Greetings people. I just finished my first session of RotR with my group, a great way to start the new year! I made a few acquisitions over the holidays, including a projector, so I decided to put it all into place for the first session. The link below has images of my projector setup and a few images of the second goblin battle at Sandpoint.
*WARNING* - While I am fairly savvy at computer tasks, I am a horrible photographer with a poor camera.
...and since my players enjoyed it and asked, I said I would share. Here's a version of the goblin song, written by Paizo:
Greetings people. I just finished my first session of RotR with my group, a great way to start the new year! I made a few acquisitions over the holidays, including a projector, so I decided to put it all into place for the first session. The link below has images of my projector setup and a few images of the second goblin battle at Sandpoint.
Cool. I've always wanted to try that, but I'm a technophobe. I just use paper and pencils. (hey - at least it's better than my old stone tablet and chisel!)
Nice. I had not thought of the mirror. Most of the set ups I have seen have the projector suspended.
I have a project setup like that: I attached a shaving mirror on a pivot to redirect it to the table. You may want to try MapTool or Kloogewerks instead of photoshop.
I thought Maptool was just for over-the-internet mapping?
How do you set it up for this sort of thing? Can it give a DM screen and a Player screen using the same computer? Or do you need to have two computers running across the net? I looked at Maptool and it made my head hurt. All that networking and setting up servers. Yuck!
I thought Maptool was just for over-the-internet mapping?
How do you set it up for this sort of thing? Can it give a DM screen and a Player screen using the same computer? Or do you need to have two computers running across the net? I looked at Maptool and it made my head hurt. All that networking and setting up servers. Yuck!
I used to do it by running two instances of MapTool on the same computer, one for DM, the other for player on the second screen. I understand Trevor has added a 'projector mode', which is basically the same thing, but without the wasted memory of loading everything twice. No networking required.
The other way to do it (which I plan to do when I retire my current laptop), is to use one computer just for a server on the projector, and let me carry around another to use it wirelessly.
Hmmm - I may have to have a second look at it then...
New pics added (by a better photographer). This shows the fight in the Glassworks using The Watcher's excellent map.
That's too damn awesome.
Not only that, but you used my map.
That makes my whole damn day. :D
That's too damn awesome.
Not only that, but you used my map.
That makes my whole damn day. :D
Thanks again, Watcher. I'm a Dundjinni/Photoshop junkie, but there's no need to me to make my own when you've made such good maps. It gives me extra time which I have little of these days.
And thanks, flash. I was wondering if everyone had missed the song, but I wasn't going to harass anyone. The players asked me to play it again during the glassworks fight.
That is a fantastic setup. We play online with Maptool but it looks so much more epic with your projector. I love it, thanks for sharing.
Nice!!! I particularly like the babies giggling in the background! It adds that extra special touch that makes you hate the goblins even more!
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This setup is exactly like something I've always wanted to do. However, while I am pretty computer savvy, I know nothing when it comes to finding an affordable projector. Looking at the model in the photograph, a quick google search says it's upwards of $650 (I think). That may be a little on the high end, I don't know.
What I would like to find out is a decent color projector that I could hook up to a laptop, and was cheap. I don't want to sacrifice too much quality, but it doesn't need to be *that* crisp (most anything will be better than my sketches).
Any suggestions?
Yeah for most projectors these days you're looking at a $600 and up price point (which is far better than what it used to be). You can look at this lengthy, but helpful thread on EN World which discusses various projectors. It has good details on what to look for in a projector for this purpose.
http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=122099
For a good site that lists and specs out projectors, try:
http://www.projectorcentral.com
If you're not worried as much about quality, you may want to try eBay. Bulb life was a concern for me, since the bulbs can cost up to half of the projector cost, and I'm a fan of store warranties, so I went to OfficeMax.
Good luck!
Bah, I lost my last post. An EN World thread below has lots of info, you just have to sift through it.
http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=122099
Projector Central has info on most projectors out there. Just spec sheets, not much in way of reviews:
http://www.projectorcentral.com
Most projectors these days are around the $600 price point or higher. That said, if you're not as picky, look on eBay. I was leery of getting one used, since bulb life is a concern (and bulbs are expensive), but there are a number of projectors out there.
Good luck!
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This setup is exactly like something I've always wanted to do. However, while I am pretty computer savvy, I know nothing when it comes to finding an affordable projector. Looking at the model in the photograph, a quick google search says it's upwards of $650 (I think). That may be a little on the high end, I don't know.
What I would like to find out is a decent color projector that I could hook up to a laptop, and was cheap. I don't want to sacrifice too much quality, but it doesn't need to be *that* crisp (most anything will be better than my sketches).
Any suggestions?
I don't know the quality, but Department stores are now selling projectors that have mounting legs on them that are made to hook up to the xbox360 from the box it looks like it has normal 3 color inputs and is only like $150
Edit:
here
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I don't know the quality, but Department stores are now selling projectors that have mounting legs on them that are made to hook up to the xbox360 from the box it looks like it has normal 3 color inputs and is only like $150
Edit:
here
That actually looks like my best option, though I'd be very interested to hear about the quality from it if anyone has actually tried it. It certainly is a lot more affordable than $500-600.
...You may want to try MapTool or Kloogewerks instead of photoshop.
I've got a similar type of setup (mirror and projector) and I'm currently running Age of Worms using MapTool. MapTool works great. You can use a built in grid that gets projected, use maps from Photoshop, Dundjinni, make them in MapTool, or pretty much any graphic program. You can use tokens and setup of vision blocking, fog of war and, with just a click of your mouse (or keyboard), reveal what a character can see. Lots of other features too. Plus MapTool is free and has great support from the developers! Did I link to MapTool enough :)
Thank you very much for posting the goblin song. That is gonna be the best. And it looks like you are one step closer to the crystal table.