Back to the main page

Mailing List Logs for ShadowRN

Message no. 1
From: Rand Ratinac docwagon101@*****.com
Subject: GM Aids (was Re: Decentralization and Trade)
Date: Mon, 8 May 2000 19:50:28 -0700 (PDT)
> > I've got a palmtop computer which I put behind the
GM screen and do stuff with from time to time --
mainly making notes of what's happened so far, or look
up some names for near-future use. The players,
though, won't know if I'm looking up some stuff that
has to do with the adventure, or am playing Reversi
:)
>
> Ahhhhhhhhh!
> One guy who GMs sometimes uses a Laptop (or his palm
pilot) to GM with (he has dice rollers I think on
both) will sometimes sit there behind the GM screen
looking intently at the laptop or palm and just by his
face I can tell what he's doing... Especially when he
starts missing things, like the troll decides he wants
to crash through the window of the shop we're trying
to break through and he just keeps playing...It
usually ends up with me or one of the other guys
threatening him with bodily harm. It's a bad idea.
> ~Raveness

Not necessarily.

I'd have to be one of the laziest GMs in existence (I
HATE taking notes - currently, I'm running 4 PBeMs
with pretty much just what's in my head - I've got
probably half a page of notes for one, but that's
all). That means I often have to look up previous
messages, or ask the players stuff. In a face to face
game, it'd be worse, because I can't go back to look
up previous messages. :) Plus, I WOULDN'T take notes
because I'd just lose them (unless I kept a book,
which I wouldn't). Don't wanna. :)

On the other hand, a palm pilot would be GREAT for me
in face to face games, because a) I'd be a HELL of a
lot more interested in the game than anything on the
palm pilot and b) I'd actually take notes.

I think it all depends on the GM.

====Doc'
(aka Mr. Freaky Big, Super-Dynamic Troll of Tomorrow, aka Doc'booner, aka Doc' Vader)

S.S. f. P.S.C. & D.J.

.sig Sauer

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Send instant messages & get email alerts with Yahoo! Messenger.
http://im.yahoo.com/
Message no. 2
From: inode inode@*****.com
Subject: GM Aids (was Re: Decentralization and Trade)
Date: Mon, 8 May 2000 21:12:40 -0700 (PDT)
> On the other hand, a palm pilot would be GREAT for me
> in face to face games, because a) I'd be a HELL of a
> lot more interested in the game than anything on the
> palm pilot and b) I'd actually take notes.

Personally, I've found the palm organizers very difficult to take notes on. I recently
bought one
in an attempt to "go paperless" at work and forced myself to use it for about
six weeks. Those
were the most disorganized six weeks of my entire life! I ended up bringing a notepad
along to
meetings all the time. I just went back to my paper organizer this past week. Whew! Am I
glad that
is over.

I did, however, find a very cool Shadowrun dice program..

====::inode::

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Send instant messages & get email alerts with Yahoo! Messenger.
http://im.yahoo.com/
Message no. 3
From: Steve Mancini mancini@******.com
Subject: GM Aids (was Re: Decentralization and Trade)
Date: Tue, 9 May 2000 17:00:25 -0700 (PDT)
Paint me the geek.

I use a laptop for my game.

a) I have excel spread sheets of people's stats for quick access and the
infamous "Just roll 5 dice for me.." ploy
b) I have a VERY cool sheet for players in case they 'forget' their
characters (one of my players designed this thing, and he is
actually enabling macros to make it a chargen system - you chose
priorities, it gives you points, it auto-calculates costs, Pools,
essence, etc)
c) I have karma sheets
d) Now the fun part - their 'Fixer' works out of an Astrologer/Palm
Reader storefront. Before the beginning of each run, they each
get a 'personal reading' from her - I bring up an astrology
site online and read them their horoscopes for the day --
Talk about self-fulfilling prophecy!!! *laugh*
e) Unfortunately MS Project does not chart out past 2049 so I cannot
chart their progress in the 'Great Timeline' of my game. :)
f) I keep a "living document" of the game's events, and how they impact
events to come (ie, Mob War, etc).
g) I keep a barrage of surplus run ideas online in case the players opt
to reject the run they are being offered.

Now if I had the books on CD or my Harddrive... I'd be in serious
geekdom!

-Da Minotaur
Message no. 4
From: Gurth gurth@******.nl
Subject: GM Aids (was Re: Decentralization and Trade)
Date: Wed, 10 May 2000 11:52:22 +0200
According to Steve Mancini, at 17:00 on 9 May 00, the word on the street
was...

> a) I have excel spread sheets of people's stats for quick access and the
> infamous "Just roll 5 dice for me.." ploy

You can do that without a laptop, too :) Everyone will have some stats in
the 3 to 6 range, so if you say "Roll 4 dice" you will hardly ever be
wrong.

> b) I have a VERY cool sheet for players in case they 'forget' their
> characters (one of my players designed this thing, and he is
> actually enabling macros to make it a chargen system - you chose
> priorities, it gives you points, it auto-calculates costs, Pools,
> essence, etc)

What I do is collect the character sheets at the end of the session, so
it's the GM who has the sheets and takes them along next time. That means
either everyone has a character, or nobody does (yes, I did forget the
sheets once, but luckily remembered when I was only about 5 minutes away
from home :)

> d) Now the fun part - their 'Fixer' works out of an Astrologer/Palm
> Reader storefront. Before the beginning of each run, they each
> get a 'personal reading' from her - I bring up an astrology
> site online and read them their horoscopes for the day --
> Talk about self-fulfilling prophecy!!! *laugh*

Now _this_ is a cool idea :)

> e) Unfortunately MS Project does not chart out past 2049 so I cannot
> chart their progress in the 'Great Timeline' of my game. :)

Find another year whose calendar is identical to that of your current game
year. As a matter of fact, if anyone knows of which years between 1904 and
2031 (as that's how far the calendar on my Palm Pilot goes :) match the
late 2050s/early 2060s, please post them, as it'll come in handy
sometime...

--
Gurth@******.nl - http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/index.html
But it's obviously a dream, as I'm waiting for that beam...
--Millencollin, "Vulcan Ears"
-> NAGEE Editor * ShadowRN GridSec * Unofficial Shadowrun Guru <-
->The Plastic Warriors Page: http://shadowrun.html.com/plasticwarriors/<-

GC3.1: GAT/! d-(dpu) s:- !a>? C+(++)@ UL P L+ E? W(++) N o? K- w+ O V? PS+
PE Y PGP- t(+) 5++ X++ R+++>$ tv+(++) b++@ DI? D+ G(++) e h! !r(---) y?
Incubated into the First Church of the Sqooshy Ball, 21-05-1998

Further Reading

If you enjoyed reading about GM Aids (was Re: Decentralization and Trade), you may also be interested in:

Disclaimer

These messages were posted a long time ago on a mailing list far, far away. The copyright to their contents probably lies with the original authors of the individual messages, but since they were published in an electronic forum that anyone could subscribe to, and the logs were available to subscribers and most likely non-subscribers as well, it's felt that re-publishing them here is a kind of public service.