I did a paper only game about half a year ago and it was agonizingly slow. Write things in, erase them, write new things in, erase them. The page starts to look haggard after just a few adjustments. Not for me. Digital only please, with exceptions for dice because they are fun, though if I am playing at someone else's home, I would rather just leave my physical dice at home.
Used to be able to laminate pages that were constantly written on, and with sharpie could easily reuse the same form as many times as needed.
And it made it easy to copy over to more permanent from just by pressing the laminated pages onto the non laminated ones.
Nowadays it’s easier to just use editing software to print a custom paper version of a sheet that is tailored to the player than to have a single set of predefined pages.
As long as all the important most often used elements are front and center, whether it’s paper or digital, sure theres good and bad, but digital relies on others while paper relies on self.
The reason paper is far better is because it’s more permanent and personal. More effort goes into maintaining and refinement and that opens the floodgates of creativity.
Digital is all copy and paste and no real creativity. How many characters do you see sitting on there devices actually doing something other than paying attention?
Digital brain-rot has been around for a long time, what happens when there is not more digital? Or it’s down for an extremely long time? Paper has been around forever, and digital is nothing but a fad.
Years ago, a guy I knew played in a campaign with a mutual friend and he DM'd his own campaign with a separate group. While he was at work, his water pipe burst and flooded his place. All his D&D stuff was on a lower shelf of his bookcase and he lost everything.
I do a lot with my hands: crochet, video games, physical journaling along with a couple other journals for other topics. My hands/wrists hurt after some time so digital has been a major benefit.
Finally, I work in nursing and let me tell you, digital charting has cut everyone's work load literally in half. It's just so much more convenient to log in, open a document and print...versus finding the paper in the binder, making a copy of it - it doesn't seem like much but in a medical emergency, every second matters.
I use my tablet for character sheets and such. I use a note taking app on my phone to make bullet points of relevant information about the campaign.
Not to mention, the space it saves. I do love books but there is a limit. I know a lot of companies are selling digital+physical bundles so players can have both.
Now, at the table, I do put my devices on Do Not Disturb and the people that matter know how to break my DND in case of emergency. I agree that screen time is problematic but I also think when used as intended, (digital books/documenting), it is a massive boon.
It also helps that I am not on social media, don't text anyone very often and make a point to put my phone away when I interact with people. A little conscious effort goes a long way. Screen/social media addiction are very real and I definitely agree that some people take it too far. However, I also think it's a bit extremist to assume one is bad and the other is good.
They both have their place and it is up to each individual to decide what is best for them. That doesn't make one or the other good or bad - they just are.
both. No option for both, so I can not select an option.
As the DM, I use digital for sources, and digital for art, but we use regular miniatures and game tables, and while at the table I try and keep everyone using paper for the session only, but I encourage them to use digital for character maintenance. The use of paper at the table is to avoid phones and tablets at the table, as they can be a distraction from the game.
I run paper in a small binder with character, photo campaign notes, scribbles, current sheet sheets, all that kind of thing. I also run an iPad with D&D Beyond hold up and Google that way I can look for individual spells if I need to think about something pull up rules if I’m DM quick access to search for specifications on monsters and NPC and mountain looking up what specific things do.
The must rule is dice have to be real digital dice or just lame
There's just no argument against the convenience of the e-sheet. Much as I love the paper ones, I just can't see myself ever making another one.
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Blanket disclaimer: I only ever state opinion. But I can sound terribly dogmatic - so if you feel I'm trying to tell you what to think, I'm really not, I swear. I'm telling you what I think, that's all.
Digital is ok as long as the user is proficient, but most of the time having to physically arrange the information a player will need most of the time, and that arrangement is done by the player with a copy given to the DM, and the difference is noticeable.
A larger device won’t do any good if the user has a difficult time understanding how the device manages the information. And a player that keeps disorganized information in any form is one likely to have trouble locating the relevant information.
With paper, proofreading before committing to print assures the information is presented in the correct format that a player may find useful, and allows for faster recall of where that information resides.
Digital can be more convenient, but at the cost of uncertainty about where and if the information can be accessed, or if the location of where that information is located is actually there. ( links can become broken, or redirected to irrelevant information, or cause the information to mistakenly appear to have disappeared. Or information that has no relevance to be selected by chance of wrong place due to updates that possibly change where the link should point to. )
Paper also has the ability to retain the information as is for a longer duration of time than digital, and so the need to constantly update and ensure where the information is minimal, whereas in digital the location or even the information itself can change on a whim and cause lag in finding said information.
And paper doesn’t require a massive commitment of funds to get started, digital can get financially significant very quickly. ( electricity, hardware, software, maintenance of aforementioned infrastructure, time management in ensuring the reliability of the aforementioned elements, and that’s before we even get to the material itself. )
Paper is just far better than digital, both in convenience of use and in reliability of access.
Taking your last sentence I find digital is FAR BETTER IN CONVENIENCE OF USE AND IN RELIABILITY OF ACCESS -- QUICKLY
A bit of both. Typically, as a player I have the digital sheet open on the website on a laptop, then I have a tablet with the App open to check stuff in the books or via the Listings. Then I have a paper tablet for notes. Since we all use the campaign and encounter trackers we roll digital dice. What I do need to get for DMing is a large laminated hex sheet for table top mapping. Figurines I have plenty of.
