Longstanding Internet friend Matt Mason sent me this link earlier. For those too lazy to click, it’s an article about an app called Roll20 that is, so far as I can make out, designed for two main things: to facilitate online “remote play” of tabletop role-playing games between players who are scattered around the globe, and to support the “local” experience of those playing together in the same room by making the housekeeping and paperwork required for playing and running a tabletop role-playing game electronic.

It’s a good idea, and indeed many role-playing groups already use various electronic solutions to support their sessions, whether it’s simply firing up iTunes or equivalent to provide a musical backing to a dramatic encounter, or having an indexed, searchable copy of the rules on hand to save leafing through weighty tomes in the midst of what is supposed to be frantic combat.

The Kill Screen article is a little confused, so far as I can make out; it goes on to mention what it calls “Boardgamegeek-type board games” (with the implicit definition that these are things somewhat more complicated than entry-level fare like Ticket to Ride and Settlers of Catan) and suggests that an app such as Roll20 would provide an adequate solution to what a “pain” many modern boardgames are.

I can’t argue that there are certain games out there which are a bit of a pain at times. Stuff like Arkham Horror and Descent have so many cards, chits and tokens that it’s 1) difficult to keep the box organised and 2) rather time-consuming to set up and put these games away. Arguably, though, the setup and pack-away time is part of the experience: there’s the tactility of punching out all those tokens in the first place, and the satisfaction of laying them out in pleasing arrangements on the table during play — there are plenty of people out there who “pose” their game boards to make good photographs. There’s also something inherently satisfying about picking up and playing with physical items: slamming down a card in front of an opponent when you pull off a satisfying move; shuffling through a treasure deck to get your reward from a tough encounter; hoping that the deck of event cards will be kind to you this time around.

I also have mixed feelings about electronic versions of board games. It’s cool to be able to play many titles online with far-off friends, but the experience just isn’t the same, particularly when playing asynchronously. A single game of Ascension or Carcassonne can take weeks if you let it — and it’s very easy to let these things slide, even when they’re right there in your pocket on your phone — and it just ends up feeling more like work than fun, particularly if you have a number of games on the go at once. These days, if I’m going to play a board game, I want to do it face-to-face.

That doesn’t mean that apps like Roll20 don’t have a place, however. In fact, we’re already starting to see some interesting examples of technology being used to support — not replace — game components, the most notable of which is the upcoming board game adaptation of classic PC strategy game XCOM, which effectively casts an app in the role of the antagonist “player” or “game master”, deals with all the heavy lifting with regard to tracking things and provides suitably randomised elements for which no-one can complain that the decks of cards haven’t been shuffled well enough.

There’s scope for plenty of other types of things, too; the aforementioned Arkham Horror and Descent would both benefit enormously from phone or tablet character sheet apps, allowing players to keep track of their health, fatigue, equipped items, treasure and all manner of other things without having to gradually take over their corner of the table with cards, chits and all manner of other gubbins. Games like Mage Knight would benefit from their randomised elements being automated and made truly (or as near-as-dammit) random.

I’d never want to give up the physical element of board games altogether. But I think we’re starting to move into an interesting new era where traditional physical components and digital elements will come together to produce truly interesting experiences. I’m excited to give them a try.