(OK...clumsy thread title.)

I'm hoping some of you may have some recommendations for me. Here's my situation and what I'm looking for.

In a few weeks, I'm starting a new campaign. Having been a while since I've GM'ed, I'm looking to manage the "business" end of the GM process efficiently, inexpensively, and taking advantage of technology that just wasn't a possibility even 5-10 years ago.

I'm one of those who isn't a slave to maps, but does find them useful in giving my players the lay of the land when they need it, and also giving them an idea of where they and their opponents are in relation to one another. One option that seems like a perfect one would be to use my TV as a second screen for my laptop, and display any maps on the TV. It allows for expanding any session to a new location on the fly, and cuts printing costs. Here's where my hurdle comes in, though: how to place and move virtual "tokens" on the displayed image.

I took a quick look at roll20, but it looks like optimizing that functionality would require my players to also be logged in to manipulate their "tokens."

The other, lower-tech alternative I've looked at is using a simple papercrafting die and posterboard to make tokens similar to those in the Beginner Games, and just print out relevant maps. This would seem to make it easier for the players to adjust their locations, but, naturally, has material and ink/toner/printing costs associated.

Any thoughts, ideas, or suggestions along any of those lines?

Thanks!

If you have access to 2 or 3 devices, you can run Roll20. You'd control the GM side of things on one device, and you players can use the laptop hooked up to the display and/or their devices. Just grant token control to the computer/devices the players control.

You'll need to pay if you want those other devices to be tablets and phones instead of other laptops but the ability to roll dice in system and use the special effects and such will probably be worth it.

Do you have an Ipad? I use 3D Virtual Tabletop to do this. The app is free but I had to buy a cheap cord online to attach my Ipad to a television. It allows you to easily import any image as a map and to quickly create icons from images. Then, you can drag around the tokens on your Ipad screen while it is also displayed on the larger TV screen everyone can see.

3D display:

2D display:

I don't have examples, but you can do such things as display an asteroid or space field as your background, then place starship icons for battles Or, perhaps a subsector map can be displayed and you can move the PCs ship around on it. Or the same thing with a large surface map of Tatooine to show where the PCs are when traveling cross-country.

If you have access to 2 or 3 devices, you can run Roll20. You'd control the GM side of things on one device, and you players can use the laptop hooked up to the display and/or their devices. Just grant token control to the computer/devices the players control.

You'll need to pay if you want those other devices to be tablets and phones instead of other laptops but the ability to roll dice in system and use the special effects and such will probably be worth it.

I do have multiple devices, so I might look into that. Don't need the dice rolling capability, though. I'll play around before game day. Thanks.

Do you have an Ipad? I use 3D Virtual Tabletop to do this. The app is free but I had to buy a cheap cord online to attach my Ipad to a television. It allows you to easily import any image as a map and to quickly create icons from images. Then, you can drag around the tokens on your Ipad screen while it is also displayed on the larger TV screen everyone can see.

3D display:

2D display:

I don't have examples, but you can do such things as display an asteroid or space field as your background, then place starship icons for battles Or, perhaps a subsector map can be displayed and you can move the PCs ship around on it. Or the same thing with a large surface map of Tatooine to show where the PCs are when traveling cross-country.

I do have an iPad, but plan on using my (Windows) laptop as my primary device (Oggy's Character Generator is on it, and isn't iPad compatible, plus access to my network drive, etc). I'd prefer not to switch back and forth, but I'll look into it...it could be strong enough to change my mind on that point. Thanks!

I do have an iPad, but plan on using my (Windows) laptop as my primary device (Oggy's Character Generator is on it, and isn't iPad compatible, plus access to my network drive, etc). I'd prefer not to switch back and forth, but I'll look into it...it could be strong enough to change my mind on that point. Thanks!

If I were using a laptop as my primary device, I might prefer having my Ipad next to it dedicated just to displaying the maps and playing ambiance through the connected television.

Both the iPad and the laptop could be connected to a large display device (like a television) using any of multiple different wireless technologies — AppleTV, ChromeCast, etc….

