Actually, this one is not going to be too extravagant for me. I might throw in a few bells and whistles but in reality there is only one thing that I would love to have that I do not currently in the game room. Mind you, I am pretty easy to please so while some people will go all out here and add coffee machines and all sorts of creature comforts I will only be adding two things to my room. Firstly the bells and whistles that are not really needed but would be cool.
Steampunk
I am a massive steampunk fan, despite the fact that I have never played a steampunk game that has been any good in any way. It is the aesthetic of steampunk that I love and it makes me want to put ads out in local papers asking for everything that is broken and clockwork to be sent to me. It was my plan to have the store decked out steampunk style and there are touches of it here and there but the cost of such a thing is prohibitive! I know there are probably crafty ways of doing it on the cheap but I wanted it as authentic as possible. Not going to happen on my budget unfortunately.
So on to the thing that I would dearly love to have…
Projector
Maps projected onto the surface of the playing table utilizing a virtual tabletop (e.g. Fantasy Grounds – still my most loved) so the players can better visualize the things going on in game. Should the business make its way into the second year this kind of set up is something that I may look into for premium RPG’s that I run. It does involve a little more than just the projector though.
For one thing, there needs to be a controller station set up for the GM. To project those maps then there needs to be a corresponding device to project that material from. The format of this needs to be investigated because it needs to be small and inobtrusive. Maybe some kind of Raspberry Pi setup, if it is able to run the software? Regardless, there is a reason why this is not just a simple inclusion and been done already.
So there you have it – I am easily pleased, or so it seems. I do look forward to reading some of the responses to this. Imagine an RPG set in the heart of a Battlemech cockpit or perhaps running an RPG from the command throne of the Emperor on the second Death Star. So many cool ideas that I am sure will arise out of this question. Keep rolling!
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I believe you could run a Raspberry Pi set up with a projector quite successfully. You could even hook a few of them together for optimal performance.
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I’ve not spent much time with fantasy grounds, but I’d choose Roll20 as a “controller station” software solution for the GM. All you need is a decent computer (a raspberry pi 3 might do) that can run a modern browser. It would give you the flexibility to use digital tokens, digital maps and so forth. Another computer (laptop or raspberry pi 3 would do) could act as a controller for player visualization. The software is free and browsers are ubiquitous.
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I have used Roll 20 extensively and agree that it is a useful tool with only the overhead of a browser. It probably would be an easy option but Fantasy Grounds has a lot of built in support also. I gave up Roll 20 a long time ago when the rule set support of Fantasy Grounds completely eclipsed it. Generic use – Roll 20, for the games I play Fantasy Grounds easily takes precedence as it streamlines a lot of planning and functionality that I need.