Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Coolest. Gaming Set-up. Evar.
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Steel_Wind" data-source="post: 2056851" data-attributes="member: 20741"><p>COOLEST.GAMING SET-UP. EVAR.</p><p></p><p>Ok. There have been a number of posts lately that have suggested that miniatures detract from a session or create a disconnect between the role-playing aspect of a game and turn it all into some tactical tabletop wargame.</p><p></p><p>While there are clear meta-gaming concerns that do come more to the fore when using miniatures, the benefits are real, tangible and when done correctly, add a vast depth to the game and to the enjoyment of all the participants.</p><p></p><p>I’d like to point out what our group has done to make miniatures MORE a part of the session - not less.</p><p></p><p>The DLP Projector</p><p></p><p>We have been longtime users of miniatures in our gaming circle, Most of us have been gaming since the late 70’s. We did not use miniatures much in 1st edition – but we certainly did when we were playing Rolemaster for 16 years or so and we kept it when we moved to 3E.</p><p></p><p>We have thousands of metal miniatures, lead and pewter both. But I do admit that we took to the plastic minis very quickly and have amassed a collection of thousands of the WotC plastic minis, We love em.</p><p></p><p>We had made use of Battlemats for years. But last fall I saw a letter by Jans Carton in Dungeon Magazine and he got me to thinking. Jans group uses a LCD projector for their sessions and it sounded mighty cool to me. Every player in our group has a laptop and sessions these days are a mass of laptops all over the table. I wanted to bring the visual depth of a game like NeverWinter to our gaming circle – and at the same time cut out all of the restrictions that go with a CRPG. Keep the sizzle – cut out the nonsense.</p><p></p><p>So that’s what we did.</p><p></p><p>The 7 of us in our gaming circle each threw $100 CDN or so into the pot and we bought a used DLP projector off of e-bay last fall for about $600 USD.</p><p></p><p>We then took that projector and rigged up a portable pole (in this case, a portable joist support used for basement renovations available at any Home Depot) and we affixed a custom metal bar to it, kit-bashed a $1.99 wire ironing board rack to it and we had our baby up.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: DarkOrange">[imbedded picture link (<a href="http://www.dladventures.com/gallery/public/news/project_2.jpg" target="_blank">http://www.dladventures.com/gallery/public/news/project_2.jpg</a>) removed because it was prompting for login - Kid Charlemagne, moderator]</span></p><p></p><p>While we always game in the same location, if we were inclined to take it down and move it around – we certainly could do so.</p><p></p><p>The projector is bright at about 1600 ANSI LUMENS. In English, this means that the image shows up in normal ambient room lighting fairly well. With the lights dimmed just a tad more than we would normally play in – the image on the table is VERY bright.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: DarkOrange">[imbedded picture link (<a href="http://www.dladventures.com/gallery/public/news/project_1.jpg" target="_blank">http://www.dladventures.com/gallery/public/news/project_1.jpg</a>) removed because it was prompting for login - Kid Charlemagne, moderator]</span></p><p></p><p>For maps, we have resorted to a number of options:</p><p></p><p>1 – Neverwinter Nights maps, created on the fly. This is great for camp encounters in the wild, or terrain based encounters or things like a troll hole. The above map was created in literally two minutes using the NWN toolset at the gaming table to deal with an encounter with Ice trolls in the frozen wilds.</p><p></p><p>2 – NWN maps, more detailed. I pre-plan most of my dungeon crawls, and this allows me to use the Toolset to create several levels. I display the map in the toolset (not the game client) and simply pan and scroll as necessary</p><p></p><p>3 – Maps scanned from a product or created with Dundjinni - displayed with Tabletop Mapper: Tabletop mapper is a free utility that will take any .bmp or .jpg and slap a grid over it of arbitrary size, zoom in or out or pan your image however you like, and even allows you to prepare a map ahead of time and hide those defined areas one by one. In this fashion, you can take a map out of Dungeon Mag or what have you (now all the maps are available on Paizo’s site with each issue) and reveal the map a room or corridor at a time as the party explores. The output on the tabletop is excellent.</p><p></p><p>Since we’ve been using this setup – the excitement over the game has increased and we are all loving it. Seeing as this cost us each about the price of 2 to 3 hardcover rulebooks per person, it was hardly an expensive purchase when you think about it in those terms. The payoff has been stupendous.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: DarkOrange">[imbedded picture link (<a href="http://www.dladventures.com/gallery/public/news/project_4.jpg" target="_blank">http://www.dladventures.com/gallery/public/news/project_4.jpg</a>) removed because it was prompting for login - Kid Charlemagne, moderator]</span></p><p></p><p>I have seen DMs crow about the wonder of Tac-tiles and preparing them ahead of time or the ability to scroll the Tac-tile map by moving and erasing as you go.</p><p></p><p>I have all my maps on my laptop. I don’t erase anything. They look FABULOUS and I can even include animated effects like fireballs, walls of fire, lava pits, etc.</p><p></p><p>Time to get it working in the session is literally less than one minute. Our sessions go faster with digital map projection vs overhead pens. The visual payoff is outstanding.