Computer at the game table?

[reveal]

Be aware of the risks involved. One of my group had his shiny new laptop on the game table when the host's dog walked by and snagged the powercord knocking the laptop to the tile floor and cracking the screen. Not a happy thing!

My power cord is under a power cord protector for that very reason (just replace "dog" with "3 year old").

 

[Kevin Rau]

I built an encounter generator on my website (publicly usable) to generate encounters as needed, and then use it to dynamically roll Init, saves, and edit HP of the monsters as damage is taken.

http://www.platemail.org/

 

[colonelthread]

I built an encounter generator on my website (publicly usable) to generate encounters as needed, and then use it to dynamically roll Init, saves, and edit HP of the monsters as damage is taken.

http://www.platemail.org/

Very nice, I will have to play around with this a bit more. I like how it produced variations in a group of orc's AC and HP by using different armor and stats (and weapons, too). My monster groups are always so boring, "Up ahead you spot a gang of six goblins all wearing tattered leather armor and sporting morningstars". Bleh.

Up until now I haven't used a laptop (or other computer) at the game table, but for our next session I'm planning to use Winamp to play environmental tracks and possibly some music for battles, tavern scenes, and the like. I tried a couple of cheapo pairs of speakers, but they sound pretty bad, so I'll probably drag along the Altec-Lansing set that has a subwoofer. Bummer that we don't play at my house, but my wife wouldn't be too happy with me keeping the kids up until 11pm or 12am.

I may try using Excel as a combat/initiative tracker, if it doesn't prove to be any slower than my current paper and pencil method. I just worried that the game will become focused on using the laptop versus interacting with each other at the table.

 

[dren]

I may try using Excel as a combat/initiative tracker, if it doesn't prove to be any slower than my current paper and pencil method. I just worried that the game will become focused on using the laptop versus interacting with each other at the table.

It is slower for low level encounters, but once you hit hid-levels, it's great for keeping track of a dozen or more enemies.

 

[master0fdungeons]

I use the following

DMs Familiar - combat tracking, stats, rules, etc
Firefox - web access to srd, my own generators and stuff
Fractal mapper - I use a script I wrote to allow me to reveal player maps on a 2nd screen
eTools - char gen and such
Excel - xp calculations

Take a look at my latest creation, a random monster generator: http://home.san.rr.com/thegraggs/pub/Random Monsters.htm
It rolls up 5 random monsters for you to pick from.

 

[pjrake]

I use the following

DMs Familiar - combat tracking, stats, rules, etc
Firefox - web access to srd, my own generators and stuff
Fractal mapper - I use a script I wrote to allow me to reveal player maps on a 2nd screen
eTools - char gen and such
Excel - xp calculations

Take a look at my latest creation, a random monster generator: http://home.san.rr.com/thegraggs/pub/Random%20Monsters.htm
It rolls up 5 random monsters for you to pick from.

How do you set up a 2nd screen? I have my laptop hooked up to the TV via S-Video cable. I have an HP dv4000 Pavilion laptop and currently I switch view (CRTL + F4) to switch screen but I would like to show players one image while still having control of my laptop and see my notes, etc.

PJ

 

[XCorvis]

WinXP: Go into Control Panel ->Display Properties, click the Settings tab. It should show Monitor 1 and Monitor 2. Click on Monitor 2, check the box that says "Extend my Desktop onto this monitor." Set display resolution and position it as you like. Click OK.

 

[DonTadow]

WinXP: Go into Control Panel ->Display Properties, click the Settings tab. It should show Monitor 1 and Monitor 2. Click on Monitor 2, check the box that says "Extend my Desktop onto this monitor." Set display resolution and position it as you like. Click OK.

Also check to see if there is an "advanced button" after you go to the settings tab in the above instructions. Select this and see if there are any dual monitor options associated with your video cards. Later laptops that carry ati and gforce cards have an option that makes your laptop and monitor act as two seperate screens.

 

[pjrake]

WinXP: Go into Control Panel ->Display Properties, click the Settings tab. It should show Monitor 1 and Monitor 2. Click on Monitor 2, check the box that says "Extend my Desktop onto this monitor." Set display resolution and position it as you like. Click OK.

It worked! Wow, you don't know how much I wanted to do this! Thanks, I really appreciate this.

So can I now bother you with something else? lol To show players an image, I've been using PowerPoint, but it's not very convenient. I've tried the Slide Show that comes with XP and even tried Google's Picasa, but when I'm changing an image, or scrolling to find an image to show my players, they see what I'm doing. How do you handle this? Do you simply turn off the TV (would like to avoid this; don't want to damage the TV) or is there another way to "blank" out the second monitor. Thanks again!!!

PJ

 

[reveal]

It worked! Wow, you don't know how much I wanted to do this! Thanks, I really appreciate this.

So can I now bother you with something else? lol To show players an image, I've been using PowerPoint, but it's not very convenient. I've tried the Slide Show that comes with XP and even tried Google's Picasa, but when I'm changing an image, or scrolling to find an image to show my players, they see what I'm doing. How do you handle this? Do you simply turn off the TV (would like to avoid this; don't want to damage the TV) or is there another way to "blank" out the second monitor. Thanks again!!!

PJ

If you have a dual monitor setup, you can drag things onto the second monitor. Just drag and drop like you would anything on your desktop and you'll see it disappear from your monitor and appear on the second monitor.