And if you’re using multiple devices, they could also all be logged into Roll20 — one of them might be the GM device (maybe the laptop), while the other is a player device.

But there are many different ways to solve this problem.

I'm hoping to keep device switching to a minimum (preferably no switching). With the suggestions here, I'm finding that the "big" options do appear a little friendlier to being used just as a GM tool than they initially appeared. Right now, I'm testing out Roll20 and MapTool to see which might suit the setup best. Thanks for the info, everyone! And if anyone else has any suggestions, feedback, it's still welcome.

Would highly recommend roll20. It is easy to use and has a ton of capabilities that you can explore in later sessions, such as Fog of War, Dynamic Lighting, special effects, and range rings for tokens, plus a bunch of other neat API's and awesome character sheets.

You can log into the game as the GM side with your laptop to control the maps/NPC/special effects. Then you can log in as a player with your iPad, hook it up to your tv, and just leave it next to your tv. No need to touch it during the session.

Then if your players have smart phones, they can log in with the mobile version of roll20 and control their character tokens with their phone, which is also very easy.

Normally I wouldn't recommend having the players use their phones, because you can't use the dice roller API and apps while on a phone, plus it is hard to see big maps, but you'll have the map up on a tv. And since you're going to be all in the same room and using real dice, it doesn't matter that they can't use the dice apps.

Would highly recommend roll20. It is easy to use and has a ton of capabilities that you can explore in later sessions, such as Fog of War, Dynamic Lighting, special effects, and range rings for tokens, plus a bunch of other neat API's and awesome character sheets.

You can log into the game as the GM side with your laptop to control the maps/NPC/special effects. Then you can log in as a player with your iPad, hook it up to your tv, and just leave it next to your tv. No need to touch it during the session.

Then if your players have smart phones, they can log in with the mobile version of roll20 and control their character tokens with their phone, which is also very easy.

Normally I wouldn't recommend having the players use their phones, because you can't use the dice roller API and apps while on a phone, plus it is hard to see big maps, but you'll have the map up on a tv. And since you're going to be all in the same room and using real dice, it doesn't matter that they can't use the dice apps.

I'm not terribly concerned with most of the subscription-based bells and whistles (although they could be nice down the line). As you say...the plan is for us to all be in the same room, so we don't need virtual dice. (And if we used virtual dice, I'd probably get The Look from my wife for buying sets when I see them in-store. )

I've poked around with Fog of War a bit, but unless I'm overlooking it...does it "lift" as the players move, or will I need to reveal what I want them to see, myself?

Thanks for the suggestions, all. I hope I don't sound like I'm dismissing elements out of hand...I'm just thinking "out loud," and also trying to take into account that at least half of my group will be RPG first-timers or novices (with only 2-3 games ever under their belts), so I'm trying to keep potential expenses to a minimum. Everything so far has been tremendously helpful!

I use Roll20 and just click the players to where they wish to move too and have had zero issue with it. Also put it on my TV behind us. If you wish to get tiles to custom build a map you can, or sometimes pull one off the internet and just upload it for them on there. Either way, it works perfectly for us with no complaints.

I use Roll20 and just click the players to where they wish to move too and have had zero issue with it. Also put it on my TV behind us. If you wish to get tiles to custom build a map you can, or sometimes pull one off the internet and just upload it for them on there. Either way, it works perfectly for us with no complaints.

Do you just remain logged in as the GM, or switch to the player interface (in the same or different browser)?

@Nytwyng - I agree the dual-display is a better option than device-swapping with the iPad, it's good your comfortable with an option like that.

With the Fog of War, you have to select the area that you want to reveal to the players. Until you do, that area of the map looks black to them. It's the easy way of hiding and then revealing parts of the map/image you want to display.

Dynamic Lighting does what you are asking about where the "light" moves where the players move. I love using Dynamic Lighting in my games and some of the players on this board know I'm notorious for using it. You can draw lines where walls are supposed to be so that light doesn't go through them, have some rooms or areas with natural light and some that are dark. You can define how far the player's tokens can see by themselves, and you can define if other players can see what the others see or not. Usually, if I have a map that is like a maze, I will make it so that players can only see where their characters token is. That way they have to communicate with each other to navigate the map and tell each other what's going on.

