Pug’s Place

I really want to get back into Dungeons and Dragons. Additionally, I like playing with technology. I started looking at making a projection table for D&D games, a setup where the map is projected from a computer projector (often located above the table) rather than drawn on a battlemat. In order to do this, one needs good software capable of showing part of a map at a time to players (fog of war) while ’staying out of the way’ of the DM’s ability to tell the story. I’ve been looking for software like this for years now, and I have to say that I think I’ve finally found it: MapTool. It’s even Free Software!

A major advantage to switching to a projector-based setup is it lowers the bar to entry for remote players — everything’s already on the computer, then, so if you wanted to play from a remote location you could, while still keeping the local players in the middle of the action.

So I’m fantasizing about buying a projector to hang from the ceiling of my house (when I get one) from which I can project the D&D map onto the table. I’m thinking that the aesthetic impact could be lowered by putting a paper lantern around the projector (but with enough room for adequate cooling). The miniatures for the local players would still be on the table and moved by the players, while the remote players would simply move their tokens on the map. The DM would move the local players’ tokens to match their miniatures’ movements. This means that Carmen, Liz, Elf and Crunch could connect and watch via MapTool’s player interface, talk via voice conferencing and see the exact same board as those of us in town see. All without forcing the DM to pull double-duty drawing on a battlemat and updating a computer representation.

The screenshot above is from MapTool; the shaded portions are showing the “fog of war” — players (including what is shown on the projector) would just see blackness there. I made the tokens with the companion program, TokenTool. You can find both tools at RPTools.net.

So, D&D group, have any comments?