We didn't game this weekend - one player has left the group, one player had his schedule change and can't play 'til almost the end of the session (and he was feeling sick), another player's work required him to work a 16 hour shift, and yet another player was driving home from out of state - but I had forgotten an issue that sprang in our last game that I wanted to discuss. Beyond the absenteeism of my players, though I want to talk about that, too.
For the longest of time, we gamers had paper and pencil and that was the extent of what was available to us, but now, we also have these things called "smart phones" and "tablets". Of course, I say now, but I remember in the early Aughts when WotC tried an electronic product for 3e that they now call D&D Beyond, even before we had smart phones or tablets, so they have been trying to push us into the realm of the electronic for a long time. Anyway, one of my players does not bring a physical PHB to the table (though several forget their's regularly) relying instead on D&D Beyond and .pdfs for his gaming needs. Before last weekend, this was slow, at best. Oh yes, it tracks his HP, and all his skills and abilities and rolls, but even with a fairly recent iPad, it's slow. It takes him a long time to look up anything I ask of him, usually "you want to use your Thunderous Smite, what does that do, exactly?" And then last weekend's game, the iPad crapped itself or the D&D Beyond website died, but whatever actually happened, he couldn't get his technology to work for the entire game.
Please understand, I'm not anti-technology, far from it - I recently purchased a 3d printer, I build my own PC towers, I seem to be reading more books on e-readers than in physical form these days, I have multiple tablets, and I've even tried playing RPGs from pdfs off of said tablets - but as much as I'd love to play tabletop RPGs and wargames from a single tablet (to save on space and amount of things I have to carry, if nothing else), the technology just isn't there yet. I don't know what is needed, like more hardware (faster CPU and RAM) or a different file format that preloads all of the pages/information for instantaneous display when it's selected or what, but it's just not there. Even before this past weekend, I could tell my other players were getting frustrated with Mr D&D Beyond any time he slowed up the play trying to find a requested piece of information, and this last game where he was almost completely shut down (I make him fill out a physical character sheet and like everyone else, leave it with me in between game sessions so another player can take over if they miss a session) as his technology was borked, it was a wakeup call for the entire party. I believe Mr Beyond will be investing in a physical PHB for a backup, if nothing else, or the rest of the party will be gathering a collection up to buy him one.
Like I said, I'm not against the idea of using technology instead of physical books and character sheets, but only if it's unobtrusive and doesn't interfere with the flow of the game. What is everyone's experience with tablets and phones used at the table instead of pen and paper and physical books? Related topic, do your players pay more attention to their phones than the game?
The party started back in April with four players and then we added a fifth a month or so later, which I feel is the best number for an adventuring party. Four is acceptable, three is only good if everyone is playing multiple characters, six or more won't fit in my dining room, and seven plus is too many people to pay attention to, so five is a nice number of players. Everyone's schedules were very different, but we found a time that everyone was available for, and didn't interfere too much with other activities (other hobbies/games, families, friends, etc). The players would miss from time to time, which was fine as long as we didn't have more than 2 miss the same weekend. About a month ago, one of my players who has mental health issues proclaimed suddenly that he was not playing with us anymore, another of my players stated that his employer had changed his hours drastically to right over the time we had been meeting since April, and then yet a third player said his employer had changed his hours, too, almost directly opposite from the other player's new schedule. Not to mention that this all occurred with exactly two gaming sessions left in this arc of the campaign (I'm taking the party to 20, kicking and screaming, because they've all complained about creating and playing new, low level characters). What do you do with that?
Easy, as long as they're willing to play, you accommodate as best you can and keep playing. Because this game of ours is about having fun with our friends, and as long as fun is being had, we're doing something right and it would be a shame to stop that. From the beginning, we had been playing from noon to 5pm every Saturday, but now, in addition to our departed comrade, one player's schedule has him working Saturdays from 4pm on in a town 30+ miles away, and the other player's schedule changed also to Saturdays from 4am to 1pm, but fortunately only about a mile and a half from my house (where we play). We are currently playing 9am to 2:30pm on Saturday, with our 4am to 1pm worker joining us as soon as he gets off of work, and the absent players' characters being shared out amongst those actually present, though no big RP questions are allowed to be answered until the absent player is present. Mr 4am to 1pm is hoping to change his days off to include Saturday in the very near future, at which point we'll hopefully be ready to march into the 2nd arc of the campaign and may even add a new, fifth player to the table.
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