Just to follow up the remaining feed back from 64 Ounce Games survey, part 1 can be found here.

This update comes from Benvin Sane

How long have you role played?

 About 10 years.

What are your favourite systems? 

D&D 3.5 and Pathfinder, which I currently play.

Do you have some preferred classes or archetypes? 

Usually fighter rogue. Actually, I never thought about it before...but my current tiefling rogue has the most amazing eyesight ever. heh! Truly a fantasy game.

What frustrates you the most about being a blind role player? 

I was completely blind a few years ago, due to diabetes complications. I was fortunate enough to go through a lot of laser treatment and then finally double Vitrectomies and a lot of my vision was restored. I couldn't stand being away for gaming for too long, so I started up with a new group before my eyes had healed from the surgery. I couldn't read my character sheet...typical paper one. So I attempted an ipad app, but it didn't let me enlarge the text enough to be able to see it. Essentially I had to rely on my new boyfriend to read me all my stats and help me.

I downloaded PDFs of all the rulebooks and was able to enlarge them to read on my iPad. Dice....well, I would roll and everyone else would have to tell me what turned up. My vision has come back enough that with a jumbo set of dice, that have good coloring, I can see them most of the time. Little dice are still a no go unless the contrast is just right and I'm having a 'good eye day' My (still paper) character sheet proves difficult a great deal of the time. Especially if the lights are low in the house. I have special reading glasses that help, but are a pain to take on and off for everything. When we use minis, I can't see from my seat at the table, so for any movements, I have to get up and go right over to where they are so that I can see.

What has worked well for you?

Jumbo dice and friends.

Are certain digital files better than others? 

Pdfs for rulebooks on a device that you can enlarge it.

If you had one thing that you wish that people understood about being a blind role player what is it? 

That blind and VI players put more Roleplay, into role playing games. I have been told that the chance of me becoming fully, permanently blind, is very high, so I am actually going to be proactive and start learning braille and figuring out ways to function if this does happen. Knowing there are companies like yours that are working towards making life better for blind gamers, brings me a great relief.

The final survey is by Aser Tolentino.

How long have you Roleplayed?

I've been gaming for almost two years now.

What are your favourite systems?

I started out with Fiasco and Call of Cthulhu but have tried a bit of everything since. I like F20 games like D&D or Pathfinder well enough, but prefer more investigative or narrative-based games like Trail of Cthulhu, Deltra Green or indy games like Final Girl, Mars Colony, or Fiasco. I currently GM campaigns of Firefly, Night's Black Agents, and The Strange as well as one shots in a few other systems.

What classes or archetypes do you usually play?

My default characters are of the martial archetype: though I'm a talkative player, I don't usually go for talky characters, and I'm only slowly getting into playing magic users. I feel most comfortable though in the GM's seat.

What is frustrating to you as a blind role player?

The most frustrating experience I have as a blind gamer is accessing player resources that are laid out in such a way as to defy easy processing by OCR or screen reading software. Often, content creators will cram information into a table, chart, or other reference that might make sense at a glance but comes across as gibberish when read aloud line by line by a computer. Character sheets are usually best discarded without a second thought in favor of plain text transcriptions or written from scratch in notepad.
For the most part though, I have had a fair amount of success using Kurzweil 1000 on the PDFs that are the current industry standard. I love companies like Pelgrane and Bully Pulpit that provide alternative ebook formats like epub, which are far easier to navigate using software like Kurzweil. Another favorite tactic is using VoiceDream Reader on the iPhone for the initial reading of a new game book. I started out using iPhone-based dice rollers but found jsdice.com to be a far more responsive option. And of course, there are now more and more braille dice for me to try.

What companies have struck you as helpful or unhelpful as far as accessibility?

I lament in principle the lack of accessibility of many D&D 5E materials owing to their not being made available electronically by Wizards of the Coast, and understand that limitations on Fantasy Flight's license make an electronic version of Edge of the Empire and other Star Wars games unattainable, though wish they could work something out, but there are still a wealth of other games to try and stories to tell.

I hope these experiences were interesting for you to read as much as they were for me, if you have similar experience I would love to hear about in the comments. 

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While 64 Ounce Games kickstarter for braille dice and tabletop pieces has finished to a decent success and I've supported it and other braille dice kickstarters there is something that I'd still like to share on the topic.

64 Ounce Games sent out a survey asking for feedback from blind or similarly disadvantaged players regarding their experience I believe that they make quite and education read while they can be read on the kickstarter page I'm posting the results in a collection below for ease of reading.

The first one is about Carl. These are not the opinions of 64 Oz. Games but are taken directly from a blind roleplayers. 

How long have you role played? 

I was born with a significant visual impairment but became totally blind after a car accident as a very young child. I have role played since the age of seven and am now in my early thirties. Off the top of my head, the role playing games I have played are: Pathfinder, Dungeons & Dragons (at least four editions), Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, The One Ring, Dark Heresy, Rogue Trader, Traveller, Shadowrun, World Of Darkness (Vampire, Mage, Geist and the core game across at least two editions), Traveller, Unknown Armies, The Strange, Pendragon, Apocalypse World, D20 Star Wars, Star Wars Saga Edition, Star Wars: Edge of the Empire, Iron Kingdoms, Call of Cthulhu, Fireborn and 316: Carnage Amongst the Stars.

