Confessions of a Game-Mistress

I know, I’m a GM, not a hotelier, but I know what I like.

And I like Drury Inn.

I’m on the road this week to Dragon*Con. We just hit Atlanta, and though we have a con rate downtown for the show itself, Thursday night put us in one of my favorite hotel chains, the Drury. I’ve stayed in a lot of hotels, both professionally and as a GM/congoer. I will ALWAYS choose a Drury in preference to nearly any other hotel chain. And here’s why:

1) Free a) internet, b) HOT breakfast every morning, c) happy hour and drinks every evening, d) business center, e) long distance calling. Can you beat that?

2) ALWAYS clean, neat, and secure.

3) Invariably polite and friendly staff, even at the ungodly 3 AM we rolled in at tonight.

I’m posting this on my free wireless internet connection from the Drury, as I try to wind down from the car ride. I’ll try not to miss a post this weekend despite the con.

Obsessions do occasionally lead to success.

I spent a disturbing amount of time prowling the web in search of possible stand-alone USB capable dice programs, and found a few. I’ll be testing them out to be certain that they’re really stand alones, and to provide reviews. Here’s the ones I’ve found so far, and my quick impressions.

1) Dice-Roller - (aka Pixelweaver dice roller) I found a number of dead links to this little applet, which seems to be no longer supported on its home site. The only one that worked was the pcmag site. It’s as simple as it can get, and seems to be functional as a stand alone.

2) RDR3 - This one is also pretty simple, but required an installation. I pulled the exe out and it seems to be functioning separately, but I may have to pull this one.

3) Craig’s Die Roller - This one is also a simple point and click. I was amused by the license. Mast things are ‘creative commons’ or ‘rights reserved’. This is released under the DO WHAT THE F*** YOU WANT TO PUBLIC LICENSE. No, I’m not kidding.

4) TiraDadi - This simple roller also supports expressions, and it’s my favorite so far. Not the most complex, but it still has a small footprint, unlike our last contestant…

5) RPG Dice Roller - Created as a compiled runtime Filemaker Pro application, this is easily the most complicated thing I’ve seen that might work as a standalone. It’s HUGE (25 M for a dice program), but it offers preconfigured pages for several RPG systems including d20 and Fudge.

Near-misses - I saw a number of great programs out there that I’ll be saving for a laptop-based version of this article. It’s possible some might work as standalones, but for the purposes of USB implementation I had to require that the programs rely on no runtimes based in the system.

To build a good portable gaming USB drive, you first have to decide what you want it to be able to do. With that in mind, let me give you what I consider the first of the ‘core’ applications for the most common gamer tasks.

The Dice Roller - Choices here are fewer than I’d expect. I would’ve thought more stand alone dice rollers would exist.

The easiest - Dungeons & Dragons Dice Roller - straight from WotC, this offline HTML based dice roller will work anywhere html will, making it compatible with just about anything. I used it on my Jornada handheld, and it works here just fine as well. Benefits - simple, always works no matter the environment. Drawbacks - no storage of dice roll configurations.

An Alternative - http://www.path-o-logic.com/misc/random_dice.html - This is an HTML generator still under development, but it shows much promise. You can set result options and save them. It also works from the page, so it can also be saved to your USB drive and run. Benefits - simple, always works no matter the environment. Drawbacks - requires forethought to program, user interface much lacking.

I’m sure there has to be something better out there, but I haven’t found a good stand alone app. Can anyone point me at a better alternative?

Easy reference for a gamemaster is key. You just can’t remember every detail of the rules and try to keep the plots and the NPCs straight - unless you’re a GM god, in which case you should be contributing tips here instead of just reading them!

I find using a laptop at the table greatly helps me in having things near at hand, and one of my most frequently used tools is d20srd.org . It’s the complete SRD, but better organized and easy to use.

If you like having your tools offline, registration for the site is cheap and gives you access to the downloadable version and other niceties.

I’m putting together a listing of portable applications and such for the mobile gamer. I use a USB drive for everything nowadays, and it’s amazing what can be run from it. I have everything from plotline tracking to random generators.

I’m going to post a list of my portable apps, and the html pages I’ve saved from around the web that are easily saveable and usable from USB. That should be up in a few days.

I adore tools that I don’t have to worry about lugging around. I’m an inherently lazy beast. I suppose I was doomed the minute I decided that Mycroft Holmes was a far more interesting character, eh?

That being said, I love online tools. The more I use them, the more I adore them. So when Google gave me the chance to beta test Google Spreadsheets, I gleefully said yes. I was already a beta tester for Writely when Google bought them.

The combined package, now known as Google Docs and Spreadsheets, is now out. It has its advantages, and I use it constantly.

