Do you USE/HATE DM Management Software?

[CRGreathouse]

I don't really use any prep software (except, of course, word processing and spreadsheets), since I've found it tends to take more time than just pencil & paper.

Back when 3.0 was new, I wrote several JavaScript generators ( http://mwtools.thyle.net/ ), but they ceased to interest me when they took more time than they gave, except perhaps when making wizards and the like. Even then they didn't save much...

Luke Jones' RPM, DM Genie, and Fluid's software (I can't even think of its name) just aren't worth the bother for me.

 

[Plane Sailing]

I'm nearing the end of the 60 day trial of DM genie, and there are some things it is very good for, and some things it is very bad for.


GOOD
Cleric: "I summon, uh, a celestial Griffon!"
Me: -click-, -click-, click- "OK, that's ready".

It has proved excellent for quickly adding in summoned creatures and handling basic initiative order. Also good for quickly applying damage to every enemy who fails a DC15 Reflex ST (for instance).

If we finish a game in mid-combat because of time considerations, I've got the initiative order, status of all enemies etc nicely saved.

BAD
Combats with large numbers of individuals can bog down much more than when using something simpler.

Too easy to lose track of important abilities of high-CR creatures, and overlook what they can attempt.

By the next time I run a game I'll have to have decided whether to purchase it or not. The decision is finely balanced at the moment.

Cheers

 

[Calico_Jack73]

I loved Core Rules 2.0 and the expansion. It had a great interface and was supremely easy to use. I HATE E-Tools! I installed it, looked at it for 5 minutes, and removed it. I has to be one of the most unintuitive pieces of software I've ever seen.

Core Rules 2.0 was SO good that I'd be happy to go back to 2E in a flash if I were to find a group willing to do it.

 

[Fenes]

I use word to prepare, and use the SRD PDF in game for quick references on my notebook. Dice are rolled, and I use printed out notes and a pencil log (which get typed into word after the session).

 

[Ranes]

I've used software for preparatory work on a game before but last week was the first time I ran a game using a laptop as a DMing aid. Out of curiosity, I've experienced several different software packages; thus, I have PC Gen, DM Genie, RPM, Jamis Buck's NPC Gen (updated to 3.5 by Andargor), Andargor's 3.5 stat block generator, an NPC equipment generator and a stand-alone dice roller. Also in use were MS Word, Paintshop Pro 7 and Excel.

I used DM Genie's timekeeping and weather generator features. These were great. As game time passed, I could use the constantly updating weather reports to inspire vivid descriptions of people and places, as well as being reminded of Spot, Listen and Search check modifiers.

Before the game, I had used PC Gen to generate a few dozen Anglo-Saxon names, which I'd pasted into a word document. These proved handy for bit part NPCs required on the fly. I also used PC Gen's Travel Time and Distance calculator in game.

Paintshop Pro held open all the maps I needed. These were all DM's maps. I did not want to present players maps on the laptop. That would have been too awkward and would have definitely resulted in too great an intrusion by the laptop. Player maps and other handouts were printed out, prior to the game.

DM Genie and RPM were set up to provide quick in-game rules references. Between them, nothing I needed to check was more than three clicks away. I never opened a book once.

The stand-alone dice roller had been used prior to the game, to generate plenty of secret dice rolls. The results were pasted into a notepad document and were used heavily, as was the dice roller itself, during the game. However, any time the players knew I should be rolling a die, they saw me grab one and use it.

That was it. The laptop really helped and I saw ways it could help more. I could use DM Genie or RPM to generate random encounter tables and treasures, for example. But I'm not into the idea of using any program to micromanage combat. I don't think the functionality (or even the veracity) of any program is quite there yet.

I also do not use any of these programs for PC/NPC generation. I've used them all enough to have found errors in their calculations. I do use them to store NPCs I've hand rolled. I have to say I've found PC Gen to be best for this. It has helped me correct my own errors and the GM Gen feature's interactive stat block is marvelous.

