Looking for suggestions regarding using monitor as table for FG IRL

I have a group IRL that are resistant to FG because they want to roll the dice themselves with their antiquated hands. Ha!

They also like the experience of being in a room together rather than each person at their computer at home (or even sitting in a room with laptops together).

I will be running LMoP for them on Monday, and it would be cool to use FG to keep track on the Party Sheet, Combat Tracker etc. When they build their PCs, I can just build them in FG.

But to avoid theater of the mind, I'd like to connect my laptop to a flat screen monitor and lay it on the table AS THE MAP(S). It would need to be (basically) flat, sturdy, and not break the bank.

Any suggestions?

What about a projector? You can build a table fairly cheap (or use some white vinyl on a dinning table). And a projector is more portable.

https://imgur.com/gallery/FJN4B

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Originally Posted by Nylanfs

What about a projector? You can build a table fairly cheap (or use some white vinyl on a dinning table). And a projector is more portable.

https://imgur.com/gallery/FJN4B

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I actually saw this post. That's pretty cool, but I'm definitely looking for the lazy way out here. NO BUILDING ANYTHING! Ha.

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.

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Originally Posted by Trenloe

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

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Hoping to stay under $200, but a great option. ThanX Trenloe!

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Originally Posted by Nylanfs

And a projector is more portable.

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The projector itself might be more portable than a TV, but the mountings/mirrors etc. are not - and require setup. If you've ever seen anyone run with a project at conventions, it takes them something like 30 minutes or more to setup - and they come with a cart load of stuff they need for mounting.

Projectors are good if you have a static location you can get it all setup and leave it.

With a reasonably sized TV you can setup and go in a couple of minutes.

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Originally Posted by rob2e

Hoping to stay under $200, but a great option. ThanX Trenloe!

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OK, you'll probably have to go a bit smaller then (or look out for sales/reconditioned items - Woot have them occasionally). Make sure you get 1080p (full HD), not 720p (HD).

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Originally Posted by Trenloe

OK, you'll probably have to go a bit smaller then (or look out for sales/reconditioned items - Woot have them occasionally). Make sure you get 1080p (full HD), not 720p (HD).

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I'm thinking 26" or so, but now I'm wondering if I actually want them to use miniatures, I would need to ensure the squares on the screen are literally one inch squares. Then I would have to scroll, sync, scroll, sync, etc. if need be, to keep the PCs correct on the map. Wow, ha ha, maybe I'll just stick to drawing it out and try and convince people how cool FG is, by constantly revealing my laptop screen to them.

MAKE THESE PEOPLE do it! lmao

26" will be 33"x16" - basically 3 x 2 letter size pages (landscape orientation). You would have to scroll/resync and move minis quite a lot and wouldn't have much space for a combat tracker, etc.. Or, don't use minis and have the map smaller scale and reveal the map using the mask as you go. The occasional scroll/resync would be fine in this case.

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Originally Posted by Trenloe

26" will be 33"x16" - basically 3 x 2 letter size pages (landscape orientation). You would have to scroll/resync and move minis quite a lot and wouldn't have much space for a combat tracker, etc.. Or, don't use minis and have the map smaller scale and reveal the map using the mask as you go. The occasional scroll/resync would be fine in this case.

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I would use a second instance of FG and fill the entire screen with just the player map. I could still shade, and they would have a 33x16 square map to move there minis on. That sounds pretty doable. If I connect a 2nd monitor, I can open a 2nd FG on just that monitor right? The players wouldn't see the combat tracker or party sheet, just the map. My DM laptop would have all that other stuff. They would just roll dice and move their minis.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Trenloe

26" will be 33"x16" - basically 3 x 2 letter size pages (landscape orientation). You would have to scroll/resync and move minis quite a lot and wouldn't have much space for a combat tracker, etc.. Or, don't use minis and have the map smaller scale and reveal the map using the mask as you go. The occasional scroll/resync would be fine in this case.

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It seems a 26" monitor however is = 12.7 (H) x 22.7 (W)

Still 22x12 is very limited, but workable.

So here's my DUH! moment...

If I have the map on the table, size doesn't matter if they're using FG tokens that I manipulate. Why would they even meed minis if they just point to where they want to move and I move them?

DUH! I think I over thought this, but here's what I'm considering because it's big enough for 6 people to see in the center of a table and it only weighs 6 pounds...

https://www.amazon.com/Acer-G236HL-B...FullHD+-+Black

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Originally Posted by Trenloe

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.

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Very clever!

Also consider a surface for token control. You can have your screen/table with the map display for all to move about, but if you also had a surface logged in as a player with all toekns claimed on it, then the players could pass the surface around for moving the tokens about the map. That way you would not have to move them for them. But, that's another expense that could be added anytime.

