Thread 96764488

How would you do a fishing minigame in tabletop?

No, seriously. Have you ever tried to put in a mini game into your tabletop game where it's just mostly there for the players to engage and relax in whenever they feel like it? I'm not sure if there's a way to do this, and I'm wondering if this is a strange artifact of tabletop being inferior to video games, or if I'm just not clever enough to think of it.

>>96764488 (OP)
Use that kids magnetic fishing game. It'll probably get a few laughs

>>96764511
This.

I wouldn't because I don't think mini-games are appropriate in a multi-player context. A single player can just dip in and out as they please, but a group has to manage different people who may or may not want to play. Also context switching is going to be more expensive.

>>96764710
I can see it be done in a fun quick mini-game type of game while other people are doing things. Like say someone spending time crafting weapons, brewing potions, hunting, cooking, etc.

>>96765010
If it's just a quirky way to resolve a specific task then maybe. But players aren't characters, so crafting and the like needn't be time consuming for the former just because it is for the latter. And if they're spending time looking through rule books making decisions they might as well do it at home on their own rather than making everyone else find ways to amuse themselves while they wait.

>>96765010
>I can see it be done in a fun quick mini-game type of game while other people are doing things.
I guess it is not too dissimilar from giving the players encrypted text or some kind of dungeon puzzle.

That said, I would argue even that is usually bad idea. It is different game than what we came here to play, and it is not guaranteed the players will enjoy it. It is also hard to calibrate difficulty of these things.

So, in my opinion, the negatives overweight the good. Might work okay if you tailor these challenges to your players, but it is not universally good idea.

Why would you want to put a mini game inside a ttgame?
Mini games in vidya are specifically designed to increase play time (waste time) to increase value of the game to consumers. Some do it better than others but thats the intention behind mini games. There's no reason to want to pad out play time in a TT game with a mini game considering the rulebook probably already has rules for any kind of thing youd already want to do.

>>96764710
When you have adult players with functioning attention spans you don't have to worry as much about keeping everyone constantly stimulated and engaged all at once. It's ok for one or two players to be doing something and another two to not, for some few minutes.

>>96764488 (OP)
>Have you ever tried to put in a mini game into your tabletop game where it's just mostly there for the players to engage and relax in whenever they feel like it?

We just play a boardgame instead.

>>96764488 (OP)
>How would you do a fishing minigame in tabletop?
I wouldn't.
>Player wants his character to fish
Cool, roll a d20 and add survival or some other appropriate skill modifier
>Player 'I rolled low/medium/high"
Cool, you fail to catch a fish/catch a couple of small fish/catch a bunch of fish including one fat ass carp.
Done.

>>96768810
Holy Toledo.
If the rest of your session is as shitty and low effort as your attempt at variety here I do not envy your 'players'.

>>96769194
The plot/game doesn't revolve around fishing retard.

>>96769214
God I would hope not, because you're fucking shite at it according to that post.

I extrapolate from that example though that it goes kinda like this:
>player wants his character to do X
Cool, roll a d20 and add ___ or some other modifier
>Player 'I rolled low/medium/high'
Cool, you fail/succeed slightly/succeed bigly

WOW!

Why do zoomers feel to need to try and cram every video game concept into ttrpgs instead of just playing video games?

>>96769236
Depends on the scenario, but when it comes to down time fishing, yeah I'm probably not wasting much time on it.

>>96764488 (OP)
if you have an entire party of fishermen I could imagine making notes on each area about what fish (or other things in the water, probably meaner than fish) could be fished up, mixing together both real fish and ones you made up for extra worldbuilding

>>96764488 (OP)
If my players want to fish, I'll make fish tables for the setting. Then a skill check for casting the rod, then I'll roll on the fish table. Then, an opposed series of grapples against the fish to reel it in.

>>96769259
And so the important thing you're wasting time on is-- combat I presume?

>player wants his character to attack
Cool, roll a d20 and add modifier
>Player 'I rolled low/medium/high'
Cool, you fail/succeed. Roll damage

That's why I said what I said. If you can't even be arsed to do anything besides rote
>roll, add, you win/lost
on something as simple as fishing during 'downtime' (btw this is a shitty, video-gamey way to parse portions of a TRPG game that attributes value to some and less to others when really the whole should be taken together as one instead of cut scene to scene) then why would you do anything more than that during the portion of the game that is literally just that mechanically.

If Fighter wants to roll some low pressure dice and engage in the world and environment and maybe some character building chance and you're meeting it with an attitude that it's wasting time and here's the bare minimum mechanics- you're cooked.

>>96769329
>And so the important thing you're wasting time on is-- combat I presume?
It's generally plot

>>96769358
Alright, well I'm done scolding you anyways.

>>96769431
I just think minigames in TTRPGs are retarded, especially for some shit like fishing. Wish people would stop trying to make Role playing games more like video games. That's how you end up with 4th Edition.

