Merging past, present and future of PnP gaming

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boombrakh
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Merging past, present and future of PnP gaming

Post by boombrakh »

Our PnP group have been starting to use roll20 for battle visualization in our games. The addition of tech in our games have proven a great success :)


Image
Now, two laptops is far from neccesary, but i just got a new Surface Pro 3 so why not?


Image
Using my tv as an extra monitor, i project information for the players in a way that is both comfortable and easily accessable for them and convenient for me.


Highly reccomended :)
pragmatic (adj.)
The opposite of idealistic is pragmatic, a word that describes a philosophy of "doing what works best."
From Greek pragma "deed," the word has historically described philosophers and politicians who were
concerned more with real-world application of ideas than with abstract notions. A pragmatic person
is sensible, grounded, and practical.
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Re: Merging past, present and future of PnP gaming

Post by Brokenbone »

Putting on a TV for a group, good idea. Nice setup.
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Re: Merging past, present and future of PnP gaming

Post by Twin Axes »

I miss the past.
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Re: Merging past, present and future of PnP gaming

Post by FoamBats4All »

My group largely did this, and still does when I don't DM them.

After a while you lose something, with everyone browsing Reddit between dice rolls, or just not being around the same table. Everyone on tablets is far better. And, better than that, just the DM with a laptop and the map on the TV screen works out great. Good combination of fancy tools and face-to-face party interaction.
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Re: Merging past, present and future of PnP gaming

Post by HEEGZ »

pretty cool. are you using pathfinder for this group, or various systems?
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boombrakh
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Re: Merging past, present and future of PnP gaming

Post by boombrakh »

HEEGZ wrote:pretty cool. are you using pathfinder for this group, or various systems?
I am using pathfinder. The Roll20.net website has a pretty good support for Pathfinder where it creates a grid on maps where the 3.5/pathfinder movement rules are enforced. Also allows me to just toss a gridless map on there, apply a grid and voila! instant battle map.

All and all, i've looked at a few of the other options for combat visualization that is normally used to play online with friends, but roll20.net is by far the best. I hadn't even heard of it either until it won the gold Ennie award for best software. :)
pragmatic (adj.)
The opposite of idealistic is pragmatic, a word that describes a philosophy of "doing what works best."
From Greek pragma "deed," the word has historically described philosophers and politicians who were
concerned more with real-world application of ideas than with abstract notions. A pragmatic person
is sensible, grounded, and practical.
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Re: Merging past, present and future of PnP gaming

Post by HEEGZ »

I'll try to remember to take some pics to show you what I use for DMing my PnP group. The diagonal is about 3 meters across, and it is interactive. I can pull stuff from the web and display it to the screen, then mark all over it. Here's a random pic from the internet of one, though mine is a bit larger:

Image

I also have 16 chromebooks available for them to use, though we haven't bothered to use them yet. I use one myself, but the players are still learning the rules and such.

We played today, and eight players has proven to be a bit too much... long story short we agreed to split into two groups of four after this afternoon's session. I'm running 5ed D&D and it's a total blast. I also have a group out of my home, in addition to my public group which met today.

And your couches look way more comfortable than the metal stools we sit on, heh.
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Re: Merging past, present and future of PnP gaming

Post by Rumple C »

Those phablets are really getting out of control
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Re: Merging past, present and future of PnP gaming

Post by HEEGZ »

Crap I forgot to take a picture today at work. I even brought my DSLR with me and everything...
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boombrakh
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Re: Merging past, present and future of PnP gaming

Post by boombrakh »

HEEGZ wrote:Crap I forgot to take a picture today at work. I even brought my DSLR with me and everything...
Image
pragmatic (adj.)
The opposite of idealistic is pragmatic, a word that describes a philosophy of "doing what works best."
From Greek pragma "deed," the word has historically described philosophers and politicians who were
concerned more with real-world application of ideas than with abstract notions. A pragmatic person
is sensible, grounded, and practical.
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Re: Merging past, present and future of PnP gaming

Post by orangetree »

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Re: Merging past, present and future of PnP gaming

Post by Electryc »

The effort Paizo puts in Pathfinder is admirable. Even two years ago, my first foray into PNP again that the amount of material was daunting. What books do I need, what modules should I run, do I need that update or play advanced rules? How many monster core books do they make? I saw the re-released 3.5 books at the hobby shop and picked them up instead. 3 vanilla books PH,MM,DMG!
I set my campaign in Greyhawk and ran it from there until the DnD Next Starter Set came out.

