Tech Tools: Using Today's Technology to Enhance your Game

This is an article I penned for a Dungeons and Dragons/roleplaying e-zine

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I'm what you would call an old school gamer. I started back in the day with nothing more than a pad of graph paper, pencils, erasers, dice, and the red Basic Dungeons and Dragons rulebook. Everything was simple — in retrospect you could refer to our gaming back then as low tech gaming.

I remember using clear plastic sheet protectors and a grease pencil to draw a multi layered dungeon; I would place one layer on top of the other to see where stairs would line up and secret passageways would link. Back then I seemed a genius; to look back now it seems almost laughable.

With the advent of massively multi-player online games, consoles like the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360, and real life commitments like a job, a mortgage, and other such buzz kills, the number of old fashioned pen and paper gamers has dwindled.

For those of us who continue to meet regularly and sling dice over a battle-mat covered table, though, there are nice tools available today to improve your game, simplify the almost overwhelming record-keeping tasks of the DM, and make that evening spent together one that will be talked about for years.

To that end, I present my list of suggestions of modern day tools for use in your old fashioned role-playing games. This particular set of tips is geared towards a Microsoft Windows environment, but I'm confident Linux and Mac users would have little or no problem finding the equivalent programs for their respective operating platform.

1. Create Wallpapers To Serve As DM Screens

This tip works best with the multiple monitor setup tip in this article and a display adapter that can accommodate different desktop wallpapers on your various displays.

Use GIMP or the Windows Paint application to create files that display commonly referenced tables, and then set them as your wallpaper.

Pressing the Windows Key +D automatically minimizes all your windows and displays your desktop, and pressing it again toggles the windows back to their former size, so it's a quick toggle to refer to these charts and tables and then toggle back to your open applications.

2. Use Sound Effects And Music To Accentuate Encounters

I like to keep a library on my hard drive of music soundtracks and sound effects. Animal growls make a nice attention getter when the party is crouched around the fireplace and they think they heard a twig snap. Creaking doors, the pfffft of an arrow whizzing by, and the sound of stone rumbling on stone nicely accentuate sessions.

There are quite a few movies that have great soundtracks to play softly underneath the game session. I like the original soundtracks to Conan the Barbarian, Lord of the Rings, The 13th Warrior, and Legend.

Hard drive space being as inexpensive as it is, you can keep many of these soundtracks on your laptop hard drive; add shortcuts to your desktop and you can quickly access them as needed.

3. Create 3-D Levels With Level Editors From Computer Games

OK, I'll admit I only use this for the grand finale of a campaign, or for times I find myself with an amazing amount of downtime. But, the results can be nothing short of spectacular.

A handful of computer games have level generators included with them, so you can create your own adventures for the game. Two that come to mind are the old PC DOS based game Witchaven and the more recent Neverwinter Nights. I believe Quake had a level generator plug-in, as did another game called Hexen, but you should verify that.

I've used Witchaven and Neverwinter with awesome results, but I have to admit the time commitment was pretty extensive, so, again, consider this option with the understanding that a major time commitment might be required.

[Comment from Johnn: you can find great Neverwinter Nights tutorials here. ]

Witchaven runs on DOS, so I keep an old Windows 98 laptop just to run it. Using the level generator that was included with it, I can create a 3D version of any dungeon, tomb, or castle ruins. I can add secret doors, traps, and other standard DM goodies. I fire this up and effectively walk the players through the dungeon. Whenever an encounter takes place we switch to either miniatures or GIMP to track the actual battle.

4. Use A Sound Recorder And Microphone For Note Keeping

I don't know about you, but my group of players always seems to choose the option I haven't prepared for. It's commonplace during sessions that something I don't have prepped for will pop up. Maybe the party wants to eavesdrop on a conversation between guards, or interact with a random encounter that I hadn't completely planned for.

In cases like this, clicking on a sound recorder to invisibly store the conversation, make notes, etc. is a real time saver (and I never like to clue players in that I'm ad libbing a particular part of the storyline.)

Audacity is a free download perfect for recording audio on the fly. It's a great tool when player characters ask, "What did that barkeep say about the brigands with the red sash?" You can quickly bring up the.wav file (after they make their memory checks, of course) and recount word for word the entire conversation.

5. Use A Computer Or Laptop

This seems so obvious, especially since most everyone uses e-mail and surfs the web daily, and if you're getting Johnn's role-playing e-mails then you're obviously using a computer already. But, every once in a while, I'll run into a fellow gamer who is surprised I use one or more laptops in my gaming sessions.

I don't think I would want to play without at least one of my trusty laptops in front of me. If you don't game with a computer, think about investing in a laptop, especially if you're the DM. Once you get everything in place, your laptop(s) will become an indispensable part of your game.

6. Track Characters And Record Keeping With A Spreadsheet

80% of what I know of Excel I learned creating character sheets. Not only does a good spreadsheet simplify the PC and NPC generation process, but a well constructed spreadsheet provides essential information at a glance, speeds up gameplay, and makes the gaming experience more enjoyable for all.

If you don't have a strong command of some spreadsheet program (Lotus, Excel, Open Office Calc, etc.) you might have a bit of a time investment ahead of you as you learn the software, but, in the long run, it is well worth your effort.

