Radiating Gnome
Adventurer
I've had an iPad almost since the beginning, and IMO it's a very cool tool. A lot of how I us it has been explored already -- PDF reader, web browser, game platform, email, twitter, and so on.
One thing I've been doing lately is using the ipad to produce the game map for our games. We have been using a projector for years (projecting a map down onto the tabletop). With the ipad, and a fairly pricy app called Battle Map ($30, Battle Map for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad on the iTunes App Store) I can actually use the ipad to create the maps and (using an adapter to connect the ipad to the projector) project directly from the ipad.
The battery life is sufficient for a 6 hour session. I usually am also using Keynote (Mac's version of powerpoint) to have a quick collection of pictures and graphics to support the game and display them through the projector, too. I'm anxiously awaiting the 4.2 update which should make that easier (multitasking).
It's also actually designed so that Dms and players could pass the ipad around, using character and monster tokens in the program. It seems pretty claustrophobic to me, but you could replace your big battlemap in the middle of the table with an ipad -- probably useful if you're playing clustered around a tiny table and space is an issue.
I'm a gadget goon, so using it this way is fun for me, but I'm sure it's not for everyone. But I also love being able to draw maps for the game quickly and easily -- and to do so lying on the couch or in a boring meeting. If you don't have a projector, the maps can be exported as graphics.
Anyway, use the iPad, love it, rah rah rah.
-rg
One thing I've been doing lately is using the ipad to produce the game map for our games. We have been using a projector for years (projecting a map down onto the tabletop). With the ipad, and a fairly pricy app called Battle Map ($30, Battle Map for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad on the iTunes App Store) I can actually use the ipad to create the maps and (using an adapter to connect the ipad to the projector) project directly from the ipad.
The battery life is sufficient for a 6 hour session. I usually am also using Keynote (Mac's version of powerpoint) to have a quick collection of pictures and graphics to support the game and display them through the projector, too. I'm anxiously awaiting the 4.2 update which should make that easier (multitasking).
It's also actually designed so that Dms and players could pass the ipad around, using character and monster tokens in the program. It seems pretty claustrophobic to me, but you could replace your big battlemap in the middle of the table with an ipad -- probably useful if you're playing clustered around a tiny table and space is an issue.
I'm a gadget goon, so using it this way is fun for me, but I'm sure it's not for everyone. But I also love being able to draw maps for the game quickly and easily -- and to do so lying on the couch or in a boring meeting. If you don't have a projector, the maps can be exported as graphics.
Anyway, use the iPad, love it, rah rah rah.
-rg
