Holistic gaming? Yes or no?

[Elbows]

I've found as I've grown in gaming...that I'm very fond of peripheral game materials and I like a fully-comprehensive gaming approach to most games I play.  I feel a little silly because it's all completely pointless stuff...but I love it nonetheless.

-Colour matched dice for the armies
-Icon dice when possible (having some special Eldar dice made by Chessex for me at the moment)
-Nice quick reference sheets, newly printed, laminated etc.
-Proper terrain for the setting (though I love multi-use stuff)
-If I can cobble together a nice box to hold everything..even better.  I don't do the whole MDF-boardgame-stuff....yet.
-When I played Old West I used wooden D6's...just for fun.  I also buy reproduction 1860's card decks for use, etc.

I just can't fully get into a game unless I go whole-hog.  While this is fun and enjoyable I've found myself suffering when I play a game half-assed...which concerns me.  Is anyone else addicted to the accoutrements of the experience?

It's silly and completely unreasonable, but I felt a little at sea this past weekend when I gamed with my buddy but I forgot my tape measure (one which has seen gaming service for 17 years).  Even though he had a spare tape measure, I missed my old trusty and faithful tape measure.  

I think it's a sickness.

[FierceKitty]

I hope and trust you and your opponents dress the part when you play?

YouTube can be useful if you want to assemble a playlist of contemporary music. My wife has threatened to stop playing if I put on the Hohenfriedberger Marsch once more during a SYW battle.

[LeadAsbestos]

I'm a fan too. The little extras add so much character, even if just in your own mind! My FIW dice are bone, kept in a brains tanned pouch bought at a reenactment. My Norse wizard for Frostgrave has spell cards on strips of birch bark, and my Simians had cave Painting style cards.
Just the little things!

[The Voivod]

I think a great part of the hobby to me is "cool looking games".

This means I enjoy games more if they look as they should.
So yes, I prefer goodlooking counters, want matching dice and everything.
A game can be perfectly servicable without all the periphenalia, but I'll simpy enjoy it less.

This goes for boardgames as well, theme and apperance are just as important as game-play. If the game has solid rules, but is completly abstract count me out.

I'd like to say I'd not go as far as missing a tape-measure, but rolling someone ellse's dice during a RPG-session bothers me no end.

I allso prefer my own wooden sword during aikido-practice.

[Inkpaduta]

You might be going a tad overboard.
But, hey, this is your hobby and you really enjoy
going all out. There is nothing wrong with that.

[Elbows]

So the consensus is that I only have a minor illness...

Excellent. 

[The Voivod]

Well, if that's your biggest flaw....

[Hawkeye]

Like you say, a minor illness - but it's one that produces an immersive, unified aesthetic in a game, so I'd say it's a good thing. For Old West gaming, I'm in the same boat - I like to use playing cards that have a vintage, old-timey look, and as for dice, the more "thematic" they are, the better! When it comes to printed gaming material, fonts are very important - it has to be right!

[Charlie_]

I've not ever considered special dice or tape measures...

BUT I am extremely keen on  having a clean, neat, good-looking tabletop. I HATE seeing games all cluttered with dice, rulers, cards and rulebooks on the table, so that you can't actually see what's going on. It drives me mad!

[Elbows]

I don't mind tokens if they're necessary, but I like thematic tokens when possible.  I admit that token heavy games (like X-Wing etc.) don't really grab me aesthetically as other ones do.  I've been spoiled because after gaming a bit in high school and college I ran into a game group which has a very high level (way 'bove mine!) of gaming.  Everytime we do a game, it's a pretty good chance it's going to look splendid.  They imbued that in me.

However, I'm now seen as the pickiest one of the group with way too much peripheral attention. 

[Harry Faversham]

We play 'Fistful of Lead' regularly, it's card driven using a pack of normal playing cards. It was quite expensive to get the dedicated pack shipped from Uncle Sam to Blighty...
but wot a difference it makes to the gaming experience!

[FierceKitty]

I've not ever considered special dice or tape measures...

BUT I am extremely keen on  having a clean, neat, good-looking tabletop. I HATE seeing games all cluttered with dice, rulers, cards and rulebooks on the table, so that you can't actually see what's going on. It drives me mad!

Hear, hear.

[Daeothar]

I am with you all the way, Elbows. I'm not sure if the disease is simply spreading, or that there are multiple vectors, but I too acquire dedicated peripherals for each of my armies/gangs/units, and have been doing so for many years.

This means I have a box (looking like a small treasure chest, obviously) full of dicebags, each of those containing all the dice and tokens required to run a particular army. And for most, I have matching templates and rulers as well.

My X-Wing cards are all in two binders with customized Star Wars covers.

As for terrain; the ambitions are there, but sadly, the time and space are lacking, even though I have the plans and materials all sorted. Until the time comes, generic terrain elements and cobbled together stuff has to do. Some day soon though...

But when running RPG campaigns, I'm known to really go completely overboard, as illustrated by this thread in which I display some of that madness...

Oh, and I can vouch for The Voivod's allergy to OPD (Other People's Dice), although I strongly suspect this mainly extends to my dice in particular. I didn't get that spiffy logo and the moniker D1 for nothing you know...

[Sunjester]

Not quite as OCD as you, but I have been known to wear appropriate headgear for a game.

I have a tricorn, tophat, bowler, fedora, pith helmet!

[Michi]

I just can't fully get into a game unless I go whole-hog.  While this is fun and enjoyable I've found myself suffering when I play a game half-assed...which concerns me.  Is anyone else addicted to the accoutrements of the experience?

I know exactly how you feel...

Furthermore I made a befriended and very skilled bow maker make a special ruler for SAGA: A crossbow bolt with markings for very short, short, medium and long range according to the rule book.