Laptops at the table - Do you use them?

[Olaf the Stout]

In the last couple of threads I have noticed that a few people (players and DM's) use laptops at the table. If you do use one, what do you use it for?

If you haven't used one personally, have you played in a game where someone has? What are your thoughts? Did it add or detract from the game?

Olaf the Stout

 

[Crothian]

Nope, we don't use them and I perfer it that way.

 

[Halivar]

I no longer use books, paper, or writing utensils. I bring my laptop and dice. I was the first in our group to do so, and in one of my groups it spread to the other players.

My apartment is no longer covered two feet deep in old character sheets.

 

[Dog Moon]

Our group does and once I purchased a laptop, I did too. However, I'm starting to get back into the feel of using paper and stuff and whenever I finally purchase a printer, I'll be printing like a maniac to get everything on paper.

Computers can add to the game because of all the misc programs which can be found, but if you're not careful, it can make it worse because with laptop comes games, internet, etc for distractions. One person in my group constantly used to talk to people on AIM while we gamed. Was worse when he was the DM doing it, and he never stopped despite our comments about it.

 

[Harmon]

Rules on PDF, gear sheets update on Excel, campaigns & back grounds and some notes on Word, and other tid bits, it makes gaming a little smoother.

Our group has five four members and two of them use lap tops.

 

[sydbar]

I do, since we basically just play 2nd ed, I bought a bunch of the pdf's that TSR was selling, and use them during the game in addition to the books that i own. When running or playing 3.5, i use it for the couple of 3rd party pdf's i use, and for any audio files i need for the game. One of the other players also uses a laptop at the game, and one of our sometime players also uses a laptop, and the guy whose house we play at uses his desktop sometimes.

 

[shilsen]

I don't use a laptop, but two of my players do. They keep their character sheets on it and also use it to play World of Warcraft during the session.

Personally, it doesn't really bother me, since they generally play WoW when things are going on that don't actually involve their PCs, and they switch back to the game easily enough. Plus it gives the other players a chance to do more stuff in the game. However, I'd never do it as a player myself, since I figure it's a little rude to the DM.

 

[MythosaAkira]

I use a laptop when I'm DMing, primarily as a reference tool. I use it for:

- Adventure write-up (in ActionOutline)
- Adventure maps (JPGs/PNGs in default Windows viewer)
- d20 SRD reference (d20srd.org, in Firefox)
- Note-taking, combat management, XP calculator, treasure tracking (Excel)
- Other d20 or reference material (PDFs)
- Background music (Winamp)
- Random generation (TableSmith)

Dice-rolling I still do manually; I prefer to do that the "old-fashioned" way.

It works pretty well. I don't IM or play games on the laptop while I'm actually running the game. That sounds rather rude to me.

 

[Gargoyle]

Sometimes.

I dislike using them too much during the game because I have to divert my attention from the players. I didn't use one tonight, but did use one in our last session to generate some stat blocks and help speed up some character generation.

Nothing wrong with them if it speeds things up. I've seen DM's that actually seem to slow things down when they use them for some reason.

 

[Thulcondar]

I can't imagine why I would need one.

A half-dozen rule books, a pouch of dice, and thou...

/Did I mention I still play AD&D 1st Ed?