FISCHER: Roll for initiative
By Travis Fischer, tkfischer@charlescitypress.com
It’s been a long time since I’ve played a tabletop RPG.
I’ve never been a huge player of this particular style of game, but at various points over the years I’ve been involved in different campaigns of games like Dungeons and Dragons or Shadowrun. It’s a good time, gathering around with friends, or at least mutual acquaintances of friends, and spending an evening alternating between doing group improv storytelling and a lot of math which, now that I think about, really does make it the nerdiest possible pastime.
Sadly, it’s harder and harder to get in on a campaign these days. The people I use to play with are scattered to the winds and setting up multi-hour drives on a consistent basis for an in-person gathering just isn’t feasible.

The public library does occasionally do a Saturday D&D campaign. Unfortunately, my particular schedule makes attending even a one-shot session difficult as I generally have work to do on Saturdays.
Work like writing this column about how hard it is to find time to play tabletop RPGs.
Fortunately, we have the internet and “Baldur’s Gate 3.”
In addition to being an overall incredible video game, the Dungeons and Dragon’s-based game has online co-op capability, allowing fellow real world adventurers to join your game.
I have two friends who also have “Baldur’s Gate 3” and have, independently, proposed a co-op campaign. No need to drive to a different county. No need to worry about hosting a get-together. It should just be a simple matter of logging on in the comfort of our respective homes and playing the game.
I’ve never run a game on my own, but how hard could it be to coordinate three people to play a game online?
As it turns out, hard.
I was naïve about how much removing the need for an in-person gathering would impact the overall challenge of trying to schedule such an ordeal. While the internet does make possible something that would otherwise be completely unfeasible even without having to consider travel, trying to get just three people on the same page has been more of a challenge than I expected.
I had to make a Google Form questioner for it, asking everything from what their preferred availability is to how much they want to role-play in the game.
Of course, half of their responses were diametrically opposed to each other. One wants light role-playing and a fourth party member. The other wants heavier role-playing while sticking with three people.
Instead of them just inherently being on the same page with each other, now I have to figure out how to split the difference between them while also coming up with a schedule that threads the needle of the small overlap in their availability.
Oh, and I have to make it work for me, too, in the process.
How do people do this? How did people ever do this?
I have a newfound respect for anybody that’s ever managed to put together a group of five or six people and get them to regularly attend a game. It’s not as easy as it sounds.
— Travis Fischer is a news writer for the Charles City Press and is glad that he at least doesn’t have to buy snacks for the group.
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