General RPG DiscussionDiscussion of all RPGs and non-system-specific topics. DM/GM/player issues, settings, etc. Rules discussion belongs in one the forums below.
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Also, there's the perennial problem of not having enough miniatures. You'd have to spend a fortune to get all the miniatures for an exotic fantasy setting, some of which might not even exist. Are there miniatures for the Howler on Pandemomium? How about modrons on Mechanus? I doubt it. So you end up substituting some ridiculous miniature that doesn't look like what you described. Your imagination can do a lot better than that.
You can use placeholder minis for quite a bit, and you'd be suprised how many first and third party models there are for NWN. The DM doesn't need physical minis to do anything - he can just spawn however many models he needs. If there aren't modron models already, they're at least going to be pretty easy to make.
EDIT: Robert (Steel Wind), have you considered using a lens or warped mirror to reduce the minimum throw distance? You'd still have a considerable minimum (unless you raid an observatory), but you might be able to do a slanted projection or just a short enough throw to integrate a projector into a coffee table or desk. Also, what's the minimum buy in for an acceptable XVG DLP projector? I'm new to this projector scene and filled with a nerdly desire beyond all reckoning.
Last edited by Hurtfultater; 24th February 2005 at 07:33 PM..
Rather than projecting, I've been wanting to rig up an HDTV under plexiglass. Of course I don't have the cash to blow on a spare HDTV, but when I do....
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The price of LCD projectors have come down significantly in recent years. I saw one new at Best Buy for around $800. Yea, still pricey. I never considered one for this purpose. I was thinking of just using the wall as my computer monitor. Of course, anymore then only game I really play on my computer is spider solitaire, so that would be kind of silly.
A friend of mine wallpapered his home office (well, the upper half of the walls) with a product that functions exactly as white board and is finished to be appropriate for use as LCD projection screen. This would give you the benefit of both surfaces and provide a bright image from the projector.
I will send him an email to see if I can get a name of the product.
Hank Woolsey
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I daydream about the 'perfect game room' all the time and I often wonder if I'd go with an overhead projector or an underglass monitor. I thought a touch screen would be neat. Especially if you could configure the software to hilight an area of effect centered on where you touch.
A nice fantasy for me, but I commend you for taking steps to make it a reality for your group.
One aspect of digital projection mapping that I haven't seen addressed on this thread is speed. This is one of the biggest impacts on the gaming experience our setup has had for us. We used to waste hours of game time on drawing relatively crappy-looking maps.
Even with a dry erase battle mat for individual encounters, my players felt the need to have a hand-drawn map of the whole dungeon. We've found that with the ability to zoom the projected map, it serves both purposes.
Even if you spend a lot of time preparing the map in advance like I do, the in-game time saved is enormous. I'd guess we have at least double the number of encounters per game session that we did when we were drawing maps in-game.
So even if the projected map doesn't help in setting the mood (it does!), and even if you don't use miniatures (they rock!), consider projecting your maps to cut the drudgery and get to the action!
If you want to set the mood and help your players visualize the environment, there's nothing like projecting visual aids! My players get all excited when I say "Oh! I have a picture of this..." and project it onto the table.
I use lots of Dungeon Magazine adventures. They have great artwork thats just begging to be scanned and projected. You can also find tons of great art, ready for projection, on the Wizards web site at:
This is where a large scale collaborative project or a professional third party would come in handy. There's no reason why you couldn't have an entire city mapped out, perhaps with multiple outlying surroundings. Just by ripping off Paris and London in the 17-19th centuries, one can get great general city and street layouts, and while it would be a very large project to do an entire city, 3-5 regular contributors working over a couple months could provide a resource that many people would happily pay for.
Even as it is, publishing campaign notes to some community site could help people start making ever more detailed and robust settings, helping GMs who, like me, are both lazy and perfectionist.
There's no game like one in which your players can truly wander, but it requires a huge amount of preparation. Being able to display or print maps on demand could give players a new sense of setting, scale, and immersion.
EDIT: Robert (Steel Wind), what's the minimum buy in for an acceptable XVG DLP projector? I'm new to this projector scene and filled with a nerdly desire beyond all reckoning.
I'll throw together a primer on the options and costs a little later tonight or tomorrow if I can.
Or start a consulting business for others who want to do this.
Or a TV series: "Gamer Playroom Makeover."
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Projector costs are coming way down. I work in AV support/video production, and the projectors we're buying right now at around $1800 do a better job than projectors we bought for $7000 just 3-4 years ago. I concur with everything Steel Wind has said, he's done his homework on this subject.
In particular, I agree with his comments regarding an under mounted projector - it sounds like a great idea, but for a number of practical reasons (which he listed) it probably won't work for most people.
__________________ "I hurt Firewing." is not something a huge number of people can say. "He dropped a parking garage on me," on the other hand, a lot of people can say. -Kazan, my Champions GM.
Makes me want to look into projecting normally, onto a vertical surface, using the NWN editor (or any other program that would work) and completely eliminating miniatures altogether.
This saves a lot of table space, and helps with some of the physical problems such as mirrors, distance, etc... Not to mention I see my wife allowing this kind of "traditional" setup moreso than a portable overhead kind of setup.
If only I had a $1000 to spend on a projector... :\
Later!
Gruns
So even if the projected map doesn't help in setting the mood (it does!), and even if you don't use miniatures (they rock!), consider projecting your maps to cut the drudgery and get to the action!
I think the whole map-projection thing is, as we'd say in my business, "technically sweet", but the sales pitches aren't working for me.
What is your time worth? We're talking about on the order of an $800 setup. Even if you say your time is worth $10/hour, you have to get to saving 80 hours of time before this comes up a win. And, of course, the setup is useless if you're a DM who likes to "wing it". If you aren't going to put in hours ahead of time making up maps (which is also cutting into your time saved), this is not a win.
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