I am also an avid tabletop gamer. The tabletop systems I have played are: Warhammer Fantasy Battles, Warhammer 40,000, Mordheim, Necromunda, Epic Armageddon, Warmaster, Lord of the Rings, Chain Reaction, Dinomight, Warmachine, Hordes, Starship Troopers and Uncharted Seas. As for board games, the more complicated ones I have played are: Arkham Horror, Hero Quest, Warhammer Quest, Dragon Strike, Talisman, Escape from Colditz, Settlers of Catan, Mice and Mystics, Zombies and Pandemic.

What are your favourite systems? Do you have some preferred classes or archetypes?

My favorite systems are Pathfinder where I am happy to experiment with most classes and archetypes. I really enjoy Shadowrun and usually play a rigger in that system. I do lament how complicated it is though. I play a lot of World of Darkness (both “old” and “new” versions, but not the new God Machine iteration). I love the flexibility and variety of modern horror themes that you can invoke. I prefer playing Toreador or Gangrel vampires or just a plain old human trying to survive against all the odds. I think the background that has possibly captivated me the most is the Cthulhu Mythos so I take any opportunity I can to play Call of Cthulhu. I tend to play kind of pulp heroes based on Lord John Roxton (from Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Lost World), Alan Quatermaine (from the series of H. Ryder Haggard books), or a kind of Indiana Jones.

What frustrates you the most about being a blind role player? 

It used to be accessing the rules but PDF rulebooks from game developers themselves or sites like Drivethru RPG have probably been the most exciting thing to happen for me in the last decade. Besides, I’ve always been very good at remembering rules.
Over all, it’s the dice. You can easily get D6s that are accessible, and there are dice rolling computer programs out there now, but it’s just not the same. Rolling a dice feels better. Rolling a dice sounds better. The reaction from a table full of excited gamers when a particularly good or bad dice roll appears in front of them is something you can’t describe.
Just the braille D20 that I had from 64 Ounce Games as last year has been one of my most treasured possessions. The opportunity to get a whole set of polyhedral dice is just astounding. I honestly can say that it’s the one thing I’ve known I wanted to find since I was a child. The excitement is well worth the quarter of a century wait.

What has worked well for you? 

As a child I had somebody read my character sheets to me so I could braille them. This meant that they were hard to change, however, and I had to either remember my changing hitpoints (or whatever) or have someone else write them down. It also meant that somebody else had to remind me of precisely what all my abilities did. The laptop has been the greatest innovation for me so far. I can have an editable version of my character sheet at my disposal and can make as many notes as I need in a word processing document. The advent of PDF rulebooks and accessible dice rolling programs (GMA Dice is by far the best that I’ve found), has made my laptop even more indispensable.

Are certain digital files better than others? 

I buy all of my rulebooks, source material and supplements as PDFs. This is a great system that can be easily transferred across platforms and isn’t too bad to work with using screen readers. I do tend to save text versions of rulebooks for use while playing games, however, since I find these easier to navigate quickly with my screen reader in Windows. In general though, as long as the file is saved so that the content is text and not pictures, it has tended to work pretty well for me. I was lucky enough to get a braille copy of the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Player’s Handbook but it is absolutely huge and not practical to take with you when gaming at other people’s houses. I also got copies of a few army codexes brailled for my Warhammer 40,000 factions but Games Workshop update these every few years so they quickly become obsolete.

What companies have made an extra effort for accessibility? Which companies have been horror stories so far and we need to help be more inclusive? 

Paizo have been a really good company as, not only is all the Pathfinder source material available in accessible electronic form, but there is also a free-to-use on-line wiki of all the rules. Also, Fantasy Flight Games have been particularly excellent. They even publish PDFs of some of their board games so I was able to access and learn the Arkham Horror rules for myself (particularly useful when I won’t shut up about Cthulhu and it’s such a complicated game). Privateer Press were unintentionally helpful when they published preview PDF versions of the faction stat cards for Warmachine and Hordes. These previews were straightforward text copies. Unfortunately, the republished versions are pictures and so not as accessible. Similarly, their free app with the army cards isn’t accessible either. The stand-out company which has been the worst for me is Games Workshop. I’ve asked in-store and by telephoning their main office several times over the last 15 years or so if there’s anything they can do for accessibility. The answer has been universally that the risk of illegal copying is too great. In all fairness to staff in local stores, they’ve been very helpful to me by letting me touch the larger models I’ve wanted to purchase. I also highly praise the range of audio books and dramas they’re producing now in conjunction with Heavy Entertainment. They really are resistant to accessibility though and that’s not done anything to encourage me to maintain my passion for their games.

If you had one thing that you wish that people understood about being a blind role player what is it?

