#RPGaDay2021 - Day 21 - Simplicity

It's Day 21 of #RPGaDay2021 and I'm a bit bummed that I could have used today to talk about my Challenge Challenge from Day 1, but "SIMPLICITY" is just too easy.

Last month my wife and I finally had a night out for a fancy function.  One of her co-workers was had gotten married during 2020, and it was finally time to have a large-ish outdoor reception with all the accoutrements.  There was dancing, there was drinking, there were spouses tossed into the pool.  A good time was had by all.  

Somewhere between the passable dinner and the numerous pastries driven in that morning from New York City, was a conversation between my wife's co-worker, Chris and myself.   Chris had discovered from my wife that I was a gamer, and a relatively old-school one at that, and talked my ear off on a number of topics.  

The part that interested me the most was the group of guys he was playing with online.  Their 5e game had many parallels with our Monday night game, with one notable exception: There was drinking at the virtual table.  

Not the occasional beer I've been known to quaff, but heavy college level binge drinking, which makes anything past the second hour... messy.  Even with online character sheets that can calculate most rolls, Chris acknowledged that 5e was too complicated for the drunken lushes, so he had needed to peel back the rules and advanced character (and monster) abilities and run a much more simplified game for them.  It was simple rolls, a handful of easily referenced bonuses (re: ability score), and sort of flying-by-the-seat-of-his pants GMing.

Chris was a little worried that I wouldn't approve.  All I could give him was a simple "Att-boy" and "Well done."  

Work with what you have, so if the rules need to be pare them down, then do so.  If you play with drunks, gauge the session to fit your group's condition. 

And if you do have rules lawyers, try to get them completely blitzed in the first hour, so they can't remember a thing.  Your other players will thank you, unless they're giving the Rules Lawyer a ride home.