I need some help.
I'm dming a game soon and i was planning on hooking my pc up to my tv and using gametable to show the movements and positioning and the layout of the area.
My question is whats the best way to reveal the map? I wanted to somehow freeze the screen and then publish a new room whenever they enter it. But i can't seem to find any programs that let me do that. So i guess my other option is to draw the rooms by hand whenever they enter them, which i don't want to do.
Advice?
I found that using Power Point was really easy. I just set up hyperlinks for every passage. I was able to put up a description of each room right on the screen so that everyone could see exactly what was there. Sometimes the descriptions can be a little long and it's hard for players to remember all the details. Power Point allows you to add motion and sound as well if you want to bring in some atmosphere.
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MapTools is awesome, and there are a ton of other options, paid and otherwise.
d20Pro is a paid product that does a pretty good job of 3.5 support if you ever wanted to include simple combat routines. Doesn't do vision and lighting the way MapTools does, but it has a fog of war option so you can reveal that way, too.
Epic Table just went into beta I believe, and for whatever reason has me fairly excited that it'll deliver on many of the claims it makes.
It has a reputation of being difficult to learn, but the documentation has gotten a lot better in recent months.
Here is a page explaining vision blocking.
Here is a page explaining vision types and lighting.
There's a whole lot more to the application, but the basic vision and light features don't require any scripting at all, they're ready to go.
Otherwise, I recommend photoshop (or gimp).
You want a program that can manage layers easily, and I think you could use masking layers to mimic things like Fog of War from MapTool. However, MapTool would be easier, and it is free, so you should try it.
Does Gametable have an option for online play that shows the GM a different map from what the players see? If so, you could host an online game with the bug screen showing the player map, and a laptop (ask one of the players to bring one) showing the GM map.
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What kind of TV are you using? The reason I ask is that plasma TVs held on a single image for too long will "burn" into the screen. LCDs are ideal for digital table tops because they can hold the same image without harming the screen. I'm using my 46" LCD as a tabletop in games right now. Just laid it flat on the table and protected with a plexiglass cover. Works great!
I can personally plug maptools. I use it and its great. I've set-up maptools as a server-client with my LCD screen and computer screen with a GM map and a player map (with fog of war) and I reveal areas as the characters explore. My players love it.