Note, at the size you're talking about deflection and screen stiffness is probably not a concern. But if anyone is considering going 50+", I saw mention in another one of these threads that the designer selected a TV that had steel internal bracing. Since TV's are designed to be placed vertical, and when used as a table the frame may not be very stiff.

Enjoy!

Hello!

I have tackled this problem recently. Minimal effort.

1) measure the surface of your tv/screen. Get a piece of plexiglass cut to size. Ran me about $45.
2) get very fine grit sandpaper. smooth the edges of the plexiglass so you don't cut your hand open like I did :-)
3) get a low profile tv wall mount from amazon, ran me about $30.
4) get two pieces of 1/2" x 1" wood. Cut to about 24 inches. Ran about $5.
5) drill pilot holes.
6) attach the wood to the tv mount. Screws ran about $2.
7) attach the mount to the tv.

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Originally Posted by senjak

Hello!

I have tackled this problem recently. Minimal effort.

1) measure the surface of your tv/screen. Get a piece of plexiglass cut to size. Ran me about $45.
2) get very fine grit sandpaper. smooth the edges of the plexiglass so you don't cut your hand open like I did :-)
3) get a low profile tv wall mount from amazon, ran me about $30.
4) get two pieces of 1/2" x 1" wood. Cut to about 24 inches. Ran about $5.
5) drill pilot holes.
6) attach the wood to the tv mount. Screws ran about $2.
7) attach the mount to the tv.

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Pics please!

I have a similar problem. Right now 80% of my group has agreed to try FG. My hold out has agreed to moving plastic miniatures about an old 40 inch flat screen. She will really be placing them on top of the FG tokens, as we will all be in FG, She has agreed to do both FG and the miniatures. She will also roll physical dice. I will manually adjust her target's damage when she hits them. It's the only way we got to a quasi 100% mark. If my other players do not like Fantasy Grounds, we will be trying some other options that still include FG, one of which is what you have outlined above.

Keep me apprised, I would love to know how things work out for you.

Hey! I do exactly this with my group. We all have the regular license, and they connect to my game. I run a 2nd instance of FG and output that to my 32" LCD TV that I have laid flat on my dining room table. Everyone else then sits around it with their laptops. We stream our sessions on Twitch, so the 2nd instance of FG is what I put out to twitch so viewers can see everything that's going on. Works great.

My group was also hesitant about trying FG in the beginning because of the dice thing as well. However, once they saw how integrated everything was, now they all love how streamlined everything is. If they knew how much easier it'd make things on you they might go for it as well.

It's a bit of a chore to move my LCD TV back and forth, but I barely use it anyway so it's almost always on the table, really. Being 32" (the screen itself is 15 1/2" x 27 1/2"), it makes it plenty big enough for the maps, especially if you're not concerned about the dice/chat area on there. I just take it off the base and it's perfect. You could probably fine a cheap/used one on kijiji or craigslist I'm sure. Wouldn't even have to be as big.

I used to use a projector, but I found it took up too much room on the side of the table for the mount, effectively taking up 1/2 the side of the table/play area. It was also an eye sore to see on twitch. haha.

Best of luck with the setup!!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by rob2e

I have a group IRL that are resistant to FG because they want to roll the dice themselves with their antiquated hands. Ha!

They also like the experience of being in a room together rather than each person at their computer at home (or even sitting in a room with laptops together).

I will be running LMoP for them on Monday, and it would be cool to use FG to keep track on the Party Sheet, Combat Tracker etc. When they build their PCs, I can just build them in FG.

But to avoid theater of the mind, I'd like to connect my laptop to a flat screen monitor and lay it on the table AS THE MAP(S). It would need to be (basically) flat, sturdy, and not break the bank.

Any suggestions?

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by damned

Pics please!

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Here you are, a picture of the front and the back. The front shot shows the tv/monitor powered on and attached to one of my Chromecasts. The back picture just has the angled HDMI adapter in of the HDMI sockets.

The angle is a bit low, so the legs look much longer than the tv/monitor. In the real world, the legs are about as long as the screen.

Senjak

A bit of follow-up.

My group loved the digital map. We just used it to display the image and to mirror it to the far end of the table. We're likely to expand our use of digital tools much further.

It helps that we've several geeky folks in the group that really liked playing around with the setup I dragged along.

Primary monitor for players as above, a 42" tv.
Secondary monitor feed via a google chromecast -- we dragged a tv in from another room and set it up on the far side of the table.
Third monitor used by the gm as a second screen to his laptop so that he could preview what the players would see.
Bag of cables to hook nearly anything up to the monitors.

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!

Thread necro...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Trenloe

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.

