Venting some frustration: my group plays in three different locations, so we can't get a designated gaming table. That said, one day I hope to be able to use one. Has anybody tried a digital projection system, where you hang a projector above the table? How's that work, and how often do you have to change the bulb? How expensive is it?
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I've had a digital projector setup for about 2 years. haven't had to change the bulb at all. using one of the benq series; it cost me about $800 new. projectors keep getting cheaper, so you can probably find a better one out there. I had my handyman hang it from my basement ceiling, and ran a very long monitor behind the wall and down to my laptop below.
Between the projector mount, the projector, and the handyman work it ran me about $1300.
I use maptool for my display - it works wonderfully. had to give up on fantasygrounds; it just wasn't flexible enough.
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I've had a digital projector setup for about 2 years. haven't had to change the bulb at all. using one of the benq series; it cost me about $800 new. projectors keep getting cheaper, so you can probably find a better one out there. I had my handyman hang it from my basement ceiling, and ran a very long monitor behind the wall and down to my laptop below.
Between the projector mount, the projector, and the handyman work it ran me about $1300.
I use maptool for my display - it works wonderfully. had to give up on fantasygrounds; it just wasn't flexible enough.
Sounds cool, any chance of some pics?
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ceremony scene from mask of the living god
bloodsport scene from the same module. the paladin was the last man standing, but it was a close fight between him and the party rogue.
I use maptool for my display - it works wonderfully. had to give up on fantasygrounds; it just wasn't flexible enough.
I already mentioned some stuff in the other thread about equipment, so I am cool with that. This begs a couple of questions on the software side, so I apologize if I am asking the obvious.
1) Maptools is purely online with Java, correct? Or can you operate it locally on your laptop without an online link?
2) It looks like you are using image maps that come straight out of the module (at least in the case of your pics for Masks of the Living God). How is that done? Do you scan them and then manipulate with maptools? Or has the image file already been translated on the Maptools website?
3) In reference to the above, I am asking becuase I was thinking I would have to scan the images in and then add a layer in Photoshop of a grid layout to make this work. Of course, I was thinking of running the whole thing via Powerpoint of the maps.
I will sit down and look at the RPTools website, but I wanted to get some pointers on the process. Thanks for any insight.
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1) Maptools is purely online with Java, correct? Or can you operate it locally on your laptop without an online link?
2) It looks like you are using image maps that come straight out of the module (at least in the case of your pics for Masks of the Living God). How is that done? Do you scan them and then manipulate with maptools? Or has the image file already been translated on the Maptools website?
3) In reference to the above, I am asking becuase I was thinking I would have to scan the images in and then add a layer in Photoshop of a grid layout to make this work. Of course, I was thinking of running the whole thing via Powerpoint of the maps.
I will sit down and look at the RPTools website, but I wanted to get some pointers on the process. Thanks for any insight.
2) as a subscriber you get the PDF you can use adbobe reader 8 or below alternately there is a pdf image extractor that you can get the maps without any room numbers or secret doors
3) maptools has the ability to set the grid built in
2) as a subscriber you get the PDF you can use adbobe reader 8 or below alternately there is a pdf image extractor
3) maptools has the ability to set the grid built in
Thanks for the information, Cpt.
I am a Paizo subscriber, so getting the PDFs is fine. Good point about that I totally forgot as an image source. I have Adobe Professional, so extracting images is no worry either. So Maptools as the ability to adjust the imaging as needed. Interesting.
I use an overhead projector to run my game, and I love it. I use a Mitsubishi projector, and the bulb has been going strong for almost 4000 hours. Most of the time, I use it for TV or video games, but then hang it from the ceiling for gaming.
My ceiling is about 7.5' high, my gaming table is 20" tall, and the bottom of the projector is about 15" below the ceiling. With that setup, I get an image that's about 34"x20". After experimenting with a number of more complex setups, I discovered that just hanging the projector from the ceiling supported by wire and 3 hooks was sufficient. I threw on some adjustable things (forget what they're called) and it's solid and easy to position.
I use Maptools, which can be run in stand-alone mode, although I find it easier to host on my laptop and have the computer connected to the projector connect as a client. This lets me hide notes from the players as well as get a larger view of map. I scanned in the maps from the adventures (I found that the resolution in the PDFs makes for poor maps at that scale), cropped them and then pulled them into Maptools. It can take a little bit of fooling around to get the Maptools grid to line up with the grid from the image. I then add the vision blocking layer.
I don't have a good camera, but the finished product looks a lot like sozin's.
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@AlexMartin
#1 I use two laptops - a client, which is connected to the projector, and projects what the players see (ie no secret doors, traps, hidden areas, etc), and a server, which I see, which has the full annotated map. everything is run local on my LAN.
#2/#3 I export all images from the pdfs (as described above). I used to manually scan the maps, and then laboriously edit out the meta-information (room numbers, secret doors, etc) in photoshop, but that was uber time consuming. When you export from pdfs using Adobe Reader 9.1 the meta-information gets stripped from the map, so much less fiddling around in photoshop. (hey, paizo folks: I'll gladly pay through the nose for access to high resolution layered image files. just sayin' :-)
grid lines as noted above can be annoying, especially if you want to use some of the cooler maptool features like area effect images and spell cones. so I try to line up the grid lines as best as I can. (alas, the paizo map grids tend to be very irregular - I think some artistic license is taken when drawing them together, because they never line up with the ultra-precise maptool gridlines.)
Thanks for the follow-up, Sozin. More information is always good. Hmmm...my tinkering bug is acting up now...
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More digital projector DnD pr0n from the Masks of the Living god module:
attack of the cultists (in the basement)
final battle against Egarthis
As a somewhat cheaper solution, I used a cheap HD TV laid on its back, with a sheet of plexiglass over it to protect the screen (because players love throwing dice into clusters of minis). It was awesome, but I've since discovered I'm way too lazy to make custom maps...
I used a cheap HD TV laid on its back, with a sheet of plexiglass over it to protect the screenThis has been my plan for some time, but I can't afford even that (in terms of money or space).
I'm curious to know how this has worked for you and have some very specific questions, plus would love to see pics.
I spent a while looking for some pics and all of them have vanished, which is a shame because the setup was originally created by one of my friends for my all-gaming bachelor party (three days of marathon gaming in a beach house).
When using it with minis, I found that I had many of the same restrictions as with a small battlemat in that my combats tended to be "range-increment challenged" (my players, OTOH, called me "ambush-happy").
Oh yeah, and feel free to email me at:
toxicwombat <at> gmail.com
Projection from above the table is lame, you cast shadows all over the map!
Get a mirror, a frosted glass tabletop, and some plywood. You can safely position the projector under the DM's chair, and reflect it (in reverse mode) off the mirror at a 45 degree angle up to the frosted glass tabletop. Use the plywood (or better wood) to create a box that protects the path of the light from peoples feet, and holds up the table.
I have pics of this system, will post when I find some space.
Bonus points for mounting a WiiMote under the table so that you can use an IR pen as a mouse on the tabletop ;) Works just great with MapTool. In that instance, you can zoom which is way too cool.
We ran a the entirety of Kelmarane in Call of the Carrion King using zoom. The whole town was our battlemap. Good times, good times.
@Evil Lincoln
agreed, much preferred setup there! my wife was totally opposed to me dropping throw mirrors all around the basement, but in a world where I didn't have a picky significant other dictating design decisions, I totally would have done it that way :-)
How would she feel about something stow-able? My current one breaks down quite well, since I only have a studio apartment.