# laptop dm screen



## noretoc (Dec 31, 2003)

Hi all.  I have recently purchased a laptop.  One of the things that I am planning on is using it to run the game.  I have been looking a DM genie, which looks like a great program.  Anyone else have any suggestions on others to look at.  

Also, the reason for the post.  There is a great peice of software out there called DMscreen.  It is very simply done, but has a lot of charts and tables, all at the presss of buttons.  Unfortunatley it is 3.0 and I am at 3.5  I was looking into updating it but the owner will only give source code to owners of neobook plus.  Understandable, but after going to the website for neobook plus, I have seen it is a $200 program.  Beyond me just for this one app.  Does anyone know a program that can be used to make small window apps, etc.  I have some programming experience and friends who have much more.  The program dosent have to do anything fancy, just be able to display a few images, and run some simple calculations.  I was thinking of using access, but I want to be able to share it with everyone, and not limit it to just access users.  If anyone has any ideas, let me know.


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## Chris Tavares (Dec 31, 2003)

noretoc said:
			
		

> Hi all.  I have recently purchased a laptop.  One of the things that I am planning on is using it to run the game.  I have been looking a DM genie, which looks like a great program.  Anyone else have any suggestions on others to look at.




I currently use DM Familiar. It has an excellent combat board, and quick lookup of rules, spells, monsters, etc. One thing I really like about it is that it is specifically about helping to run a session, and it's optimized for that. That means no character creator, but great combat management.



			
				noretoc said:
			
		

> Also, the reason for the post.  There is a great peice of software out there called DMscreen.  It is very simply done, but has a lot of charts and tables, all at the presss of buttons.  Unfortunatley it is 3.0 and I am at 3.5  I was looking into updating it but the owner will only give source code to owners of neobook plus.  Understandable, but after going to the website for neobook plus, I have seen it is a $200 program.  Beyond me just for this one app.  Does anyone know a program that can be used to make small window apps, etc.  I have some programming experience and friends who have much more.  The program dosent have to do anything fancy, just be able to display a few images, and run some simple calculations.  I was thinking of using access, but I want to be able to share it with everyone, and not limit it to just access users.  If anyone has any ideas, let me know.




If you're willing to do some "real" programming, the best bet on Windows these days is the .NET framework. Your users will need to download the .NET runtime, but it's free and they'll only need to download it once and can use it again for all their .NET software.

There's two ways to get started with .NET programming:

1) Buy a copy of Visual Studio.NET. Cost: up to $2000 or so depending on version.

2) Download a copy of the .NET Software Development kit from this site at Microsoft. Cost is free, and includes command line compilers, all documentation and libraries, essentially everything you need to get coding.

If you want an IDE, you can get SharpDevelop here for free as well.

So, you can get started with .NET development absolutely free. As a professional developer, I like .NET a LOT because it lets me get stuff done in one or two lines of code that used to take literally pages of code in the bad old days of C++. And it's fairly easy to get started and do simple stuff.


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## MythosaAkira (Dec 31, 2003)

noretoc said:
			
		

> Does anyone know a program that can be used to make small window apps, etc.  I have some programming experience and friends who have much more.  The program dosent have to do anything fancy, just be able to display a few images, and run some simple calculations.  I was thinking of using access, but I want to be able to share it with everyone, and not limit it to just access users.  If anyone has any ideas, let me know.




If you're interested in a laptop "DM Screen", you could check out Campaign Sage, a freeware tool I created awhile back. I was actually inspired by the program you're talking about, as I found it useful but lacking for my purposes. Sage runs inside of IE and is entirely "open", since its all text files consisting of HTML, Javascript, XML, and XSL. Right now, it's 3.0 - I haven't had time to update it to 3.5. But, again, since it's all text files, anyone can update it...


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## DMFTodd (Jan 1, 2004)

I really like DM's Familiar, but I wrote it so I might be biased. 

If all you want is charts and tables, you might consider writing you own help file with the info. HelpScribble is a decent Help authoring tool. It's free to use.

If you're going to have a laptop at the gaming table though, just do charts is really under-utilizing what the laptop could do. Get yourself a good combat manager program and you'll run your game much faster, things will be much more exciting and you'll be better orgainzed.

DMF has a built-in "Rules" reference library where you can add any text to it that you like. It's also searchable. There's no need for another program to do that if you use DMF.


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## WingOver (Jan 2, 2004)

Chris Tavares said:
			
		

> 2) Download a copy of the .NET Software Development kit from this site at Microsoft. Cost is free, and includes command line compilers, all documentation and libraries, essentially everything you need to get coding.
> 
> If you want an IDE, you can get SharpDevelop here for free as well.
> 
> So, you can get started with .NET development absolutely free. As a professional developer, I like .NET a LOT because it lets me get stuff done in one or two lines of code that used to take literally pages of code in the bad old days of C++. And it's fairly easy to get started and do simple stuff.





Thanks Chris!  I didn't realize there was a free IDE out there.
Fortunately I have access to VS.NET from work but hopefully your tip will benefit others.


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## noretoc (Jan 2, 2004)

I took a look at DM Familiar and didn't like it much (Sorry Todd).  the text boxes were too clumsy for me.  (Not that I could do better mind you).  I am going with DM Genie I think.  There are so  many options, and it keeps track of so much, that I have always wanted to track, but never have the time during the game. 

I have been looking at the programs for the .net frmework.  They are just a bit over my head though.  Hopefully my friends will be able to help me out there.  Usually once I have a starting point, the rest comes second nature, but finding that point is difficult.  My best bet looks like the help file maker.  You can attach funtions to button without much trouble, so hopefully that will work.  If I get something that works and looks good.  I'll post it for anyone who want to use it.

If anyone want to see a good example of a nice refrence program, take a look at DMscreen.  IT is exactly like I want to do, but just not updated.


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## Cergorach (Jan 2, 2004)

why not try roleplayingmaster (RPM)?
http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/hosted/rpm/


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## Plane Sailing (Jan 3, 2004)

Having had a go with various utilities I have to say that I've found the absolute best tools for running D&D with my laptop are a spreadsheet and a wordprocessor.

I keep the SRD open and available in one window for quick searches of rules, I have another window with my adventure and creature stats etc, I use the spreadsheet for exp calculations, initiative order, keeping track of party wealth, calendars etc.

Cheers


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## gravyboat (Jan 3, 2004)

DMFTodd's post got me exploring HTML Help authoring tools.

I downloaded Microsofts free HTML Help Workshop
and I've got to say .CHM help files could make some useful searchable utilities for storing spells, monsters, rules, skills, feats, etc.  And you don't have to be much of a programmer either.  You just need to know how to create html pages.

Has anyone used this much for DnD?


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## Luke (Jan 4, 2004)

Cergorach said:
			
		

> why not try roleplayingmaster (RPM)?
> http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/hosted/rpm/




As the developer of RPM, I'd second Cergorach's suggestion 

A program like RolePlayingMaster can give you virtually everything at the table, from advanced capabilities in PC/NPC/creature generation (with intelligent choices for selection of equipment, feats, spells etc), through to adventure/mapping preparation, full in-game combat management, and campaign development.
At its most practical level around the gaming table, you'll probably find that the instant lookup capabilities for full descriptions on things such as skills, feats, races, spells and items a huge benefit.
It makes a lot of difference when you can get correct answers quickly without referring to books.

You might also want to check that the RPG utility you choose actually does understand what stacking rules are  . After all, calculating creature stats ( correctly ), is the biggest time saver that the computer gives you, and stacking rules is a big part of that.

Regards,


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