Turn order cards?

[tennyson]

Very useful thingies, these. Good to include skills as well, so you no longer hear "Roll a spot check." and immediately have your character enter SUPER-DEFENSE-YOU-CAN'T-TOUCH-ME mode. It's so much better for both DM and players to instead say/hear "Roll a D20."

Amen. I can't wait to give these a try for this specific reason.

 

[Drawmack]

Are u using a PC while DMing? if yes what utilities are u running?
And which of them are freeware?

Yes

I use an excel spread sheet that keeps all the PCs major info on 1 page character sheet, has a battle tracker (I input initiative hit ctrl+o and have the battle tracker set up by round) and an xp calculator where I assign rp points and say how many challanges of each CR the party completed and at the end of the session bang experience is already done.

I use word to write my adventures and then I use that instead of killing trees to print them, of course I use a TOC frame so that I can jump around really quickly within the adventure.

I use photoshop for my maps.

I use JHName gen.

The last bit - my entire, quite extensive, rpg prdf collection is on the laptop as well.

I use an xml version of the SRD that a friend passed to me hooked into a php xml querry engine so I can search the entire srd in seconds for rules references.

I also have a program for CC2 that is designed as a computer gaming engine. I can create CC2 maps, import them into this program and it renders them in 3d and the players can walk through them. I use this for search scenes where the search is integral to the campaign and I really don't want it on a die roll.

I use e-tools for quick stats on monsters and random treasure generation.

On top of all this I have RISK & You Don't Know Jack installed on the computer so when the PCs decide to spend an hour discussing something I've got something to do.

Of all this the only thing that is free/shareware is the xml query engine from http://www.w3c.org and JHName gen. The rest is all purchased.

Though I am going to check out a mapping program mentioned in one of the other threads around here, it might make my job a bit easier and the computer a touch more integral to the game.

 

[shivamuffin]

If I had a laptop I would love to do what drawmack is doing....Oh, if I only had the money.

What about palm pilots? With the new fancy pilots out there, I'm sure there has to be software available so one can do the same thing...Isn't there? I'm sick of using paper, but too poor to go all out with a laptop and software.

 

[Drawmack]

Shiva,
You don't need a monster for what I'm doing. http://www.tigerdirect.com I got mine for like $400.

As for palm pilots, the screen is too small. With the laptop I can set it on the floor in-front of me and still read the text.

 

[JDragon]

I have my own version of Index cards I have put togther I use in conjunction with my laptop.

I have colored cards that the PC's fill out with basic info (stats, HP, AC, Saves a few skills) Special notes and their current Init at the top.

For NPC's/monsters I have an Excel spread sheet I have put together that I enter all the stats on. Basic information (Name, Marker, Init mod, and Dex Mod) mainly used to track their place in the turn, is transfered to a 4x6 sized card that I then can print on my printer. When they take damage or it their turn I refer to the excel sheet instead of flipping through the cards a dozen times a round.

The Init cards save a lot of time and make life much easier.

IF anyone is interested, drop me an email and I'll send you the file. (JDragon000@aol.com)

JDragon

 

[shivamuffin]

Shiva,
You don't need a monster for what I'm doing. http://www.tigerdirect.com I got mine for like $400.

As for palm pilots, the screen is too small. With the laptop I can set it on the floor in-front of me and still read the text.

Yeah, I could cruise the university shop for some used laps.

What about the total software cost?