Useful gaming apps

[Elvenoutrider]

Playgrounders, I have just received an iPad as a gift and was wondering if any of you have any apps you recommend that are worth their price

[Slipperychicken]

I know there are a number of free die-rolling apps (for smartphones at least) which can be useful. They typically let you set up numbers of dice, types of dice, and modifiers before rolling.

[ellindsey]

I use the Dicenomicon on mine. It's not free, but it's not terribly expensive.

I also keep most of my campaign notes and PDFs of the rulebooks on my google drive and use the google drive app to review them as needed during games.

[sniffies]

I recently downloaded MoFlow Initiative Tracker on my droid, I dig it quite a bit. It allows for pre-defined monster sets for each encounter, along with storage of multiple parties for different campaigns.

[Morcleon]

Dice Ex Machina is a wonderful free dice rolling app. It's very nicely made and with no extraneous things. Quite powerful too.

You could also grab Scry Free for the D&D 3.5e and PF SRDs.

[The Random NPC]

My friend uses Dice & Dragons. I believe it's free, with fancy dice if you pay for them. You can set it up with dice combinations, and name them.

[Airk]

Do you guys actually USE dice roll apps at the table? When these things were first coming out a couple of my buddies tried them, and they were amusing for a short period of time, then everyone went back to real dice because frankly, the tactile feeling of real dice is way better than shaking a phone.

[Slipperychicken]

Do you guys actually USE dice roll apps at the table? When these things were first coming out a couple of my buddies tried them, and they were amusing for a short period of time, then everyone went back to real dice because frankly, the tactile feeling of real dice is way better than shaking a phone.

I think I used such an app for a few sessions, and it's nice if you forget your dice. Also, they're usually free and small, so it's not a huge loss if you don't use it.

Additionally, rolling dice with a computer/phone can be neat if you want to keep the roll secret (especially if your players will start metagaming the moment they hear dice rolling). And if you're good at programming, you could probably hook the RNG up to treasure table results and use it to roll for treasure (although I'm positive someone has already written apps for that), or generate similar categorical results.

[The Random NPC]

Do you guys actually USE dice roll apps at the table? When these things were first coming out a couple of my buddies tried them, and they were amusing for a short period of time, then everyone went back to real dice because frankly, the tactile feeling of real dice is way better than shaking a phone.

Sometimes I forget my dice, or need a lot of them to roll. In those cases (Shadowrun mostly) it's a nice option.

[Airk]

I think I used such an app for a few sessions, and it's nice if you forget your dice. Also, they're usually free and small, so it's not a huge loss if you don't use it.

Right, so not actually -useful- most of the time so much as 'low opportunity cost'.

Additionally, rolling dice with a computer/phone can be neat if you want to keep the roll secret (especially if your players will start metagaming the moment they hear dice rolling).

Bah. Just use the time honored solution of rolling dice behind the screen all the time whether you're checking anything or not.

And if you're good at programming, you could probably hook the RNG up to treasure table results and use it to roll for treasure (although I'm positive someone has already written apps for that), or generate similar categorical results.

Or generate treasure ahead of time so that the treasure actually makes sense? ;) But yeah. Sounds like dice apps are a niche application to me, which is why I was wondering why so many people were suggesting them. Maybe there just aren't any -actually- good gaming apps?

[veti]

Skype. The iPad is, beyond any comparison, the best possible platform for Skype.

It's small enough to use unobtrusively at the table, so you can bookmark pages that have illustrations or sound effects you want to use in-game. If you don't have wi-fi where you're playing, there's an app called 'Pocket' that allows you to store pages on the device and reference them offline.

Speaking of illustrations: drawing on the iPad is harder than you'd think, but if you want to use it for, e.g., floor plans, you can get a stylus for it, which would help.

[Balain]

I started a new D&D campaign with our group. I am using an iPad. No real special apps though, Have notify for school, so keep al my notes and hand drawn maps on it also have a bunch of my books as pdf's on it.

[valadil]

It's not gaming specific, but I love Dropbox as a GM prep aid. It lets me have all my notes and books at any computer I use regularly.

[Spore]

If you care about accurate randomization, I don't think dice apps are great. They can only simulate but their algorithm is not random.

[Airk]

If you care about accurate randomization, I don't think dice apps are great. They can only simulate but their algorithm is not random.

Bah, do we have to trot out this old chestnut again? The number of rolls being made at a gaming table is low enough that it's literally impossible to tell the difference between a randomizer with a decent seed and 'true' randomness (as if most people trust their dice to be 'truly' random anyway).