Don’t worry, this article isn’t a review of the iPad. There are about a million reviews out there if that’s what your looking for, but I’d be guessing you’ve had your fill of it. Mainstream news seems to love it. Some techie groups love it. Some think its not particularly interesting. Some think its the end of freedom. You can read any or all of these yourself and writing more words about it won’t really change anyone’s mind. If I had to guess, I’d guess that you either already love it or already hate it, and another 2000 words won’t change that. If you hate it, you might want to move on. I don’t think this article will make you any happier.
What I do want to focus on are the short-term ways the iPad could potentially change our D&D games. I’m primarily a D&D 4th Edition dungeon master so this article is likely to focus on that as well.
So now that all I have left are the D&D 4th Edition players who don’t hate the iPad (perhaps all two of you), I can begin.
Dungeon Adventures Become Useful
The first and biggest impact I’ve seen in my use of the iPad is the sudden explosion of usefulness of Dungeon adventures. I’ve been a subscriber to D&D Insider since the day I could hand them $10 and I find it very useful. I constantly and continually use the Character Builder, the Monster Builder, and the D&D Compendium. I read many of the subscription-only articles and I always browse through the Dungeon adventures. I don’t really use these adventures however, for one simple reason – they cost too much.
But wait, I’m already a subscriber. They should cost nothing, right? Wrong. According to recent statistics, printer ink is the most expensive substance ever made, just inching out weapons-grade plutonium. Given the cost of ink, and the cost of the subscription, a Dungeon adventure costs more than a printed adventure. A 32 page Dungeon Adventure in color might end up using a third to a fifth of an ink cartridge.
I never ran D&D with a laptop at my table except when running Skype to have a player on the road remotely play. I know a lot of DMs have used laptops in their own games and perhaps they found Dungeon adventures more useful than I ever did. Until the iPad, however, I had never really considered using a Dungeon adventure at my table.
Now I can.
With Goodreader, a PDF viewer for the iPad that runs about a buck, I can push every Dungeon adventure ever published and fit very easily within the 32 gb iPad. I can have a hundred different adventures with 3000 pages worth of gaming material and pull any of it up whenever I want.
The screen and resolution the iPad make it just barely readable and usable in landscape mode with a full page displayed. I can read monster stat-blocks, I can read text. It isn’t easy and anyone with any sort of eyesight problem might have a harder time, but for myself, it’s doable. Zooming in isn’t too bad but during a game it’s probably a little convoluted when you’re trying to stay focused on running your game. Still, it is very usable and now all of those adventures I’ve been passing off have become a resource I can truly use without having to spend my retirement fund on printer ink.
Every D&D Book In Your Hand
I’ve been a huge fan of the D&D compendium for a long time. I use it when planning adventures or sketching out ideas. I use it to quickly look up powers for PCs, items for treasure, or monsters for an encounter. It isn’t perfect; it lacks a lot of the longer bits of crunch and rules we need; but there’s a lot there.
Now, with the iPad, the Compendium is a resource at my table, not just a tool for planning. In a recent game I ran, we got confused about using the heal skill to trigger a downed companion’s Second Wind. While others scrambled for their sourcebooks (or went off to get another bag of popcorn), I popped up the compendium, typed in “heal” and had the answer I needed in the skill listing. With the iPad, submitting the query and reading the result is easy.
The Compendium isn’t perfect on the iPad, however. The heavy UI of the Compendium still seems to prefer a web browser on a larger screen. The monster, item, or power popup window doesn’t make as much sense on the iPad as it does on a larger screen. Some enterprising developers have built iPhone clients to Compendium data and I’m hoping we either see an official iPad app or a third party development that makes the Compendium data a bit easier to reach.
A problem worth mentioning here, however, is the lack of multitasking. For whatever reason they had, there is no easy multi-tasking on the iPad. If you have your Dungeon adventure up and you switch to Safari to look something up in the Compendium, and then switch back, you have to relaunch every time. The blazing speed of the iPad makes this pretty easy, however, and both Goodreader and Safari generally keep their state so you’ll end up where you left off when you leave. You’re not likely to have your Dungeon adventure, your Compendium screen, your dice-roller, and your character sheets all up at the same time though. The iPad can fulfill any one of these roles – perhaps two – but that’s about it.
iPlay4E and the Digital Character Sheet
iPlay4E has had a wonderful digital character sheet for some time on the iPhone and iPod Touch. Now, however, the hardware has caught up with the idea behind the software. Now we finally have a device that can show your entire character sheet, including a dice-roller, all on a single screen. The iPlay4E tablet version looks and feels great on the iPad, using the full screen of the device to display all the vital detail you need. The ties into the D&D Compendium let you load up power text, making it all the more useful. It’s a great program and worth trying out next time you don’t feel like lugging all your books somewhere.
