Levels of realism in tabletop RPGs. This is a topic that I have always had to keep in mind during my times playing tabletops. While my experience is mostly in DND and Pathfinder, I have played a handful of other table tops, though not nearly as much. Which is why ill be talking about the difference between a campaign where things like weight, food, and sometimes even spell preparation doesn’t exist. The world of my homebrew. I don’t consider myself a professional DND player, nor do I even consider myself a good DND player. Most of the time whenever I run a small campaign with my friends, it is purely to have fun, and to us, things like that just get in the way. Most of the time we use tabletops to tell some sort of story more so than we use it to play a game. Because of this, we tend to bend of just simply break the rules to fit our own story. Typically we would make up our own spells, class and racial abilities, and even our own classes, that would just use the tables and charts of an existing class just to make things easier. The point I am trying to make is that you don’t need to know every single rule to have a good time with a tabletop. The point of them is to have fun, create some sort of persona, and generate your own feelings from it.
There has been quite a bit of research lately that is drawing a connection between playing tabletops and preventing, or at least deferring the effects of dementia. This and other forms of therapy have become a weirdly popular form for certain people. I believe that this is one of the most therapeutic things I have ever done in my life. Ironically enough, the most stressful and intense moments of any campaign have done more for me than anything else. I believe that with a strong sense of community and even a small group of friends can become an amazing force for good.
I am writing most of this because national table top day is going to be this Saturday, April 29th 2017. Geek and Sundry is a group of very talented individuals who have quite the amount of experience when it comes to tabletops. They are hosting this event which will have special live streams on their twitch page (I bet you can guess what their twitch is. Hint: it rhymes with Peek and Dundry). If you are in the Tempe area, there is a Barnes and Noble in Chandler Fashion Mall that is having an event for this, and geek and sundry also has an event locator for you on their website. I will provide a link below. So, grab your dice, maybe a mini or two and head on down to your local game shop for one of the best days I believe you will experience.
Event Locator: https://www.tabletopday.com/
