Overhead Projection

[Sugarman]

I've seen the fancy $1000 setups people use to project dungeons on the table for their characters to explore. You reveal only what they see using 'layers' as 'fog' through your laptop.

Looks like fun if you have the dough and the tech savvy, but what about a cheaper solution?

Drawing the rooms and having PCs keep a map to me are considered a distraction that takes away from the actual action of the game. So I'd like to find a way to eliminate that downtime and try projection. But in a cheap way.

I see that ordinary old school overheads (like your teacher used) are available for less money than a core book and now come so small they weigh less than 10 lbs. Hang it right above your table. All you'd have to do is print the dungeon you want to use on a transparent sheet and use post it notes or something to block areas the PCs havent seen. Just peel em away as they enter areas and bang, NO MORE MAP DRAWING! It's cheap, low-tech, visually appealing AND time saving.

The only thing is, I never saw or heard of anyone using this technique for indoor exploration. Has anyone here used overhead projectors or know of any drawbacks to using one? Please let me know if you know anything about this before I spend the $50 it takes to dive into this. Thanks!

 

[Castellan]

This sounds at least as good as the hi-tech versions everyone oggles. Fact is, you can hand-draw maps like normal, or even print maps, NPC pictures, or other props on transparencies and project them for everyone to see. Print a few graph paper transparencies and you can draw simple maps for dungeons or whatever.

The only real drawback is that you aren't projecting onto the table so that the players can move their minis, but this isn't that big a problem in my estimation, and might even be preferable to folks who have a small gaming table with no room for a battlemat. Means a bit more work for the DM during combats, but if you're up for it, it's definitely a cheap way to go.

 

[Sugarman]

This sounds at least as good as the hi-tech versions everyone oggles. Fact is, you can hand-draw maps like normal, or even print maps, NPC pictures, or other props on transparencies and project them for everyone to see. Print a few graph paper transparencies and you can draw simple maps for dungeons or whatever.

The only real drawback is that you aren't projecting onto the table so that the players can move their minis, but this isn't that big a problem in my estimation, and might even be preferable to folks who have a small gaming table with no room for a battlemat. Means a bit more work for the DM during combats, but if you're up for it, it's definitely a cheap way to go.

Well why couldn't you rig up a way to project it onto a table? You might need a mirror or something but I dont think it would be impossible. Hell you could even hang the projector sideways and tape it on the glass I would imagine...

 

[Aidan Milvus]

I see that ordinary old school overheads (like your teacher used) are available for less money than a core book and now come so small they weigh less than 10 lbs. Hang it right above your table.

He was talking about hanging it, just like they're doing with the projectors... So yes they can use their minis.

I haven't seen any new ones, but from what I remember from school, they had to be back a ways for them to be able to project. What kind of distance would be required, and how easy would it be to change maps/pictures if its hanging above the game table? I suppose with a mirror, you could adjust it so that its sitting flat somewhere, and you could get bigger projection for less height...

 

[Sugarman]

He was talking about hanging it, just like they're doing with the projectors... So yes they can use their minis.

I haven't seen any new ones, but from what I remember from school, they had to be back a ways for them to be able to project. What kind of distance would be required, and how easy would it be to change maps/pictures if its hanging above the game table? I suppose with a mirror, you could adjust it so that its sitting flat somewhere, and you could get bigger projection for less height...

I'm guessing they have some variable focus. I'd have to check on what the minimum projection distance was. Seems to me the closer it is the brighter and clearer it would be. I'm just checking to see if anyone has any definate reason why this couldnt work...it might be a pain to have to reach 5 feet up to have to peel away a room blocking paper of draw in a secret door...but still it wouldnt take as long as having to draw out the whole dungeon on the tabletop...hmmmmmm

 

[Aidan Milvus]

I think its actually a pretty good idea, as long as you have the ability to mount either the projector or a mirror of some sort above the table. I don't know how much they are, but in high school, I had used a couple of times, a screen that you could put on the projector that could hook to a computer to project what was on the screen.

 

[Sugarman]

I've not seen such a screen. can you post a link to one so I can price it and see how it works?

I can mount whatever anywhere btw, its my gaming room.

What about putting the projector on the floor shining thru a glass table onto thanslucent paper? will the table be far enough from the projector to get a nice big image?

 

[Castellan]

Keep in mind that if you hang it sideways you may have light from the base of the projector shining in some of your players' eyes. The mirror is a better idea, but you'll have to work out the coordinate transformation to make things appears correct. That's easier with a computer, and more work for you if you're hand-drawing things.

I'd definitely be interested to see if someone has set something like this up for table projection. I'm guessing the couple of pitfalls could be worked around given some trial and error.