The one thing I wish people would understand about being a blind role player is that there is no difference. In a role playing group, you all sit around the same table with the same page of numbers in front of you. Nowadays, lots of role players have tablets and laptops with them so even the fact that you’re using technology to assist you isn’t any different. All the action in a role playing game takes place in your imagination and I think I have one of the best imaginations of pretty much any of the role players I know well. It’s a way to hang out with friends and enjoy a hobby you all love without needing special help, equipment or asking if someone’s insurance will let you do it. You don’t need to ask “what’s happening now?” as you might if watching a film with friends where there’s no audio description. You all describe your actions as a matter of course. The story is narrated without you having to wait years for the audio book to become available. It’s arguably one of the most accessible participation activities there is. I hope this is helpful. If you have any further questions about any of the points I’ve made, please get in touch.

Regards,
Carl Portman

The second reply is from a chap called Zach:

How long have you role played?

I’ve been roleplaying off and on for at least ten years, though not always regularly. What are your favorite systems? Do you have some preferred classes or archetypes?
Preferred systems depend a lot on genre: Traveller for sci-fi, GURPS for admiring from afar. :) I’m always a fan of some Call of Cthulhu or Fate. Mood will dictate which I play. Archetype-wise, I don’t care for classes, but I’ve been playing lots of scholarly types lately for some reason.

What frustrates you the most about being a blind role player?

Access to old or out of print material is annoying. I’ve been interested in the origins of the hobby for a while, and found getting digital copies difficult. Similarly, sometimes modern rulebooks are laid out in confusing fashion, and there’s little I can do except email the publisher or even the author.

What has worked well for you?

Dice roller programs. :) More seriously, DriveThruRPG is generally very good, and I find I need a computer, or at least a Braille notetaker, to keep character sheets. I usually have to produce my own, as the official sheets are usually weirdly formatted.

Are certain digital files better than others?

Almost anything is better than PDF. :) Tagged PDF is generally okay. I’d love Word or ePub or HTML versions of games, but those are uncommon. For a long time I had the 2nd edition of Advanced Dungeons and Dragons in RTF format, and that was awesome. I wish Wizards of the Coast still offered it.

What companies have made an extra effort for accessibility? Which companies have been horror stories so far and we need to help be more inclusive?

Mongoose Publishing has generally been great lately, especially with the latest version of Traveller. Any company which tags their PDF for accessibility wins in my book. Onyx Path and Mongoose have both done this, though I don’t know how much was automated. The only real horror story is Wizards of the Coast, who still haven’t released 5th edition D&D in a format i can read, as far as I‘m aware. No, the basics PDF doesn’t count.

If you had one thing that you wish that people understood about being a blind role player what is it?

I wish more people understood we were out there and were educated on how to make books accessible. It’s honestly not that hard, especially lately. I wish Braille dice were available in gaming stores. Otherwise, honestly, RPGs are one of my favourite hobbies, and I can think of little that needs actual improvement per se.


Part 2 will be posted on the 10th of this month and a quick link added here.

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Back in June 2014 I did a small post on a Kickstarter for Braille Dice, it seems Miss Jessica Goldsmith's finally has finalised the design for her dice and created a Shapeways store to sell dice to the public.

Now while I support the development of braille dice I can't help at frown at the high prices for the dice which vary between £4.50 to nearly £8 PER dice when considering that a set of regular role playing dice can be purchased from most stores for that amount. I must consider though that each dice can be customised and that this is a speciality item which always causes a hike in prices.

So I find myself now noticing that another kickstarter for Braille dice has been created not by a single individual like Miss Jessica Goldsmithbut by a small husband and wife company named 64 Ounce Games that focus on creating accessibility kits for games.

Richard Gibbs is the founder and lead designer at 64 Oz. and his wife Emily Gibbs is a teacher of Blind students and handles the web side of the business, quoting their own words
'Both Richard and Emily are dedicated to making great games everyone, including the blind and visually impaired, can play.'

Initially sceptical of the Kickstarter worried that it might be a simple cash grab by a company I found myself presently surprised at the range and scope of their ideas and planning beyond just the dice and after a little digging I discovered that they had created a kickstarter in 2014 to purchase their first 3D printer and open their store.


Unfortunately the 3D printer they purchased while fine for most projects was prone to breaking down and not suitable for the finer print details for items such a dice so this Kickstarter hopes to raise money to purchase a new one.

Beyond the kickstarter 64 Ounce Games have their own website which is quite interesting it itself hosting a podcast and provides some free accessibility kits for certain games, personally I think the piece that is most worth your time is the colour blind accessibility advice for game designers which will have you considering all sorts of issues and solutions you may have never realised existed.
Another reason I rather like this article is that it is pre-emptively seeking to address the issue of accessibility and may even help a designer fix an potential issue before a game is released.     


64 Ounce Games also have an online store which covers a staggering amount of games and ranges from replacement game pieces to braille card sleeves, predictably it is mostly print to demand and the costs do vary from reasonable to quite expensive between products but again these are speciality items and many of these games require a lot of items all of which are included in the packs.

If you'd like to learn more about 64 Ounce Games Geek and Sundry did a excellent post about them or alternatively they have several videos on their Youtube Channel.

Finally to end on a amusing note while some people are trying to make dice easier to read others are doing the opposite, Andrew NGAI over in Canada has created a successful Kickstarter to make dice printed in Minimalist design Binary Code of all things.

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