Oh, the Excel spreadsheet I used was one in which I'd entered the metamagic components from Unearthed Arcana, which I'm using as adventure seeds, NPC motivations and all that jazz.

All be using the laptop regularly in future. Long term, I still think RPM and DM Genie have much more to offer but, as others have pointed out, they both require so much work to set up, I don't imagine I'll be exploiting that potential soon. But if I do little bits of work with them here and there, I'm sure they'll feature heavily in my DMing toolset in three or four years time. And no, I'm not being sarcastic.

 

[Goobermunch]

I love E-tools. It's incredibly easy to use and now (after the 1.5 patch) has 90% of the functionality I want.

I have yet to find a program that does everything I'd like, and I'm okay with that.

I use E-tools and word before every game and it makes monster creation go incredibly smoothly.

--G

 

[JesterPoet]

Wow, it does seem that most people aren't really using these tools. Perhaps I'll hold off for some time now.

I'm curious about E-tools, but not curious enough to pay $35 to test it out, and I don't see a free demo of it out there, so that's out.

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

I use DMs Familiar and I really like it. I prep enounters ahead of time so that I can just drop the opponents onto the combat board and get going. Although it can do it, I do not use it for making combat rolls, I prefer to actually roll my dice. I run a large group and since I often throw a large number of opponents at them, it is critical for keeping track of initiative - which is probably what I rely on it for more than anything (I let the program do the opponent initiative rolls and input the players own rolls. The other thing I love it for is making secret skill checks. All the PCs are input into the program and updated with each level. Need a Listen check? Just a couple of clicks and I can have them for the whole party and nobody is the wiser. I prefer not letting the players know I'm making a check rather than asking them to make a roll, have them metagame the information into increased awareness or whatever, and in response I start having them make fake rolls to keep them off balance.

One note about DMF, it is set for 3.0, but the update to 3.5 is being done by volunteer users in the Unofficial DMF Yahoo group. It is a very slow process so many creatures have yet to updated to 3.5, and you have to download and install the 3.5 versions yourself from the Yahoo group website.

 

[Mystery Man]

Only thing I use is The Journal to write and keep track of my campaign. That's it. Great program, I use the hell out of it. You can try it free for a month and a half.

I should add that I use no paper, I have a tablet PC that I run this program on during play. On this tablet PC I have sketching software that I'll use to draw out maps or illustrate something to my players in game.

 

[Zandy]

First a quick comment about e-tools; if you haven't loaded all the recent patches and enhancements, you are missing out. I was VERY tenative to load it after all the negative reviews when it first came out. A friend got it and felt the same way. But after the upgrades (CM has GREAT customer service!) it really is a nicely usable program. I would give it a recommendation, and also an admonishment to those who are commenting without using it recently...

As for DM tools in game; I've been using PCs and PC type computers for 20 years. It has amazed me over the years how people try to jam simple tasks into a computer, when the original method works just fine and is much simpler. It is so much easier to pick up a d20 and roll it than to grab the mouse, point it to a button, change the d20 to "1 die" and then click to make it roll.

Don't get me wrong, I use Word Perfect (I'm an old timer who won't give it up , excel, access, Camp. Cart., CorelDraw and PSP as well as Buck's generators to CREATE my games, keep track of things, create NPCs, track PCs, create handouts, etc. But I print it all out and put it in a binder for game time. My PC is near for some occasional sound effect or lookup or reprint, but the times I've used laptops behind the screen, they have just made things more complicated.

I've previewed every DM tool I can get my hand on. I have to second and third other posters comments that they just don't quite do what *I* need them to do, in my format and method. And once again, so much of them are trying to jam simple tasks into a program that only serves to make them more complex.

A quick suggestion about hiding die rolls; I have very small, light dice and I roll them into my binder onto the papers. It completely muffles the sound. The players have no idea when I am rolling. But sometimes my 4-year old comes down to "roll daddy's dice". He yells out the number before I can stop him, and the players give him a dime everytime he rolls a one Of course, there is no fudging with these rolls...