WotC_GregB talks about using a laptop at the game table.

[AdmundfortGeographer]

I throw pictures into MS Word documents all the time.

I have many family members, when I ask them to send me a picture throws the jpeg into a .doc file and then send it to me. Perfectly functional, sure. The jpeg by itself would have just been fine. I even call them back and ask just for the jpeg, and they send another .doc file with the jpeg in it.

Obviously, people trying to make Word do everything in the universe, regardless of better ways or better results elsewhere, are a major peeve of mine. That Word (I upgraded to 2008) has gotten better doesn't change that it still has a marathon left.

 

[Brown Jenkin]

Obviously, people trying to make Word do everything in the universe, regardless of better ways or better results elsewhere, are a major peeve of mine.

I know what you mean. I can't count the number of times people at work have come to me because they can't open or find a file. It turns out that they are trying to open a non-Word document using word. Many of them even seem to want to use the word open file window to move non-Word documents from folder to folder instead of using the regular operating system.

 

[Lonely Tylenol]

I am not understanding what your issue is with this. MS Word handles pictures fairly well these days, and flipping your screen around on a laptop to display a high-rez picture is a useful tool that I have used in the past as well. If the goal is to show players a picture, this accomplishes that goal, and in no way is analogous to using a screwdriver to comb your hair (more like using a really useful multiple application tool that includes a hair brush in addition to other things, to comb your hair). What's your issue with this?

I've been planning for a long time to use a second monitor attached to my laptop to display powerpoint slides of the various pictures I want to show them. Of course, that would require downloading and sorting all the pictures, and I haven't had time to do that yet.

 

[WotC_GregB]

MS Word to Display Pictures

Sometimes I'll use preview or another program to show the pictures, but generally I do a lot of writing and outlining before a game session, and since that's all done in Word, I find it less of a hassle to just put the picture close to the related text. For instance, if I know I'm introducing a new location or NPC, I write information related to the place or person on one page and then have a picture nearby that I can quickly show to the players. The only time I encounter trouble is when I use a picture that's too wide for Word's page size, in which case I shrink the picture or just use landscape format.

 

[jeffhartsell]

Laptops at the game table

Our group uses a projector mounted on the ceiling with a mirror to redirect the image for our maps and images. I was surprised to realize that the pros don't have similar high-tech gaming areas set up. Our prep time is so much shorter using digital maps instead of dealing with master maze, dungeon tiles, or drawing on battle mats; all of which we used prior to joining the 21st century.

A used projector from eBay is cheap and easy to set up if you don't mind a projector mounted to your ceiling in a gaming area.

Initiative order, hp totals, and stats are so much easier to track in Excel with sorting and filtering. Only a few of us don't have our own laptop at the table.

We tried using chat to send information only one PC would know, but that got cumbersome, which is why we don't pass notes. The advantage of speed of play outweighs the meta gaming from giving out the information to everyone.

As for ebooks, I do hope WOTC offers them, but I do also like the idea of DDI with a searchable database of rules with a character builder.