Do you allow electronics at your gaming table?
- Thread starter Morrus
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Answered Yes, everybody uses or is permitted electronic aids at the table but within limits. Needs to relate to gaming, cannot be for personal use during gaming, you need to excuse yourself for that.
I answered yes, but only the DM uses them at the table.
I use a netbook to pull up stat blocks for foes and as well as an initiative tracker. Players are permitted to use electronics, but I try to ensure that they have access to print materials at the table (especially spells). I run 5e, so rules questions are not common and I feel confident making a ruling when they come up. All together, this usually means I'm the only one with some electronic aid at the table.
I use a netbook to pull up stat blocks for foes and as well as an initiative tracker. Players are permitted to use electronics, but I try to ensure that they have access to print materials at the table (especially spells). I run 5e, so rules questions are not common and I feel confident making a ruling when they come up. All together, this usually means I'm the only one with some electronic aid at the table.
I will allow, but not encourage it. I am not a fan of electronics at the table, as many players in my experience allow themselves to become engaged more with what they can access electronically than with the game at hand.
Some will say that's the GM's problem for not making the game compelling. I think that position underestimates the power of the clicky-zone, and its interaction with human psychology and neurological reward systems. I know people who are so addicted to the online world that, even when out to a fancy dinner, they will excuse themselves from their real-world friends, real-world conversations, and in-person social interaction to go to the bathroom and futz on Facebook for 20 minutes or a half-hour.
One player in my Deadlands game uses a dice roller on his smartphone, and that's no problem whatsoever. Another used to use a tablet for his character sheet and spell listings. The latter tended to get distracted by his e-mail and such, but it wasn't too bad.
In a Star Wars game I played in (I didn't run it, but did host it), out of six people my wife and I were the only ones who didn't have a laptop or tablet at the table. For one player, this made her attention to what she was doing so weak that I was tempted to have "something wrong with our router" so that she wouldn't have internet access during games.
In general, I find that if a game *needs* electronic support, that makes it so rules-fiddly that I don't want to run it anyway.
Some will say that's the GM's problem for not making the game compelling. I think that position underestimates the power of the clicky-zone, and its interaction with human psychology and neurological reward systems. I know people who are so addicted to the online world that, even when out to a fancy dinner, they will excuse themselves from their real-world friends, real-world conversations, and in-person social interaction to go to the bathroom and futz on Facebook for 20 minutes or a half-hour.
One player in my Deadlands game uses a dice roller on his smartphone, and that's no problem whatsoever. Another used to use a tablet for his character sheet and spell listings. The latter tended to get distracted by his e-mail and such, but it wasn't too bad.
In a Star Wars game I played in (I didn't run it, but did host it), out of six people my wife and I were the only ones who didn't have a laptop or tablet at the table. For one player, this made her attention to what she was doing so weak that I was tempted to have "something wrong with our router" so that she wouldn't have internet access during games.
In general, I find that if a game *needs* electronic support, that makes it so rules-fiddly that I don't want to run it anyway.
Jan van Leyden
Adventurer
We don't have a rule regarding this topic, but only the GM uses a laptop; no-one else has any desire to do so.
I started using a laptop at the table running 4e, and , let me tell you, it felt really strange at first. In the meantime I've grown to prefer it, even for games less dependent on computer aid.
Between sessions electronic devices are widels used by all players.
I started using a laptop at the table running 4e, and , let me tell you, it felt really strange at first. In the meantime I've grown to prefer it, even for games less dependent on computer aid.
Between sessions electronic devices are widels used by all players.
Balesir
Adventurer
In principle I have no objection to everyone having electronic aids, and most of the group I run 4E for have them available, but they are seldom needed or used. An occasional Compendium lookup is about it for the players - I as GM am the one who has a laptop always on (for a spreadsheet I use for tracking PC stuff and Combat Manager for the monster stat blocks and monster hit point and condition tracking).
I used to use printed sheets for monster damage/condition/power use tracking and statblocks, but Combet Manager does it so well (making "routine" die rolls automatically for saves and recharges, for instance) that I converted to it around 9 months ago.
I used to use printed sheets for monster damage/condition/power use tracking and statblocks, but Combet Manager does it so well (making "routine" die rolls automatically for saves and recharges, for instance) that I converted to it around 9 months ago.
Leatherhead
Possibly a Idiot.
Most people in my groups use their phone or tablet as a character sheet.
The DM has an electronic soundboard, along with a computer for PDF look-ups.
I'm currently in the process of assembling a portable map projector using a Raspberry Pi.
People get distracted with them sometimes. But to be fair, they would get distracted without them anyway.
The DM has an electronic soundboard, along with a computer for PDF look-ups.
I'm currently in the process of assembling a portable map projector using a Raspberry Pi.
People get distracted with them sometimes. But to be fair, they would get distracted without them anyway.
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