DMing from a Laptop

[Altamont Ravenard]

I'll probably get my hands on a used laptop (PII 300 MHz, 128 RAM, 6.4 Gigs) very soon and as a guy who has always played with paper (and LOTS of it) I was wondering how do other computer-using-while-playing DMs organize their stuff, mainly:

- Where do you put the "adventure" (event and location descriptions)? Word? Other?
- How do you manage NPC's and Monsters? Excel?
- How do you manage (unidentified) magic items?
- What about maps (for you)?
- What about visual aids (for the players)?
- What other programs/aids do you have installed
- Do you use a Dice roller instead of dice?
- Do you still use a DM's screen?
- Anything else?

Thanks in advance

AR

Edit: I found these 2 threads on the subject, but they're old
http://www.enworld.org/forums/showthread.php?t=31100
http://www.enworld.org/forums/showthread.php?t=10156

 

[HellHound]

I don't use my laptop very heavily in play.

What I use it for:

Excel for initiative tracking
Excel for tracking unidentified magic items

That's about it.

If I have it in PDF, I'll run adventures from the laptop too.

 

[EricNoah]

I'll probably get my hands on a used laptop (PII 300 MHz, 128 RAM, 6.4 Gigs) very soon and as a guy who has always played with paper (and LOTS of it) I was wondering how do other computer-using-while-playing DMs organize their stuff, mainly:

- Where do you put the "adventure" (event and location descriptions)? Word? Other?
- How do you manage NPC's and Monsters? Excel?
- How do you manage (unidentified) magic items?
- What about maps (for you)?
- What about visual aids (for the players)?
- What other programs/aids do you have installed
- Do you use a Dice roller instead of dice?
- Do you still use a DM's screen?
- Anything else?

Thanks in advance

AR

Just started doing this a few monhts ago. I like some aspects and haven't figured out ideal solutions to other aspects.

Adventure: written in Word, with pictures and maps inside. I sometimes put the monster stats in a separate Word file. Spellcasting NPC stats always include pre-caluclated spell data generated from excel spellsheets. Ideally I would like to merge monster/NPC stats and monster/NPC hit point management into one file (maybe find a way to embed calculating excel tables into word documents). But for now, I do use a homebrewed Excel spreadsheet for hit point management. Each "battle" gets its own sheet, with each monster getting its own row.

Maps: I usually find maps that are already made, or I make maps with Campaign Cartographer.

Other programs: I make extensive use of etools, and I use html versions of the SRD. I also have other PDFs of relevant rulebooks handy (I put shortcuts in a folder dedicated to the current adventure).

I use normal dice for now. Though as a player in a couple of higher-level campaigns, I do use my laptop as well for character management. And yes, in those cases I have built homebrew spreadsheets in Excel that serve as die rollers. Worked slick last night when I was running 2 20th level characters who each had four attacks.

No I don't use a DM screen.

 

[Psion]

- Where do you put the "adventure" (event and location descriptions)? Word? Other?

I use WordPerfect myself, but I see no reason Word wouldn't work fine. I more or less keep a running file until I figure it's gotten too big.

I keep a directory on the desktop with links to all the important gaming folders and applications to make pulling things up fast, which is key during a game.

- How do you manage NPC's and Monsters? Excel?

I just plunk them into a word perfect file, often the file is named by category. ("Chaos Minions", "Crew NPC", "Dragonwatch Harbor NPCs.")

For run of the mill monsters, I just use the sage SRD.

- How do you manage (unidentified) magic items?
Put them in my adventure notes. That way when people say things like "we got it back with the bramble elves", I can just hop to the bramble elves section of the appropriate adventure record.

- What about maps (for you)?
Campaign Cartographer II for general purposes, but my last campaign is a little odd multi world thing, I am actually using a little gridded off excel thing for my river of worlds map.

- What about visual aids (for the players)?
Sometimes I have a PDF or jpeg to show them, I'll put down the dm screen and push the screen flat, or flip it around. (I do have a video connection for a TV, but I ain't that fancy yet...)

- What other programs/aids do you have installed

• Sovelior & Sage SRD (see here.)
• CC2 and Fractal Terrains and FR Atlas (though I don't play FR, the city maps are great and higly pilferable.)
• Jamis Bucks NPCgen, DunGen, Treasure Gen
• PCgen
• Etools
• JH NameGen Gold (and I have written a ton of name scripts for quick use during the game. Great for NPC names, NPC concepts, adventure seeds, etc.)
• Lots of PDF downloads

- Do you use a Dice roller instead of dice?
No. Not unless it's like a disintigrate for a 20th level game or something. For rolling 1d20 or 7d6, dice work fine.

- Do you still use a DM's screen?
Sometimes. I did use it for a while, like if I have some printed thing the player's don't need to see. But I have started using the Sovelior & Sage SRD as a reference more than the screen so it's easy to neglect or totally forget about the screen. (The only thing I think I use it for anymore is Kenzer's little fumble system, and the old 3.0 cover and concealment, if needed.)

