What software do you use for D&D, and why?

[Veander]

I'm one of those DMs that need a peice of software where I can add nearly anything to a piece of DnD software. If I find a Prestige Class in some obscure Dragon or d20 product, I want to add the thing to the software and have it work properly as far as the printout with the character generator. I have not found anything other than Campaign Suite to be aimed at this properly. Keep in mind there are some Prestige Classes, feats, and such with abilities and affects that no DM's utility can facilitate.

I added the Corpulent Prestige Class (from Librum Equitis volume 1) to my installation of Campaign Suite and it works perfectly in the printout. When I go up a level on two different occassions with that PrC, the character gains a size category and CS completely facilitates this (among others). Campaign Suite actually gives you the ability to set the affects for each and every level feature ability. If I need an ingame combat program I just quickly add information to DM's Familiar from Campaign Suite and I am set though if Campaign Suite could get around d20 license rules and add an ingame legally I would just use that probably.

Veander

 

[Dimwhit]

I've been using a portable computer as a player for months now. I don't think it slows down the game at all, though it does use a decent chunk of the table. I built my own character sheet in excel. It calculates everything for me very quickly, so I don't have to mess with all the math that can sometimes be necessary. I also have the spells, classes, etc. in html format for quick reference. I've seen several excel sheets floating around, but most of them just have too much information. But I've found that excel can be a valuable resource while playing. Simple and effective.

 

[DMFTodd]

I use DM's Familiar, but, like the other posters, my opinion may be biased since I wrote it.

DMF will greatly speed up the pace you can run a game at. The quick feature overview:

Combat Board: Greatly speeds combat, rolls initiative, makes attack/damage rolls for you, tracks durations, tracks prepared spells, makes secret search/spot/listen checks, and other stuff.

Reference Library: Full reference library to put all of the rules right at your fingertips. Includes monsters, spells, skills, feats, rules. All of the information can be changed, added to, or deleted.

Codex Tree: Outline/Word processing tool for all of your game notes, campaign journals, adventure writing or any other notes.

We're in booth 1141 at GenCon for 6 more hours!

As for using a laptop at the gaming table: Yes! Good software will greatly speed up combat keeping things exciting for the players, will keep the rules handy so the DM can keep the game running smoothly, adn will store all your notes to keep you organized. You have to be careful not to fixate on the laptop, but if your software is good, the laptop will definitely make you a better DM.

 

[Sam]

I use DM's Familiar, but, like the other posters, my opinion may be biased since I wrote it.

I tried to download DM's Familiar, but kept getting an internal server error after I put in my email address.

 

[Sam]

RolePlayingMaster (RPM) has a BattleMap that'll do this for you.

I've downloaded the new version and update of RPM and have been testing it for the last few hours. Much better than the last time I checked it out (before the beginning of the year). The tutorial and Hitchhiker's Guide are great additions!

I've been messing with the BattleMap functionality. Nifty tool, but I'm skeptical as to the in-game usage during combat. We generally use a wet-erase battlemap, and my players are very savvy tactical combatants. Not sure how effective of a tool the RPM Battlemap would be for me. How have you seen it used or used it?

 

[Hatchling Dragon]

Ahh... Just the thread I was looking for! While I'm a 'gizmo geek' I can see where some of the (great) features for the various products mentioned here, the problem would be one already mentioned here, how to use it in-game. Battle Map feature, great to have unless you have a group like mine where it's a wet-erase mat and minatures for combat. Software that'll do all the rolling, including keeping track of all pertinant modifiers, again great unless the group's supersticious and/or just likes to rely on thier own luck for any rolls they need to make.

I guess my question would be, do you have to use all features of these programs? Can you just enter the player's roll and let the computer deal with all the modifiers 'n such? Could you use the Battle Map routine to 'save' a battle that you had to interupt due to time limits? If either of these is true I may just have to give these programs a try. Lord knows I'm the DM type that needs any/all help he can get keeping track of all the minutae. And if it had a spell-checker...

Hatchling Dragon

 

[Cergorach]

I'm one of those DMs that uses miniatures as well to keep track of where everyone is and i used to use gridmaps as well. But gridmaps aren't very nice (gridless scenery is far nicer) and players start to get more in a heroquest mood by moving squares, both things i dislike. I started using the Battlemap to keep track of a major fight between an airborne dragon and the party (Party=pcs), there just isn't enough room on the table to use gridmaps when the dragon can move at 300'+ per round. Players tend to also get more mobile at higher levels than at lower levels due to haste, fly, dimension door and teleport. The Battlemap helped a lot during that fight and i started using it for other encounters to, it really is fun when the bezerk Half-Orc Barbarian charges the main villain and notices (too late) that his charge just fell short by five feet (even the players enjoyed that one). These days (when i dm) i use miniatures to approximate the location of both the monsters and the pcs and use the Battlemap to do the exact work. It's excellent for keeping track of non-visible opponents too...

