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<blockquote data-quote="reanjr" data-source="post: 1960224" data-attributes="member: 20740">Word is great for anything you are going to print out or have to read large blocks of text from.&nbsp; But it's horrible for general use and notetaking.&nbsp; It's just overkill.&nbsp; Use notepad.&nbsp; Better yet use Microsoft OneNote.&nbsp; It's absolutely designed for that sort of thing.&nbsp; Outlook notes can be good for this as well, but it tends to be a bit slow.&nbsp; Opera's notes feature is really good for this sort of thing.For NPCs and monsters, again, I use Notepad, but Excel could be useful if you like that sort of thing.&nbsp; It's just a bit slower to navigate than plain text.&nbsp; The same note programs as before would all be useful.Unidentified magic items get their own .txt file that I quickly alt-tab to.&nbsp; If it's a charged item then I can keep track of charges without missing a bit.Maps for me usually only consist of the barest accuracy in drawing, so I just use something that lets me draw (MS Paint).&nbsp; MS OneNote would probably handle this really well, too.&nbsp; For better maps or lots of them, Photoshop Elements is reasonably priced ($100, I believe) and should do everything you need.I don't use visual aids usually.&nbsp; If I do, I usually just send my players a URL for the picture.I always use dice rollers when I have a computer in front of me.&nbsp; It's way easier.&nbsp; I wrote a custom one that exactly suits my purpose (it has a button for each die type, left click rolls the die and gives a result, right click adds the result to the current total, there is a text box for typing in something like d4+2d6+5 or anything like that).I also use several versions of the SRD so I never have to use a book.&nbsp; I also at one time had a wonderful spell management program I wrote that let you search for instance, for any spell with the Fire descriptor, that required no expensive material components, between levels 2 and 5, with no saving throw.&nbsp; Great for quickly making an NPC spellcaster.&nbsp; You could create a spells known list, a spells memorized list, etc. and just click a spell to remove it from the list as it was cast.&nbsp; Unfortunately, I lost that program somewhere... along with the XML file of all the spells...Now that you've made me think about it, I really should work on an app designed for keeping notes and stuff.&nbsp; That would be nice...</blockquote>

[QUOTE="reanjr, post: 1960224, member: 20740"] Word is great for anything you are going to print out or have to read large blocks of text from. But it's horrible for general use and notetaking. It's just overkill. Use notepad. Better yet use Microsoft OneNote. It's absolutely designed for that sort of thing. Outlook notes can be good for this as well, but it tends to be a bit slow. Opera's notes feature is really good for this sort of thing. For NPCs and monsters, again, I use Notepad, but Excel could be useful if you like that sort of thing. It's just a bit slower to navigate than plain text. The same note programs as before would all be useful. Unidentified magic items get their own .txt file that I quickly alt-tab to. If it's a charged item then I can keep track of charges without missing a bit. Maps for me usually only consist of the barest accuracy in drawing, so I just use something that lets me draw (MS Paint). MS OneNote would probably handle this really well, too. For better maps or lots of them, Photoshop Elements is reasonably priced ($100, I believe) and should do everything you need. I don't use visual aids usually. If I do, I usually just send my players a URL for the picture. I always use dice rollers when I have a computer in front of me. It's way easier. I wrote a custom one that exactly suits my purpose (it has a button for each die type, left click rolls the die and gives a result, right click adds the result to the current total, there is a text box for typing in something like d4+2d6+5 or anything like that). I also use several versions of the SRD so I never have to use a book. I also at one time had a wonderful spell management program I wrote that let you search for instance, for any spell with the Fire descriptor, that required no expensive material components, between levels 2 and 5, with no saving throw. Great for quickly making an NPC spellcaster. You could create a spells known list, a spells memorized list, etc. and just click a spell to remove it from the list as it was cast. Unfortunately, I lost that program somewhere... along with the XML file of all the spells... Now that you've made me think about it, I really should work on an app designed for keeping notes and stuff. That would be nice... [/QUOTE]

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