After some not so satisfying attempts, I’ve decided to stop playing online, so now I mostly play at conventions, which changes my setup since I have to support playing in public space with people who maybe haven’t played any RPG before.
So, the most important thing is the dice box, a wooden box with about four full sets of dice plus some random extras. For the same reason, I also bring extra pencils and erasers. I also bring some spare paper sheets for maps, scribbling, whatever. I’ve tried using a dry eraser mat, but I find paper which I can rip or fold at need more comfortable.
The most important thing is my old Asus tablet, which I use to load PDFs, which I find more comfortable to access for random information. Character sheets, maps and such always come in paper and multiple copies. If the module/ruleset I’m running is small enough, I print it out in one or more copies to leave to the players if they want to bring them home.
But the secret tool is a tourist guide’s speaker and microphone set-up my father used for teaching. I’m planning to buy a longer cable so I can place it at the center of the table even on bigger tables. It’s really useful when playing in loud places, because it allows me not to lose my voice and my players to still hear me.
It’s basically a small speaker with a microphone (this one comes with different microphones too, but I only pack the one I find most comfortable). You can hook it at your belt, I think it has some kind of band to carry it, but the most comfortable way to use it is to put the speaker at the center of the table, so it’s as close as possible to everyone (and the players comfortably form a barrier to reduce noise coming from outside).
I think there’s probably a Bluetooth version if don’t want to deal with cables, but I’ve been using this for the past year without much issue (it’s a bit older than that, though).
This is solo, so slow as fuck. Plus it’s mostly a thorough test of Radiance (and explanation how it works) as a solo engine – I’m posting about it here, so far 6 parts: Test Run With the Radiance Adventure Engine 6
I will consider posting something about Cartel here – the game has surprised me a bit and I’m quite a bit more positive about it than before I started.
I’d love that, Per. It’s a very interesting game, and one I have played once or twice and run once; I’d like to get into it some more and see what I can do with it. I have a feeling it’s a bit limited in places but there are also many things about it I really like.
I’d love to chat about it and/or play, or discuss ways to set it up and see it through.
Seat placement is my main concern. I also like to replace pencils by color pencils. I always use white or color A4 sheets (notes, doodles, fold-cut into makeshift index cards, communal references)
In my gaming bag, I also have a leaflet about playing with people with hearing problems, safety leaflets, a handful of weird dice, another of colored mini d6, another of tamarind seeds as tokens, and a deck of cards.I have various dftq decks, and folders in my starter bag, mostly one page games I can explain in under 3 minutes, ordered by accessibility and length. I have 2 other bags, one for for “the hard stuff” (long, intimate, etc.) and one with copies of my games for sawing at conventions and sidewalk libraries.
And when I can, I buy food and drink for the moment to be even more pleasant.
Usually I take out a handful of games to propose a la carte, and I reorder them when I’m back home, pushing some up or down the “pile”.
For virtual table I use Miro, with cards pdfs, rules, etc. laid out and a big picture of the game as a signpost so people know where to zoom. We add photos of places and people as we go. We also play with music, not always, with a YT link on play2gether in the background. I like when it sometimes informs play, else I don’t really care about it.
