Do you USE/HATE DM Management Software?

[JesterPoet]

I'm thinking about trying out DM Genie. I've never so much as brough my laptop to a game before, but I'm intrigued by this software. I'm not sure, though.

I'd be interested to hear from those of you who have used DM Management software. Some of the things I'm interested in knowing are:

1) Do you still use the software? Why, or why not?

2) Do you use DM Genie, or something else? Would you recommend something else?

3) Does it hurt the "feel" of the game? It seems that I'll be rolling less frequently, but maybe not.

Any other words of advice that you have to give would be greatly appreciated. My only other concern is that I'm planning on implementing a "class-based" defense bonus, but I'd imagine I can work that in manually somehow.

 

[drakhe]

Hmm must be my longest post to date...

1) Do you still use the software? Why, or why not?

2) Do you use DM Genie, or something else? Would you recommend something else?

3) Does it hurt the "feel" of the game? It seems that I'll be rolling less frequently, but maybe not.

I started using a laptop at the table because of two reasons: I wanted quick lookup of reference texts and I wanted an option to do certain types of roll's without the PC's noticing anything (like for instance the tell-tale ratle of dice behind the screen, I never liked the whole concept of the occasional dummy roll to keep 'm guessing, and, anyways, my players allways think something bad is going to happen). I'm thinking of stuff like hide, move silent, disguise and the oposed skills like spot, listen, ... . So I ended up writing my own little program (called QuickSpot ;-) ) that could do about 5 or 6 skills and some neat stuff like choose one random pc or answer a yes/now/maybe question (allways been jealous of my adnd dm's yes/no/maybe dice...).

At that time, RPM, DMF & CS were beginning to carve a niche for themselves and WOTC had commisioned eTools and PCGEN became very popular. eToold/PCGEN were checked for character developemt (I ended up usingf eTools but if PCGEN had been at that time where it is now, I don't know which way I would have gone)

So (since I was lacking time to expand my own QuickSpot) I started to look at these other progies. first off: RPM: liked what it did, had the combat manager and did the skill rolling thin (and much more) but I never realy liked the interface (a real pitty because I like what the program actualy does, it realy is just the interface and it's just my bad, I know Luke is listening closely to the folks using RPM). Then I looked at CS but never realy got in to it (maybe because after several emails, they never responded to my inquiries, and recently there's not a whole lot going on (the site seems in a stalemate))
Finaly I checked out DM Genie and imediatly loved it. The interface much more to my liking and with enough of the features I would have liked. So for some time it was my app of choice (but also read at the end for an important observation). Then recently (because of a news item about an update on the ENWORLD front page) I again looked at DMF (dismissed it early because of lack of features I liked/needed) and it immediatly was apparant thet Todd had done a lot of work in DMF. Right now, it seems to be less feature laden as the others, but it's doing what I want it to do and the inclusion of tablesmith and a reference database for stuff like spells have me looking closer. DMF might just beat DM Genie.

So basicaly I like all these progies. At the moment I'm using DM Genie, but (and thats actualy a good thing) most of the folks working on these programs are so dedicated and update so frequently that I may have to choose again soon.

Now for the important observation: even tho I like these programs and actualy would like to use more of the features actively during play, I am (both as DM and player) usualy deep into character and sometimes the laptop, my notes, yes (heaven forbid) even dice get in the way. I've also noted that some players just don't like anybody/anything make rolls for them (one of the rolls I've always done on the laptop is initiative and, even after doing it the laptop way for almost 2 years now, one of my players recently remarked "so were not allowed to roll our own dice anymore???"

 

[Wombat]

I don't use such software.

I also don't use Excel spread sheets, fill-in-able character sheets, etc.

I prefer pen, paper, and notebooks.

Just my style

 

[countgray]

I use Jamis Buck's NPC generator all the time.

I have e-tools but find it slow and a little unwieldly.

I use a lot of excel spreadsheets of my own devise.

 

[Saeviomagy]

I'd LIKE to use DM tools, but to date none of them have done what I've wanted in a convenient way. It's always easier just to use a spreadsheet.

 

[shilsen]

I think DM Management software is great as long as you use the most sophisticated versions, namely paper and pen, MSWord and the little computer between my ears.

 

[Ogrork the Mighty]

I bought DM Genie and now I regret it. I tinkered around with it and I admit it has some pretty cool features, but I would much rather spend my precious time writing adventures than screwing around with the software. Yes, it might save game time. But it takes a lot of time to get everything set up to the way you want it. And if you want it to do something it wasn't programmed to do, you're either tough out of luck or must spend hours reconfiguring it.

I find using Excel's random number generation to be much more useful as I can tailor it to however I want it. That's where a lot of the DM software falls flat - it's tailored to how the programmer wants it. The utility of the software would be much greater if it consisted of a variety of databases that the user could draw upon however they see fit (i.e. make up your own tables, with your own modifiers, and your own house rules).

I'd pass on DM Genie if I were you.

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

I do most of my work in MS Word, with some record keeping/world management done in Excel. I don't need 90% of what's in the DM management packages, or I need it to be slightly different than it is, and like Ogrork, I prefer to spend my time designing, not managing software.

I also do as much as possible before the game. I never create up NPC's at the game. If they aren't important enough for me to have thought of them before hand, they get the DMG average NPC stats - if I need stats for them at all.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

I used to use DM Genie, but I don't use it anymore.

I used it for making monstrous classed NPCs but nothing else. Apparently it can help you choose gear but it was too complicated for me to find out how to do that.

As for using it in a game, I have a DM who uses it, and it causes too many problems IMO. (The DM, a computer science student, loves it however.)

In the last session a weird error caused the NPCs to literally double their AC scores. Since the players didn't know the AC scores, we just assumed they were unstoppable. We had to use excessive amounts of lamp oil to injure and kill some of them, and in the end (with the mobile characters chasing down the two survivors) my ranger character criticalled the cleric's horse, killing it in one blow. I think I did 39 damage. (Who said favored enemy (animal) sucked?) It helped that the horse didn't have the AC error. Then the cleric found himself surrounded by very angry mobile warriors who wouldn't hesitate to use the readied action action with all of those ranged touch attacks.

 

[zoroaster100]

DM's Familiar

I like DM's Familiar best of the programs I've tried. It doesn't do all the calculations for you, as its philosophy is that the DM should still be in control rather than the computer program, but I think it makes for a great combat manager and helps remind you of all the information you need to remember in terms of all a monster's or pc's options and is an excellent reference library as well. It is particularily useful when running very powerful creatures with many options, such as powerful outsiders with spells, spell-like abilities, etc. Without a program like this, it's very easy for a DM to forget some of the monster's options or to forget some of the buffs, modifiers, combinations of options, etc. that powerful creatures have in combat.