Day 9 of #RPGaDay2021 is " MEDIUM" and while I'm fine with middle of the road for many things, my preferred method of gaming is anything that gets the group together, which nowadays online gaming is dominating.
Monday nights (with one or two special events on holidays and weekends) have been my true lifeline to role-playing. I could barely imagine two hour sessions as a kid, but with real-life obligations it's a welcome respite, a "poker night" with the guys that I try to schedule my life around.
The compiled list below are all the sessions of various games that we've played, many sessions well before the pandemic.
- 75 D&D 5e games
- 17 BECMI D&D games
- 5 Call of Cthulhu games
- 2 Risus: COVID
- 1 Risus: Coffee Shop
- 4 Risus: IOU
- 2 Risus: Terraforming Mars
- 1 Lasers and Feelings
- 2 Star Trek (Modiphius)
- 55 Star Wars d6
Even converted to the 6-8 hour mega-sessions we used to do face-to-face once a month (if that) and it's a far better variety of gaming.
The Cons of online gaming?
MAPS: Even as the volunteer GM, I rarely have time to focus energy on maps and handouts. Maps improved a few complicated encounters and running gun battles, but they haven't been necessary in our most of out post-5e world.
I am the GM, I Wear the Viking Hat!: The original GM of the 5e game, Jeff, ran a fine campaign, with numerous storylines and lots of exotic flavor. He needed to take a sabbatical from his game, thanks to life problems, and as those problems evolved, he's left for an undetermined period of time as a player as well. That's left me as the primary GM of the remaining group, and if don't put the work in, nobody puts the work into Roll20. It's particularly frustrating to my motivation as a GM and I'd like to experiment with different things. Jeff was successful in getting two sessions of Star Trek to scratch that game off his list. I've gotten CoC, Risus, and Lasers and Feelings through them, but they were stripped down versions. Heck, the Star Wars d6 game usually runs closer to core Risus than my Risus games with them. Getting them to evolve into something different will be closer to evolution than adaptation, even if they're better than they give themselves credit for.
The Pros
Last Second Cancellation? No Problem!: The worst part of a 90-minute commute to one of our sessions was the potential for last-second cancellations of key players that come stymie the game I was specifically planning for. Even with a cancellation while we're all connected and ready to go can allow me a few seconds to change gears, if necessary, and break out one of the mini-campaigns like 90's Canadian College Cthulhu, RISUS: Illuminati University, Adventures in Gulluvia with D&D, or even a COVID-themed game.
The Hoyce and the Hackmaster Dream: The biggest coup of this past year was getting our college friend, Hoyce, to join the group, ultimately as a replacement for Nate, we departed due to life choices, positive and negative. Hoyce has been a breath of fresh air with the group, and a new source of interactions with the characters. Of course, if I can get Hoyce to join, can I get the rest of the Burning Trogs together to at least start my Hackmaster reunion game, which started nearly twenty years ago, this upcoming September? It's certainly still a pipe dream, but I've been a bit more aggressive with notes to the former players about getting together (and about the open invitation I've given them to the Star Wars game... the more the merrier!)
There's a chance still this summer for a face-to-face game with the (relative) locals, but "life" and delta variant concerns among players with incomplete vaccinations seems to keep us online.
For now, I'm fine with that.
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