>>96764488 (OP)
The friendly fishermen you encountered at the beach is actually the reincarnation of a sea god who unknowningly is preparing for the ultimate battle with his ancient nemesis whom he must fight eternally.

The cultist who worship the ancient devil fish seek to sabotage the fisherman and the secret cult who worship the sea god need your help to make sure the fisherman arrives at the point where the battle is to take place where he will remember his purpose and transform.

>>96764488 (OP)
Roll to fish. If success, roll on the fish table, if failure roll on the amusing garbage table. If it's a natural 1, roll for initiative.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhLebtQU3x8
Fishing is a noble and Christian occupation

>>96764488 (OP)
I wouldn't, because fishing is fucking boring. The only thing that could possibly be more boring that fishing, is sitting on my ass while some OTHER motherfucker fucks around wasting everybody's time with a stupid fishing minigame.

>>96768561
Isn't the purpose of a mini game to provide levity from the regular action of the game while also providing the effect of immersion? Wasting time seems like a ludicrous claim considering 99.9999% of mini games are entirely optional.

>>96768810
The bigger problem the other anon hasn't addressed that you're failing at is you're essentially just conceding that video games are ultimately the better value of time.

Video Game:
>Player: "Oh, hey, a fishing game. That's kinda cool, I could go for some fishing."
>Game: Great, here's this incredibly involved intricate game the developers spent half a year playtesting and adjusting with deep mechanics, great atmosphere, and small rewards and a game-within-a-game to catch the big secret fish with the secret lure that we put out behind ANOTHER mini game we hid here that you have to use a oft-forgotten mechanic to access <- This is all actually in OP's picture.
>Player: Spends literally hours, if not days, playing this and unlocks a hobby in real life for him.

You:
>Player: "Oh, hey, a fishing game. That's kinda cool, I could go for some fishing."
>DM: "Huh? Fishing? Uh, sure, whatever. Roll, like, a fishing skill or whatever."
>Player: "Uh...I rolled X."
>DM: "Whatever. Consult this chart. Great, so anyways back to the plot"
>Player: Feels kinda trampled on and wishes he had stayed home to play video games instead.

>>96764488 (OP)
I don't play traditional games and saw this thread on the front page. I love fishing minigames in vidya. I'm sorry you're getting so many retarded lame as fuck responses OP. There's a reason why TG is seen as boring and it's because of half the retards in here pushing their glasses up and going "just roll a dice for it, its a waste of time, heh"

Anyway as a non-tg player, >>96769299 sounds fun. Also, have the fish be usable for something tangible. Like making the fish magical to where their scales can be used to vary effects when equipped/added to items/brewed in potions

Fishing you say?

>>96771310
Its not ludicrous because while optional developers still add that kind of stuff into their over play time when they market it to consumers and create reports for their shareholders. More playtime = more marketability = more money in the eyes of shareholders.
Levity and immersion are secondary to the goal of a mini game and as I already stated some are better at that then others. The main goal is to keep the player playing game for as long as possible.

>>96777219
>More playtime = more marketability = more money in the eyes of shareholders.
That's not correct at all. More intended playtime != more marketability cause if the player doesn't engage with the systems, then there will be less playtime. More playtime != more money either, cause cause single-player offline games with no DLC can have tons of playtime but no way to generate money or marketability. This isn't even me just technically correcting the record either; Shareholders *know* this information. That's why they all want DLC, gacha, and hunt for whales. Most gacha games actually have piss-poor retention rates because they make up for the lost attention span in the whales at least x10 fold.

Your idea also completely falls apart when you just look at the indie game market and see minigames still being produced in those games, indicating that they are not about playtime/marketability/money. They're just there for levity and immersion purposes.

>>96768561
What if it turns out to be a plot hook by finding a treasure in big fish?

What if the Merking won't allow you into his domain without a gift of big/rare fish?

>>96776673
Subtle isn't it?

>>96764488 (OP)
Get a real fish pond installed in your back yard, take the group out back for the fishing arc. The mage can have a fly zapper to make it realistic.

The retards saying minigames are to pad playtime as a marketing scam don't know shit about videogames btw. There are way easier ways to pad playtime, and one of the most common and effective is just extending loading screens a little bit beyond when the game is actually loaded, which has been common practice since about 2005. Many games that make no claims about play time have minigames. There are games that are literally just "fishing minigames," they're called fishing games. If anything a more likely "cynical" explanation for things like minigames is that a game programmer had fun designing and implementing some extra features and got to have them kept in the game.

>>96778150
>That's not correct at all. More intended playtime != more marketability cause if the player doesn't engage with the systems, then there will be less playtime. More playtime != more money either, cause cause single-player offline games with no DLC can have tons of playtime but no way to generate money or marketability.
You really dont understand how shareholders think do you? Games like ubisoft shit appease shareholders to no end because the game has "theoretical" appeal and "theoretical" near endless playtime due to the mass amounts of minigames and scavenger hunt crap.
>That's why they all want DLC, gacha, and hunt for whales.
And what are gacha games if not a bunch of mini games slapped together on an anime girl roulette wheel?
>>96778363
Then it's by definition not a mini game but part of the main game? If its required to progress in the game it's not a mini game.