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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:

https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forum...chmentid=15106

https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forum...chmentid=15107


Player view:
https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forum...chmentid=15108

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.

Nice :) Looks like a great time!

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

Nice!

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Originally Posted by damned

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

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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... :)

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?

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

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.

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Originally Posted by 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?

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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.

Sorry for my noobness but:

1 - How do you put the map in the tv while it is still in the laptop monitor?
2 - How do you hide the DM options in the tv (monster sheets, combat tracker, etc)?

You use the laptop with hdmi out to the TV... Then run 2 instances of FG. Ones on the laptop screen and one in the TV... Both are controlled by the laptop.
You run the TV FG and connect to localhost. It's like a player is connected. You share maps from the laptop and the they will pop up on the TV... Mouse over and resize.

Not on the table, but that leaves us more space for beers and snacks. ;)

Attachment 15165

Well I don't own such a table but it is really awesome, but when I play in person I use FG to track monster stats and abilities, and characters stats.

I converted an old TV screen myself into something for tabletop gaming, here is a link to my website with images as well as a bit about how I built it. Cost was $60 in materials, Bottle of vodka (traded for TV) and about 4-5 hours on a Saturday afternoon in the basement shop.

https://thefriisfamily.squarespace.c...-and-crafting/

Feel free to leave coments and feedback on my site as I am always looking to improve.

Cheers

I use FG to run my local game, but I do not use a monitor as a table.

Instead, I use the Wide Screen TV at the head of our gaming table and I mainly use it as a narrative tool. I still manage combat with it, but I only show the players what a player client would see.

Here is the setup.

My laptop runs the campaign. It also runs a Remote Desktop window to another computer running the joined client.

The joined client is logged into the game but also has a Screen share running via Google Cast to the front room widescreen. The players are at the table, in front of that display.

When I do something, say share a map, I put a Mask Layer on it, then share it to the client. The screen share then rebroadcasts it out to the Widescreen, where the masked map appears.

As I reveal areas on the map, the rebroadcasted client version slowly reveals progress.

Also, if I want to display an image of an NPC or Setting, I can share that while I'm verbally describing them.

My players really like it. They can still play at a table and not have to haul out computers, while I get all the benefits of game management.

It's the sole reason I bought FG.

So I posted it in a Facebook group and a guy who uses FG there did it:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/y70vdgv3oi...31335.mp4?dl=0

Don't know how to embbed here.

BTW: The post was a huge success in the d&d page in Facebook, so far 220 likes and 86 shares.

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Originally Posted by Qoff

So I posted it in a Facebook group and a guy who uses FG there did it:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/y70vdgv3oi...31335.mp4?dl=0

Don't know how to embbed here.

BTW: The post was a huge success in the d&d page in Facebook, so far 220 likes and 86 shares.

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This is mine! :P Let me help you there.

I do not really DM in person anymore, I haven't invited friends over to play D&D for over 3 years. I have never ever played my favorite system that is Savage Worlds in person even though I own the books so I've never thought about creating a nice setup for play. But after I saw this post I started thinking about it and here's my setup:

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And finally the video using it: https://www.dropbox.com/s/y70vdgv3oi...31335.mp4?dl=0


What I have is: Two copies Fantasy Ground are running on my PC. One is the one I'll use to DM, the other one is on the big screen just to be used to look at the map from a higher perspective.
Another copy of FG is running on my GF's computer. Then I'm using a software to stream that computer's screen to my Android tablet using Splashtop HD and that's it. I'm yet to play like this, I might invite some people just to test this out but if I do I plan to play using real dice and their sheets in paper, but I'd assign their damage manually into FG and would use FG to attack them and stuff like that.

https://mgpotter.com/in-person-5e-dd...ntasy-grounds/

FG shared this blog on their Facebook page. In my blog I have a link to a project (not mine) on building a table with an inset monitor.

Ok, so I've been playing on FG for the last few months now. I'm running a group of co-workers, friends and my wife. It's all been online so far. For this Sunday, though, we are holding an IRL session at my house. I'm still tinkering with the setup, but right now I plan to run FG with my laptop and connect the second instance (localhost) to my projector screen. I've then set up my texas holdem table, which can seat 8-9 comfortably in front of the big screen with the players sitting at the table. The players will have their character sheets and one very small laptop with a wireless mouse that they will pass around when it is their turn. The "chip holders" built into the table will function as dice holders. I plan to have the players manually roll checks and perhaps saves, but run actual combat through FG in the combat tracker.

The attached screenshots still aren't the best, but I'll try to post more later when I have it set up for Sunday. The laptop in the pictures is larger than the one the players will use. I set it up to test the setup and played my last session of Rob2e's Unknown Whom on it this past Sunday. It worked great! I love all the setups I've seen on this thread. Very creative group!

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