Looking for suggestions regarding using monitor as table for FG IRL

[Ashekelor]

Very nice, thanks for sharing your set up! I think we will be using one very much like you have described. I can't wait!

[Trenloe]

Thread necro...

A lot will depend on the free space you have on your table, the size of the maps you want to display and your budget.

I've recently bought this: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ZVCZYTO

It gives 37 x 21 inches viewable screen, which equates to 52 dpi, so I can basically use my 50 pixels grid maps as is. Anything above this size tends to reduce the DPI to the point that you're losing detail. I also had to change the picture mode to movie to get a nice smooth, decent looking map view - the standard or enhanced messed around with the image too much and it didn't look good, but movie mode was great. Movie mode does, in general, reduce the brightness of the display (to get the nice colours) so you may have issues viewing fully if you play in a brightly lit area. In a normally lit area it was fine for me.

EDIT: Forget to mention portability. This unit is 20 pounds in weight and easy to carry. Anything larger might not be so easy...

Any TV with built in speakers makes it easy to play background/mood music too.

If you have budget and table space you may go for a larger TV but I'd recommend you then go to 4K otherwise the pixilation will be too much for sitting close around a table. But, with a 4K TV as essentially a second monitor you may get lag due to the extra processing required, unless you have a decent graphics card in your computer.

You'll also then want to buy some acrylic/plexiglass to sit on/in the TV to prevent scratches on the TV screen itself.

I haven't been running face-to-face games at my place for a while, but last night I took the TV (and Surface Pro PC) to my FLGS for our semi-regular Star Wars: Edge of the Empire game. Some pics below:






Player view:


I also played some background soundscapes through the TV speakers.

I was running a second instance of FG (in player most connecting using localhost) and put that on the TV. The Surface Pro 3 definitely slows down when running the second monitor (TV) so you have to make sure you have appropriately sized images to not overly tax it more than necessary. I mistakenly shared the wrong image (the one that was very large, not the image I'd pre-sized) and my computer had a big go-slow for a few minutes. Other than that, it worked very well.

I put some plexiglass on the TV screen so that we could use minis, roll dice, etc. without worrying about it. The Star Wars: EotE d12's roll quite a lot on plexiglass (usually with one or two rolling off the TV screen), so I plan on making a thin wooden surround that protrudes a little above the edge of the TV to stop the dice rolling off, and also to stop dice rolling under the TV.

[LordEntrails]

Nice Looks like a great time!

[damned]

I reckon you would have been interrupted a few times to ask about it! Looks awesome.

[Mortar]

Nice!

[Trenloe]

I reckon you would have been interrupted a few times to ask about it! Looks awesome.

We were indeed. It was a bit of a last minute thing, so didn't relay prepare much in FG other than the maps. Next time I'll be doing more stuff in FG...

[NickT]

Looks good, but when I did some experiments (admittedly with a rather ancient monitor), I discovered a problem with looking at the screen at a sharp angle, especially when looking from the "bottom" of the screen, did you notice any similar effects? Basicly the colours tend to get washed out and distorted the sharper the viewing angle, meaning that the screen needed to be at about knee height off the floor, for the image to appear correctly. Any comments suggestions on this?

[damned]

Welcome NickT you will need a monitor or tv with a decent viewing angle...

[Midhir]

Currently I have a custom built table (4'x8') with the GM station at one end with 2 monitors and a monitor at the players end for Skype (for those connecting remotely) and a Yeti mic. A projector is mounted in the ceiling (the table is in my basement) and projects down on a white board in the center of the players area. The table is covered in felt (to make the roles a little less noisy for those connecting remotely, the yeti mic pics up great sound). There is one PC for the GM, one PC for the players and one PC for Skype (I use to run player map and skype on the same pc hooked up to the monitor and projector). All three PCs sit under the table on a built in shelf between the table legs so they are off the floor and mobile as the table is also on wheels.

I'll snap some photos of it as the ones I have are old before a couple upgrades.

I have a camera mounted on the Skype monitor so remote players can see those playing around the table (we usually have 3 or 4 at the table and 2 or 3 remote). I also have two Wii controllers mounted in the ceiling and IR pens to interact with the projected map, along with wireless mice, track pads and keyboards (depending on users preference for interacting with the map).

My plan is to replace the projector (which will eliminate cables running from the table to ceiling) with a 32" monitor mounted in the table (will be cutting a whole to let it sit in so it's not 2" or 3" above the table surface, it should sit just a 1/2" once it's in place) with a plexi glass sheet over the top and framed in so it looks like part of the table. We digital tokens instead of miniatures so map sizing isn't an issue. Plexi is just to protect the screen when the IR pens are used.

Eventually I would like to add a touch attachment so that players can just use they fingers to interact with the map.

[Trenloe]

Looks good, but when I did some experiments (admittedly with a rather ancient monitor), I discovered a problem with looking at the screen at a sharp angle, especially when looking from the "bottom" of the screen, did you notice any similar effects? Basicly the colours tend to get washed out and distorted the sharper the viewing angle, meaning that the screen needed to be at about knee height off the floor, for the image to appear correctly. Any comments suggestions on this?

Have a look at the third screenshot in my post above (#22). This was taken by a player sat at the table at a fairly low angle. No problem with colours or anything. It'll be your old monitor I'm afraid.