Wondering how important computers are to D&D [rant]

[Kyramus]

I do most of my world building on my laptop. So when I run my games, everything is on the laptop that deals with plot lines and such.

I do use PCgen to create NPCs.

The paper and pencil part is the players. also I use a battlemat with markers and counters. so it's really a table top game.

now all I need to do is get some sort of bookshelf that can handle all my books that I keep near me for reference for monster stats and such. hehehehehe

 

[HellHound]

Honestly, I use computer gaming aids... about once a month.

But I also know people who use them a LOT. And I agree that these game aids can be essential to a game that is used to running with them, and suddenly running without the aids you have been using and collecting into a suite for years will make running a game seem like a chore compared to the simplicty before hand.

3e really works better with computer support. The ability to advance creatures on the fly instead of working on them for 30 minutes per monster is a Good Thing. I do it by hand, but only because I haven't found the perfect monster advancer yet.

 

[MerricB]

For best results, this must be pronounced in a plummy Oxbridge accent.

By some strange coincidence, I happen to have a plummy Oxbridge accent.

No, not really - but it's amazing how many people think I'm English, despite having been born in Australia, and living all my life here (except for six months that I lived in England).

The other explanation is watching too much Doctor Who. (Although I would probably say "not enough" is closer to the mark. )

Cheers!

 

[Psion]

It appears now no self-respecting D&D'er would show up at a game session with character sheet done by hand. DMs nearly always use a computer mapping program for maps, and many simply spit out their dungeons using a dungeon generator.

These things are nice, not necessary. I tend to use PCGen, but still have to generate many characters by hand... while it is nice to have PCGen do the accounting for you, there are many things that it cannot do without coding.

Mapping on the computer is nice and gives me results that I could not acheive in near the same amount of time without it. For example, slicing off a peice of my world map, detailing it, and printing different views for GMs and players are things that would take me many long annoying trips to the copy shop.

I've never even used etools, and still don't really know what it is. I don't have PCgen, (my PHB didn't come with it for some reason, though I think they used to). So officially, I am not a D&D player.

PCGen is a free online tool from a third party, it did not come with the PHB (there was a character generator program that was sort of an emryonic etools, but it was limited to PHB stuff and was a totally different program.)

 

[Henry]

You must remember, John, how pervasive computers are in every aspect of the modern human's lifestyle, among "first world" and "second world" nations. (Unsure if these are the correct terms, but they get my point across.)

Even in Moscow, how many people do you know who own typewriters? (I am curious.) As you know, in the U.S. more people own Porsches than type writers, I believe. I personally know of no one outside of my own business that owns or uses typewriters, and we have constant battles over approval for repair when they break.

In this age, we use our computers to plan our travel, to order our entertainment, to plan our daily routines, handle our finances, and even restock our food and supplies for some! We have integrated them into all aspects of our lifestyle, not just gaming. What you are seeing is a side effect of this phenomenon.

Imagine in the U.S. when Tax season begins, if by a new law, no company were allowed to produce software with upgraded tax tables in them for personal use. Some people would riot in the streets! How will be do our taxes? (Other than doing them by hand, or taking them to a tax preparation service.)

These days, if something must be done without computer assistance, some people will just prefer to do without.

 

[hong]

By some strange coincidence, I happen to have a plummy Oxbridge accent.

You too, huh? I've had enough people tell me I have a BBC accent that I'm inclined to believe them. And I've never even been to England.

My sister also sounds like a Pom at times, but I attribute it to her hanging out with too many doctors for her own good (she did medicine at Newcastle).

 

[hammymchamham]

I use MS Word to write out my DM notes. I have horrible handwritting, so this way I don't have a problem reading mid-game Aside doing some research occasionaly, I don't come to the game with a computer. Though the DM for my sunday night game uses computers, it doesn't interfer

 

[MerricB]

You too, huh? I've had enough people tell me I have a BBC accent that I'm inclined to believe them. And I've never even been to England.

My sister also sounds like a Pom at times, but I attribute it to her hanging out with too many doctors for her own good (she did medicine at Newcastle).

I was brought up in Melbourne; my father says that it's an educated Australian accent (which makes me wonder about all the uneducated ones...)

Cheers!

 

[Mathew_Freeman]

By some strange coincidence, I happen to have a plummy Oxbridge accent.

No, not really - but it's amazing how many people think I'm English, despite having been born in Australia, and living all my life here (except for six months that I lived in England).

The other explanation is watching too much Doctor Who. (Although I would probably say "not enough" is closer to the mark. )

Cheers!

Marvellous to hear it, old chap!

Would you like a jelly baby?

And to get back to the thread, I barely use computers at all. I'm writing up my campaign world on one, but when it comes to game notes, I'm pretty much all pen and paper. But I have to admit that I've never really tried Etools etc.

 

[johnsemlak]

re accents

My mother is from Alabama in the south, though I grew up in the Midwest of the US (considered the region with the 'standard' US accent). The South of course is famous for it's 'thick' southern drawl. When I visited my Grandma there , no one in my mother's family (including my grandmother, aunt, uncle, many of whom lived there) had a southern accent. They didn't sound at all like some of their neighbors.

I asked once why, and my Grandma initially responded 'well, we're not hillbillies!" After some thought, we concluded that most of my family went to school in jesuit catholic schools, and their teachers were from northern states. Hence their 'non-southern' accent.