The Future
I can’t help but hope Wizards figures out how to build, or outsource the building, of some D&D insider tools for the iPhone and iPad. The platform is just screaming for some good D&D applications tied directly into the data backing the Character Builder and Monster Builder. I think most of us have seen the videos of the Microsoft Surface project built around D&D and now we have a platform that comes close to being able to do this. Granted, a 10″ screen isn’t the same as a huge table, but if the Scrabble application is any indication, there’s a lot we could do with this if Wizards was able to fund it. If you haven’t seen it, the Scrabble app uses the iPad as a common table and individual iPhones and iPod touches as each individual’s shelf of letters. A flick on your iPhone sends your letter to the main iPad board. It’s pretty magical.
I imagine we’ll see mapping applications, DM initiative and combat trackers, more dedicated character builder applications and – hopefully – some official WOTC-backed applications that tap into the vast database of D&D powers, monsters, items, and rules. While there’s a big part of me that still thinks about D&D as a paper-based game, I see no reason a tool like the iPad can’t make our lives a little easier and a little more fun.
Beating a dead horse here, but ebook versions of the D&D books themselves (like if I have to look up something in Manual of the Planes unexpectedly) would make it more useful. Of course, I’ve already declared that if they make a 4e initiative tracker I like for the iPad then I’ll buy one.
…and I’m probably buying one anyway. But it would move up the chart of WANT immediately.
While I do agree that these platforms deserve some D&D love, and it would be especially nice to see wizards develop something for them specifically. I think they should really just focus their efforts on finishing what they started with the DDI suite, the 4 blank buttons within the ‘Adventure Tools’ program just make me sad.
I find myself geeking out big on all these tools all the time, yet I always find myself reverting back to good old pen and paper and a few simple tracking tools for my laptop. Some things never date themselves, flipping through the pages of a tangible book has it’s aesthetics that can’t be replaced….Then again hitting CTRL+F and typing in “Underwater Combat” and zipping to that rule instantly is fantastic. Ah! See how torn I am 🙁
.-= DreadGazebo´s last blog ..Product Review: Hammerfast =-.
This is the kind of nonreview I can use. Thanks, Mike.
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I’m personally holding out on getting a tablet until the iPad has some actual competitors, most of which look to be running Android or Chrome-OS. Now, if the decision came down to tablet X running Android, and and Ipad, and the only difference was that one of them had actual, sanctioned support for D&D, it would be an easy decision.
My point being, Wizards has shunned Apple as a development platform for its software, ostensibly because of its lack of market share. the Tablet space is suddenly the focus of a lot of development in th eTechnology world, and Apple stands a good chance at dominating it. If Apple is Apple, and it is, it will do its damnedest to control Tablet Space the way it has Media Players (and arguably, smartphones). It makes business sense for Wizards to develop an iPhone OS interface for its digital content, and if it did, it would definitely tip the scales in Apple’s favor for many many geeks.
I’m one of the “laptop at the table” guys and have been using my macbook as a bookshelf and character Sheet for a long time, and at one point (using the open-source Java Maptool app) as a game mat. The recent developments in this space, form the iPad to the Adam, to the Edge, to the Courier have me positively salivating.
* I’d love to see a version of the Compendium optimized for the iPad’s screen.
* I’d prefer they finish what they set out to first, though. Finish the Virtual Table already, WotC!
* Interestingly, one particular area where the iPad shines is when dealing with full-color books with large illustrations and such. Such books would look terrible on the Kindle, but on the iPad, they’re (literally) brilliant. Gotta think there’s a large untapped market for RPG books on tablet computers.
