Do you use a computer when playing?

[Blue]

I've gotten kinda tired of the "Wall of Dell" that was around the table a decade back, so I try never to have a computer between me and the rest of the game. I've very occasionally had a computer to the side, and when DMing I have a tablet *only* for reference, everything I need to run is in front of me.

When playing, I now like everything on 1 or 2 pages, no flipping. When playing 4e I used to like the tactile impression of power cards, but that's only viable through heroic unless you've got a Tiamat-sized share of the table.

As a side note, for the easily bored players, laptops are such a distraction that it really hurts the game. I know that in the g+ hangout game I play that's a real temptation.

 

[Jackinthegreen]

I have a large number of PDFs on mine, so I'm generally the one asked to look up stuff if a book isn't handily available. I've also been asked to use it for music because the DM wanted more "ambiance." It's always been off to the side though, as best can be managed.

I'd prefer it if I had a tablet for all that stuff though since this laptop is quite the space hog.

 

[Obryn]

What's the learning curve on Masterplan? I've heard good things about it, and tracking initatives and conditions would be valuable to my 4e game.

I'm not going to say it's curve-less; it takes a while to get good with it, and you may have a clumsy session or two. After that it's pretty easy. I'd recommend adding the PCs into the initiative tracker; you can have them roll their own initiative and enter it. That way, you can track "until end of X turn" mechanics.

You can go to DDI's Adventure Tools, Preview monsters, and Export .monster files you need. You can import these into Masterplan and it works wonderfully!

It's a shame the compendium-scraping functionality had to be scrapped, because it was awesome.

-O

 

[Alarian]

I went through a phase a few years back where I bought a lot of pdf's and brought my laptop to every session. In the end, I ended up, for the most part going back to paper. It's actually much quicker for our group to look something up in an actual book than it is to try and scan through a pdf (or several) looking for what we needed. The computer is still used heavily for prep, but at the table, everyone is pretty much device-less.

 

[Stormonu]

I do all my prep on the computer. At the actual game, I use PDFs on my iPad and my laptop plays mood music for the group. Sometimes I use Fantasy Grounds to track initiative and HPs for monsters, but usually I just use a scratch pad. I've fiddled with electronically doing battlemats, but haven't found anything that's really good, reliable and quick for my tastes.

As a player I sometimes use my iPad to track my character and I have dicenomicon for rolling dice. Though I usually prefer to roll actual dice instead of flipping between apps.

 

[Li Shenron]

A laptop works wonder for me at the table because:

- during the game, consulting a hypertext SRD is much much faster than browsing books

- I can change the background music immediately and without moving away

- it works as a DM's screen but without the risk of it tipping over (although I still prefer to run real dice rather than rolling with a program, and the laptop doesn't hide them well) and everything can be quickly closed and folded out of sight with one gesture if the situation demands to take it down

That doesn't mean I don't use paper too.

OTOH I seriously dislike players who use laptops, iPads or mobiles while gaming. Printed character sheet, pencil and dice is all you really need in my games.

 

[nijineko]

Back in the 80's I remember people wrote everything down on school paper, and drew maps on graph paper. There was no electronic technology involved. l) are very common, and I know they've permeated tabletop gaming to a big degree. There are character generators everywhere you turn, and people create maps with image editors, etc.

I wrote the beginnings of my first adventure story on the computer, as I really don't like actually writing. On top of that, making changes is a heck of a lot easier. When it comes time to begin the adventure I'll print it out.

When it comes to mapping, I could probably draw out a "quick" map on my graph paper, but it wouldn't be too detailed. I'm not very good at transferring what's in my head to "paper", and even worse at drawing. I've seen some beautifully hand-drawn maps that I'm envious of. I've also seen the output of some map building utilities that include tile images and make the map making process a whole lot easier and faster. I haven't yet determined which way I want to go with this.

However I decide to develop, the big plan is to print everything for the actual gaming, to keep it as authentic as possible. No electronics at the gaming table allowed.

How to you manage the building of your adventures? Do you use electronics while gaming?

heh. back in the 80's i was playing a d&d clone on an actrix written in cp/m. still have it in fact, and indeed, i still play it via a cp/m to dos converter, dosbox emulator, and my mac.



i do use a computer, for dice rolling, mapping, logging, running, and so forth for tabletop rpg. sometimes i'll draw the map and scan it in to scale with a mapping program.

 

[Grogg of the North]

When it comes to writing adventures, I use a laboratory notebook. Has graph lines on it already and its just handy. I first started doing that because I had an extra one from my days in college and just really liked it.

My wife is currently playing a cleric that is focused on summoning. She has a bunch of her monsters stats all ready to go on her ipad so when she summons something to the field she has all the info she needs right there.

 

[rogueattorney]

More and more, I use a computer when preparing my adventures. However, when I'm done, I hit Ctrl-P and bring the dead trees to the table instead of the laptop.

 

[Halivar]

I do prep on the computer. I used to use my computer as a DM and player a lot, but now I need to use it to Skype in players, so I need to have hard copies of everything.