Scrying Device
I’m sure Fighter will participate once the fighting starts. Unfortunately, since he didn’t listen to the quest hook he’ll wind up depleting half the population of the local orphanage by the time he realizes those aren’t halfling vampires.
You’ll see these bad habit threads pop up from time to time, but for me there’s only ever one answer to the question, “What annoys you about your players?” We all check our phones from time to time, and with dice roller apps, digital character sheets, and your entire campaign wiki available at the push of a button, technology definitely has a place at the table. I swear to God though, if you don’t put your phone away and play the damn game I’m going to throw dice at your face. It’s no big deal if you’re answering the occasional text, but if there’s a delay of game because you’re playing Flappy Bird with headphones in, you’re going to have a bad time.
The only other thing I’ll say is that, weird as it is to my extroverted self, there are people out there who don’t like RP. They feel awkward, get stage fright, or derive their enjoyment from dice chucking rather than improvisational acting. And if you’re one of those people, no worries. I’m happy to have you at my table. Enjoy hanging with your friends, building cool characters, or painting minis. However you get your gaming jollies, that’s cool. But no matter how you enjoy the game, you shouldn’t ruin it for others. I mean, you wouldn’t stare at your phone while sitting in the front row of a play, right? Well then why would you do that to your buddies?
How about the rest of you guys? Anybody out there ever have to fight an encounter against Android?
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Easiest solution is the “stack of phones, first one to answer/grab their phone pays the tab” approach to going out with family/friends.
i.e., stack up the phones, have fun, and if you fail your Will save, be prepared to pay for the pizza and beverages.
Caveat: occupational requirements are exempt. But, to be fair, most people with such requirements are the best about not having their phone shoved up their nose.
Bonus: The “stack your phones” method also saves prep time for your Dread game!
Yeah, especially with D&D Beyond getting more and more improvements. I just make sure to turn my ringer off and/or stick to my laptop and the DDB site.
You’ve got a strong will than I! If there’s a screen open in front of me, I’ll check in quickly on Facebook or Handbook or whatever other social thingy I’ve got, alerts or no. I find cold turkey easier.
It’s definitely a tough one. The real issue in my experience isn’t actually cell phones, it’s keeping all the players’ attentions. I know my dad has a bit of a bad reputation in his gaming group that when it’s not his turn in fight’s he tends to sit back and close his eyes until it comes around to him. He’s so teased for it by his buddies that way back when in the late 80s-possibly-early-90s when one of his friends professionally wrote a module for the Call of Cthulhu tabletop they based the night janitor at the insane asylum it took place in off my dad and including in the guy’s stat block ‘falling asleep on the job’.
It was all in good fun and that particular bit of teasing is actually one my dad tends to tell as a funny story himself, but I think it also shows that the cell phones themselves aren’t really the problem (they don’t help, but they’re just a new iteration of something that’s always been lurking in the background). In highschool I know I occasionally was a bit of a problem child with keeping focus because I’d sit back on my cell phone or find something to distract myself with if my character wasn’t actually present for some reason (our Exalt Circle had a bad habit of splitting the party to chase multiple leads or when questioning an areas inhabitants over Recent Assorted Suspicious Circumstances) and my friends were usually at least a little exasperated at having to re-sum things up for me out of character whenever the party got back together and they wanted to info-dump and in-character handwave telling each other whatever Plot Useful Information they’d discovered separately.
On the other hand, as someone with chrinic insomnia and (at the time untreated) sleep apnea it legitimately helped me stay awake at the table to have something to focus on, and I’ve had at least two friends/players for whom having their cellphone out and in-hand helps their ADD and focus issues and while occasionally as GM I’ve had my worried ‘did you catch that?’s directed at them it actually genuinely helps to keep them engaged in scenes or at times when they’d otherwise be having trouble focusing.
Definitely not a situation with nearly as easy an answer as people would like to think.
In the end, my policy is to trust my friend to know what they need to help keep focused and what genuinely distracts them, and if they start becoming disruptive because we have to go back over things for them I’ll take them aside for a one-on-one talk about if they really do need/can game with their cellphone and if they feel engaged in the campaign or if something needs to change – be it character or just having their cellphone in hand – for them to be interested in being active participants.
Come to think about it, digital sheets would improve my game greatly.
Normally I don’t play with my phone unless I’m really bored, and if I am, it’s GM’s fault. And other’s fault for keep picking that guy to be GM all the time, when literally anyone else can do better,
When the game drags it can be rough. Still, I think it’s best policy to double down on your own energy and try to inject some life back into a dull session. Players don’t control nearly as much as a GM, but it is possible to make your own fun.
I’m in the uncomfortable position of enjoying role-playing but also being awkward and sucking at improv. What did I do in a past gaming life to deserve that combination of taste and talent?
You may suck at improv, but you don’t inherently suck at improv. That mess is a skill, not a talent, and skills can be learned. In the words of a certain wise old sage:
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