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Message: <blockquote data-quote="The Levitator" data-source="post: 4056996" data-attributes="member: 40099">I'll be the first to admit that DM Genie was a little intimidating when I first started using it.  It is such a robust program that it does come with a bit of a learning curve.  It has a very good tutorial, but I learned more by just jumping into it.  I also received a lot of help from people on the DM Genie boards.Just as an example, here's a breakdown of the weather generator, just one of the many features of DM Genie.1. First you select your climate from the following choices: Equatorial, Tropical, Subtropical Desert, Temperate, Subpolar and High Polar.2.  Next, you select your terrain: Average, Inland, Coastal, Sea or Island, Mountain, or High Mountain.3. It also gives you the option to select your own latitude.4.  The last window lets you select variability for the following:  Temperature, Precipitation, Variability, Severe Weather, and Windiness.5.  Once you have set these options, you click the "Generate Weather" button and DM Genie creates a full year of weather for you, in 1 hour increments.6.  The Weather Generator is also connected to the timekeeping window, so as you track the passage of time in your game, you also have the weather right in front of you.  7.  The best part about using DM Genie for the weather is that it has all of the conditions for adverse weather built into it, and you can apply those conditions to everyone in an encounter with a couple clicks.  For example, in my current campaign, the current weather is light rain and strong wind.  The conditions for strong wind is -2 to ranged attacks and listen checks, and the conditions for light drizzle is -1 to Spot and Search.  With DM Genie, I can apply those conditions to everyone in an encounter very easily.And that's just the weather generator!Since I use DM Genie to manage my games, I strongly disagree with Steel Wind's position of shutting the lid during the game literally, although I think I understand better what he's getting at figuratively.  Your tools shouldn't overshadow the story and your interaction with your players, be they stacks of books and notepads or a laptop.  I meant no disrepect to Steel Wind or his position, I just disagree with it.  DM's who bury their noses in books, behind GM screens or laptop screens shouldn't blame the books, screens or laptops, as they aren't the problem.  Those items are inanimate objects and used correctly, can all enhance a GM's ability to run a fun and exciting game.As an aside, I'm about as techie a DM as you can get.  I use DM Genie to manage my games, Maptools as a VTT projected onto an 8' screen, RPG Audiomixer for background music and sound effects and have both a Y! group and a blog for both of my gaming groups.  Heck, I even use MorphVox Pro (voice altering software) to create important NPC moments from time to time.  All that said, these are all just tools.  They help me manage my game and add a little atmosphere to our sessions, but they are not a replacement for descriptive and engaging GM'ing.I personally believe that only using a laptop for prepping games is a bit shortsighted, when there are great programs out there like DM Genie out there to make a GM's life a thousand times easier.  From looking up rules or descriptions to managing combat to tracking time and weather to keeping your campaign organized to.....well.....you see my point.  I wouldn't even run a 3.5 game without it.  I started playing 3.5 as a conventional DM.  Introducing DM Genie to our game reduced the amount of time resolving combat by more than 2/3.  That alone was enough justification for me to use it.   <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> Oryan77, feel free to PM me if you would like to knock the dust off your DM Genie and dig into it a bit.  I'd be more than happy to help.  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /></blockquote>

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