More Things We Need

From p. 7 of 4th Edition's chapter, How to be a DM, continuing what's needed to play D&D:

Miniatures: You need something to place on the battle grid to mark the position of each character and creature in an encounter. D&D Miniatures are ideal. These prepainted plastic figures are three dimensional representations of the actual people and monsters involved in the battle.

Rating: false

My apologies to those who adore these tiny models of characters and mythical beings, along with all those who spend thousands of hours on their adornment, and those who spend thousands of dollars on their possession.  At present, I have a daughter-in-law who is a true believer in the matter; I love her so there's no question I support her art and the choices she's making.  But we do not "need" miniatures to play D&D.  We don't.

Nor am I arguing the alternative here, that being images online.  I have argued that, but not today.  Truth is, marking the position of characters can be done with pencil, blobs of anything and dice.  Take glass beads, paint numbers or names atop them and there, done.  If you don't wish, you don't need to spend the money -- though thank the gods there are decent plastic figurines that are cheap; in my ancient grognardian days the cost of crappy lead figurines with poor casting was a horrendous price.

Buy miniatures if you like.  Don't feel pressured.  They won't make the difference between a good game and a bad one; and, in my experience, players who get just a little too much into miniatures tend to reflect character flaws that reveal themselves in all sorts of ways.  I like having a pretty miniature to depict my character; and, yes, I can appreciate the work as well as anyone.  When playing, however, the only thing I care about is where I am and that others can see that.  The paint job does not make the game for me.

Character Sheets: All the players need some way to record important information about their characters. You can use plain paper, but a character sheet photocopied from the one printed in the back of the Player’s Handbook is more helpful—or use the D&D Character Sheets product. Some players put their powers on index cards instead of their character sheets to make it easier to keep track of which ones they’ve used.

Rating: mostly true

My sole contention with the above is the belief that a character sheet is more "helpful" than plain paper -- but I admit this is probably true with regards to most campaigns and most people.  If the campaign is elementary, and the people unfamiliar with office work, so that everything on the character sheet is freely two-dimensional in scope, then I have no doubt that it's an effective tool to managing one's character.

Look at the wasted space!  Am I really expected to keep track of my hit points in this tiny little box, which will be nothing but a brown smudge after 15 combats?  And is this really enough space for my treasure?  Why is there this big space in the lower middle that contains information that can be simply memorized?  Along with other details like my spell save and spell attack bonus.  Is it so difficult for me to remember my class focus that it needs this big junky box?  Not to mention that I'm supposed to put features, feats, equipment and notes on less than a third of a page.

Those players I have who are still using pencil and paper take two strategies: they memorize every detail about the rules so they can get away with a tiny written word and the relevant number next to it, using every millimeter of the page.  Or they end up coming with an inch-thick folder or binder.  Usually, the first type relies on the second to keep the larger notes of the campaign: whose been met, who runs what town, where something is that we're not going after right now, my complete breakdown of where my equipment is scattered between horse, person, servant, house, shed, in the town vault, buried, sunk in the eel pond out back, lost in such-and-such a dungeon but we still know where it is and so on.  Not to mention that some of my players have reached name level and have up to forty retainers and henchmen, with complete stats on all of them.  And no, 40 character sheets doesn't work, because they all look the same.

Where is my artist player supposed to draw his character's image on this sheet?  I've seen players build up a book of sheets that look like a 15th century illuminated manuscript.  Don't tell me that "plain paper" isn't better.  Plain paper is more flexible, expansive and personal.  Pre-made character sheets, for all the effort taken to give them flourish, look like industrial stamping, without flair or -- yes I'll say it -- "character."  I've never seen one that didn't look like a mess, edge to edge, as the player is forced to cram notes on top of excessively black lines that make for an unfriendly tablet.

Hm.  That wasn't very positive.  Apologies.  Personal resentment.

Snacks: Snacks are not a necessary component of a D&D game, but they can be an important one. Food and beverages at the table help keep everyone’s energy up. If you start your game sessions in the evening after work or school, you might want to eat dinner before you play. You can get all the socializing out of the way while you eat, and hunker down for some serious dierolling once everyone is finished.

Rating: mostly false

Funny that the things the company sells, like miniatures, are "needed," but something the company has no stake in, like food the body needs to function, or hydration the brain needs to think, aren't necessary.  Yes, I can see that snacks "can be" important, and "help" keep up energy; I'm merely remarking on the context.

