Laptops at the gaming table

[billd91]

When I DM, I use a laptop to keep track of initiative by maintaining an Excel Spreadsheet with each player's name and "Them" in a column, and then each member's initiative count in an adjacent column. I just re-sort descending by initiative count at the start of each round. It makes keeping track of changed numbers (e.g., holding for a +4) much easier.

Elsewhere on that spreadsheet I have characters' important data, current hps (in case I have to cheat to keep them from being killed), and save modifiers (so I can make secret save rolls). I still keep a lot of paper notes, but the computer helps with those.

I use a laptop for secret rolls. I set up a spreadsheet with random number functions and each PC's Spot, Listen, Sense Motive, and Search modifiers. Then I hit F9 and generate rolls for all of them really quickly.

Otherwise, I've used it mainly for my character sheets as a player and for keeping notes.

 

[smootrk]

I have been coveting a tablet pc for gaming since the tablets came out. I am still too much of a cheapskate to purchase one, considering they are still rather substandard to standard laptops (and especially desktop models) - price for price.

My dream will probably become a reality when all laptops are effectively also tablet pc's (or convertible models)...

 

[was]

I still do everything on paper, but in games I've played in laptops used by anyone other then the dm ended up getting in the way most of the time

 

[Steel_Wind]

I'm of two minds about this.

My group is very laptop oriented and everyone in it has one. Everyone brings theirs to the game as well.

Since we added a wireless hub a few years back, it started to get a little distracting at times - so much so we started bitching about it and the one player who would frequently surf during sessions when he wasn't the focus of things.

As time has gone on and one of our players got a new laptop, however, I now understand what the problem is with laptops at the gaming table:

It's the damn screen.

Physically, the laptop can divide the player from others at the table during play. And it is that division which is the Bad Thing.

I recognized this when one of the player's new laptop was a Gateway convertible notebook/tablet PC. He uses it in tablet form in portrait mode.

It is, quite simply, the greatest PnP laptop you ever did see.

It is the perfect reference book. He has the entire 3E library in searchable form on there. In portrait mode - the screen is as big as the page in the actual book and it's all very clear and very readable. It's very natural to use.

He still tends to use paper though - and since he got his Tablet he is the official initiative/hit point keeper for the group. All of those who comment on just wanting to use a pencil? Well with a tablet - you can. It's the best of both worlds and the paper never runs out. The handwriting recognition is actually pretty good - so if you later want to convert it over and copy paste into Word or Outlook - it's easy to do so.

So yes - the tablet is awesome for combat tracking - and it's the best pdf reader you could ever have in portrait mode. But the key thing?

It lies flat - like a book. It is essentially a PhB on the table. And so the screen never gets in the way of the player or others looking at him across the table. It does not divide the player from the common game going on in the centre of the table.

And that, really, is the essence of the issue right there when it comes to laptops at the gaming table.

Moral of the story: if PnP is your thing, get a cheap Gateway CX210 for $899. You will not regret it.

 

[MoogleEmpMog]

Moral of the story: if PnP is your thing, get a cheap Gateway CX210 for $899. You will not regret it.

Cheap?!

I paid $350 for my current laptop. It's not a tablet, but if other people at my gaming table think seeing the bottom centimeter of my face is worth $550, they're welcome to pony up the difference.

 

[Corsair]

lol mog...

our gaming Area looks something like this:

        LD
  1 TTTTTRR
    TTTTTRR L
    L2  3  4

Our primary Table (T) is a large plastic folding table the DM sets up over his coffee table. This is where the battlemat/minis go. There is a round table (R) (his kitchen table which we move) where the DM keeps his stuff behind the screen. To his right he keeps his laptop (L).

The two players in the middle (2 and 3) sit on opposite ends of a couch. Player 2 often brings his laptop, but it goes on a tv tray to his left. Player 4(thats me!) sits in a recliner, and my laptop goes on a tv tray to my right, against the wall.

So far all laptops are out of the way... except for player 3 who wants to start bringing his. Going to have to work on a spot for him, probably on the coffee table beneath the main table.

 

[sydbar]

2 of us bring laptops to the game for reference material, and most of the time they sit closed.
One of the others brings his sometimes to take notes, and if he does he keeps it open. We have had no problems with laptops, unless you count when some of our players are on call, and have to use for work stuff.

 

[Shades of Green]

[*]Distraction. Especially bad if you are on a wireless network and get internet, the temptation to check email and the like when your character is not involved in a scene can be there.

That's exactly the reason why I don't allow computers (laptop or desktop) to run in the background of my games - they distract players, and draw them off to other pursuits 9up to and including computer games). Plus, it kinda draws the group apart if each is busy with his own laptop.

 

[Steel_Wind]

Cheap?!

I paid $350 for my current laptop. It's not a tablet, but if other people at my gaming table think seeing the bottom centimeter of my face is worth $550, they're welcome to pony up the difference.

If you want to assess "cheap" in comparison to used equipment - ok. There is no way you bought a new laptop for $350 - (unless you got it from Negroponte and it's green and has a hand crank).

Point is, for a new laptop, $899 is pretty damn cheap. It's not absolute bottom for a new laptop (which is $600-$650) - but it's a stone's throw. In comparison to Toshiba's and IBM/Lenovo's convertible notebook/tablets - it's cheap.

 

[Seeten]

That is cheap, and eye opening. I think I might get one.