How We Play

Running RPGs has been my passion for quite some years. A fair number of my most cherished memories stem from my time as a GM. All of these memories involve sitting around a table with friends, whether at someone’s house or a gaming convention. As an aside I should mention that I spend a large amount of my GM time standing rather than sitting, not sure why, it’s just something that happens. Anyway, the point here is that I enjoy sharing a physical space with my fellow gamers. I have tried to make the technological leap to remote gaming, but despite using several different approaches I am unable to engage with a game in the way that brings me Maximum Game Fun.

Generally I’m not anti-technology, but I struggle with software that facilitates real-time interaction between people; I have the same struggle with video-calling.

For a while our group had a single remote player, which was manageable although not ideal.  As a GM I found it difficult to engage with the remote player in the same way as with those players sat at the table.  It took an added level of mindfulness on my part to ensure that the Skype player received the same level of attention as everyone else, and I regret to report that I frequently failed in this endeavour.  At this point I should mention that our two players who have joined a session remotely have never made any negative comments about their experience, this is solely about how I feel because, as an only child, everything is about me.  

In an attempt to address this feeling of GM inadequacy I decided to run some sessions via Roll20, wherein everyone was a remote player.  I ran several sessions of two different games (Pathfinder and The One Ring).  Pathfinder had four players and used a fair number of Roll20’s features.  The One Ring had two players and used hardly any of the resources provided by the site.  To be sure, these were two distinctly different experiences but for one common element;  the remoteness of the interactions between players and GM left me feeling cold and detached from the game, incapable of developing an emotional connection to the players, characters and the story.  Such emotional content is paramount for me, whether I’m running or playing a game, so without that element I feel that I’m getting a fraction of what I want from RPGs and I may as well be playing on my PS4.       

All of which rambling leads to the point of this whiny post, which isn’t that I hate Roll20, Skype or any of the media that allow my fellow gamers to enjoy their hobby even if the group lives in different parts of the country, or indeed the world.  I applaud technology for bringing table-top RPGs into a modern and exciting era, but it’s not for me.  I will always want to sit down (or stand up) around a table with my friends when I game.  Our group is currently a little more dispersed than in the years when we had but one remote player, so I need to turn my mind to which games are best suited to a group comprising two players and one GM.  Perhaps more importantly I must consider what style of game will deliver the best experience for such a trio.  Stay tuned to read my ramblings on this very subject.