I'd like to focus on what effect COVID-19 has had on the tabletop games hobby for this post.
Conventions -
AireCon went ahead. I opted against going, asthmatic and all that.
Conpulsion has been cancelled.
UK Games Expo has moved to the August dates for Tabletop Scotland (in consultation with us).
GenCon is hanging in there but I have serious doubts it'll go ahead or more accurately if I'll be able to get there. Given the impact on the airline industry there might not be a flight for me to get on.
Tabletop Scotland has re-scheduled to the 10th & 11th October.
Glasgow Games Festival date hasn't been announced yet but I expect they'll be mid-November as usual.
Game Stores -
If there was ever a time for you to support brick & mortar game stores, now is that time.
You can support by contacting them to see if you can buy stuff and get them to post it out to you.
As well as being employers, these businesses are crucial to the community they serve. If you can't support them financially ask them how you can help and encourage others to do the same.
Here's a list of the Scottish based brick & mortar stores that we compiled for Tabletop Scotland 2019.
Community -
This hobby is all about socialising with others whilst playing games and when that ability to socialise is limited or even removed entirely it can be very difficult.
I've never been in a situation like this before and whilst I know that between my family and other things I can keep myself busy and entertained, I will miss playing games and socialising with others.
So how does someone tackle that?
Play online. Get organised as a group and get online together. If you meet up at the same time every week or fortnight then try and get people to do the same but online. It won't be the same but it will be better than not doing it at all. It's not something I've done but it is something I will explore.
RPGs -
Wizards Of The Coast recently published this article - https://dnd.wizards.com/articles/remote - and whilst it's Dungeons & Dragons centric it's useful in general for all RPG players and those looking to explore that.
In there they mention Roll20 and Fantasy Grounds as well as chat/video tools like Discord, Zoom and Skype. It's worth noting that there are other online RPG platforms like Astral and D20Pro which offer similar functionality to Roll20 and Fantasy Grounds. Try them out and see which one works best for you.
Update - Chaosium have also published an article - https://www.chaosium.com/online-gaming-getting-started/
Board Games -
There are several options here and I won't list them all mainly because I'll end up forgetting something. So here's 5 I found whilst searching online -
- Board Game Arena - https://en.boardgamearena.com/
- Tabletopia - https://tabletopia.com/
- Yucata - https://www.yucata.de/en
- Happy Meeple - https://www.happymeeple.com/en/
- Tabletop Simulator - https://www.tabletopsimulator.com/games
Whilst many of these RPG & Board Game online platforms have free versions be aware that their services are seeing huge spikes in players and that by buying a license, not only are you getting more functionality, you're enabling the companies involved to provide a better service overall. So if you can, do.
Closing out this post I hope everyone stays safe and well over the next few weeks and months. Let me know how you're dealing with this exceptional circumstance and get in touch if I can help.
Oh and WASH YOUR HANDS!