At this point I'm pretty happy with DnD Next (5.0). The starter set has an excellent adventure that my group is now running through. I plan on getting the monster manual and DMG for x-mas. Moving from 3.5 - 5.0 was not a difficult transition. The starter set explains the rules quite well, and what I enjoy about the new edition is that it gives my players a framework on creating PC's and how they might(should) role play their characters. (Disadvantage/Advantage rolls)

I thought about setting up my laptop for sessions, but just rely on the books and scattered paperwork. The laptop, smartphones,tablets etc seem to make my group wander off to intranetz land. Keeping them in the dark ages seems to work for them. I might start using pics and music in the future to set the theme.
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boombrakh
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Re: Merging past, present and future of PnP gaming

Post by boombrakh »

Electryc wrote:I thought about setting up my laptop for sessions, but just rely on the books and scattered paperwork. The laptop, smartphones,tablets etc seem to make my group wander off to intranetz land. Keeping them in the dark ages seems to work for them. I might start using pics and music in the future to set the theme.
It isn't such a problem as it once was, people wandering off onto dem intarwebs. All it took was a few stern "dafuqman!?" and peer pressure combined with #firstworldguilt did the rest. We play as often as possible and normally that would amount to twice a month, but people are really enjoying the accessability that this setup provides them. We've made a few changes over time to keep with the heart of PnP while at the same time taking steps forward into the future. That means no more digital dice rolling for the players. And no moving the peices themselves.

Instead, it's all on the big screen that they're facing and they can easily just tell me where they want to go and then I move them. At first we thought that would be a bit bothersome, so i set up a separate tablet for them on their table but that was just too much of a hassle for them, as the screen was too small and everyone had to bend in to see. In the setup you can see in the initial post, I can easily browse ebooks and I have access to all their character sheets via Hero Labs. It's actually working so well that what used to be a game that we managed to get together for twice a month now is on average once a week.

Anyways, what I really wanted to do with this post was to let people know about Roll20.net and now, if you havn't heard of it, Hero Labs. Great, no amazing, tools for your Pathfinder/DnD game.


If this was a facebook status, i'd even press "Like" myself. :D
pragmatic (adj.)
The opposite of idealistic is pragmatic, a word that describes a philosophy of "doing what works best."
From Greek pragma "deed," the word has historically described philosophers and politicians who were
concerned more with real-world application of ideas than with abstract notions. A pragmatic person
is sensible, grounded, and practical.
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boombrakh
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Re: Merging past, present and future of PnP gaming

Post by boombrakh »

orangetree wrote:I love stuff like this:

http://www.d20srd.org/extras/tabletop_projection/
I've been down that road, except I was looking at having an actual screen as a table.



In the end, it wasn't worth it, even though it was pretty fun. In theory it least.
pragmatic (adj.)
The opposite of idealistic is pragmatic, a word that describes a philosophy of "doing what works best."
From Greek pragma "deed," the word has historically described philosophers and politicians who were
concerned more with real-world application of ideas than with abstract notions. A pragmatic person
is sensible, grounded, and practical.
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boombrakh
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Re: Merging past, present and future of PnP gaming

Post by boombrakh »

My mind just blew outta my ass. I just found the perfect tool for sound effects, music and, and everything else for your audio needs.

Syrinscape

pragmatic (adj.)
The opposite of idealistic is pragmatic, a word that describes a philosophy of "doing what works best."
From Greek pragma "deed," the word has historically described philosophers and politicians who were
concerned more with real-world application of ideas than with abstract notions. A pragmatic person
is sensible, grounded, and practical.
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