i was wondering if anyone at FFG had given serious notion to incl. player aids in a pdf or such format? i am going to run L.O.T.E next thursday and as many times before, in Pan only knows how many rpg's, i'm annoyed.. annoyed about the fact that (to get the best game session going) i have to photocopy numerous pages from the book and send them by snailmail to each player so as to optimize the gaming experience.. for instance, the gazetter to footfall would have been a great asset for my players to have read up on before gaming (so as not to loose valuable gaming time( having to read it out loud or having 5 players reading it out seperately on gameday sucks!)) how complicated would it really be for FFG to incl. a cd with all relevant player material for easy printing or mailing in their already quite expensive products? i mean, having lived in the maw sector for most if not all of their lives pc's know stuff, why then do i have to loose precious session atmosphere in telling them pages of stuff (and having them write notes) that they'll propably forget shortly after? c'mon FFG, its only a friggin cd (or a coded webpage!) and it'll help out keepers and players gettin the best out of an evenings gaming! what's your (fellow keepers) take on this ? are you as annoyed as i! how did you divulge the footfall gazetter (amongst many subjects) information to your players? also, though most of my friends are xpert computernerdlings and we've our own web pages set up for inter session gaming xtravaganza such as plotting with the keeper, keeping track of advancement, party journal, etc etc why haven't any gaming company picked up on this? it is certainly a vital part of my group of friends rpg enjoyment and helps keep the roleplaying session strictly about roleplaying and removes most amounts of bickering about pedantics n'such???

Ave Kallisti!

! : ?

! : ? said:

I understand your pain to some degree; this is why the Game master is the Game master because he does a good deal of work during the off days of the games to make them pleasurable

As for your group not being able to have the book or you having to photocopy the things you want. If you have access to a computer (I'm assuming you do as you are posting here) Use Microsoft word or any other word processing program to write out the sections that you want them to read out and give it to them as they show and start getting ready for the game OR you can give it out the week before or you can email the typed out file as a Read only file (So the player can't change things) to their email address.

It comes down to (In my opinion) a GM putting time and effort into the game that they are running, The GM needs to overcome obstacles like players living a long distance away, Or not having dice because they forgot them on the table at home.

All in all search, and dig for the information that is out there. There are a lot of gaming aids on http://www.darkreign40k.com/

sure i understand your point and that is how ive been gming for the last 20 so yrs but i just find it silly that after 20 yrs of gaming evolution no one has seriously tackled that problem.. i think of it like,, if i want to buy a a kitchen i could either go to the hardware store and pick up all essential components and then go home and tinker for a month,, or i could go online and order a prepacked, easy to assemble, full serviced one from IKEA or something,, why do gms still have to slave for a good time when gamedevelopers could so easily do something about it!!? know, if i owned a scanner some of my problems might be taken care off, i don't! many dms don't! your whole idea of copy/writing entries in word is simply insane once you exeede more than 2 pages of R.T background info ! also color photocopying 10 or so pages times 5 and then sending them to players is expensive in the long run.. i'm all about putting time and effort into dming, but that T & E should be focused on expanding on the roleplaying experience not on doing what a serious gaming company should have already taken care off! wouldn't you/you all prefer just buying a luxurious package deal than spending hour cooking up some homemade stuff? also, think of all the other possibilities of having a followup cdrom,, background musick, pictures, comp handouts etc etc....

oi oi and thanx for your reply!

! : ?

2nd Edition DnD used to have player handouts regularly. They worked good. Best way to do it these days is probably downloads or cd in the back of the book to print out handouts. They help greatly. It takes a bit of work, but you can make your own. But then like has been said. It's sometimes led to me not running games because I put so much effort into making handouts that it feels like too much work. The downloadable content that is here is great and helps a lot. Typing it into the computer is my favorite way of doing things these days. If I lose it I just print another. Takes time, but works great.

What player aids are you after? I have typed up the movement, close combat, ranged combat and miscellaneous actions for PCs. As well as some for ship movement, extended actions etc. I'm not our games GM but I like to help out if I can as only the GM and I own the books. If you want those I can email them to you.

i wasn't really thinking of that kind of aid "Craig", the ones you've mentioned are quite easy to manufacture and most are anyway covered by the gms/player screens or the usage of minies in the game,,, what i was thinking of was "text" aids for players such as a pdf version of the gazetter to footfall on page 8-12 of L.O.T.E,, also having all pictures, handouts and npc statlines etc etc in pdf sure would help alot,, in fact, what i basically want is a pdf version of the adventure to come along with the hardback copy,,,, it must be somehow possible for a serious gaming company to create this and not get screwed by datacopying thieving rasckals!

if there are any gametesting dm/players reading this message board,, what are your take on this?

oi!

! : ?

I do like the History of the Expanse and the Achievement Point Tracker.

I think you have a good idea but it might be more feasable for a small "mom & pop" kind of company to produce than for a large company. I like some of your ideas but I'm not sure they have enough overall appeal to warrant the investment, at least not for a company that needs to sell hundreds, if not thousands of units. A small outfit may be able to produce the material you're suggesting and only need to sell a few dozen units to warrant the time.

One thing I've noticed is that gamers are very picky about "accessory" products. Some like minis and maps, others don't. Producing some of the things you mention might make players feel like they have to play the game a certain way. Heaven forbid that it looks like your RPG may have any trappings of a board, card, or miniature game! Just look at forums dedicated to Warhammer Fantasy (3rd edition) or D&D (4th edition). Huge consumer back-lash because the company is "telling me how to play" and "turning an RPG into a [cardgame/boardgame/minis-game/MMO]."

That being said though, I personally would love to see some products like those you mention. Perhaps if there really is the market for this type of thing someone should produce it.

That gives me an idea...