>>96764488 (OP)
It would be hard for me to make fishing into a minigame and not an autistic, phoenix command sub-system with mechanics for line breakages, tackle loss, and so on.
>>96764511
This is what did it for me. Ever since my parents got that for me at the age of 4, I've been hooked.
>>96771396
Thank you for visiting. /tg/ is very firmly a no fun allowed board

>>96778700
>If its required to progress in the game it's not a mini game.
Bullshit. A ton of sixth generation console games have a mandatory "you have to do this minigame once to progress the plot" bit that introduces the minigame but doesn't exhaustively plumb its depths.

I usually approach stuff like that from a character building/RP standpoint. Instead of making up some little mechanic for players to fiddle with I would ask them to describe how their character approaches such a casual, low stakes activity and make up some fun trivia about their character related to said activity, throwing in some questions in case they need help getting started (When did your character learn to fish? What is their preferred fishing method/strategy/tool? Is there a significant or interesting even that happened in their past that involved fishing?). Once everyone involved has had a chance to contribute or wants to move on I would then try and come up with a result that fits in with what everyone put in (methodical PC catches a bunch of fish while PC who uses their bare hands only nabs one but it's the biggest, PC who remembers The One That Got Away catches a similar fish, etc.).

>>96764488 (OP)
Why in the fuck would I put a fishing minigame in when I could just have them roll a check of some kind and move on with the actual interesting stuff?

>>96778700
>You really dont understand how shareholders think do you?
The way they think and the details and decisions around DLC and Gacha more than adequately prove that I'm right though.
>Games like ubisoft shit appease shareholders to no end because the game has "theoretical" appeal and "theoretical" near endless playtime due to the mass amounts of minigames and scavenger hunt crap.
The theoretical appeal comes from a previous track record on a big-name game and because it is pitched with buzzwords like "Open-world" to them. Minigames don't even enter into the high-level pitches to the share holders. Also I'm doubting that ubisoft shit have "mass amounts" or even "good amounts" of minigames to be quite honest iwth you. I feel like you're trying to sneak a premise in here.
>And what are gacha games if not a bunch of mini games slapped together on an anime girl roulette wheel?
This is only pedantically correct in that a "slot machine" is technically a "game" definitionally. Are you really hung up on this point? I genuinely don't think this leads anywhere interesting, and I'm like 90% sure you're just trying to have a debate club about this one and don't actually mean to argue this in good faith.

>>96778700
>Then it's by definition not a mini game but part of the main game? If its required to progress in the game it's not a mini game.
Contend with Wario Ware and Mario Party.

>>96764488 (OP)
>Have you ever tried to put in a mini game into your tabletop game where it's just mostly there for the players to engage and relax in whenever they feel like it?

It's called "having conversation".

>>96771354
I feel like this is bit unfair comparison. Different games (both vidya and TTRPG) focus on different things. Try doing something the developers haven't expect you to do in vidya and you will be lucky to get such half assed results as what is your second example.

>>96769255
Why do ttrpg boomerlarpers act like there's a massive divide between ttrpg and vidya?

>just talk bro why play a game we're trying to get to the actually interesting stuff like the plot the GM wrote for us
Holy FUCK this thread

>>96780726
Explain to me why a degrees of success skill check is not suitable to fishing.

>>96778700
>If its required to progress in the game it's not a mini game.
No it can just be something that also happens to serve that purpose, but they can do something else/choose not to follow that route?

>>96781225
That's how the minigame works anon >>96769872

>>96764710
>I wouldn't because I don't think mini-games are appropriate in a multi-player context
Are you retarded? It's the perfect way to kill time and keep things "active" while someone goes for a piss

>>96779405
>Why in the fuck would I put a fishing minigame in when I could just have them roll a check of some kind and move on with the actual interesting stuff?

You do realize that the situation could easily be reverse into: Why the fuck do we need to listen to your boring failed novel when we can go back to having fun playing that fishing minigame?

Pretty much anytime I see people posting about survival, hex crawls or outdoor activities like these there will be posters like you who automatically declare them uninteresting without explaing why you feel they are uninteresting.

>>96780689
>t. never game being clueless

>>96764488 (OP)
I can think of so many ways!
>D20 + modifiers, adjudicated ad hoc by the DM
>D100 + modifiers, for extra simulation, adjudicated ad hoc by the DM
>2D6 + modifiers, for a wonderful bell curve, adjudicated ad hoc by the DM
>2d10 + modifiers, adjudicated ad hoc by the DM
>8d4 + modifiers, adjudicated ad hoc by the DM (this one is innovative)
>draw a tarot card and interpret it (major arcana only)