D&D 5E What does this photo say to you? [Project: Morningstar)

GSHamster · Jun 12, 2014

amerigoV said:
I see everyone looking at their tech instead of each other.

I thought the event is to introduce and show off the new tech. Would make sense that everyone is paying more attention to the tech, because it's the new thing.

Now, if it's the fifth session, and everyone is still focusing on the tech, that could be a problem.

Stormonu · Jun 13, 2014

After 30 years of lugging around up to 50 lbs. of stuff for a game, I welcome laptops and tablets at my table. I run my games from my iPad, using my laptop to look up data, play mood music and the like as a DM. As a player, I use my iPad to track my character & roll dice.

Yes, people can get distracted with them. But generally they'd be the players building dice towers, reading comics or source books or otherwise distracted in Pen & Paper sessions anyway.

Dannyalcatraz · Jun 13, 2014

Morrus said:
As an example of how it would be used in-game, what is your initial reaction to this image? A group sitting round a table, a battlemap in the middle, each has a tablet rather than a character sheet.

View attachment 62128

Personally, I haven't used a physical character sheet since I got my Palm PDA back in the late 1990s or so. When that died, my iPod Touch took over. Now, it's my iPad2.

And some of the guys at our table use smartphones or laptops for their characters.

The biggest advantage- for me, at least- is being able to have virtually every resource I need available with a finger flick. I can have all of my spells open in a browser, for instance.

gweinel · Jun 13, 2014

[MENTION=10786]Melkor[/MENTION] ...my thoughts exactly... too pity I cant spare any rep to you.

JamesonCourage · Jun 13, 2014

"Ick."

dd.stevenson · Jun 13, 2014

It looks like they've got their character sheets & reference materials on their iPads. I've been able to do that for several years now, and I will continue to be able to do that whether or not they sell an app for that purpose.

I want to know more about the KB format. Can I search it with google? Can 3PPs and users add material? Does it mean there won't be any legal 5E PDFs?

Ruzak · Jun 13, 2014

This level of tech is not my thing. I would be a little worried if I wasn't convinced 5e is designed from the ground up not to need it.

Ichneumon · Jun 13, 2014

The group may not be as homogenous as first thought. Several players have their faces hidden, and the dark-haired player at the bottom of the picture could be either male or female.
Only one player - the balding guy on the left - obviously has their head down looking at their tablet. The rumors of player distraction may be slightly exaggerated.
Hand-held devices are already a common sight at my table, so having them play a more integral part in a gaming session doesn't worry me. In fact, I'm very interested in seeing what 'Morningstar' can do for us.

Thaumaturge · Jun 13, 2014

GSHamster said:
I thought the event is to introduce and show off the new tech. Would make sense that everyone is paying more attention to the tech, because it's the new thing.

Now, if it's the fifth session, and everyone is still focusing on the tech, that could be a problem.

And, conversely, if a group of people is there to look at a new tech product and they aren't focused on the tech, that's a problem, too.

Thaumaturge

Nagol · Jun 13, 2014

Dannager said:
I would hope that at this point that would be obvious.

Even just a laptop at a table can allow you to do things like bring your entire library with you, quickly search for a specific rules item, share documents with your players, pull up images on the fly, etc. Heck, even just this last generation we saw the D&D Compendium become a searchable database of literally every official D&D rules item from 4e, along with a character and monster builder. There is not a doubt in my mind that the shift to digital at the game table and away from paper is a) inevitable, b) already widespread, c) incredibly useful (when it isn't deliberately sabotaged by DMs who aren't willing to give it a fair shot), and d) wide open for development.

I have a notebook at my sessions for images, etc. It also has the complete rules of the game system I'm running, house rules, and synopses of previous sessions in case of need. Occasionally, one of the players will bring one as well for their own purpose. But each extra device adds less utility to the group and acts as a potential attention diverter.

If I were to have remote attendance, that would call for additional infrastructure, but that infrastructure would be different than each person having a tablet -- multiple cameras, table microphone, large screen, etc.

I don't see the utility currently present to warrant having each participant having a screen in front of them. There are only a few things a player can use the device for currently:

Looking at and updating their character sheet. Paper is probably faster and less prone to error for the tactical recordings of combat and the longer term character development is generally best handled out of session.
Sending and receiving private messages. The last thing I want as a DM is yet another communication method during play. Time spent reading and typing is time not spent observing and interacting with the group.
Reviewing game rules. Somewhat valuable, but generally downplayed during session time.
Keeping notes.