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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Radiating Gnome" data-source="post: 7649247" data-attributes="member: 150">It started about 5 years ago when my employer issued me a projector.  It didn't take more than a few heartbeats from being handed thing before I was thinking about how use it for D&D. What, you're any different? Ha!That weekend I built an ugly contraption with modular crate/shelf frames and a wooden platform that would allow me to tilt the projector up at an angle. The other DM in my group one-upped me, purchase his own projector and suspended it from his game room ceiling.  Within a week I'd made a few improvements to his design and suspended my projector from my own game room ceiling, and our projector-based gaming rolled on for years to come.  How I Knew I'd ArrivedI was running a 4e campaign set in Eberron. The PCs were in Stormreach, in the docks area, and a Tsunami struck the city. I'd spent hours with <a href="http://rptools.net" target="_blank">Maptools </a> and Photoshop creating the map for the encounter.  It included a wave in it's own layer that I could move in from off screen, have it close in on the PCs over the course of a few rounds, strike the docks, then draw back out as the water retreated again.  I could have used a row of dice, or a pen, or a line drawn and redrawn, or any number of things to represent the wave.  I could have just described it and let my players imagine it. Instead I found an image of a wave, pulled it out of the picture it was in and cut out what I didn't want, gave it a transparent background and the imported it into Maptools.  <img src="http://www.enworld.org/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=53384&stc=1&d=1354360698" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />(The Wave is a background graphic that moves -- it appears over the existing water and docks, but under the ships, crates and other objects)My reward? One of my players looked at the wave as it appeared, pointed at it, and said "F*@K You, imagination!"  Sweeter words were never spoken to a gadget nerd DM.  How Far Would You Go?Now we use  a 50" LCD flatscreen TV laid flat. It's now the primary game space, a replacement for the projectors we've been using for years.  And it's a huge step up.  We've eliminated the fan noise from the projector, the need to dim lights in the game room to see the projected image. We love it.  And yet, like the projected images, it's not always the best solution. Sometimes, a poster map still makes more sense.  Join The ClubIf you're interested, there's not much to this.  Take advantage of the Christmas (or post-christmas) deals and buy yourself a battlemat-sized Flat-Screen LCD TV.   I won't discuss what you should shop for here -- here's a link to a thread from when I was shopping around.  The Real Question: Is It A Bad Thing?You know you're out there, looking down your long noses at me, damning me for needing visual aids rather than being able to play the whole game in Theater of the Mind.  Why not just play WOW?And….. I don't want to say you're wrong. I mean, you are, I just don't want to come right out and say it.   Everyone brings something different to the game, and we all go to different lengths to create the game experience for our players. You might stick to a simple battlemat for the tactical situation, but spend time planning background music for your game.  Or you might develop accents and verbal tics for each important NPC to make sure they're living, distinctive characters in the story you're sharing with your players.  We all run our games with our own toolbox.  My Tsunami was no better or worse than any other DM's treatment of an environmental effect in an encounter.  The players had fun. I had fun. And in the end, that's the most important So, what's been your biggest moment of success as a gadgety gamer?</blockquote>

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