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

[Dannager]

Man what a waste of money is my first reaction.

Unless and until there is a use for the tablet that actually uses the capability of the machine, what's the point?

I very much doubt this is a pitch to get you to go out and buy a tablet. More along the lines of, "Hey, we know you guys have tablets and smartphones, how about we make an app that leverages them at the game table?"

 

[Nagol]

I very much doubt this is a pitch to get you to go out and buy a tablet. More along the lines of, "Hey, we know you guys have tablets and smartphones, how about we make an app that leverages them at the game table?"

OK at that point, it becomes "What, if anything, can you do that takes advantage of the capabilities as opposed to simply shifting medium?"

 

[Patrick McGill]

It gets me excited. I DM from a laptop, and two or three of the players use tablets. We have a mixture of old tech and new.

We've never had problems with people constantly checking sports scores or being distracted. I guess our games are exciting or something.

I mean, that's part of the social contract. If you're going to be bored, then why play? And if you're going to bore, then why DM?

 

[Agamon]

OK at that point, it becomes "What, if anything, can you do that takes advantage of the capabilities as opposed to simply shifting medium?"

People use these devices already, as many posts above this one have stated. So it's taking advantage of that.

What's the advantage of using one? That's tougher. I used to use my laptop all the time to GM, but that was with 3.5 rules, and one can always use all the help they can get with that system.

I use a PC in the one game I run because it's an online game, so I kinda gotta. Still use paper and dice for some aspects of the game, though.

Now, as a player in 3 of my 4 other games, I generally don't use my tablet, smartphone or laptop. I've tried and it's not my cup of tea. I love reading pdfs on my tablet, but not actually using them at the game. Too awkward compared to using a book, IMO.

Now if what I'm using is an app and not a pdf, then I'm certainly willing to try, because automating a lot of the math and having the rules at your fingertips would be great.

 

[MJS]

The photo says to me: these guys like their tablets.
it also says: where are the women?

it doesn't say paper & pencil is going away, because for many, p&p is far and away more efficient and simple

 

[WizarDru]

OK at that point, it becomes "What, if anything, can you do that takes advantage of the capabilities as opposed to simply shifting medium?"

Quite a few things, really. Everyone having the D&D Compendium or SRD at their fingertips and all the books as PDFs without taking up the entire table is a net benefit for us. Not having half of my players with their laptops is another.

Things like 3D virtual tabletops, chat clients and even virtual attendees are all benefits I like. We've had some electronic presence at our tables for years. Having access to macros and spreadsheets for characters is a bonus, as well. Being able to leverage things like interoperability and Virtual Tabletop technology is also a plus. If I can create a map in Roll20 or using campaign cartographer and then share it dynamically in real time, I can make use of that as a tool.

It's not for everyone, certainly, but I think there are lots of benefits.

 

[Dannager]

OK at that point, it becomes "What, if anything, can you do that takes advantage of the capabilities as opposed to simply shifting medium?"

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'm A Banana]

1) "That's a lot of semi-wealthy urbanite white dudes."

2) "I wonder how many of them are checking Twitter in between combat rounds..."

3) "Man, that's quite a bit more portable than reference books and character sheets."

As long as D&D never needs (or functionally needs, as was arguably the case in 4e) an online reference, I certainly don't begrudge its existence. It's a thing that has a marked influence on peoples' tables. There's cool things you can do with 'em.

 

[GSHamster]

OK at that point, it becomes "What, if anything, can you do that takes advantage of the capabilities as opposed to simply shifting medium?"

I see it as a multi-step process. The first thing you do is a straight replacement. With some simple advantages like saving your changes and not worrying about losing the individual papers.

Then after that, people start exploring the capabilities of the device, and creating new things.

 

[nerfherder]

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.

My initial reaction is excitement. I already use a small laptop for one of the games I play in - one document open with my character sheet, and another document open with my character's journal.

I may well spring for a 10" tablet if Morningstar lives up to its promise.