GoblinStop

The Apple iPad debuted yesterday to mixed reactions.  While many championed its HD-ready touch screen, feather-weight sleek design, and decidedly reasonable price, much criticism was made claiming that the device is more of an iPhone than a Mac.  Regardless of what my overall opinion of the device is, I had to ask the important question: What can the iPad do for D&D players?

Some fantastic D&D iPhone apps already exist, and have been written about extensively on the web (check out this blog post at DorkandBeans.com for a few great suggestions).  However, most of these apps are designed for use by individuals at a gaming table, and rightfully so; character managing apps can only display one player’s character at a time, and it would be annoying to pass around something as small as an iPhone so everyone could roll their dice on it.  But I think that with the iPad, we will begin to see apps designed around communal use. 

With almost 10 inches of touch screen, so many different possibilities open up.  An app could be developed to use it as a miniatures surface, displaying pre-rendered dungeon tiles for smaller rooms.  DM’s would no longer have to print large poster-sized dungeon rooms, or waste time drawing details onto a dry-erase grid.  A prototype of a program like this was shown in the Microsoft Surface D&D video, but that setup and technology looked super expensive to replicate.  The iPad could make this technology accessible, practical, and somewhat economical.

An app could also be developed to manage the party’s collective inventory, so that items could be removed or added in real time, in front of everyone, instead of forcing one player to keep a micromanaged running tally of what’s in the Bag of Holding.  This would make it a lot easier to keep track of exactly how many potions of healing are left. 

There really is a huge realm of possibility surrounding the tabletop gaming uses of the new Apple iPad.  Do you think we will ever see apps like this developed for the device?  What other ways do you think the iPad could alter the way a group plays D&D?

So you play in a regular D&D game, and you love it, and you’re also a bit web savvy.   So here’s the big thought you might be thinking: “Should I start a website for my D&D group/campaign setting?”  Your motivations and preparation will largely affect the success of your venture.  Without thinking too carefully about the who’s, what’s, and why’s of your site, you may find your traffic as low as a kobold’s bite mark.

If you’ve ever done a Google search for anything D&D-related, you’ve undoubtedly come across a website dedicated to someone’s D&D campaign setting.  Oftentimes, these are full of maps of overland terrain and dungeons, statistics sheets and biographies for any number of non-player characters, and pages of site descriptions and historical information for major locales in the world.  The things that separate a successful campaign site from a failure are a focused demographic, good presentation, and diligent marketing efforts.

Here are a few questions you should ask yourself before deciding to spend your valuable time and energy (and even money) on a D&D-related website:

1.       What type(s) of content will I share?  Do you want to share geographic and flavor information specific to your campaign?  If so, make sure your materials are well organized and at least of decent quality.  Any world/dungeon maps should be clearly comprehensible, with features all labeled in legible, clean handwriting.  Color maps help, although not always necessary.  NPC descriptions should be free of statistics errors.  Or perhaps you want to provide a running blog of your party’s adventures, or even of your group’s experiences in a metagame context.  Remember that this requires regular updates and a bit of guerilla social marketing if you want to build traffic.  Consider offering a podcast of your game sessions available for free download.

2.       Who do I want to visit my site?  Figuring out your target demographic will help you decide how to present your content, as well as what level of depth and complexity to aim for.  15-22 year old boys who just found out about D&D 4^th Ed. from a guildmate on World of Warcraft are going to respond better to different diction, media forms, and setting styles than will 35-45 year old men who have been playing since the days of Advanced D&D 1^st Edition.

3.       What is the clear purpose of my site, and how will I market it?  If your site is just an information hub for your players to use internally, your job is easy; since you don’t care much if anyone outside the immediate group uses the site, you really don’t have to do any marketing at all.  However, if you are looking to build up an excited user base for your campaign world, and eventually publish and sell it, you will have to generate some buzz.  Join message boards, link to other D&D sites you enjoy, and some will return the favor with links to you (as long as your content is up to snuff).  Even join social bookmarking sites like Digg or Delicious, make sure you bookmark lots of interesting related-content, and occasionally bookmark something on your own site.  There is nothing wrong with this as long as you are participating in the dialogue in other ways as well.

What other tips would you give someone wanting to start a D&D or gaming website?  Disagree with any of these?