Questions about playing while Visually Impaired
- Thread starter Itharus
- Start date
steve98052
Mongoose
One accommodation that I would suggest, if you're the game master, is to choose a style of play that emphasizes action where maneuvers and location are less important. Although Traveller is often played with a lot of combat, it's a game that also plays well with little or no combat.
There are a lot of worlds with high law levels, where weapons are banned, or uncommon and viewed with much suspicion. A bar brawl that might be resolved with the bouncer telling people to take it outside in a low law world could result in arrests in a high law world. If you're the game master, you can try to keep a lot of the adventure time on higher law worlds, and if player characters get into a fight, have them pawn cool possessions to pay lawyers to get them released with just a fine.
Of course, to make a low combat game fun, you need good low combat adventures. Investigations are good. 1. Was the patron's son abducted, or did he run away? If abducted, why? If for ransom, can a safe exchange be arranged? If he ran away, why, where did he go, and can he be persuaded to return? 2. Is there any merit to a story the patron found in his recently deceased mother's papers alluding to an unexplored Ancients site? 3. Is the military of a balkanized world's second largest power covering up a war crimes incident that might turn public opinion against its war with the world's sixth largest power? 4. Is a seemingly unprofitable colonization program diverting some of the would-be colonists to some horrible fate, such as enslavement, or conscription into military jobs too dangerous for a local military force's citizen soldiers? 5. Is a manager of a large public works project diverting funds meant for preventive maintenance to bogus subcontractors that are really whisking the funds to off-world accounts?
Of course, it's also possible to play out combats in ways that don't require a lot of maneuvering. Duels like the stare-down and quick-draw combat in a Western movie, the matched pistols a ten paces in a contest for honor, or a one-on-one bar brawl that doesn't escalate to involve the whole bar, are all pretty simple.
The ideas others have mentioned, such as miniatures boards with raised grids may also work, but they're likely to slow things down a lot if there are more than just a few combatants. You can make it more efficient if you have players who cooperate by helping you manage your NPCs, for example, "Unfortunately, it looks like your Thug#4 has a clear shot my character."
As a player, it may help to play characters who are less likely to get into combat, or possibly even a character who is blind. It could be a Vargr with such refined hearing that he's a combat monster in melee, easily taking down any foe who is within reach of his stun baton -- and maybe the blind Vargr is also a social skill master who can recognize everyone he or she has ever met, just from their scent across a crowded room, and can tell their moods by scent well enough to out-haggle almost anyone.
There are a lot of worlds with high law levels, where weapons are banned, or uncommon and viewed with much suspicion. A bar brawl that might be resolved with the bouncer telling people to take it outside in a low law world could result in arrests in a high law world. If you're the game master, you can try to keep a lot of the adventure time on higher law worlds, and if player characters get into a fight, have them pawn cool possessions to pay lawyers to get them released with just a fine.
Of course, to make a low combat game fun, you need good low combat adventures. Investigations are good. 1. Was the patron's son abducted, or did he run away? If abducted, why? If for ransom, can a safe exchange be arranged? If he ran away, why, where did he go, and can he be persuaded to return? 2. Is there any merit to a story the patron found in his recently deceased mother's papers alluding to an unexplored Ancients site? 3. Is the military of a balkanized world's second largest power covering up a war crimes incident that might turn public opinion against its war with the world's sixth largest power? 4. Is a seemingly unprofitable colonization program diverting some of the would-be colonists to some horrible fate, such as enslavement, or conscription into military jobs too dangerous for a local military force's citizen soldiers? 5. Is a manager of a large public works project diverting funds meant for preventive maintenance to bogus subcontractors that are really whisking the funds to off-world accounts?
Of course, it's also possible to play out combats in ways that don't require a lot of maneuvering. Duels like the stare-down and quick-draw combat in a Western movie, the matched pistols a ten paces in a contest for honor, or a one-on-one bar brawl that doesn't escalate to involve the whole bar, are all pretty simple.
The ideas others have mentioned, such as miniatures boards with raised grids may also work, but they're likely to slow things down a lot if there are more than just a few combatants. You can make it more efficient if you have players who cooperate by helping you manage your NPCs, for example, "Unfortunately, it looks like your Thug#4 has a clear shot my character."
As a player, it may help to play characters who are less likely to get into combat, or possibly even a character who is blind. It could be a Vargr with such refined hearing that he's a combat monster in melee, easily taking down any foe who is within reach of his stun baton -- and maybe the blind Vargr is also a social skill master who can recognize everyone he or she has ever met, just from their scent across a crowded room, and can tell their moods by scent well enough to out-haggle almost anyone.
I once had a blind player when I was DMing some play by post dnd game. They asked me to convert my image map to an excel file. Each cell was a map square, I did put the main terrain features (like change of elevation, walls, cover, etc) in those cells by directly writing it down. And then, I put the character names in cells where they were. I can't tell how the experience playing with that was, but the player seemed very happy with it. I imagine you could even play fleet battle combat, like this.
Limpin Legin
Cosmic Mongoose
Yes, the very nature of these games possibly makes them suitable for players with impaired visibility.
I know of one legally blind player and one colour blind player. I'm not blind, I just have take my glasses off to see the books and dice, and then put the glasses back on again to see people. I have done some GMing with these people.
I find most people (with any kind of medical issue) want space where they can be treated as "normal". Gaming can be such an opportunity. However, do ask them if they/you have any special needs, and try and provide for them/you, if necessary. Having large dice can help players with poor eyesight play games. Having high contrast colours on dice is also a benefit. I understand that tactile dice are possible. See:
Tactile Dice | RNIB
This pair of tactile and easy-to-see dice is ideal for sight or touch players.The high contrast raised black dots on a white background are both easy to see and easy to feel. The flat faces of the dice are also inset slightly so the dots won't interfere with your rolls!White dice with high...
shop.rnib.org.uk
Many PDF readers now have the capability to read text aloud. However, finding a PDF reader that allows you to adjust the reading speed is challenging. There are two aspects of speed to consider: the rate at which words are spoken and the length of pauses between words. A quicker pace results in a more fluid narration, while a slower pace of narration aids in distinguishing each word. Ideally, the pauses for new paragraphs should be longer pauses than those found between the words in the same sentence.
Traveller does have an audio version of the core rulebook, one adventure, and one campaign, available here:
Traveller: Core Rulebook Update 2022Streaming .mp3
This is Free Trader Beowulf, calling anyone… Mayday, Mayday… We are under attack… Main drive is gone… Turret number one not responding… Mayday… Losing cabin pressure fast, calling anyone… Please help… This is Free Trader Beowulf… …Mayday… Fully Updated and Revised. Traveller is a science...
audiorpg.net
All our players can see 28mm minis. If this is an issue, then why not go to a larger scale of model? Maybe that would mean using standees instead of minis, but it all helps.
Hope that helps.
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