Computers and RPG

Hi,

Does anyone use their computer as a GM'ing aid to track campaigns/characters and maps etc?

I've collected a broad collection of around 970 RPG documents not including maps, magazines, boardgames, NPC, Scenarios and PC characters.

I now do everything on the computer, so when I write a scenario it's all done on the computer and printed out. I only store PC/NPC character sheets on the computer and all maps are also from the computer. It means that I have a good papertrail of the campaign, I can track and reuse stuff easily and when the campaign pauses/finishes I have no paper to store but nothing is lost.

I am currently also trying to put onto the computer my back cataloge of scenarios and PC's but that I have reams of paper lying around in various folders and it's quite labourious.

FNG

Who needs a GM screen when you've got a laptop and electronic dice?

Niniri the Geek Goddess

There's a thread where I posted up my Excel created GM screen and character sheet. I even ported my GM screen to my PDA for quick reference to charts.

I also find it a lot easier to put everything on the computer.

I don't use the computer whilst I am actually roleplaying, my mates uses his lap top.

I find lap top's/GM screens seperate the GM fromn the table and distract to much.

I just print off crib sheets which I have upside down on the table. I try to avoid rolling dice as I am very unlucky with that sort of thing

FNG

I don't use the laptop, but I do use the PDA. Having the reference sheets on it has been handy.

I like to keep the character sheets as a record on the PC then print them when I need them. Seems to work pretty well. A lot of tracking can be done and done easier on the PC. I've been keeping track of total karma earned, when it was earned an what I've spent it on when advancing.

I tend to find Marvel scenarios fairly easy to make-up, and generally don't use more than a couple of pieces of loose-leaf in making a session or two worth of play for a single player game.

Now, the last longterm DnD campaign I DMed, that was a different story ... with all of the locals that had to be detailed, the dungeons and mazes and room details.

It was a doozy of a campaign too; set in a customized version of Forgotten Realms and revolving around the fulfillment of one of the prophecies of Maglas ... "Anf dragons shall rule the world entire." I defined Sammaster the Mad (founder of the Cult of Dragons) as the offspring and lover of Tiamat, birthed long ago to herald a return to the Age of Dragons with Tiamat as that ages Absolute Monarch.

What a campaign! By the time the bottom fell out, Sammaster had been resurrected, Tiamat gated in the world, Cormyr was in shambles and fracture in two, its was King dead, the Darkhold had fallen, along with the entire Sunset Vale (awash with undead that poured out of the Battle of the Bones), and the forces of man were scrambling to do ... something, anything to halt Tiamat's army of dragons.

As a last ditch effort 5 adventuring parties were sent out to find either the Orb or the OrbS of Dragonkind, spoken of in a legend so old that even the elves were unsure of its authenticity.

The PCs made up one fo those parties, but had many adventures prior ... Especially Hector the Mage. He blew which ever way the wind blew ... starting as a wide-eyed mage from backcountry Cormyr, then being seduced by the Cult of Tiamat with the lures of money, power, and women, sacrficing children to learn long forgotten secrets, then betraying Tiamat to an even more ancient evil when trapped alone in a desolate ruin in a foreign land far from home, selling his soul ot that ancient evil in exchange for survival and power, then betraying that evil and returning to the cult of Tiamat, betraying his adventuring band while exploring an old prison ruin called the House of Toil and Sweat, then betraying the Cult of Tiamat following a near death experience (in which he saw the ancient-er evil) and becoming a servant of the god of renewal and vowing to undo all the evil he'd wrought ... including giving the cult the power to ressurrect Sammaster and gate in Tiamat!!!!!!

Hey, hold on here. This is a comicbook list right ... superhero comicbooks ... 'nuff said. :D

I use the computer to create adventures, but I print them all out to run the game with. That way I can walk around and ham it up.

Adobe Framemaker - To write adventures

Campaign Cartographer - To create maps

TableSmith - To generate NPCs and to 'pre-roll' combat rolls for the NPCs. This way I dont even have to roll dice.

Excel - To keep track of players and NPCs character sheets.



michael

BTW: I also use my Palm Lifedrive too.. :)

That's handy because there's some good dice rolling aplets out there...

Niniri the Geekgrrl GM

What is a "lifedrive"?

I used to write gaming programs for the palm, but when I tried it on my Treo it got totally trashed.

However, I just got a new Palm watch for christmas....


michael

[www.palm.com]

This is what I've got....

Niniri

I print out some stuff for the adventures, but mostly write notes by hand. And the hell with dicerollers! I gotta feel that plastic slide off my hand...did that just sound dirty? :D





The one and only unstoppable nutcase!

as long as it did not vibrate you should be fine

btw I use my Tungsten T to store/create characters using an app called Mobile Data base.

there are also some dice rolling apps and word document apps that I use as well.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/18/2005 09:12PM by Fangs.