Over head projector?

[Stone Angel]

It has come to my attention that my gaming group recently bought an overhead projector at a high school auction. So I was wondering if anyone has ever used them before. We are usually a mini's heavy game and do a lot of dungeon crawling, so we have a battle board(plexiglass w/ 1" grids) to define combat. So what do you guys think will this be a problem, a great addition, or a useless item that will get used about five times and then collect dust. I am usually the dm so I am sure I can find several uses for it, but only if it is not going to be a hassle.

 

[Crothian]

My friend had one that hooked up to a lap top. It was really cool and he had some great pictures that everyone could see. He put a lot of extra time into it, so it really depends on how much time your DM want to put into it.

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

As someone with a background in audiovisual support, I have to ask this question: What do you mean when you say "overhead projector?"

Many people use the term to mean projectors which are hooked up to laptops in order to project onto a screen. It's a common error.

When I say "overhead projector," I mean a projector to project transparencies onto a screen.

A laptop/data projector would be pretty handy in a game setting, if you've got a lot of info on your PC - maps, handouts, etc.

An overhead projector fro transperancies is a lot less useful, in my view. You'd be better off with a eraseable whiteboard, actually.

 

[Stone Angel]

overhead with transparencies is exactly what I mean. Why we took money out of the DnD account for it I don't know but I wasn't there so....We have a overhead projector I wish I had a projector that hooked up to the laptop but I don't I could do some killer power point stuff. But there is the clarification.

 

[ErichDragon]

Greetings!

My group purchased an overhead from ebay a while ago. When we used it, it proved invaluable. We were going through a Dragon Mountain conversion and it really helped to keep the group in perspective of where we had been and where we wanted to go. That is a must, in my opinion, for any long-term dungeon crawls. Otherwise it deteriorates into, find a door, bust down the door, kill anything that moves...find the next door.
After that campaign, however, we have used it rarely. The next couple of campaigns were devoid of traditional dungeon crawls and the projector proved a lot less useful.

 

[KnowTheToe]

Not to be harsh, but I would rate it as worthless.

1. It takes up too much space
2. Could detract from the mood
3. You will have to make the room dark and always play with the focus, messing up with the pace of the game
4. may remind people of a classroom
5. reminding people of a classroom may make them unexplainably tired
6. You will need to get paper towels to wipe up drool. BTW, adults drool more than kids.
7. Players will start playing hookie and come up with crazy excuses why they can't come.
8. Players will spend more time thinking of ways to destroy the overhead than they do trying to kill baddies
9. You will spend time on creating transparencies only to have them wrecked by the barbarian Player waving his arms violently and spilling a coke over them
10. When you need it most, the bulb will burn out

You can clearly see buying a battlemat would have been a better choice.