Best use of technology for gaming?

[rpgsavant]

I've been thinking of ways to incorporate media centers into gaming to improve immersion. So far I've been playing with maptools, tokentools, and making my own sound files to show on my television. If you added technology, has technology made your game better? If you haven't added, why not?

[Skeld]

rpgsavant wrote:

If you added technology, has technology made your game better? If you haven't added, why not?

I've come full-circle on technology. Back in the day, there wasn't much technology to use. Over the last 10 yeas, I've used laptops, auto-rollers, electronic maps with tokens, sound files, projectors, etc. I haven't felt like any of it ever really added enough to be worth the effort to incorporate it.

I'm back to using dice, paper, and a battle mat. That plus an initiative tracker and some books is about it. I keep my iPad handy so I can look up something on the internet or PDF if i need to.

In my experience, technology can very quickly become a huge distraction at the gaming table. IMHO, it's highly over-rated.

-Skeld

[firefly the great]

Yeah we have a guy who always has his laptop "for HeroLab" and it ends up being "for looking some random stuff up on Wikipedia and distracting everybody"

On the other hand, I do use my phone for the SRD, and that's a lot better than flipping through books. But I always have a hard copy of my character sheet and some actual dice.

[Darius Silverbolt]

I am with Skeld on this one. I found tablets that hold all your PDF tend to be the best thing over all.

Nothing can replace the person to person interaction and the joyful experience wrangling up the pizza order.

[Nebelwerfer41]

We've had to ban most player technology at our games because it is a big distraction.

As a DM, I have integrated tech by loading photos and background images to my PS3 and displaying them on my TV. Usually, putting the overland/regional maps on the TV is very helpful as well as scenic pictures for certain "cutscenes" (i.e. big room descriptions or whatnot). Other than that, a few of us use laptops for character sheets but mostly we game with paper, pencil, battlemat and miniatures. We all spend most of our days starign at glowing screens and a weekly diversion from that is a relief.

[rpgsavant]

I could see restricting internet access on a gaming PC to keep the distraction down. I am planning to build a PC just for running maptools and other RPG tools. I like using it for large dungeons that might take more than 1 game session.

[Sardonic Soul]

I project maps and the initiative order on my tv from my computer. And play music from my pc as well. Anything other than that is a distraction. Cell phones are banned outright.

[CalebTGordan]

I use my tablet for both gaming and GMing. I have cut down most of my book carrying and paper use. The problem is the lack of apps that are free or cheap (1.99 or less) have features I would use, and have features that are useful enough to use.

I use a PDF reader, and I transfer all of my GM notes into PDFs so I have books and notes all in the same place. I have the ability to takes notes with that same app as well, so it covers a great deal of what I need.

As for music, I can play it from the tablet. The sound quality is good enough, and the volume is just right.

I haven't used too many visual aids with pictures, but I have just loaded them up into the picture gallery and shown them directly from the tablet. I could use a television and project the images on to that, but I am not that tech savy.

Initiative trackers, dice rollers, and character sheet managers are all something I haven't used a great deal, but I have recently downloaded some of them to try out. For the most part, moving from one app to another and then back isn't a pain but it is annoying. As long as the apps work well, I just might use them.

[CalebTGordan]

If you have Hero Lab, it works really well for character building and management. I use it on my laptop and use Splashtop with my tablet access it.

[erian_7]

Same setup for me--HeroLab on laptop, with Splashtop allowing use on my tablet. I keep the laptop off to the side, so it doesn't block me from the table.

[LazarX]

rpgsavant wrote:

I've been thinking of ways to incorporate media centers into gaming to improve immersion. So far I've been playing with maptools, tokentools, and making my own sound files to show on my television. If you added technology, has technology made your game better? If you haven't added, why not?

The real pitfall of a lot of technology that gamers use... is that it's intrusive. You have to give it so much attention that it actually detracts from the gaming.

I use it when it's appropriate and when it adds enough to the experience without being disruptive.

I would say that the most useful bit of tech for a face to face table that I've seen is that magnetic board that you can use for initative tracking. Simple, inexpensive, to the point, and does exactly what it's needed to do.