Behind the Screen: DMing in the Digital Age...

As the years have gone by, new tools have emerged that can be used to augment your standard pen and paper roleplaying experiences. In the last few years, we've explored several different new options in our own campaigns and met with varying degrees of success.

Blogging, for fun and character development

Several years ago, I suggested to my players that we would track our campaign progress via a blog. I would post a summary after each session, and I encouraged the players to post in-character and when they did they would receive a small experience reward for doing so. I enjoyed having ready access to the perceptions and thoughts of my characters, and they enjoyed getting into their own backstory and being able to pull up last session's summary on a whim.

The universal language of online chat

We have recently made the decision to allow laptops at our gaming table. Having the ability to instant message individual players with private game information has come in handy. We have also used this capability to attempt team-DMing, where one person runs the sessions and the other player writes the campaign and acts as a situational NPC.

The general consensus is positive, however some players have felt that the in-session conversations between the two DMs can be disruptive. Even DMs can become disengaged (or at least appear that way), and this is something that you will have to be aware of if you choose to incorporate this into your sessions.

Miscellaneous Web Tools

I have a personal collection of several links that I use: Wizard's dice roller, town generator, and NPC Generator.

These tools can really aid in winging sessions, or just adding some depth to your world. If you're using the dice roller, I still highly recommend actually rolling dice when you want to ensure that your players know that you're adding some random chance to a situation. I use all of these tools every week, so I can vouch for their function and excellence.

Be united in your choice to use technology

All of these technologies have their own benefits and drawbacks. First, we had some difficulty with people drifting off-topic with their laptops and doing work, surfing YouTube, or generally just disengaging from the rest of the group. This is a situation that you will have to address with your own group, and I suggest making it a part of your social contract to determine the appropriate use of these technologies during the gaming sessions.