</p><p></p><p>If you have discounted the use of miniatures in your sessions. Please – re-think your position. There is so much you can do with a setup like this. It aids in telling the story, it creates exitement and buzz over every game session and the player’s PAY ATTENTION to their surroundings. They ask for MORE descriptive detail – not less. They care where they are and ask about all kinds of things now.</p><p></p><p>Quite simply – it ROCKS.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Steel_Wind, post: 2056851, member: 20741"] COOLEST.GAMING SET-UP. EVAR. Ok. There have been a number of posts lately that have suggested that miniatures detract from a session or create a disconnect between the role-playing aspect of a game and turn it all into some tactical tabletop wargame. While there are clear meta-gaming concerns that do come more to the fore when using miniatures, the benefits are real, tangible and when done correctly, add a vast depth to the game and to the enjoyment of all the participants. I’d like to point out what our group has done to make miniatures MORE a part of the session - not less. The DLP Projector We have been longtime users of miniatures in our gaming circle, Most of us have been gaming since the late 70’s. We did not use miniatures much in 1st edition – but we certainly did when we were playing Rolemaster for 16 years or so and we kept it when we moved to 3E. We have thousands of metal miniatures, lead and pewter both. But I do admit that we took to the plastic minis very quickly and have amassed a collection of thousands of the WotC plastic minis, We love em. We had made use of Battlemats for years. But last fall I saw a letter by Jans Carton in Dungeon Magazine and he got me to thinking. Jans group uses a LCD projector for their sessions and it sounded mighty cool to me. Every player in our group has a laptop and sessions these days are a mass of laptops all over the table. I wanted to bring the visual depth of a game like NeverWinter to our gaming circle – and at the same time cut out all of the restrictions that go with a CRPG. Keep the sizzle – cut out the nonsense. So that’s what we did. The 7 of us in our gaming circle each threw $100 CDN or so into the pot and we bought a used DLP projector off of e-bay last fall for about $600 USD. We then took that projector and rigged up a portable pole (in this case, a portable joist support used for basement renovations available at any Home Depot) and we affixed a custom metal bar to it, kit-bashed a $1.99 wire ironing board rack to it and we had our baby up. [COLOR=DarkOrange][imbedded picture link ([url]http://www.dladventures.com/gallery/public/news/project_2.jpg[/url]) removed because it was prompting for login - Kid Charlemagne, moderator][/COLOR] While we always game in the same location, if we were inclined to take it down and move it around – we certainly could do so. The projector is bright at about 1600 ANSI LUMENS. In English, this means that the image shows up in normal ambient room lighting fairly well. With the lights dimmed just a tad more than we would normally play in – the image on the table is VERY bright. [COLOR=DarkOrange][imbedded picture link ([url]http://www.dladventures.com/gallery/public/news/project_1.jpg[/url]) removed because it was prompting for login - Kid Charlemagne, moderator][/COLOR] For maps, we have resorted to a number of options: 1 – Neverwinter Nights maps, created on the fly. This is great for camp encounters in the wild, or terrain based encounters or things like a troll hole. The above map was created in literally two minutes using the NWN toolset at the gaming table to deal with an encounter with Ice trolls in the frozen wilds. 2 – NWN maps, more detailed. I pre-plan most of my dungeon crawls, and this allows me to use the Toolset to create several levels. I display the map in the toolset (not the game client) and simply pan and scroll as necessary 3 – Maps scanned from a product or created with Dundjinni - displayed with Tabletop Mapper: Tabletop mapper is a free utility that will take any .bmp or .jpg and slap a grid over it of arbitrary size, zoom in or out or pan your image however you like, and even allows you to prepare a map ahead of time and hide those defined areas one by one. In this fashion, you can take a map out of Dungeon Mag or what have you (now all the maps are available on Paizo’s site with each issue) and reveal the map a room or corridor at a time as the party explores. The output on the tabletop is excellent. Since we’ve been using this setup – the excitement over the game has increased and we are all loving it. Seeing as this cost us each about the price of 2 to 3 hardcover rulebooks per person, it was hardly an expensive purchase when you think about it in those terms. The payoff has been stupendous. [COLOR=DarkOrange][imbedded picture link ([url]http://www.dladventures.com/gallery/public/news/project_4.jpg[/url]) removed because it was prompting for login - Kid Charlemagne, moderator][/COLOR] I have seen DMs crow about the wonder of Tac-tiles and preparing them ahead of time or the ability to scroll the Tac-tile map by moving and erasing as you go. I have all my maps on my laptop. I don’t erase anything. They look FABULOUS and I can even include animated effects like fireballs, walls of fire, lava pits, etc. Time to get it working in the session is literally less than one minute. Our sessions go faster with digital map projection vs overhead pens. The visual payoff is outstanding. If you have discounted the use of miniatures in your sessions. Please – re-think your position. There is so much you can do with a setup like this. It aids in telling the story, it creates exitement and buzz over every game session and the player’s PAY ATTENTION to their surroundings. They ask for MORE descriptive detail – not less. They care where they are and ask about all kinds of things now. Quite simply – it ROCKS. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Coolest. Gaming Set-up. Evar.
Top