Monday, August 13, 2012

Embrace the 21st Century and all its technological wonders / RPG apps? Yes please

The new game by Monte Cook, currently being Kickstarted via the link below, comes with an Android/iPhone app to assist with character creation and gameplay.

How good is that?!
And how... Unusual.

RPGs have been flirting with electronic and online play aids for years now, from virtual game boards to dice rollers, from PDF rulebooks to NPC generators.
I have tried out a number of different RPG apps for my Android phone, yet none have been official.
Not that I wouldn't buy an official app, I've just not seen one.

This is the thing... I don't get why there aren't any official apps out there.
I'd buy them. My gaming group would buy them. Apps are usually cheap, and they save a helluva lot of space. I just need my phone, not a bag o' stuff.

I would explicitly pay for any of the following official apps from White Wolf, Pelgrane Press, Paizo, WotC and the indie game press:

Virtual character sheets
Character generators
Dice rollers
Resource managers - Initiative / Health / Items
Rules and quick references
NPC generators
Campaign trackers

I think there's a market for this stuff - if there wasn't, then there wouldn't be so much fan material available - and I think that RPG publishers are missing a trick.

Numenera: A new roleplaying game from Monte Cook by Monte Cook — Kickstarter


2 comments:

  1. Game publishers have had a mixed response with online tools. Often 3rd parties have made better tools than the publishers. Small publishers are hindered by the skillset available and the fact that they are focused on producing game material. WotC is limited by legal and political influence from their coprorate parent Hasbro.

    I think we'll see more as time goes on, and we'll see the offerings getting better.

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    Replies
    1. Hopefully people will start using Kickstarter stretch goals to fund these apps.

      I understand the point about skill sets. I wouldn't have a clue how to create an app.
      I do, however, know people that could.
      I guess I hear a lot about how the RPG business market has changed, and how publishers and creators have to adapt to New business models, but this invariably means PoD / PDF, not innovation or emerging markets.

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