Laptops at the table - Do you use them?

[starkad]

I use it when I DM (unfortunately, it's nearly 100% of me DM'ing...), as it GREATLY speeds things up. I've taken to a dual monitor setup with my laptop and a projector - I use photoshop to display the party maps on the wall. This speeds up gaming like you can't even imagine. We get through easily 3-4x more content since we started using the projector.

One player uses it to check d20srd.org so I can speed thing up, he also takes game notes. Another player brings one and surfs the web - which I will be locking down next week, because it infuriates me as a GM. If you are bored, find something different to do, rather than distract everyone at the effing table with half naked pics of women half yer age. *mutter*

 

[Olaf the Stout]

Wow, it's been 3 1/2 years since I first asked this question. I wonder if laptop use has become more common nowadays? My Dad gave me his old laptop to use just a couple of weeks ago so this topic is probably even more relevant to me now. Here is what I asked in the opening post:

I have noticed that a few people (players and DM's) use laptops at the table. If you do use one, what do you use it for?

If you haven't used one personally, have you played in a game where someone has? What are your thoughts? Did it add or detract from the game?

Additionally (I may fork to a new thread for this), what programs or resources do you use to help you run or play your games?

Olaf the Stout

 

[Stormonu]

IMHO, it's great as a DM tool, but easily a distraction for players. As a DM, I use it to store and review my game rule books, supplements and adventures. I use fantasy grounds to track initiative and the like, and often use it to roll dice, as it can handle up to 30 rolls at one time and keeps the results for me if I need to check back for some reason - usually when I get distracted.

I also use it to play music for the game or other special sound effects (the latest use was during a plague zombie attack, using sound clips from Left 4 Dead to enhance the zombie's attacks).

I've also used Google maps and wikipedia to great effect during games, mostly to help with matters in our modern Vampire game.

Unfortunately, the players often use laptops to play other games during slow parts - most notoriously, my wife, who would break out cards if she isn't using the laptop to play solitaire.

 

[Umbran]

Laptops (and, I think, devices in general) serve as a sort of speedbump to player interaction. None of my players are fans of having them at the table, and I'm no hot on it either. As a general rule, if my rules are so complicated that the players need a machine to help them keep track of things, then the problem is in the rules, not in the lack of machine support.

All my players think that the GM having a laptop isn't a problem - the GM is supposed to have PC stats, NPC/Monster stats, maps, room descriptions, maybe some music or other miltimedia, and rules for just about everything in the game at their fingertips. There may be an extra distraction or barrier to interaction in the laptop, but that may be made up for by the sheer speed and convenience over dead-tree format.

 

[Michael Silverbane]

I (still) generally use a laptop at the table as both a player and a dm.

I prefer to keep the computer on a small side table next to me so that, while it is still accessible for when I need to look something up (I prefer to keep campaign notes, rulebooks, and character records on the computer, so that I don't have anything in front of me but dice) I can still get to it, but it doesn't create that barrier that I see a lot of complaints about.

In most of the games in which I am a player, I have been delegated the role of player record keeper, so I keep notepad open to keep track of party loot, important npcs and places, and any notes or plans that we may need to keep from session to session.

I do still occasionally play in (or run) a game without a laptop present. Usually it is when playing in a one-shot or in a place where having a laptop is just not feasible (outside or on a long car trip, or whatever). If I were to play with someone for whom the laptop was a deal-breaker, I could go without it, so long as I had some notice to get my character information into a hardcopy format...

 

[weem]

In the last couple of threads I have noticed that a few people (players and DM's) use laptops at the table. If you do use one, what do you use it for?

If you haven't used one personally, have you played in a game where someone has? What are your thoughts? Did it add or detract from the game?

Olaf the Stout

I don't use one as a DM or Player.

I have a few players with netbooks and I don't mind because these players are very good at paying attention to the game as it happens - however, I did have one player who constantly was watching videos and grabbing the guys around him to check out videos while we were playing...

...he no longer plays with us anymore - I had to cut him out of the game for that and a few other reasons.

 

[Truth Seeker]

Pen & Paper...for me. Laptops takes up space.

 

[Umbran]

This sounds too much like "because I said so." As a player, I'd be ticked if my DM said that to me, because he's limiting me for his own sense of aesthetics, and I think that's wrong in a collaborative environment.

I think that's the very essence of a collaborative environment - real collaboration isn't, "you don't do anything to limit me, ever". It is, "we each give and take a bit in turn". You give some for his aesthetics, and he gives some for yours elsewhere.

 

[Obryn]

For the first time ever, I'm considering bringing a laptop to the table for something other than quick rules reference.

Masterplan is luring me with its siren song, though, and I'm going to give it a shot with my players tonight if they don't mind. I'm not going to use it for anything they're not comfortable with.

-O

 

[Janx]

As a player:

I've tried PCgen, but it's too cumbersome to actually use to run a character.

In the end, I settled on an Excel spreadsheet I wrote with different tabs for different aspects of the character. It was relatively easiest to work with and customize in-game if I needed.

I also would keep the d20srd.org site open, and would often hyperlink relevant aspects of it to things in my spreadsheet (like spells, feats, and skills).

I would have preferred some automation that a true app could have provided on the hyperlinking and control of the sheet, rather than manually maintaining and taking care not to wreck a calculation

But it was the best way to get what I wanted, since nobody else would, and I didn't have time to write a proper app myself.


As a GM, I use the d20srd.org site, and I'd write my adventure in Word, and run it off of Word.

I would hyperlink the monsters and spells to the pertinent d20SRD page. I'd keep track of HP and such on the word document.

I would have loved a way to lock down my word document, except for a "HP tracking" tracking block for each monster where I could tell it how many HP to add or subtract. then it would have worked just about as well as printing it.


In both cases, I used my old WinXP laptop. It was small, and slow, but got the job done, and didn't take up a lot of space. As a DM, I always roll real dice, just habit.

Being a tech industry guy, I'm usually the most technically advanced at the gaming table.