Character sheets go on phones, the dice and minis go on the table. Sheets get lost and digital can combine the sheet plus information on things like feats in one go with less text crowdinghttps://vidmate****/ .
My gaming group uses tablets for most everything, though we do have a physcial battlemat and miniatures in the middle of the table. With a couple of us moving in 2025 we purchased a conference mic and cameras so we can still game, kind of a hybrid in-person/remote sessions. Anyone who can't show up for a session normally sends a PDF of their character for another player to run, so we aren't 100% digital all the time.
Having rules/spell descriptions only a click away instead of leafing through a book is just such a luxury.
I grew up with pencil and paper. So I remember constantly having to re-organize/redo the character sheets as you leveled up, no room for spell info, and so on.
I can see how folks who started playing with digital character sheets might have it as crutch. But I generally play in groups where we really know our characters, so there isn't much delay from navigating the screen. Or, at least, it's no longer than I'd expect when people have to flip through a book to find a rule.
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Years ago, a guy I knew played in a campaign with a mutual friend and he DM'd his own campaign with a separate group. While he was at work, his water pipe burst and flooded his place. All his D&D stuff was on a lower shelf of his bookcase and he lost everything.
I do a lot with my hands: crochet, video games, physical journaling along with a couple other journals for other topics. My hands/wrists hurt after some time so digital has been a major benefit.
Finally, I work in nursing and let me tell you, digital charting has cut everyone's work load literally in half. It's just so much more convenient to log in, open a document and print...versus finding the paper in the binder, making a copy of it - it doesn't seem like much but in a medical emergency, every second matters.
I use my tablet for character sheets and such. I use a note taking app on my phone to make bullet points of relevant information about the campaign.
Not to mention, the space it saves. I do love books but there is a limit. I know a lot of companies are selling digital+physical bundles so players can have both.
Now, at the table, I do put my devices on Do Not Disturb and the people that matter know how to break my DND in case of emergency. I agree that screen time is problematic but I also think when used as intended, (digital books/documenting), it is a massive boon.
It also helps that I am not on social media, don't text anyone very often and make a point to put my phone away when I interact with people. A little conscious effort goes a long way. Screen/social media addiction are very real and I definitely agree that some people take it too far. However, I also think it's a bit extremist to assume one is bad and the other is good.
They both have their place and it is up to each individual to decide what is best for them. That doesn't make one or the other good or bad - they just are.
both. No option for both, so I can not select an option.
As the DM, I use digital for sources, and digital for art, but we use regular miniatures and game tables, and while at the table I try and keep everyone using paper for the session only, but I encourage them to use digital for character maintenance. The use of paper at the table is to avoid phones and tablets at the table, as they can be a distraction from the game.
Both is the real answer.
I run paper in a small binder with character, photo campaign notes, scribbles, current sheet sheets, all that kind of thing. I also run an iPad with D&D Beyond hold up and Google that way I can look for individual spells if I need to think about something pull up rules if I’m DM quick access to search for specifications on monsters and NPC and mountain looking up what specific things do.
The must rule is dice have to be real digital dice or just lame
There's just no argument against the convenience of the e-sheet. Much as I love the paper ones, I just can't see myself ever making another one.
Blanket disclaimer: I only ever state opinion. But I can sound terribly dogmatic - so if you feel I'm trying to tell you what to think, I'm really not, I swear. I'm telling you what I think, that's all.
Both - so no vote
Taking your last sentence I find digital is FAR BETTER IN CONVENIENCE OF USE AND IN RELIABILITY OF ACCESS -- QUICKLY
A bit of both. Typically, as a player I have the digital sheet open on the website on a laptop, then I have a tablet with the App open to check stuff in the books or via the Listings. Then I have a paper tablet for notes. Since we all use the campaign and encounter trackers we roll digital dice. What I do need to get for DMing is a large laminated hex sheet for table top mapping. Figurines I have plenty of.
Wisea$$ DM and Player since 1979.
Character sheets go on phones, the dice and minis go on the table. Sheets get lost and digital can combine the sheet plus information on things like feats in one go with less text crowding https://vidmate****/ .
Paper
Two reasons. One I started playing in the 80s so paper was the boss back then. Two Paper makes it easy to make notes, changes, etc during the game.
When the game is done, I will update my digital copies and print new paper copies for the next session.
My gaming group uses tablets for most everything, though we do have a physcial battlemat and miniatures in the middle of the table. With a couple of us moving in 2025 we purchased a conference mic and cameras so we can still game, kind of a hybrid in-person/remote sessions. Anyone who can't show up for a session normally sends a PDF of their character for another player to run, so we aren't 100% digital all the time.
1000% prefer digital in-person.
Having rules/spell descriptions only a click away instead of leafing through a book is just such a luxury.
I grew up with pencil and paper. So I remember constantly having to re-organize/redo the character sheets as you leveled up, no room for spell info, and so on.
I can see how folks who started playing with digital character sheets might have it as crutch. But I generally play in groups where we really know our characters, so there isn't much delay from navigating the screen. Or, at least, it's no longer than I'd expect when people have to flip through a book to find a rule.