Role RPG App Promises Pen & Paper Fun on Your Phone

StewShearerOld

Geekdad News Writer
Jan 5, 2013
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Role RPG App Promises Pen & Paper Fun on Your Phone


The San Francisco-based company The Soap Collective has released its free RPG app aimed at giving players a faster, easier and more convenient way to <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/tag/view/tabletop%20roleplaying?os=tabletop+roleplaying>role-play.

One of the biggest problems with <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/tabletop/columns/thegauntlett/12977-As-a-Dungeon-Master-Remember-These-Five-Rules>tabletop RPGs is the sheer amount of stuff they require. And I'm not just talking books, miniatures and dice, either. The knowledge it takes to run and even just play a pen-and-paper RPG can be absolutely daunting. Add in finding a space to play and time to get together with people and role-playing can become something of a pain in the butt to actually do.

Enter The Soap Collective.

Founded by Ian Hirschfield and Logan Dwight and based in San Francisco, <a href=http://www.thesoapcollective.com/about>The Soap Collective recently released a new iOS version of its <a href=http://www.roleapp.com/downloads/Role_Gameplay_Primer.pdf>RPG system Role. Designed specifically to serve as a faster and simpler alternative to other RPGs, the version in the new app version is even further streamlined to make it possible for any group of people to create characters, come up with a setting and start role-playing in a matter of minutes. "[Role] seeks to blend the imagination of games like Dungeons and Dragonswith the simplicity of party games like Apples to Apples," said the company in its press kit.

The app, which is being released for free, comes equipped with tools for character creation, skill management, dice rolling and leveling up. The basic game will also include a collection of pre-made characters and adventures, complete with artwork. Role will also come equipped with a special "Role" button that game masters can press if they find themselves in a narrative jam and would like a random story idea to get things moving. Players who enjoy the Role app can purchase extra character and adventure expansions for 99 cents each.

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Speaking personally as someone who loves a good role-playing session, Role sounds like a great idea. While some will never warm up to tabletop RPGs, for many the biggest obstacle is that daunting feeling that comes when you realize that the game you're interested in requires an textbook-sized rulebook to play. If Role can remove that obstacle and give new players a user friendly way to take their first steps into the deep waters role-playing, then more power to it.

Source: Tabletop Gaming News


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delroland

New member
Sep 10, 2008
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The system feels like a stripped down Numenara. Not that that's a bad thing; its more abstract nature just means that a GM and players will need to rely more on storytelling and creativity over rules.
 

Fasckira

Dice Tart
Oct 22, 2009
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Eh, I can see its appeal but I can't see it becoming an alternative to tabletop roleplaying. Like, a fun thing that you can do instead of (like for example how quite a few people at my local club play Ingress waiting for the club to start) but I wouldn't turn up for a roleplaying session and expect to play this.
 

Davroth

The shadow remains cast!
Apr 27, 2011
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I'm of the mind that only the GM really has to keep all the rules in his head. So basically this feel like the lazy person's GMing tool. As a GM myself I don't see the appeal. And making a, say, pathfinder character is not rocket science either. I don't know. There's already plenty of others RPG systems, from the complex to the simplistic. I don't see the point.

That said I know that phone apps will be the future for P&P so I can't fault them for trying.