"Holy crud, I found the operations center and it is full of stormtroopers!"

"What? How many? I'm still in the docking bay and the YT-1300 freighter just took off!"

Being able to do that kind of thing makes the game that much better

Whereas I’m not such a fan of dynamic lighting. At least, not in some cases.

When I’m in one ship doing whatever I’m doing, but the GM is talking to the other guys in another ship about what they’re doing, I can hear them but that’s it. They can say “X is over here” and then click on the map, and I’ll see the colored rings pop up wherever they clicked, but I can’t see anything else.

I know that the way things are supposed to be, I’m in my area and they’re in theirs, and while I’m doing my stuff in my area is the same time at which they are doing their stuff in their area. So, unless we are actively talking a lot over the comlinks, there’s no reason for me to have any knowledge of what they’re doing, and there’s no reason for them to have any knowledge of what I’m doing. And certainly I have no reason to know anything about what the map looks like in their area and they have no reason to know what the map looks like in my area.

That all fits with the concept of operations of the tool.

But I get a little frustrated sometimes when my hands are tied and blinkers are glued to my face, so that I can’t do anything right now and I can’t see anything outside of my little area.

[EDIT: At that point, I might as well get up and go to the bathroom, or go get a drink or food, or something, but then I’m disconnecting from the group and that might have its own negative impact. /EDIT]

Dynamic lighting also has the problem that when a door is open from one area to the next, then that doorway can be highly visible in a manner that otherwise doesn’t really make any sense at all. When this happens, it gives away potentially critical information that should not have been revealed — at least, not yet.

I didn’t have these problem in the most recent game where dynamic lighting was used, but I have had it in previous games.

If Dynamic lighting is used properly, I think it can be a very effective tool. But you have to understand the inherent limitations of the tool and what it can do well/easily and what it can’t, because otherwise I think it can be more of a distraction and a hindrance.

@Brad - Totally understand where you're coming from. As far as that last session in the pirate base, I realized afterwards that I should have had the cockpit of that Citadel Light Freighter open up so you could actually SEE out of the cockpit into the rest of the hanger once your group got into the pilot's seats. Been using DL for months now and still haven't mastered it yet, but I'll keep working on my technique. Definitely not something to use every session, it has it's time and place. It didn't make sense to use in that last session at all, which is why I stuck with Fog of War.

My recommendation as far as all the special features, get familiar with them between sessions and only try to implement 1 or 2 new features each session. That will reduce the number of things that might not work just right. Couple of months ago I tried using too many new 'GM Toys' in one of my roll20 sessions and it did not turn out too well. Lesson learned, better GMing for the next time around.

@Brad - Totally understand where you're coming from. As far as that last session in the pirate base, I realized afterwards that I should have had the cockpit of that Citadel Light Freighter open up so you could actually SEE out of the cockpit into the rest of the hanger once your group got into the pilot's seats. Been using DL for months now and still haven't mastered it yet, but I'll keep working on my technique. Definitely not something to use every session, it has it's time and place. It didn't make sense to use in that last session at all, which is why I stuck with Fog of War.

Yeah, I think it worked very well in this most recent game that we played. I was on one ship, and there’s nothing I could do to effect what was going on with the characters on the other ship. But, I could see their progress, and so that helped keep my interest in the game higher than it already was. And it made perfect sense to keep that whole map blacked out until such time as we had people on that ship.

My recommendation as far as all the special features, get familiar with them between sessions and only try to implement 1 or 2 new features each session. That will reduce the number of things that might not work just right. Couple of months ago I tried using too many new 'GM Toys' in one of my roll20 sessions and it did not turn out too well. Lesson learned, better GMing for the next time around.

Since I’m just a player in that game, I can’t comment on the preparation required from your side, but I definitely think that our group is getting better with the tools, and I think that will help everyone in the group as we continue to progress.

I do wish we didn’t have the Roll20 glitches to deal with, but I don’t know how we solve that problem.