Every GM seems to utilize a laptop computer at the gaming table nowadays. I can see how it could be handy… or can I? Come to think of it, how useful is a laptop computer at the gaming table? Let’s see if we can enumerate a few.
1. Fact-checking. Laptop computers with an Internet connection can be extremely useful for checking facts in the midst of a game or during breaks. One never knows when a question might come up, and a GM certainly can’t bring a personal library along to every session, assuming that the book with the answers is even in the GM’s collection. This is related to…
2. Rule-checking. If you have a PDF copy of the game rules, you can consult it on questions of game mechanics rather than a rulebook that has mass and occupies space (and sometimes rather a lot of each, depending on your game of preference).
3. Random generators. If you GM the way I do or have the kind of players I tend to attract, then there is a fair amount of improvisation in your games even to the point of generating non-player characters instantaneously. Sometimes you need a credible name for someone, something, or someplace now. That’s where random generators come to the rescue, and the Internet is home to plenty. Your players decide on the spur of the moment that they need to consult a tracker, a jeweler, or an astrologer, you click on a link, and the non-player character has a name that doesn’t sound suspiciously like you made it up on the spot (or maybe it does, but at least you didn’t have to waste time and brain power conceiving it).
4. Sound effects and/or music. Set up a play list of sound effects and music you think you might use in the game, and then they are ready to use — no need to fuss with CDs, cassettes, phonograph records, or wax cylinders.
5. Character sheet access. Sure, you could just shuffle through copies of the players’ character sheets, but with a laptop computer you can do it much more quietly.
6. Dice-rolling programs. If you go for that sort of thing. Personally, I prefer rolling real dice, but if you need to make a roll quietly on, say, a Wandering Monster table, then this could be a legitimate use for dice-rolling programs in a face-to-face gaming session.
Some GMs may wish to add to this list the convenience of storing scenarios and maps on the computer, but I am not convinced of the usefulness of this. If the computer is used for too much, then the clutter and disorganization is merely transferred from paper on the tabletop to the computer on the tabletop. Actual paper is much more convenient to spread out.
I do not consider laptop computers necessary (I’ve gamed without them all my life), but I conclude that they are indeed useful. Now I want one.