I never used to make any use of audio-visual aids in my gaming, but over the course of the last couple of years, that has changed almost completely. Now, in every single campaign I've used resources taken from the internet to assist me in running my games.

For the Legion I have the various comic pics, for my Roman campaign I've used busts of the various emperors, loads of chinese pics for my Three Kingdoms campaign, maps of britain for pendragon, etc etc.

Do any of you do the same for your games? what other kind of resources do you use?

RPGPundit

In face to face gaming, about the only resource I'll use along the lines of visual aids are maps. Lately though, when I've been running games over the internet with Fantasy Grounds, I've been using a lot more visual aids. I'll throw up pictures of various people, places and things to add a little more detail and flavor, and create a lot more maps to give players something to look at.

I've been thinking about using a laptop with a VTT program such as Fantasy Grounds at my local game, using a second monitor or projector to show maps to my players. If I did this I would likely start using a lot more visual aids, as with just a click of a button I could pop up a map, image or other document for them to see.

I was actually coming to therpgsite today to post something similar. Used to be, I'd just describe things, but in the interest of fun and involvement (and because I've learned how to do it pretty well) I add all sorts of extras to games I run and play. I rarely use pictures (though maps are a pretty great idea), but I do consider printing existing news articles, writing and formatting ones of my own, creating web pages, and looking for existing floor plans to pattern places off of.

It's fun, and adds a little to the game. If my players wern't as good as they are, though, I doubt I'd bother to spend the time.

I sometimes use images when introducing setting stuff, whether at the beginning of the campaign or in the midst.

My big computer aid use, however, is an excel spreadsheet I use to track PC opponents.  So easy.  So much less focus on record-keeping and addition. :cool:

I make maps and tokens. I grab pics for character sheets or handouts of whatnot. If I think a piece of music would be atmspheric or illustrative, I put a link to it. If I have an important recurring PC whose voice should be memorable to the PCs, I record some typical phrases in that voice and link from the character sheet. That's more for my benefit, to keep things consistent. If I have a piece in the adventure that could be read like a module's text box, I will sometimes read it in advance, adding music or echo or whatever's appropriate, and link to that note.

All my maps anymore are hyperlinked to everything else. I have mapping software, but I don't always use it. I frequently just scan my hastily hand-drawn maps into the machine and add the links with Photoshop. I tend to scan character sheets and notes and all the stickies and 3x5 cards we use--all that stuff.

I guess I don't use the computer to do anything I didn't do before I had it, but I use it like a huge file cabinet, to keep all the little bits and pieces I prepare together.

I did this for a larp but it will work for table top. I went to the store and bought like six of those pottery bottoms that put under a plant pot (they look like plates). Then I got some paint and painted up some simple line drawings and text on them.  When I got done the six told how to find the artifact that was needed to fight the big bad guy.

Then I smashed them and scattered pieces throughout the event site. You could get the same effect at tabletop just by handing them out one by one. The player will then need to fit them all together.

Back in the day (1994) I decided to learn programming so that I could drum up computer support for my RPG.   I have two separate applications for a Prime System, and a Mini-System.   They pretty much both do similar tasks, being that they crunch the numbers for my homebrew game, called Elthos.

The Prime system (which is the windows client software) does quite a lot of the GM gruntwork for me.   Mostly in the form of calculations for combat, movement, magic, skills, experience and so on.  It also has a mapping utility that lets me 'paint' terrain on either a hex map or square grid and add objects to the map (items, features such as stairs, magic, special notes, etc).   Overall I'm really pretty pleased with the results.

The Mini-System is a web application that primarly crunches numbers, gens characters, etc, but does not handle mapping, and doesn't RUN the game the way the Prime system does, but it will allow GMs share scenarios, and stuff, and Players access their character info online, and update their own notes online.

Both are complicated projects that took a lot of time and effort.   I am planning to put the mini-system on the internet for review sometime soon.   The Prime system needs to be polished before I would release it to the public, but it's packing a lot of functionality that so far I have not seen in other VTTs such as FG, or the others mentioned here:

http://www.rpgvirtualtabletop.com/vts.html

So, yah, I use a LOT of computer support for my games.  Excel graphs to run analysis of combat, word docs storing history and character info, and the programs which do the calculations and so on.

So far so good.  Next step is for me to finish up and put them out there for public viewing.   Shouldn't be too long, but getting it all together takes some research and effort of its own.   Hopefully soon I will be able to post an official announcement.  

- Mark

I have grabbed images or maps off the internet to represent people or stuff in the campaign.
 For example pictures of Judi Dench becaome an older Zhodani veteran who now teaches Psionic techniques, that kind of thing.

 Several maps and illustrations of TRAVELLER starsahips and planets I've printed off from the web.

 During the game sessions themselves I try to have my computer and phone turned off.


- Ed C.

For tabletop I use images from the web. For messageboard games I also use music and sound files (nothing says "deep forest" like a little wav or mid with forest noises).