- Anything else?
Now that I have a laptop with decent speakers, I have started using it for background music as well.

 

[Southern Oracle]

In an ideal situation, I have everything I'll need for an adventure prepped beforehand and ready to go. The adventure proper I have as a word document, with the sections to be read aloud italicized and boxed to separate them from the rest of the text. I have links and notes within the body of the adventure in a bright color to either remind me to hand a visual aid to the players or to call up a web page or picture to show as a visual. Monsters and NPCs are typed up and printed out in initiative card form (check out either That Other Game Company or The Game Mechanics for great initiative cards), and magic items and major equipment (armor, weapons, stuff with a gold piece value) have their own printed card with a picture to represent the item.
DM maps I usually scan and keep on the computer for reference, while player maps are printed out or copied for them, and battle maps are prepared ahead of time for tabletop combat. Whenever possible I try to make accessories such as tables, chairs, beds, etc. or at least represent them with objects, as they make a good visual reminder for cover as well as demonstrate the difficulties of maneuvering, flanking, etc.
If I know of suitable music or sound bytes appropriate to the setting, I'll play them in the background and/or at the appropriate time. Halloween cds are good for dungeon crawls/haunted house scenarios as well as individual screams, slamming doors, etc.
I don't use a dice roller, as I enjoy the rare chance I get to use real dice. I only use a DM screen for the tables on it -- I don't have notes to conceal.

 

[EricNoah]

I will say, though, that I would love a great text-based die roller. Something where I can just type 22d6 or d20+17 and get a response, like some chatrooms have. Something without buttons or dropdowns or whatever. Anyone got one of those handy??

 

[BlueBlackRed]

Don't bother.
I tried this for a couple sessions.
They are noisy and unwieldy.
We had a player try this as well.
He eventually gave up on it for the same reasons.

Now I do have a PC at my disposal at a game, but it is not near the game table and it is not used during the game unless something unprepared for comes up that requires its use.

 

[3catcircus]

I'll probably get my hands on a used laptop (PII 300 MHz, 128 RAM, 6.4 Gigs) very soon and as a guy who has always played with paper (and LOTS of it) I was wondering how do other computer-using-while-playing DMs organize their stuff, mainly:

- Where do you put the "adventure" (event and location descriptions)? Word? Other?
- How do you manage NPC's and Monsters? Excel?
- How do you manage (unidentified) magic items?
- What about maps (for you)?
- What about visual aids (for the players)?
- What other programs/aids do you have installed
- Do you use a Dice roller instead of dice?
- Do you still use a DM's screen?
- Anything else?

Thanks in advance

AR

Edit: I found these 2 threads on the subject, but they're old
http://www.enworld.org/forums/showthread.php?t=31100
http://www.enworld.org/forums/showthread.php?t=10156

Well,

I'me currently running my group through a modified version of A1-4. I've got the actual pdf from RPGNOW (or SVGames, don't remember which one) that I tile so that the map booklet (which I extracted from the pdf as a separate pdf) is alongside the text. I *then* have Word open for the 3.x conversion changes to it.

I also have DMScreen running for rapid resolution of a few things (skill DCs, Door DCs, light sources, hardness & hp of objects, and overland movement primarily). Plus, it has a neat list of sound effects for various traps - tends to startle the players when they miss a search DC and stumble into a trap...

I also have a copy of the Spot Distance Calculator excel file (that I heavily modified to 3.5 and also included listen checks as well) since that can become a PITA to calculate multiple instances of hide vs. spot and move silent vs. listen in various terrain types.

Final, whenever I need to, I've got the SRD to reference for "stock" monsters and to look at the more intricate combat situations.

I *do* have a normal DM screen up and I still use real dice. I use plain old paper to record initiatives and deduct NPC hp's.

I don't use it for player visual aids, preferring to give them hard copies of items.

 

[Koewn]

I've just got Sovelier/Sage's SRD locally on the laptop, as Scion stated. I've tried putting the adventure text, custom monsters/NPCs and stuff like that up on screen, but I can't get it to work for me; I scribble too much, and walk around too much. I'd also thought about on the player side of the table running my wizard off of a PDA.

Eric, I haven't come across a simple dice-roller yet. Although, your post reminded me of something I did a while back - pregenerated roll sheets.

It printed out about 500 d20 rolls (with correct randomization!) onto a piece of paper that I could flip to on my clipboard and mark off one when I needed a d20 value and I wasn't next to my dice.

It wouldn't be all that difficult to dreg up the source code (C), improve it a little, and also split it into a command-window based on-the-fly generator; a program that would just sit there blank, and take inputs, spit out results. It'd be easy enough to compile for DOS, though I don't know off-hand what I'd use for a randomizer.

Let me know if that sounds interesting. Not that I can guarantee a time frame on results, but hey. The wife-unit is gestating and my fix-it-up house ain't fix-it-up'd yet.

Koewn

 

[Psion]

I could write the program Eric wants. (Wonders if I have a compiler at home anymore... hmmm. It really would be fairly simple.)