Electronic tools to aid a DM?

[NewJeffCT]

I've recently moved and am hoping to find a new gaming group, or else form one of my own.

I was thinking about giving Pathfinder a whirl this time out, but wanted to see what sort of electronic tools are available to help out a GM/DM?

when I ran a 3.5E game a few years back, I was able to use heroforge in MS Excel and that was a big help to me since my players ended up going up against a lot of clerics and wizards the last half of the campaign. However, Heroforge wasn't perfect.

What sorts of electronic tools are out there to aid a DM?

Thanks

(sorry if this is the wrong forum...)

[KainPen]

try d20pro, it works with 3.5,Pathfinder and 4th ed. You can use it as a map tool, even all out combat if you want and it has the ability for players to join over the net. It is update constantly. I even mod it to work with 1ed and 2nd ed. With help from devs. I used it where it does all roll no need for dice any more. Current game my guy wanted to throw dice again. so I use it dice free, and just input their rolls.

[Lord Phrofet]

Pathforge is the same as Herofoge but for Pathfinder. Just like Hero there is a yahoo group for it as well. Also I recommend, and not just for Patfinder, Obsidianportal.com as a great resource for any player/GM.

[thedarkelf007]

I would use Hero Lab found here www.wolflair.com as they have pathfinder as one of many game sets they support with regular updates.

The only down side is the price, but that is not really an obstacle as it is $30 US to get the first game system.

The main cost comes from using all the supplements.

I have Pathfinder (all supplements) and Shadowrun (all supplements) and have written my own Star Wars d6 version.

I use this in five games over a fortnight, while it has some bugs, overall it is up to date with the errata, covers the new set of books around the time they make it to my local store and have a great support network.

You want house rules, easy to add in, you don't know how to do something, ask, someone answers...

And it can export to d20Pro or Fantasy Grounds so works well with that

I've used excel spreadsheets in the past, not fantastic, but not as good as round by round tracking including monsters, and keeping players honest about what they are carrying or options they have taken...

Weight penalties are auto-calculated or turned off as you desire... so many options available I would not want to go back to just pencil and paper...

I also have it running during the session which makes things easier to cope with. If you want more info just send me a PM and I'd be happy to chat about it offline.

I'm also beta testing their Realm Works and I think it combined with Hero Lab and d20Pro is a fantastic electronic setup for a game...

[Lord Phrofet]

My ONLY issue with HeroLab is that you have to pay money for each supplement and it starts to add up after a while. After already paying money for the book/pdf then again to use Herolab just is not cost effective for me. I understand why they do from a business point of view and they do make a wonderful product if you are willing to pay for each supplement.

[Aratrok]

If you've got a projector or a sizable TV you can hook up a computer to run Maptools as a player on it with a laptop running it as the DM. Makes an awesome replacement for a battlemat, and lets you easily track initiative and states.

[thedarkelf007]

Lord Phrofet wrote:

My ONLY issue with HeroLab is that you have to pay money for each supplement and it starts to add up after a while. After already paying money for the book/pdf then again to use Herolab just is not cost effective for me. I understand why they do from a business point of view and they do make a wonderful product if you are willing to pay for each supplement.

yes supplements cost, but you get about 3-5 books per $10 usually, and they do do bundles. I think all up it is about $150 so far (I could be wrong) for all the pathfinder books released to date.

Depending on what your are running, you won't need most of them, only get what you want to use in your campaign and it will keep the costs down.

I use all the books so have all the supplements. Some friends use only the core rules so have it and pick up the bestiary...

If your going to do other systems they also cater for it is $20 extra per base rules set to include.

And it is fairly easy to extend with customization as you need.

[Mage Evolving]

HeroLab is great for making PCs.
Combat Manager is awesome for everything else.

[DMFTodd]

DM's Fmailiar if you can get a laptop to the gaming table. Has a Combat Board to manage combat and do all the dice rolling for you; Reference Library to quickly & easily look up rules, spells, monsters, feats. etc; Codex Tree to organize everything for you.

[DeathQuaker]

Combat Manager
Combat Manager
Combat Manager
Combat Manager
Combat Manager
Combat Manager
Combat Manager
Combat Manager
Combat Manager
Combat Manager

It is teh awesome.

[NewJeffCT]

thanks everybody - I'll have to look these things up.

[NewJeffCT]

DeathQuaker wrote:

Combat Manager

Combat Manager
Combat Manager
Combat Manager
Combat Manager
Combat Manager
Combat Manager
Combat Manager
Combat Manager
Combat Manager

It is teh awesome.

If I'm not mistaken, it also looks like it's free - though, donations are suggested.

[DeathQuaker]

NewJeffCT wrote:

DeathQuaker wrote:

Combat Manager

If I'm not mistaken, it also looks like it's free - though, donations are suggested.

This is correct. The developer Kyle Olson is also good about responding to feedback.

[NewJeffCT]

thanks again everybody. One of my problems with 3.5E was that it was a huge chore for me to create encounters & run combats. I had a really big group of players (myself, plus 8 players) that could handle just about everything, so I needed to build really big encounters in order to challenge them.

However, it almost became like a second job for me.

[Shifty]

Good tip DQ, Combat Manager is great!

[DMFTodd]

DM's Familiar now comes with Paizo OGC included - all of Bestiary 1, rules, spells, skills, feats and weapons. Free 30 day demo is here in the Paizo store.