Using Technology to Enhance RPGs

Many things have changed since the invention of D&D in 1974. In the current age, there are so many ways to incorporate technology seamlessly into RPGs. Here are five ways to enhance your tabletop games.

1. Google images

This one may seem fairly obvious, but it should definitely be mentioned. You want to have a pawn of a female werewolf? Search it on google images, and print and cut it out as shown, some tape or a staple and you have a miniature for any monster you can google search. Or, instead, you could bring up a beautiful fantasy wallpaper on the big screen to set the tone for the campaign, or show them a really detailed and horrific monster. Google it.

2. Official RPG websites

These sites are there for a reason. My personal favorite is d20pfsrd.com, which has all of the Pathfinder content available and searchable online. Make use of them. Not sure what the rules say about something obscure? Search it. It is far easier than looking page by page in a big ol’ rulebook.

3. Google Sketchup

What can I say? Google is freakin awesome. This is a free program to download and use, which can be used to create your own RPG maps or to download totally awesome ones that other people have made by simply searching “Dungeons and Dragons”. You can look at the models from different camera angles, and then you can change to a ‘top’ view and everything is laid out in a grid system perfectly. You can physically print these on paper as well, or you can hook your laptop up to a TV to show the group where they are, (I have even seen videos of someone who turned a flat screen TV so the screen was parallel to the ground and loaded a D&D map on there and put all the minifigs on the glass of the screen, creating the coolest and most versatile RPG table ever).

3. Pandora

If you haven’t heard of Pandora, get out from under that rock you been hiding under. Endless music (sometimes with ads, but if you care that much just purchase the commercial free service) and you can create your own radio stations. For RPGs, I would recommend the Skyrm Soundtrack station, or Pirates of the Caribbean Soundtrack station. Nothing sets the mood more than an epic high energy song that plays right as your party charges into battle with an army of orcs.

4. 3D-Printing

This one, I realize isn’t available to everybody. I happen to be fortunate due to the fact that I work at a 3D-Printing lab. If you have a 3D-Printer, have access to one, have access to a library that has one, or even knows a friend with access to one, MAKE USE OF IT. It is amazingly helpful for tabletop RPGs. The above picture shows all the things I have printed for my Call of Cthulhu d20 campaign that I will be starting soon. I have made monsters, aliens, player miniatures, cultist tokens, gas mask soldiers, cultists themselves and even some fungus. All of these things are available from the website www.thingiverse.com for free to download and print. There are literally hundreds of miniatures you can download and other props as well (if anyone is interested, I have also created some RPG content, my username is south2012). Just for fun, I printed the gas mask soldiers, a cthulhu cultist token, and an alien in glow in the dark filament. Below are pictures of them in the light and then in the darkness.

Seriously, I cannot recommend using 3D-Printing for RPGs highly enough. You can create your own pieces with Blender, a free to download program with thousands of tutorials online. If you don’t have a 3D-Printer, maybe this is a good time to look into buying one, they can get pretty cheap and their uses are myriad.

5. YouTube

While this is another great source for inspiring music, I tend to use it on conjunction with Pandora. You want the party to hear a loud, terrifying roar? Don’t just describe it, look it up on YouTube as “Roar sound effect” and play it at max volume while the party discusses their next move, startling them and building the atmosphere. Once, I played a simple wood scratching sound and all four of the players thought the sound was something different. One guessed it was chanting in the background, one thought it was bones rattling together, another thought it was something being dragged and one predicted it was a trapdoor sliding open. They all began to panic and had their characters flee for their lives. It was hard to stifle my laughter.

There are more ways to incorporate technology into RPGs, but these are the main ones I use virtually every session. If there are any uses for technology you would like to add, please comment! And remember: you aren’t in the 1970s anymore. Make use of all your resources.