I want to play online.

Now the vague rambling bit.

When I stop and think a bit more, I do have a dice rolling app on my phone, which I've not used in many months, and we use Meets for the actual AV side of things (the AV on Roll20 was too slow when we tried).

I also use Inkarnate to draw maps, but there are many other ways of producing maps, including just downloading commercially produced ones.

I'll also mention Obsidian Portal. I've used this off and on since the 4E days and it is a useful way to organise a campaign. I find that it requires a lot of set up though to have enough wiki in place for the players to usefully reference, and if some players interact more with it than others, I end up not sure what to assume with player knowledge. So I end up restating it in session, which sort of negates the reason for using it in the first place.

And now the rant-y bit.

But I know many people use apps much more. DND Beyond is the big one, of course, and it seems as if it's becoming increasingly necessary. I know there's a free version, but it doesn't cover all the options. WotC even advertise it now on the grounds that character generation is too slow and complicated without it. To me, that's like GWs' liquid greenstuff, a condemnation of the original product that its trying to fix, not a selling point for the new thing.

It also looks like the next edition of D&D will rely more heavily on D&D Beyond and VTs, all of which will require subscriptions.
I'm certainly not opposed to paying for content. I buy the books that I think I'll use (OK, and a lot more besides), but I don't want to have to buy everything all over again just to play remotely.
If we've got to the stage where the game requires apps to keep track of all the abilities, then it's getting too complicated* for me.

While I'm channelling my inner Grognard I have another grumble; people relying on the various apps have access to everything they've paid for, and it doesn't always match what's in the books. I like to start a game or campaign stating what books the players can draw from, usually just the Players Handbook. I rule that any other material has to be discussed before its introduced, and online services make it hard for a player to know if its something I've OKed.
Now this isn't a very new thing. 4E had online tools, and as the characters got more powerful, they became increasingly necessary for levelling up. We split the cost between us, but the wizard was using spells from all over, sometimes not very well balanced spells either.
It's not me being a killjoy, it more about me knowing what the heroes are capable of and building suitable challenges.


* My personal definitions; Complex - involving many details for the benefit of the whole.
Complicated - involving many details just for the sake of it to the detriment of the whole

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