More possible applications of the wireless e-reader to the RPG form:

The ability to sell subscriptions to an self-updating ebook (or simply one in which continued service is a selling point for the original purchase) would, if the category truly takes off, offer huge creative opportunities.

This wouldn’t be confined merely to rule books that errata themselves automatically over time. You could, for example, provide a setting sourcebook where content changes over time to create a sense of a dynamic reality within the game world. There are pitfalls to avoid here: you don’t want to create a game experience where the PCs are relegated to a spectator role, standing by and watching as changes occur to the setting. The temptation to “push” a story arc onto play groups would have to be tempered with entry points allowing each GM’s play group to retain centrality of narrative in their own games. If deftly handled, though, this sort of thing could increase gamer’s sense of connection to a world. The arrival of a new update becomes a rewarding between-game activity, like character creation and advancement, reinforcing the fun of the hobby when the players are off on their own. Players currently unable to meet in person might be kept wired in by following events in an evolving world, as the RPG equivalent of closet drama. Heck, maybe it’s time to go back and dust off the TORG paradigm, using the interactivity of a wireless reader to allow each group’s in-game actions to shape the evolution of the setting.





A trippier, more artsy application of the same concept would be an ever-shifting reality that updates itself seamlessly, so that passages of description you thought were there are suddenly replaced by whole new details. The more play sessions you miss, the further the setting mutates on you before you can get back to it. Keeping up with the evolution becomes part of the challenge of the experience.

Both of these ideas are seductive from a publishing point of view because they provide incentives for players to purchase setting material, always an elusive holy grail of the RPG biz.

Instant impulse purchases offer huge opportunities for micro-products, to be purchased at the gaming table, as needed. So your players went off in a direction you didn’t anticipate, and now you need a set of ship plans and stats for a pirate crew, right this minute? Boom, hit the button, pay three bucks, and you’ve got them. Need an encounter with goblins and lava? Hit the search engine, pick the company you trust, pay a buck and a half, and zing, you’ve got your goblins and your lava. Do you need a great write-up on the Golden Dawn, with plot hooks already built-in? Beam down an affordable e-pamphlet from the vast line of Ken Hite mini-opuses.

Preparation now becomes something you can buy—and ergo, a commodity that designers can sell.

(Apologies if I’ve hit this one topic too incessantly this week. I promise not to have any more ideas about it, and to go back to the usual mix of topics from here on out...)

Tags: e-readers, gaming hut, publishing, tech

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