Btw, you can enter the players roll without a problem (even the dm's roll if you like), can even add modifiers on the fly. The game just isn't any fun when the players can't roll their precious dice...

 

[Luke]

It's all about options

I guess my question would be, do you have to use all features of these programs? Can you just enter the player's roll and let the computer deal with all the modifiers 'n such? Could you use the Battle Map routine to 'save' a battle that you had to interupt due to time limits?

Hatchling Dragon

The central design for RPM is to offer you maximum calculation for time-saving, but always offer you options, and never force anything on you. Examples are:

- Dice rolls are made automatically, but you can override any dice roll at any time, with a manual roll (or at least press a button to redo the roll, so you feel like you did *something* to make it happen before your eyes).

- *Everything* is saved to the database, so you pick up exactly where you left off, at a later time.

- Use of the BattleMap itself is optional. You can play quite easily without it if you want to use a physical mat (you simply select your target(s) from the available list).

- If you do use the BattleMap, you can see how far you move the players/creatures, and RPM will record and show you whether you've moved or stepped etc. You can, however, ignore all these things, and do whatever you want.

- When RPM calculates an "action" for you (attack, skill, AC, save), it will show all the modifiers. You can check/uncheck any defaults, and there's always a "DM's Adjustment" option, where you can apply any modifier you like.

In a nutshell, the ultimate aim is to provide for the following:
- Ultra quick generation of fully calculated encounters, as needed on the fly. For finesse work, use the integrated Jamis NPC
generator.

- Optional use of a BattleMap to play out the action (blank background, or imported map, or the very quick built in TileMapper).

- Full calculation of all stats, starting with initiative, and incorporating modifiers of any abilities, feats, equipped items, racial traits, and current conditions (flatfooted, entangled, stunned etc), and even temporary spell effects.

- Provide for quick and easy selection of actions (attacks, spells, etc) and prcess results (such as damage, sneaks, criticals).
- Do all this with a minimum of keystrokes or mouse clicks, but allow override.

- Allow for full flexibility at any stage. This is how AOO are done. It's an "out of sequence" attack by somebody, and you can verify their melee readiness in complex combats with a very quick lookup.

All this must take less effort and time using a computer at the gaming table, than it would trying to do the calculations or paperwork scratching in your head. There's probably a trade-off in the time taken to do mouse-clicks vs calculation time. Certainly the computer can help make you far more accurate, which is of particular benefit when you have a largish encounter, and/or a high-level one.

Remember that a statblock is a static picture of what a creature looks like at a point in time, with specific options chosen, and under specfic conditions.
If the options and conditions change (dex/str damage from things such as poisons, spell effects such as doom/bless/bull's str, flatfootedness, stunned, entangled etc etc), or even changing equipped items, your statblock can very quickly go out the window. Multiply this several times for a DM managing an NPC group, and it's a nightmare - if you want to play accurately, as per the books.
Stop and think on this for a secoond. If you play NeverWinterNights, you get to see an often large set of personal conditions listed across the top of the screen, and this could be happening to everyone in the encounter. NWN automatically processes all this in realtime, accurately (given NWN rules variations), giving you an enjoyable realtime encounter, that could easily take an entire gaming session to resolve manually.

I get reports to say that people are finding combats go much quicker and smoother. I hear the same thing from Todd with DMF users, and that doesn't even do any game mechanics calculation for you, so presumably having the game mechanics worked out for you makes it even quicker and easier...
The bottom line seems to be that if you try out your computer at the gaming table with some decent software, you should get a plesing result...

 

[Lily Inverse]

I feel a need to clarify what I meant. When I said it was inevitable that the use of a new program would slow things down, I really meant it. What I didn't explain was that it will likely slow things down until you get used to working with it, in and out of combat. This is a common effect, so much so that businesses factor it into the cost of software when they decide whether to make an upgrade or not. Once you get used to the difference, then a good program will speed things up dramatically, a mediocre one might be somewhat useful, and a bad one will never help. Not that any of the programs mentioned above is bad.

 

[smetzger]

Monster w/ RPM database - generate statblocks of creatures.

FasterTools - randomly generate feats, skills, and domains for a given race and ability score. Works better for module conversions than Jamis' Generator because I can input the ability scores and it will generate appropriate feats.

NPCEQ - randomly generate NPC equipment.

Jamis Buck Treasure Generator - Use the scroll generation part to randomly pick a spellcaster's spells.

RogueGenerator - Random race, ability score, and skill generation, I am working on putting random feat generation in.

Asmor's Monster Advancer - Does alot of the monster advancement work for you. http://asmor.homeip.net/scripts/dnd/monstertools/advancer/index.html