DM's computer

[Thartiel]

Me and my group have been playing alot lately, but we don't have the time or the ability to print off, or create battle maps, does anybody have any ideas for a map wee could use on the DM's laptop?
any other things you would think would be helpful to run the game faster would be good ( it took nearly an hour to run 1 small encounter because he tried to see if he could use paint to show the map)

 

[surfarcher]

Try maptool. There are some other great products out there too. Look for the thread on DMing form your laptop.

 

[Ryujin]

If all that you need is a grid to scribble on, then OpenRPG works quite well. If you're of a mind then you could also encode the creatures in the encounters, and use OpenRPG to make your rolls for you.

 

[AndrewDB]

Chessex Battle Mat:
Amazon.com: Chessex Role Playing Play Mat: Battlemat Double-Sided…


Drawing the battle lines with a wet marker on the mat will take no more time than using a mouse to draw on a computer screen, tokens can actually be placed and moved on the mat, and people don't need to be sitting behind the DM the whole time in order to look at her much smaller computer screen.

 

[Solvarn]

Flat Screen TV

Xeterog used a flat screen Visio tv once, laid on its back, with OpenRPG for our mat. It was at Aggiecon a couple of years ago. The downside to this was that he had to enter the maps beforehand into the system.

The mat/marker method seems to work the best and is worth the investment.

 

[Smoke Jaguar]

Chessex Battle Mat:
Amazon.com: Chessex Role Playing Play Mat: Battlemat Double-Sided…


Drawing the battle lines with a wet marker on the mat will take no more time than using a mouse to draw on a computer screen, tokens can actually be placed and moved on the mat, and people don't need to be sitting behind the DM the whole time in order to look at her much smaller computer screen.

The picture isn't very clear but that is what my group uses. You can also buy a board at Home Depot that can be used for dry/wet erase that is 4x8 (if that is too big they will cut it into smaller peices there, I did it in half). You can then use that board as you wish.

 

[MortalPlague]

Let me add another vote for the Chessex battle mat. We use a large one, but we also take things a step further; we invested in a large sheet of clear plastic, which we lay overtop. This allows us to write on the map with dry erase, which comes off with much less work than wet erase! Also, as DM, I track initiative, how much damage the monsters have taken, and conditions all on the mat.

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

Strictly on the topic of software I put in a second for Maptool. You can drop any image on its desktop, drop a grid on it, put character and NPC/Monster/whatever tokens on it, etc in no time flat. It has a nice full screen mode. If the DM wants to use it to do tracking of conditions, rolling dice, etc it can do it all.

Though honestly I favor using a battlemat when playing at the table and save the computer for just doing some combat tracking.

 

[Nytmare]

I've always pushed Photoshop, but that's only because I've been using it for a million years and using it is second nature.

Battlemats alone are great, but lack production value. Printed out mats are another option, but can end up being messy and time consuming both in game and out. A computer to a secondary screen that the players copy off of is pretty good. A computer to a table topped big screen TV or projector is fan-freaking-tastic.

It's really a question of how much time, money, and energy you want to put into it, and how over the top you want the end result to be.

 

[IronWolf]

Another vote for maptools if you are wanting an electronic battlemap. Though I would highly recommend connecting the laptop to a decent sized flat screen TV for the environment to avoid everyone needing to crowd around a laptop.

And for in-person gaming a decent sized Chessex battle mat can work quite well as others have suggested.