Who uses PS/GIMP/etc at the gaming table

[Torq]

I use a VTT with a projector. One of my players uses a laptop at the table and one other uses a palmtop. I think game flow is now quicker than it used to be when we did everything by hand. To deal with Ravs' concerns, we do get the occassional "I move one sqaure diagonally to the left, next to the small brown smudge on the map" rather then "I grip the pommel of my norched broadsword tighter and move towards the corner of the from from which we heard the noise, my stance is low, strung and cautious". I also try to make habit of describing any new encounter area before flashing the map up on the screen.

Torq

[rlucci]

I have a projector and use photoshop for running our combats at the table. On one layer I have the map and then overlay that with multiple layers blocking out the view of each room and then on top of that, I have a light source layer which is essentially a black square with a blurred "hole".

I'm prepping for tonight's session so fired up the projector, layed out some minis, and snapped off a couple pics for you guys to see my setup. Note the guy on the right (with the yellow ring under him) has the light source...

[RPMiller]

Very slick! You should definitely check out the VTTs that are out there. It sounds like they would make your life a bit easier with all the layers and such you are using. You could even still use your miniatures.

[GlennZilla]

Wow, my table is very low tech by comparison. We use a whiteboard with a few combats stats and imitative tracking. We are switching to a magnetic board so we can use tokens and possibly preprinted battle maps.

But since I don't get much time to prep, I suspect that I'll stick to hastily scribbling out a map on the whiteboard and just stick the tokens on for placement.

[ravells]

I'm going to rlucci's house!

[torstan]

I use maptool because I'm based in a different country from my old gaming groups. However, much of the gaming is done on maps other than battlemaps. An example is the recent adventuyre played in Melvaunt from WotCs Mysteries of the Moonsea. Most of the adventure there was played over a city map. we have a 'party' token that shows where they are and as they explored the city they made notes of what the different regions where using the text tool on the map. We only switched to a tactical scale when a fight, or careful break-in adventure occured.

For face-to-face games I still bring a laptop because the online searchable SRD is a lifesaver for D&D. I also use maptool, but only on my ow laptop, so that I can use quick preset dice-rolls and precisely calculate distance. My players get line drawings on scrap-paper and their imagination. They do just fine.

[SpamValiant]

Hehe - I guess we must be oldschool players. We just a use a chequered tablecloth, with minis for the combatants, maybe a few pencils or dice to mark any important walls, and in our last fight a pint glass to indicate a shortlived magical rift! The same tablecloth has done service as an underground lair, a crater in the desert, and everything in between. Even a stretch of the Woolly Bay for a massive naval encounter. Tablecloths, minis, and imagination is where it's at.

As a side note, I'm intrigued by those who say they can find things in a pdf file quicker than in an actual real-world honest-to-goodness book. Whilst I think computers are miraculous devices with many good points, I've never found them significantly quicker than a book for flicking to info I might need. Maybe I'm doing it wrong...