I've got a laptop that I use for this purpose, and I find that it makes a world of difference in keeping things organized.
My group plays around a large coffee table that is low enough that it gives us all a good view of things in the middle of the room. I sit with the coffee table in front of me, and one of those foldable wooden TV Dinner tables next to my chair. The laptop, my dice, and a small pad of paper are on the TV Dinner table and stay out of the way while acting as a DM's screen for when I need to reference a book. I keep my game-relevant books in a plastic portable file case and can yank them out when needed (I've also taken time to put Post-It tags with labels on relevant pages for quick referencing).
I have wireless ethernet, so Jamis Buck's RPG generators are available to me. I use a text editor (BBEdit for Macintosh is my choice, but anything will do) for all my own info. I put a game session synopsis at the top so I can glance and see what I want to have happen. Below that are a few notes from last week's game, followed by any special items that have not been identified completely by the party. Then come individual monster listings/stats/treasure.
When combat occurs, I insert a combat round chart and tick off monster hit points right below the monster's stat block.
Finally, I use CrystalBall for Mac to do any dice rolling (if I don't feel like doing it the old fashioned way) and generate treasure/names/etc.
I still have books, but I usually only have one or two out at any given time. If there are several game files I need open on my laptop, I can quickly switch between them in BBEdit and grab whatever info I want.
All-in-all, it works really well, and helps to keep me more organized.
My group plays around a large coffee table that is low enough that it gives us all a good view of things in the middle of the room. I sit with the coffee table in front of me, and one of those foldable wooden TV Dinner tables next to my chair. The laptop, my dice, and a small pad of paper are on the TV Dinner table and stay out of the way while acting as a DM's screen for when I need to reference a book. I keep my game-relevant books in a plastic portable file case and can yank them out when needed (I've also taken time to put Post-It tags with labels on relevant pages for quick referencing).
I have wireless ethernet, so Jamis Buck's RPG generators are available to me. I use a text editor (BBEdit for Macintosh is my choice, but anything will do) for all my own info. I put a game session synopsis at the top so I can glance and see what I want to have happen. Below that are a few notes from last week's game, followed by any special items that have not been identified completely by the party. Then come individual monster listings/stats/treasure.
When combat occurs, I insert a combat round chart and tick off monster hit points right below the monster's stat block.
Finally, I use CrystalBall for Mac to do any dice rolling (if I don't feel like doing it the old fashioned way) and generate treasure/names/etc.
I still have books, but I usually only have one or two out at any given time. If there are several game files I need open on my laptop, I can quickly switch between them in BBEdit and grab whatever info I want.
All-in-all, it works really well, and helps to keep me more organized.