Dinner with a knife and fork would be inconvenient, but honestly I don't see why this needs explaining.  Most would be annoyed if your theatre's program said the play started at 8 p.m., and be sure to eat your dinner before you arrive.  We know how our bodies work.  The phrasing here is obviously filler and fairly condescending.

Let me be helpful.  Many players will bring energy drinks to games, largely because they've already had a long day and RPGs are heavily intellectual and require much motivation.  If your evening game is expected to last only three to four hours, energy drinks are fine; but with longer sessions, the energy-drink people will tend to punk out after ten o'clock, or drink so many that their mood becomes erratic and strained by eleven.

Fizzy drinks have more durability.  I used to drink down a two-litre coke with every session.  That sort of thing can lead to very easily controlled high blood pressure after 40 years, so be careful!  Later, I would drink a full pot of tea and, about the time I started this blog, it was two or three cups of coffee (house-sized cups).  In truth, the actual liquid is more important than the flavouring.  If you have a player who expresses that they're tired during a game, that is almost certainly dehydration they're unaware of.  I encourage them to take a small glass of water from the pitcher in the fridge, which is tasty and cold (I live in a city famous for the quality of its water).

Salt, sugar and oil snacks are fine, so long as everyone's young and it isn't daily fare.  Getting into my 30s, my wife and I moved toward more complex carbohydrates: crackers, finger sandwiches, cookies, homemade spanakopitas, corn biscuits, even digestives and such.  These things don't have to be made, they can be purchased, along with fruit, vegetable and cheese platters, treenuts, dried fruits and granola.  My partner Tamara usually mixes and matches, putting out popcorn, then vegetables, then potato chips, then fruit, and so on; my players will clean a platter about once an hour.  It's good to think about D&D like a trail hike, only for your brain instead of your feet.

Incidentally, so long as you're not broke, I think it's a DM's responsibility to make sure everyone is well-fed but not loagy.  My players will bring sufficient gallons of pop and juice.  On occasion, I've urged a hungry player to raid my fridge, for whatever might be there (sandwich, leftovers, a bit of lasagna and so on).

I have run games on light beer and even Guinness, but these are not particularly effective sessions.  For those who say "Don't drink and play D&D," fooey.  If I had guests over to sit around and gab, we'd drink.  RPGs are not operating heavy machinery -- and so long as no one drives home that shouldn't, I don't care if someone wants a glass of wine while we play.  We are, after all, adults.  Still, in moderation, and with water on the side, if any heavy thinking is desired.

Food and drink is absolutely necessary for gaming.  A responsible DM, like any host, should be aware of the guest's intake and comfort level.  It is only in this day and age, when we disparage people for using the wrong pronoun, is it going to far to write in a book that we have a duty to provide food so our guests don't starve or thirst.  It seems obvious that these things ought to have found their way into the text, rather than treating food as some dirty thing we get out of the way before we can play.

Computers, PDAs, Smart Phones, and Digital Cameras: If you own a laptop computer, a personal digital assistant (PDA), or a smart phone, you can use it to keep notes and track items instead of paper and pencils. Players can use their computers to store and update copies of their character sheet in a number of file formats, and you can keep notes about your campaign and encounters you’ve built. You can also use a digital camera as an easy way to keep track of a fight that you have to stop in the middle of. You just look at the picture to replicate the positions of the player characters and monsters to resume the battle. You could also snap pictures of the game in progress to post in your blog or website to share with members of the group or their friends.

Rating: so 2007

Is it just me, or does that last sentence sound ... um ... brand driven?  Hm.  Who knows, maybe it worked.  Maybe players facebooking their friends online drove the supposed resurgence of D&D in the 2010s.  My personal feeling is that there was never a decline.  D&D flies below the radar because it doesn't need marketing.

Anyway, yes, the above is all true.  You can definitely do these things.

D&D Insider: Finally, you can enhance your game with a subscription to D&D Insider (D&DI)—www. dndinsider.com—an online supplement to the penand-paper game. D&DI gives you a ready source of adventures, new rules options to try out, and an array of online tools to make your game go more smoothly. You can use D&DI to play D&D over the Internet, bringing friends scattered across the country or the world back together around a virtual gaming table.

Rating: ech

I despise self-promotion in products people have already purchased.  Then again, I didn't purchase this book, I ripped it off line, so maybe the WOTC has a right to advertise to me.

This series continues with The Truth About Fun