I currently have a spreadsheet set up as follows:

• Each character has one tab that is effectively a computerized character sheet.
• It auto-fills many items for me. For example, if I select Dwarf from the drop-down box in RACE it will auto-fill the adjustments to the stats, racial special abilities, etc.
• When I input PC experience point totals, the spreadsheet notifies me when a new level has been reached, indicating where adjustments to stats, combat stats, etc. are now available.
  
  [Comment from Johnn: For D&D gamers, past e-zine advertiser The Only Sheet is a great Excel tool.
  
  Also, search my site for Loz Newman, who has submitted several spreadsheet tips: http://www.roleplayingtips.com/search.php ]
• I also have tabs for consolidating certain aspects of all characters into one page. For example, I have one tab for skills. All skills are listed, and character names run along the top. Each character's score for each skill is automatically displayed and updated as the data is linked to each character's tab. Any skills that aren't taken by anyone are automatically greyed out for ease of identifying what skills are known. I can view all the stats of all the players on one tab.
• I have similar tabs for money, magic items, combat, hit points, etc.

The hardest part of this is keeping the spreadsheet current with whatever game system options your group decides to implement. This particular tip could result in some serious up front time investment on your part, but that's the joy of being the DM, right? Consider that your newfound knowledge of a spreadsheet application might increase your value to your employer, and suddenly a few hours creating lookup tables isn't that bad.

7. Use GIMP, MapTool, and TokenTool For Maps And Minis

• GIMP is graphic editing software you can download for free. It's not as robust as Adobe's Photoshop or Illustrator, but I find it perfect for creating maps and using it during gameplay.
  
  Our gameplay space is limited, so in lieu of miniatures covering the table, I use RP Tools' java based utility Map Tool to display the map. I draw in GIMP and zoom in for a tactical melee display as needed.
  
  
• MapTool allows you to 'host' your dungeon via the Internet (or your local LAN if you have lots of players who bring their own laptops) and while the DM has a sort of "God view" of the dungeon, the players can only see what the DM reveals (based on light sources or infravision or other senses.)
  
  You can accomplish the same thing using GIMP, and if feedback warrants, an additional article can be written describing exactly how to use GIMP for gameplay.
  
  A nice thing about Map Tool is it allows your players remote access over the Internet for groups who have players who can't be present. It even has a built-in chat utility.

• RP Tools also has a utility called Token Tool, which allows you to use any existing JPG or BMP file and convert it into a scaled token for use in MapTool. I've spent way too much time into the wee hours of the morning downloading various pictures and then converting them into tokens for my next game session. This is definitely one to look at.

8. Use Multiple Monitors

For those who can afford it, multiple monitors will make your laptop more useful. There is a little bit of a hardware investment required here, but it's well worth it.

When we play, I have my laptop and three other monitors hooked up to it. One monitor to the left, one to the right, and another facing the players (it displays the same information I see on the right side monitor to the players.) To accomplish this, you'll need three pieces of hardware to add to your laptop:

1. A video splitter box
2. A USB to VGA adapter
3. Some spare monitors

Most laptops these days have a video out port for an additional monitor. What I do is attach a video splitter box to that video out port, and hook two monitors up to that splitter box. Whatever I display on that monitor will be mirrored for the players to see, so during game play, the right monitor displays the dungeon and the characters via the GIMP interface.

The other piece of hardware you should consider investing in is a USB to VGA adapter. This effectively turns a USB port into a monitor port. It isn't a fast refresh, so you wouldn't want to play Quake or some other game on it, but for stationary data display (such as a dungeon key or game diary) it's perfect.

I like to have the dungeon key displayed on the left side monitor via this USB to VGA adapter, and my spreadsheet with all the characters and their stats in the central, primary laptop display, along with a DM's version of the map showing all the traps, encounters, etc. It sounds a bit overwhelming, but once you've tried it and become used to it, you'll be wondering how you ever got along without it.

9. Use Virtual Desktops

To add to the wonderfully nerdy setup described so far, you can download an application that provides you with virtual desktops that provide numerous additional desktops for you to use. Virtual desktops are just what the name implies Ð make-believe desktops running on your system.

I use one desktop as explained in the multiple monitors tip, then I have another virtual desktop just for displaying data and pictures of NPCs. I have another desktop for displaying pictures of creatures and locations, and yet another desktop for sound recording.

Pressing the Windows key +1 brings up the first virtual desktop, Windows key +2 the next, etc. It's like having 5 laptops in front of you. It takes a little getting used to, but now, I am so used to having five desktops and three monitors I can't imagine going back to a single display and a single desktop.

10. Use Instant Messaging For Private Conversations

This tip assumes you have players who have their own laptops, and a gaming environment with an Internet connection (wireless being ideal for obvious reasons). If you're lucky enough to have all this, instant messaging is a great alternative to, "Ok, everyone take 5 in the living room while I talk with Steve/Arnon here about what he sees as he scouts ahead."

Instant messenger is a great way for players to communicate to the DM without alerting the others (which may be a good or bad thing depending on your group). It's handy to have the party thief be able to IM me and say, "I'm picking Parvati's pockets as we make our way through the market place," without having to hand me a piece of paper and thus alert the others that something is going on.

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Well, that's probably enough to get the ball rolling. Hopefully you're already thinking about which of these tips would be useful to you. I would be interested to hear what other DMs and players do to utilize today's technology in their gaming sessions.

Now roll for surprise....