* Some sort of integrated program that handled initiative tracking, combat sheets/stats, a browser plugin to load the Compendium, and a PDF browser (to flip to relevant books)… that would be really, really nice. Enough to get me to buy an iPad, certainly…
I’m guessing your expressed fear of printing is just a strawman for you iPad argument, I have to say that the small home office laser printers from companies like Brother or Samsung are so cheap to buy and cheap to run that reading pdfs on the iPad screen seems not worth the bother. Yes you may not see your monster stat blocks with the beautiful green background but you won’t go blind trying to decipher the text and with a $.25 pencil you can make notes right on the pages. Even inkjets don’t cost that much to run if you buy offbrand cartridges in bulk on the internet. I have no problem with anyone buying and using electronic gadgets (I’ve bought many myself), but to justify an iPad as a cost saver is a bit of a stretch. p.s. I’m sure I’ll buy an iPad and run D&D stuff on it but it will be a luxury item not a cost saver.
“The screen and resolution the iPad make it just barely readable”
“It isn’t easy and anyone with any sort of eyesight problem might have a harder time, but for myself, it’s doable.”
I’m sure I could read it as well, but your comments come across as making it more of a struggle than its worth. If my eyes are scanning tiny print and I can’t find what I am looking for quickly and easily then it is not a help.
“…lack of multitasking”
This is the big thing for me. If I can’t switch around quickly and easily it becomes more of a burden than a help. I do not want my players waiting while I close and open apps, only to do the same thing to get back to where I was.
I really wanted the IPad to be a help but so far I’ll be waiting while until they make it better (or something better comes along).
.-= callin´s last blog ..Racial Ancestry =-.
Check out my character sheet for Android devices you can search schwiz or dnd on the android market to find it. Here are some screenshots http://www.schwiz.net/dnd
The multitasking issue is on the way out the door with iPhone OS 4, which is expected out in the later half of the year. That version of the iPadiPhone OS will enable multitasking in a controlled sense. You’d still be switching between apps, but each app “remembers” exactly where it was, but doesn’t suck battery life while its idle.
Or, you could get an AndroidChromeWindows-7 tablet, all of which support active Multitasking, and with a Win 7 tablet, you’d be able to run the Builder natively.
I don’t see the iPad as changing D&D at all for me, but that is because I am already a laptop gamer. I already can use Dungeon at the table without printing it, utilize the D&D Compendium on demand, etc.
This isn’t too surprising, since most of the functionality of an iPad can be achieved on similar devices (laptops/netbooks/smartphones). I don’t mean this as an indictment against the iPad though, since the price and form factor will make it appealing to a group of gamers who would never crack open a laptop at a game.
Where the iPad might become interesting is if WotC threw some official support behind it in the form of Applications or ePub versions of the rulebooks. I don’t believe this will happen, but I’ve learned to never say never.
.-= Rob a.k.a. ‘A Hero’´s last blog ..Animated Spider-Man is dead, long live animated Spider-Man? =-.
An interesting note, the actual pixel resolution of the Microsoft Surface table and the iPad are identical .. 1024×768.
I just don’t know if Wizards has the vision to be able to take proper advantage of the gaming options the iPad opens up. They have done a good job with DDI recently, but the whole pdf fiasco and other tech tool non-starters does not give me a lot of confidence in upper management and their understanding of technology.
Already, the Dicenomicon dude is looking into an iPad and iPhone interface for MapTools. I think there may be some interesting development going on in the open source and independent developer community that we should be paying attention to.
Just having all the D&D books on 1 gadget would be useful enough.
No more hunking a load of books to RPG sesses (and the more 4E books I buy the heavier my bag gets).
Everything you could want on 1 tablet and readily at hand. Rules checks, etc all there and with some indexing or search facility no need to flip through pages to find it.
Finally imagine a system where rules updates could be automatically downloaded and thus keep all your books up to date.
Just think of that. 🙂
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I run my 4E games from a laptop, but I totally agree with your feelings about the Dungeon adventures. If I had to print them out, I’d probably never use them, but on a laptop, it works just fine. And while I like being a “paperless” DM and I’d love to get an iPad just to save table space – my laptop is a biggun. Also totally agree with Dave about PDF versions of D&D books. The Compendium saves me lugging the library to my game each week, but I really wish my library was virtual instead of shelves and shelves of dead trees. There’s gotta be a way for WotC to make pdf’s of manuals – just think of how much money they’d save in printing and storage costs alone!
