Return to Tabletop?

OK, so - here I am, back from the...not dead (would that make me undead?).  Work sucks.  If I were independently wealthy, I'd have a lot more time to play.  And Blog.  Though I suppose that wouldn't mean I actually would do more blogging - or playing.  But I digress...

I used to play a bit of PnP D&D back in the day, but those days are long gone, since my playing buddies moved away some time ago.  Actually, we stopped playing before they moved away, opting to instead set-up a local, small network and play PC-based games such as the original Warcraft, Warcraft 2, and Starcraft.  We tried playing Baldur's Gate once, but since each player could interrupt* the actions of the others AND could affect their alignment**, it lasted all of 1-session.  Half-session...or less.

We also played another tabletop game called "Star Fleet Battles".  I still have the "Captains" (aka "Doomsday") edition rules - they fill (2) 4-inch, 3-ring binders.  I pull it out every now and then to show people whose typical reaction is disbelief.  Of course, you rarely - if ever - actually need all the rules, but it's still fun to show people.

More recently, I've played a tile-laying tabletop game called "Carcassonne".  Lots of fun, but it's been quite some time since I've played that, too.

Tabletop games are fun, but not necessarily easy to coordinate peoples schedules to gather in one place to be able to play them.

Ah, but for some games, there is solution - virtual tabletops (VTTs).  For some games, primarily RPGs, you no longer have to all be gathered into the same physical space to play - as long as everyone has access to the internet and access to the VTT of choice.

So it is possible that my tabletop gaming may not actually be completely over.  Guess only time will tell.



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* If you somehow got separated from your group and you were in the middle of a fight, and another person in your group started talking to an NPC, your fight was suspended and you had to sit there and wait for the NPC conversation to be over before you could do anything else.  Extremely annoying.

** If you were playing a (lawful good) Paladin and a member of your party - not you - did an evil act, you immediately lost your Paladin status and abilities and became just a fighter.  Similar could happen to a Ranger.  Not cool, man - not cool.