Laptops at the table - Do you use them?

[Thulcondar]

Yes, but it's superfluous information really. The rest of your post could as easily have applied to a lot of other games, 3rd edition D&D definitely included.

That may well be true. I can only go by the scores of rule books I see on the shelves of my local game store for 3E, and surmise that the poor old PH, DMG, and MM just don't seem like enough in the latest incarnation of the game.

Pity the poor Gamma World or Boot Hill gamer, who has to content himself with but a single rulebook!

Thul

 

[sydbar]

The 2 of us that use laptops at the game, keep them closed except when we need to look something up, plus it weighs alot less to carry a laptop, cd, and 3 books, than carrying all the relevent 2nd ed books for the game.

 

[Harmon]

Nah, Im not concerned with them being distracting, I just feel they have no place at a Pencil and Paper gaming session. I like the old school feel of just books and dice.

I can respect that.

Should anyone bring one and ask to use it, allow them the chance, if its even the slightest bit in the way or distracting ask them to ditch it. If you asked me to with what you said here- I would.

FWIW- all my characters are paper, all gear is computer generated paper (though I have been known to update during low moments), and most of the origins and back history are printed out (hay, computers get bugs and die or power goes out).

Take care all.

 

[Hussar]

That may well be true. I can only go by the scores of rule books I see on the shelves of my local game store for 3E, and surmise that the poor old PH, DMG, and MM just don't seem like enough in the latest incarnation of the game.

Pity the poor Gamma World or Boot Hill gamer, who has to content himself with but a single rulebook!

Thul

Heh, using a singular third person pronoun there is probably accurate.

Hrm, 1e I had 13 hardcover books as well as several boxes of other materials. 3e I have 5 hardcover books and a subscription to Dragon. Obviously YMMV and all that.

 

[Sidekick]

Hmm if it weren’t for the fact that
a) my Gf & I share a laptop so when I game it stays at home for her to play with,
b) we play after work & dragging a laptop in the tube isn’t my idea of fun and
c) we play at two of the players house and they have EVERY FR & Eberron book imaginable, plus core, DMG & PHB II, XPH, etc etc so I don’t need to lug books anyway – just my DMing binder with campaign info and relevant adventure stuff (dungon mag/module).

Then yeah I’d use a laptop to DM, but probably only if its at my place (or I was to drive there)

I’ve always been keen to use programmes etc to make it easier for me as DM, but ultimately the whole thing isn’t worth the hassle for me.

At the table I sit beside the PC and have our own private message boards up (has our house rules and custom equip) & the SRD open so that I don’t have to make thi big books.

That combined with Mongooses A5 core books means that my DMing area is quite uncluttered.

But different strokes for different folks.

It’ll probably be something that I’ll look at doing once I’m back home in NZ & have my own laptop (for D&D and porn of course )

 

[DJCupboard]

Initially, my interest in laptops came from the idea of using it as a game aid, though after having one about six years, I haven't actually used it at the table yet. With the next game I run, I intend to rectify that.

Does anyone know of good programs for record keeping, etc (like what's already been discussed above), that're compatible with Mac OS X? I already have d20srd.org bookmarked (though I'm using safari, not firefox [and I don't know why]), but I need a good campaign organizer that's quick and easy to access. Also a good auto-updating spreadsheet (I do run MS Office) for me to keep copies of my players' characters would be nice. I'd love to use RPGXplorer, but I'm still weary of Windows emulators and they don't seem likely to make that Mac version any time soon.

thanks,
DJC

 

[Halivar]

Nah, Im not concerned with them being distracting, I just feel they have no place at a Pencil and Paper gaming session. I like the old school feel of just books and dice.

This sounds too much like "because I said so." As a player, I'd be ticked if my DM said that to me, because he's limiting me for his own sense of aesthetics, and I think that's wrong in a collaborative environment.

On the issue of distractions, I have found that I, with my laptop, am far more engaged than my party-mates, who are constantly thumbing through the PHB2, BoNS, or BoVD planning out their next character.

IOW, tools don't make the player more or less engaged. They're either the type that likes immersion in the roleplay, or they aren't. A laptop won't make a difference to them.

 

[SunRaven01]

We don't use laptops at my table, and I had a player and his gf leave because I wouldn't allow him to use the laptop. He was a problem player as it was, and the laptop only exacerbated things.

I didn't like the way the laptop functioned as a wall between him and the rest of the table, I didn't like the way he was continually futzing with it instead of paying attention to the game, but when he logged into WoW, I drew the line. He took exception to my saying I wouldn't "allow" him to use it at the table, and left the game.

I do my prep on the computer, but I run the game on paper.

 

[icedrake]

I'm not a big fan of using a laptop as a player, I prefer rolling my own dice, having a hardcopy character sheet with notes on paper. I do, however, try to keep an electronic copy of my character up to date with levels skills and etc should I lose my sheet.

For dming though, I couldn't do my job without it. I like having all my notes typed up (my handwriting's terrible and I type quicker than I can write) and its much easier to manage combat by entering everything in a spreedsheet. I've been trying to find a good DMing client for OS X, but I can't for the life of me find one. I'll have to just wait a year or two to save up for an intel mac and get a copy of windows I guess.

I do find it irritating that players would bring their computers to the session. Unless you're s spellcaster or druid trying to manage your spellbook, wild shapes or summons, I don't think players really need them. Anything you have on the computer can generally be printed out. A friend of mine did play druid in our last game and he basically had to use the computer so he could quickly page through the various summons he had and forms he could wild shape into. With notible exceptions, I'm up for players using them, but know from personal expereince they can be very distracting.

 

[TracerBullet42]

In our group (7 PCs), I've used a laptop as a DM and as a player. The offline SRD is awful nice, and I just can't stand my own handwriting. As a player, I use it to take notes during the session in a simple Word document. Since we only meet once a month, it's nice to have an easy email reminder for everyone about where we left off.

But I'd never be surfin' the net or playing an online game during a gaming session...that's just rude.