You can either create new docs onsite or upload them from pre-existing docs. When you’re done, you can print them, save them to Google for safekeeping, or export them to your system in a variety of formats. 

If you used Writely, there are a few quirks of Docs and Spreadsheets that you should know. If you’re used to choosing all of your docs and archiving them on your system as a zip, that still works, but only if you’ve not selected any of the spreadsheets. Apparently the system doesn’t know what to do with them and the docs at the same time. If you’re in a spreadsheet you can save it to a number of formats, but it’s nice to save as a chunk.

In general, if you can use Word and Excel, you can use Docs and Spreadsheets. The menus will look familiar to you.

The basic functions of Word and Excel are supported, and supported well. I’ve been using it to write both game plots and the oft-neglected novel. In Excel, I’m using it for some basic sales tracking, and I’ve found that most Excel spreadsheets work just fine uploaded there.

In general, if you need access to documents and spreadsheet info from a variety of places, Google Docs and Spreadsheets is definitely worth looking into.

One nice last-minute bit - Google has been incorporating the tech of Docs and Spreadsheets into their GMail. So now you have the choice if your attachment is a spreadsheet to open it with Docs and Spreadsheets instead of downloading it. Nice touch, Google!

I use my old style HP 720 handheld PC as a tool for gaming and GMing. I find it less obstructionary than an laptop, and far easier to carry and maintain. Most of the new gaming apps that have been created are browser-based, so I have a full suite of things to use. I keep my story notes, and roll dice. I even use it for development. Here’s my list of apps. There are several specialized for use on a browser that work flawlessly on a 720. Best tool I ever bought for gaming!

Okay, here’s the basics.
First, you gotta have dice.
I haven’t found a good created dice-roller for the HPC2000 (nothing to replace the lovely one from my 620 *snif*) so I downloaded the HTML-based dice roller from Wizards of the Coast.
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/dnd/20040517a
(choose the download offline link)

Second, you need the rulebooks.
This varies wildly by your game system, but I’m gonna stick to D&D for simplicity’s sake.
If you wanna go for free, just pull down the SRD (System Reference Document). See, somebody at WotC twigged to the Open Source thing as a great way to spread the D&D Virus, and they made the basic rule structure essentially open-source. Which means you can download the core information of D&D in a number of formats, depending on where you look.
http://www.wizards.com/D20/article.asp?x=srd35 — the original, in rtf format
However, I strongly recommend the Hyperlink d20SRD
http://www.d20srd.org
In order to get the downloadable version, you have to register for a subscription to the site, but it works great. The Encounter Calculator worked fine too, but the dicebag wasn’t responding right for me. YMMV.
For other options, you can purchase PDF versions of the books, and read them in a PDF viewer.

Third, you need a way to track your character.
I usually just use Word or Excel for this.
If I’m generating a character on my desktop using eTools or another generator program, I just export to HTML format instead, and I’m good to go.

Four, I just use Word to take game notes.

Five, I use chat programs for online gaming, most of which already save default to HTML.

For development, there are a host of tools.
I use a tarot card system to inspire plotlines, so I use this free tarot program:
http://www.seanet.com/~fulcanelli/arm/tarot.exe

The HTML-based generators on MW Tools’ site are free, and if they don’t have an offline link, just save the full page on your desktop, and they work just fine offline.
http://mwtools.thyle.net/
Dragon Generator
Weapon Generator

I make heavy use of a number of tools purchased from Dimensions Game Software:
http://dimensionsgamesoftware.com/
iSRD 1,2,3
Map Pack RPG Toolbox v1
Medieval Society Generators
Online Favorites RPG Toolbox Vol 4
PlanetBuilder
Starting Points Bundle

And from Creative Mountain Games:
http://www.creativemountaingames.com/
Lexus - Unlimited Titles Version IV (five’s out now)
Lexus - Dwellings Ver I

Other Useful stuff free from Wizards of the Coast:
Olidammera’s Dice generator http://www.wizards.com/dnd/article.asp?x=dnd/dx20020801x
Virtual Fist of Emirikol http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/iw/20030713b
Diablo II-Style Item Generator
Rod of Wonder Generator (includes quickie dice app too)
Virtual Deck of Many Things
Eberron Calendar Tool
Forgotten Realms Calendar Tool
Dungeon Room Description Generator
The last six are available off the the ‘Tools’ link in the left hand menu.

Also, most Excel-based generators work just fine in the Pocket Excel, which will give you lots of options from the various D&D download sites.

Let me know if there are any more of us out there, and if you’ve found other apps I can use. I’ll dig into my stash of promo D&D minis to reward new options!

(Many of these will also work from a USB Flash drive, but that post is coming soon!)