Skills, OSR, D&D, How do you prefer they're handled?

Baulderstone · September 08, 2017, 11:37:44 PM

Quote from: Dumarest;990654I only hold onto a sheet because I have a friend who always, always, always forgets it. And his dice. And a pencil.

That is entirely justified. I had a group where I had a folder for all the character sheets for that very reason. I still let them fondle their character sheets during the session though.

Christopher Brady · September 09, 2017, 05:41:45 PM

Quote from: Gronan of Simmerya;990591Next time somebody looks at a phone, referee closes up the books and says "okay, we're done here."

Yes because we need to ruin the fun of the rest of the party because of ONE player. Who might be 'On Call' and needs to check their phone.

Overreact much? Wow.

Kyle Aaron · September 09, 2017, 06:38:56 PM

It's called peer-group pressure. An approach commonly used in stricter schools and the military.

I'm not sure that it's necessary, but it is effective

Gronan of Simmerya · September 09, 2017, 07:12:30 PM

Quote from: Kyle Aaron;991004It's called peer-group pressure. An approach commonly used in stricter schools and the military.

I'm not sure that it's necessary, but it is effective

Also, my players are responsible enough to say if they're on call.

Also also... HOW many fucking threads and posts on this site alone complain about people fucking with their phones or tablets instead of paying attention to the game? Go ahead, search; I'll wait.

* hums Jeopardy theme *

See? People bitch about that ALL THE TIME. Brady just couldn't pass up a chance to make his dinkie sad at me.

Rezendevous · September 09, 2017, 07:36:46 PM

*shrug* In my group, we use screens all the time -- the GM has PDFs on a tablet, some members keep character sheets on their devices, etc. It's been this way in a number of my game groups over the years.

Christopher Brady · September 09, 2017, 08:12:42 PM

Quote from: Kyle Aaron;991004It's called peer-group pressure. An approach commonly used in stricter schools and the military.

I'm not sure that it's necessary, but it is effective

And quite a few gulags. You know, one person rebels and the entire block gets their food cut or whipped or otherwise punished.

It's an excellent method to psychologically break your enemies, but the gamers at my table are friends. We're mature, we know how to respect each other.

Maybe you should a get a new table to play with. One you can trust and respect.

Kyle Aaron · September 10, 2017, 01:40:25 AM

Quote from: Christopher Brady;991051We're mature, we know how to respect each other.

Well, I would say that fucking around on your phone rather than talking to people right in front of you, people who've set aside some hours a week just to sit and talk with you, doesn't demonstrate maturity and respect. But I'm old-fashioned that way.

RPGPundit · September 12, 2017, 03:13:24 AM

Quote from: Kyle Aaron;990208Not necessarily. One blog writer called it "the drop-down menu effect." When I was a kid, when the DM said, "what do you do?" the players looked up and around the table at each-other and started talking. Now they look down at their character sheets. 30-40 years of personal computing of one kind or another has taught people to look for the drop-down menu.

So I don't think it's inherently human, it's just the result of too much use of personal computers.

There's probably some truth to this. When I run Lords of Olympus (or Amber), the PCs don't really have character sheets, or at least they don't really bother looking at them much because they just have to know their ranks in 4 stats and what powers they have. So you see a lot less of that sort of thing, and a lot more of them trying to ask questions about their environment.

Christopher Brady · September 12, 2017, 09:27:01 PM

Quote from: Kyle Aaron;991115Well, I would say that fucking around on your phone rather than talking to people right in front of you, people who've set aside some hours a week just to sit and talk with you, doesn't demonstrate maturity and respect. But I'm old-fashioned that way.

That's just it, my table doesn't do that. We focus on the gaming.

I use an iPad to take track various details because I touch type faster than write. Also it's a great tool to show some images to reinforce what you're talking about. But luckily, when we play, it doesn't actually distract us. Again, respect.

RPGPundit · September 16, 2017, 01:47:49 AM

In the early days of cellphones doing stuff other than calls and messages, I was pretty strict about people not using them at the table, because there seemed to be a tendency for people to get seriously distracted.

But somewhere along the way, it seems that people (my players, at least) have managed to be able to adjust themselves to be able to fiddle occasionally with their phones without getting lost in terms of gameplay. So I've stopped worrying about it.