Ultimate Digital Gaming Table

[jcayer]

I'm beginning to head down this road now. I'm using a ceiling mount projector with a game table on the way.
Has there been any progress on this? I'd love to see how it came out, and if you have any tips.

 

[Matt James]

Ditto, I really want to build a similar rig.

 

[cyderak]

Instead of Maptools, I reccomend using D20Pro. Works way better. And their programmers support it way better.

heres a link to my Projector Table:

http://www.enworld.org/forum/members/cyderak-albums-touch-screen-gaming-table-cyderak.html

nice huh.....i got shoved to the basement for my Man-Cave. Its cool though, if people are late we play Pool or belly up to the bar for some "Libations". hehehe.

 

[falcarrion]

Instead of Maptools, I reccomend using D20Pro. Works way better. And their programmers support it way better.

heres a link to my Projector Table:

EN World: D&D / RPG News & Reviews - cyderak's Album: Touch screen Gaming Table - By: Cyderak

nice huh.....i got shoved to the basement for my Man-Cave. Its cool though, if people are late we play Pool or belly up to the bar for some "Libations". hehehe.

Great job!
Just curious what type of mirror did you used?
Also I recently saw a projector with the ir camera bult in it. This would eliminate the need for the WII remote. I'm not sure if the unit includes the whiteboard software or if you still need the smoothboard software. Just thought you might like to know. It just recently came out.

 

[jcayer]

That is a cool table, job well done.

My group has been experimenting with technology as well.
First, we tried a projector suspended over the table, with maptools, pretty cool.
Then added the wii-mote IR Pen trick. Better.

Then we got a much better projector and I looked into building a multi-touch table. While playing with the projector, I opted to shoot it at the wall, guess what, the wall is the best option for my group.

We added a second laptop to be the maptools client, and gave it a wireless mouse. Now my players pass the mouse around and control their characters.

Using the wall has freed up a ton of space on the table and allowed us to present a much larger map. Even the guy with bad eyes can see it. No need for minis since we just use the maptool's tokens. This works for my group and it works great for the guy who travels.

 

[falcarrion]

That is a cool table, job well done.

My group has been experimenting with technology as well.
First, we tried a projector suspended over the table, with maptools, pretty cool.
Then added the wii-mote IR Pen trick. Better.

Then we got a much better projector and I looked into building a multi-touch table. While playing with the projector, I opted to shoot it at the wall, guess what, the wall is the best option for my group.

We added a second laptop to be the maptools client, and gave it a wireless mouse. Now my players pass the mouse around and control their characters.

Using the wall has freed up a ton of space on the table and allowed us to present a much larger map. Even the guy with bad eyes can see it. No need for minis since we just use the maptool's tokens. This works for my group and it works great for the guy who travels.

Just as a side note:
If your group has an Ipad, Iphone, or Itouch; they can connect into Maptools with an app called " Mapnakotic"

 

[jcayer]

I was thinking about this a couple weeks ago. What I see potentially happening, in a year or 2, when everyone has a tablet, is me building a terminal server in my basement.
Everyone could connect to it via RDP, then they would have complete desktop functionality, and maptools.

Hell, if they wanted to, we would be able to get rid of the table and just game from the couch at that point.

 

[falcarrion]

nice huh.....i got shoved to the basement for my Man-Cave. Its cool though, if people are late we play Pool or belly up to the bar for some "Libations". hehehe.

All you need now in your Man-cave is a Bottom ups dispenser!

BottomsUP Beer

 

[cyderak]

All you need now in your Man-cave is a Bottom ups dispenser!

BottomsUP Beer

As cool as the BottomsUp Beer dispensing system is, I really don't have a need to dispense 56 beers per minutes. I got a mini-fridge in the man cave. Stores up to 50 Beers.......If we need any more than that, back-up beers are in the upstairs fridge.

 

[Greylond]

Here's a picture of our group playing at our new gametable. It was built by Brian, who is taking the pictures and not shown. It has a projector underneath it that is connected to a laptop running Maptools that shows what the characters will see. The GM(Me) has a second laptop running the MapTools server(although in these pics I'm have a chart up that I was consulting). The laptops are connected with a standard 8 port mini-router.

The Table with us sitting around it:
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y160/Greylond/IMAG0040.jpg?t=1316299886
(this picture doesn't show the map very well due to the lighting, the screen itself looks good)

The projection screen showing a map of the game world(HackMaster 4th Edition Garweeze Wurld).
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y160/Greylond/IMAG0044.jpg?t=1316299347

Screen showing some maps of a tower that the party was clearing out level by level;
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y160/Greylond/IMAG0045.jpg?t=1316299401

The party finishing up a special dungeon featuring rotating sections. They had already mapped out the whole thing so I could show off the rotation scheme that annoyed them for the entire dungeon. They just had to clear out the final room and kill the BBG at the end(what shows on the screen is only the 2 inner rings of the dungeon).
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y160/Greylond/IMAG0043.jpg?t=1316299968

This is a pregame shot as we were setting up
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y160/Greylond/IMG_20110916_193621.jpg

Here's another pregame picture, this shows Brian, he who built it, telling us about it.
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y160/Greylond/IMG_20110916_193716.jpg