RPGaDay Challenge 2015 - Day 14

Um...er...dice?

Wait...do you mean a supplement or sourcebook, or something like miniatures?

What the hell man?!

Adam, are you still doing that RPGaDay Challenge thing? By Roddenberry man, that think is nuts this year.

I know! It's driving me batty. The 14th question is, "Favorite RPG Accessory".

You mean like, dice, or a GM screen? Is it asking about an add-on to the game?

Exactly! I have no idea. What should I do?

What are your fellow bloggers saying?

Barkley, you mangy, ever snacking cur, you're a genius!

Why thank you. I...hey. Mangy? I had a bath just last...hmmm. This planet of yours takes how long to go around its star?

Never mind. *Checks out other sites of bloggers doing the Challenge* I got this.

***

I don't have a favorite accessory. I don't know that I accessorize overly much.

Dice

I like dice. I do. I'm a gamer, and gamers like dice. At the same time, I don't need much more than I have, and my collection is probably considered comparatively small compared to most in the RPG hobby.

Most of the games I play use either D6s, or D10s, so I have no real need for too many full sets. I like artisan die, or novelty dice with a cool visual appearance, but dice that only work for a specific game like those designed for Fantasy Flight's Star Wars RPG are completely useless to me. Indeed, they irk me, and prevent me from giving that game my attention.

So, yeah, dice are great, but we need them. They can't be my favorite thing anymore than protein is my favorite part of my diet. Without it, the systems I use don't function.

Miniatures

Although I've collected minis (and painted them), bought action figures, models, and micro machine spaceships, I've never used miniatures too often during games. I actually find them to be more hindrance than help.

As my friends, and I began the hobby, not as older wargamers, but as kids into comic books, cartoons, TV shows, and movies, we became extremely good at visualizing the action in our minds. For us, imagining where we were, what we were doing, and how far it was from us to our opponent, or the object of our quests was practically instinctive.

I found that minis sometimes locked you down to a static position. You were where your mini was, and if you said, "I make a mad dash across the bar, and tackle the guy's legs," the GM, or another player would say, "but you're over there", and point at your mini.

Some players stop thinking about what they want to do, and where they want to go, and instead start thinking, 'where can I go?'

One of my two in-person groups, Dan's Group, uses them often, although more as a visual marker. There are no rules attached to the use of the miniatures, and they aren't connected to a 'grid', or any such non-sense.

Heroclix see a lot of use in Dan's Superhero homebrew, but we've never played a game of Heroclix. I don't think I have ever played it, but I have some 'cause they're cool little figurines of my favorite characters.

Gamemaster Screens

Bwahahahaha! Heh...oh...sorry...was that out loud?

I am sure at some point early on in my 38 years of gaming I GMed using a GM Screen. I probably stopped, oh, 35 years ago? I'm guessing here, but I can not rightly remember running a game where I used one.

Another item I don't really like, the GM Screen reminds me too much of the types of GMs who made me not want to be a player. There was a literal wall between us, as they sat behind their castle defenses peering out, and down upon the lowly peasant players.

Screw that noise.

I tend to run games with very few charts, and I have my notes hidden in a far less obvious place. My head. A GM Screen is not something I need.

Online Character Generators

Helpful, for those games that need them. Other than Champions, and M&M I don't play a lot of those games. The Traveller one I found a while back was cool though.

What else is there? Seriously, I can't think of anything.

My favorite accessory? Players, a table, and some chairs I guess.

AD
Barking Alien