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Originally Posted by Blind_Prophet
Ok so I'll start out admitting I'm TERRIBLE at organizing things and I constantly loose my pages, monster hps, etc.,etc. when DMing o I'm thinking of picking up a cheap laptop (200-400ish) to keep things a little less hectic but when I was talking to my players about allowing them to have laptops or w/e at the table instead of having papers all over the place...one guy mentioned his ipad and I said that was fine to so I figured I'd look into it. but a huge deciding factor for me is if the legacy (offline) builder with it.
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For DMing in 4e I like to use masterplan to keep track of inititive, HP, monsters, notes, conditions, etc. When playing at the table, I dont bother with masterplan for tracking where everyone is as I just move tokens arounds the table. When my friend comes over to DM, he prefers to use my projector so the map and tokens are handled through masterplan. Masterplan is free to download and there are some video tutorials to help you get started which I recommend. The requirements for masterplan are very low and the tool is quiet robust so a cheap laptop will do but I would recommend a decent sized and quality screen.
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Don't get me wrong my desktop PC has Inet about 100% of the time I personally can't stand wireless net (too unreliable and a security risk) and my gaming room is far too away from my inet to get a good signal anyways so we love the idea of using the old builder to contain our characters to save time, paper,table space,etc.
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Personal preferences about wireless security aside, routers do have a long range and one should be able to cover any house without deadzones. My 10 year old linksys router covers my 2400 sq ft home perfectly, I get signal out to the end of my driveway and the router is in the basement.
Not really sure what you mean here by old builder, the old character builder? From what I recall of the legacy character builder, it wasnt able to track a character in game like surges spent, current HP, power usage. As a DM, you can handle everything from masterplan (or similar DM tool, I say masterplan because I have the most experience and success with it) saving table space for minis, tiles and the players character sheets.
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In short...Does the Legacy (offline) Builder work on Ipads (or similar like playbook or windowspad) if not what would you guy suggest for a laptop solely meant for excel, the builder, minor net surfing (when i do find a wifi hotspot or w/e), jotting down random notes while out in the world and other minor things although I might throw Baldur's Gate:Enhanced (or other oldies but goodies) on there.
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As far as I know, no the legacy character builder does not work on iPads, playbooks. The current, online character builder also wont work on any tablet since they do not have microsoft silverlight.
Now, if you are looking at this from the player perspective, I do know that iplay4e does now have an offline application for the iPad which can replace all the paper a player uses. I use the online iplay4e on my tablet when I am a player and I recommend it to others. However, iplay4e does work on smartphones so if you have no wifi but cell service you can make do with this and I have in the past. Its not the best but it works as a backup if you forget your character sheet.
Summary:
For DMing, I recommend a laptop, any brand, with a decent sized screen as the only requirement, which you can get for your $200-400 price range, and install masterplan. When I DM, using my laptop and masterplan my total table footprint is smaller then any of my players with character sheets.
As a player, iplay4e is free and can work on a laptop, netbook, tablet and smartphone but requires an internet connection. If you have no wifi in the area, the smartphone will work and I have used it in the past.
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Legacy (Offline) Builder on Ipad, Playbook,etc....or cheap laptop suggestions
