Ipads and gaming

[nedjer]

I'm trying out a Samsung Galaxy and it's really handy for bookmarked rules sets and web access. By far the most frequent use is with html, as PDFs are a bit clunky on it.

I've avoided buying a tablet to keep for now, as they're all fingerburners at present. The CES show, just started, is stuffed with the next generation of tablets, which will be appearing over the summer with finished Android Honeycomb tablets that are much lighter and faster. The tablet I can buy in June for £300 is basically going to be a long way ahead of anything available now for £500.

 

[DaveMage]

The thing I don't like about Galaxy is the small size.

I like the 9"+ size and the 7" is too small for my tastes.

 

[Scurvy_Platypus]

I bought an iPad back in May and I've been _extremely_ happy with it. And I've used it for rpgs at the table.

I originally bought it because I wanted a kick-ass ebook reader "with benefits". One critical thing for me was pdf support for rpg pdfs. See, rpg pdfs are special because people insist that rpg books be part encyclopedia, part coffee table artbook, and part textbook. Plus there's the bookmarks, selectable text, and probably other stuff I'm forgetting.

I've been buying pdfs for years and don't own a laptop. Not keen on 'em either, because I've seen too many people more focused on the laptop than the game. I also don't really like the seperation that a laptop at the table brings; I'm not a fan of GM screens for that same "seperation" reason.

For rpg stuff, I've primarily relied on Good Reader as my pdf viewer. It's been a total champ and has gotten the ability to make notes in the pdf. It handles built in bookmarks and you can add bookmarks as well.

One thing to watch out for on pdfs is the layers thing. Some companies (0One for example) use layers in pdfs to turn off and on options; Mad Irishman uses it too for some of his character sheets. To my knowledge, form-fillable pdfs and layered pdfs don't work in any fashion. They're "frozen" with the bits already filled in (or blank, depending on whether or not you've already filled in a form-fillable pdf) and whatever the default layered pdf options are (or everything showing).

At the table, it's nice to be able to refernce rulebooks as needed and be able to carry a large chunks of books without it actually weighing anything or taking up space at the table. As a general rule, these days I refuse to buy physical product; if I can't get it digital, it's gotta be plenty exceptional for me to consider it. For better or worse, that mean I don't give WotC money these days.

I also sprang for the Battle Map program. Yeah, it's expensive, but it's pretty incredible what you can do with it as well. One advantage it has over the Map Tools project, is that the Map Tools project relies on having another computer. Battle Map has a GM and player mode that you can toggle between. If you're seriously into miniature-based gameplay (I'm not, even though I bought the app), it's pretty spiffy.

Don't think of it as strictly a mapping program though. You can import objects and backgrounds into it. Which means for example that if you're lazy, you can just import you battlemap as a background image, slap some tokens on top of it and call it a day.bif you're looking to be more creative, you can use it as a character sheet. Just import the sheet as a background, and then have some custom tokens to take care of the little bits (HP or whatever) that you actually change/adjust. Since you can give tokens colors to represent status or whatever, you can also have it act as a tracker for things as well. Use a power, turn off (or on) the color of a custom token set next to the power, or whatever.

If you're motivated, clever, and/or willing to spend a few bucks, you can get an amazing amount of use out this thing. Programs for recording audio (handy to save a game session for whatever reason), simply loading music/soundclips onto the iPad if you're into that sort of thing, reference photos, connecting to the net to show something (if you've got WiFi access, or are carzy enough to buy the 3g version).

Weight wise, I've found it plenty comfortable. The battery last 8-10 hours easy, color is good. Direct sunlight or ultra bright light can be a problem.

Is the iPad perfect? Nope. Nothing is. But for what I need and want, it's pretty killer. Getting beneifts like web browsing, email, and all that other stuff is icing on the cake. At this point, the iPad doesn't just handle my rpg duties, I don't even bother flipping on my computer unless I need to actually create something or if I feel like playing a PC game. For the low level computer stuff of browsing, forum posting, etc, I use the iPad. A decent RSS app (Reeder) hooks into my Google Reader, so it's extremely easy to keep up on the forums as well as news.

And I say all this as a dude that actively dislikes Apple; the iPad is the only Apple product I've ever bought for myself. The iPod that I've got is a 1st gen Nano that my wife gave me after _she_ bought a new one.

I love what my iPad does for me, both at the gametable and away from it.

 

[Scurvy_Platypus]

I have a very bad experience with having electronic devices around my game table, as they become a distraction from the game and encourage players to play with them rather than pay attention to the DM or to other players. Your experience, of course, may greatly vary from mine, and it probably depends on the players at hand to a great degree.

I've found 2 things about this.

One, some people don't understand/think that it's rude. They likely don't see it as rude to be using a cellphone in the checkout line of the grocery store either.

Two and a far bigger thing, is it's showing their lack of engagement in the game. Banning an electronic device isn't the solution, as you're forcing them to demonstrate their lack of engagement in some other fashion, such as reading a book (rpg if you're lucky), screwing around with their cellphone, chatting with other players about off-topic stuff, watching TV, etc.

In some cases, there are genuinely people that are easily distracted and have problems focusing in general. My observation is, that's more often used as an excuse, rather than the person just saying, "I'm bored". The fact they're bored doesn't mean the GM runs a crap game, it just mean the player isn't engaged for some reason. The GM _might_ be crap, or maybe someone else is dominating the game, it's combat and taking forever for it to get back to that player's turn, whatever.

 

[nedjer]

The thing I don't like about Galaxy is the small size.

I like the 9"+ size and the 7" is too small for my tastes.

You've hit the nail on the head there The iPad is a bit too heavy; the Galaxy a bit too small. They'll get my bucks when the size of the iPad and the weight of Galaxy get put together - with a Tegra 2 chip or the like inside.

 

[falcarrion]

Keep an eye out for the xoom android tablet. A very stable android tablet running on 3.0 android(honeycomb).
Don't close the door on Apple yet folks they seem to inpress us each year.
Android has a way to go to catch up with the ipad.

there is so many acessories for the ipad, apps, and a web site to preview the apps.

Here is a trick that some may not know about.

I recently picked up a fm transmiter for my itouch to play music in the car.
The unit also works on the ipad. With this unit you can also play your Ipad through your home stereo or a boom box. I was able to play Pandora through out the house. Considering it only cost me less than $5.00 including shipping ( got it off of ebay), I felt it was a good deal.