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Message: <blockquote data-quote="The Levitator" data-source="post: 3069649" data-attributes="member: 40099">Every mechanical aspect of our game is taken care of on my laptop.  I use DM Genie to manage the camapaign and gaming sessions, Maptools and Battlegrounds for mapping encounters (to a HD projector and 8' screen), RPG audiomixer (I also have RPG Soundmixer)for background music and sound effects, Dundjinni for creating maps, Tavernmaker and Innmage for creating buldings of the fly, NPC Designer for rapidly creating NPC's, Farland's Mass Combat program for skirmishes and large background battles, and Namemage for creating NPC names.Not only do we use DM Genie for managing the game, but we also use the autoroll option in DM Genie so nobody rolls dice.  Our 2 biggest reasons for playing diceless are 1. speed and 2. better roleplaying.  Tucking the mechanics away allows us to focus on the story.  Combat is exponentially faster than paper and pencil, and there is less metagaming because I don't have to rely on players for rolls.  It's not for everybody, but it's been for everybody who's every gamed with us.  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /> We have talked about the players bringing laptops so that they can track their character sheets better (using Player Genie).  Another benefit would be that each player could have their own view for encounters.  Yet another advantage would be that we could use messaging to lower metagaming even further.  If a player wants to go against the grain (for example, choose NOT to follow the party into the cave) but doesn't want to tip off the party, they could message me with that information.  It also helps the players to minimize MY metagaming.  If they wanted to try an unusual strategy, they can discuss it without the DM hearing it.  Of course, messaging wouldn't come up very often,  but it could make things a little more interesting and suspenseful.While I totally respect the "old school" feel of paper, pencil and dice, I would never DM without being able to use the tools I currently use for gaming.  I've been gaming since 1980, and DM'ing since 1985, and I'm grateful for the tools available today that make my job easier, and put the emphasis back on roleplaying's best feature (in my opinion), roleplaying!  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" /></blockquote>

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