Using your PDA at the game table

[johnsemlak]

I tried a similar question here at the Tech forum and got a limited response, so I thought I'd probe here.

Lots of people here use laptops for tabletop gaming. I was wondering how many people try to make use out of PDAs? How?

The best use I've seen is having the SRD on it, which can be very fast to search. The easiest one's I've seen are in HTML format.

I've been trying to view PDFs on my PDA (a Pocket PC I-mate with 128 MG memory, though I'm probably going to add a mem card). One mine, smaller PDFs seem to be ok to read on a PDA, but they would be a major hassle to reference in game. I'd like to try some of the bigger (20+ MB) pdfs and see how they work.

Has anyone in the PDF industry thought of making PDA-friendly PDFs?

Also, does anyone know of a PDA-friendly character sheet. This would be very useful.

 

[tetsujin28]

I find using computers at the game table to be the most annoying distraction ever, next to music playing.

 

[BullMarkOne]

Other than dice rollers (yech) I've not seen much of anything roleplaying specific available for PDA's. I personally would be very interested in a PDA friendly character sheet. It seems like the ideal use for a pda at the gaming table to me. Now if only I could find one.

 

[johnsemlak]

Other than dice rollers (yech) I've not seen much of anything roleplaying specific available for PDA's. I personally would be very interested in a PDA friendly character sheet. It seems like the ideal use for a pda at the gaming table to me. Now if only I could find one.

Where can a die roller be downloaded?

 

[Tewligan]

I find using computers at the game table to be the most annoying distraction ever, next to music playing.

Agreed. I've yet to see a laptop speed up gameplay. I have, however, often seen players unnecessarily fiddling around with it or taking up huge chunks of space with the computer, cords snaking between chairs, etc.

 

[Ant]

For the last few sessions I've used a PDA to reference the HTML version of the SRD. As a DM, I've found this extremely useful and usually quicker than referencing the books. At one point the players were racing me to find a spell duration -- I beat them easily.

I've also got campaign notes on there now and monster stats that I used during a climactic battle. A little juggling was involved during the battle but overall it was a success.

I think a PDA is a great tool as long as it's only used as a source. Actually trying to take notes on a PDA during a session seems unwieldy at the moment (though practice may help).

I'm also looking at DS Forgeworks as a possible purchase in the future.

 

[Eltern]

As a DM, I use my laptop for EVERYTHING, thanks to PDFs and DM's Familiar. It is literally the only thing I bring to the game table. A few of my players also bring laptops to the table, but only for references to rules. One or two of them own PDAs, but they've never brought them to the table.

 

[Wombat]

We have one guy who brings either a PDA or a laptop to every game session.

We tease him about it mercilessly

The main problem is that he looks at the screen, not the gamers, not the table.

Our group games to be social, not to figure out scores.

 

[johnsemlak]

The main problem is that he looks at the screen, not the gamers, not the table.

Our group games to be social, not to figure out scores.

I look at it as the same as players who look at books during the game, though you may not like players doing that either. But I think that's very common at many game tables.

 

[BullMarkOne]

Where can a die roller be downloaded?

For palm OS
http://www.clubkayak.com/handheld/wolf_dice.html

for pocket PC
http://www.freewareppc.com/games/dndroller.shtml

I pulled these two out of a quick google. No promise that either has an even passable random number generator. (Not that real dice are truely random either) I'm just not really the dice roller type, I prefer to hold my dice in my hands and roll. Plus I'm a hardcore dice junkie... mmmm dicey goodness..