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Dungeon stoped being useful when it came prepackaged with everything else on the DDI. If all my players can read it whats the point?
I can ask them not too, but then they really aren’t getting thier moneys worth.
I am using the iPad here for Pathfinder and it works great. The whole having not to have too much clutter during a game is quite handy. We still use books. The iPad is used to show maps and monster images. I am looking into software for drawing over my town maps and country maps kinda like on Monday Night Football but more like Tuesday Night Pathfinder… The orcs are here and you are here… The running price of 1 to 7 bucks for aps is nice too. It will be interesting to see how the iPad type of technology plays out over the next few years.
.-= Jon´s last blog ..GM Prop for Council of Thieves =-.
I love the idea of the iPad. I feel the future of D&D plus tech will involve smart books, apps, and interactive tools that take advantage of Metcalfe’s Law.
It’s like the early days of TV where people were just filming theatre shows and broadcasting them.
For example, I’m building a dungeon as I GM using finger drawing tools on the iPad. I plunk in a monster. In a sidebar I get shown all the top-rated or most popular ideas for additional monster, terrain and treasure that work with that monster, as inspiration. I select, drop in, and broadcast the scene with fog of war via my projector to the tabletop.
.-= Johnn´s last blog ..The Pursuit Of Perfection, Part 5 of 5: Character Evolution =-.
I suggest you read through the Gnome Stew 3 part “review” you can find it here:
http://www.gnomestew.com/tools-for-gms/a-gms-guide-to-the-ipad-part-1
Thanks for this great post, Mike. I had my first experience running D&D from an iPad just two days after you posted this, and two days before I actually read the post above. I had a pretty good experience, though I will do things a little differently next time. I’ve blogged about it on Icosahedrophilia.
With regard to Compendium lookup, Alexander Bock has written an iPhone app called CompendiumHelper that serves precisely as a front end to the Compendium database. The interface is clean and simple. Of course, it looks a bit blurry if you blow it up to 2x on the iPad, so I hope that either Alexander will write an iPad/universal version or that someone else will do the same, or maybe that the iPad version of DM’s Tracker will incorporate Compendium lookup (that would be sweet).
With regard to multitasking, don’t overlook the limitations of the human brain and body. You can’t really multitask anyway much beyond walking and chewing gum at the same time. True multitasking on a computer is something the computer does in the background without human intervention. The iPhone OS is, and always has been, capable of multitasking; Apple has been slow to let third-party apps access the OS’s multitasking capabilities, but has been opening that up with things like push notifications. Your iPhone or iPad is multitasking every time you listen to music while using mobile Safari to surf the web. When you pull the Obisidan Portal window to the front to type in encounter notes after just having checked the Compendium, that’s not multitasking, that’s switching. When people talk about “multitasking” and the iPhone/iPad not doing it, what they really mean is having multiple windows visible at the same time, which is completely impractical on an iPhone screen and not that much better on an iPad screen (although I would love to have an iPad solution for running two iPhone apps side-by-side in 1x mode). What the iPad needs more than multiple windows is fast application switching and state preservation upon exiting an app. We really already have this in many ways, though I’m hopeful that OS 4 will improve the experience.
With regard to iPad vs. laptop, I have been using a laptop as a DM tool for quite some time. I have not regretted that in the least, but it does take up space on the table, requires a power supply if your game runs longer than a charge on your battery (and WiFi will cut your battery charge in half), and so on. If I can get all the functions I need on an iPad instead, the long battery life and small form factor will definitely be an advantage.
Now all we need is Masterplan for iPad …
.-= Icosahedrophilia´s last blog ..Running D&D from an iPad: my first experience =-.
I’ve been looking at developing a VTT for the iPad, and provided nobody beats me to the punch with a better product, I definitely intend to.
Hi! I’m the developer of a D&D app for the iPad called Gamer’s Abacus. It is still a young app with many features planned but it can be a very helpful addition to your D&D / ccg play. Features include:
+ D20 dice roller (2,4,6,8,10,12,20,100) with up to 6 at a time.
+ Roll log keeps track of points and rolls for each player.
+ 1-6 players
+ Colorful tokens make keeping track of statuses more flexible.
Check it out on the itunes store!
http://itunes.com/app/gamersabacus
i am planning to buy an iPad since it looks lighter than a regular desknote and i don not use much of the features of a laptop.-.”