Computer Assisted Gaming

[Deadend]

I am starting to get into pen and paper RPGs, just did an evening of D20 Modern with a few friends (after 7 months of delays on getting the campaign started!) So I noticed that it seems to involve lots of erasing things on papers. There tend to be 3 or 4 laptops around when we play, so I am starting to wonder about having some Computer Assisted Gaming.

As in quick programs for rolling dice.
Maybe something for banging out rooms easily for the DM to show us stuff.
I took a quick look at OpenRPG and then quickly closed it as it was quite counter-intuitive for me.

Basically I want to know about anyway to remove the figuring out stats, having to check scores manually, and basically take the tedium out of it so that the group can focus on playing the game, not working the game.
I don't want to just go straight to roleplaying without stats, skills, or anything, as I feel the random + character ability factor is what makes it a game.

So if anyone has some advice for helping me avoid gaming like it's 1977, it would be handy.

[Loki]

If you do D&D 4th Edition, the http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/insider/characterbuilder is fantastic for character creation and leveling

It allows custom characters that do not have to fall under the provided guidelines and is updated with the major releases. It does cost money, but it is the best implementation of its kind. It also offers skills like cards that are really useful and the leveling up takes away all of the tedium.

[Deadend]

Damn, that doesn't help what my goal is too much, as I haven't gotten into proper D&D, although even the free version for levels 1-3 is quite dandy and I will probably use it at some point.

[Karak]

I am starting to get into pen and paper RPGs, just did an evening of D20 Modern with a few friends (after 7 months of delays on getting the campaign started!) So I noticed that it seems to involve lots of erasing things on papers. There tend to be 3 or 4 laptops around when we play, so I am starting to wonder about having some Computer Assisted Gaming.

As in quick programs for rolling dice.
Maybe something for banging out rooms easily for the DM to show us stuff.
I took a quick look at OpenRPG and then quickly closed it as it was quite counter-intuitive for me.

Basically I want to know about anyway to remove the figuring out stats, having to check scores manually, and basically take the tedium out of it so that the group can focus on playing the game, not working the game.
I don't want to just go straight to roleplaying without stats, skills, or anything, as I feel the random + character ability factor is what makes it a game.

So if anyone has some advice for helping me avoid gaming like it's 1977, it would be handy.
I have done both paperless and computers assisted and frankly found laptops and pc's to be far far more trouble. Perhaps it is because your new to it, but dm'ing is pretty easy especially keeping track of things if you have a couple 3x5 cards. If you can not live without dice rollers then check opensource in a search on google. There are hundreds of open source character sheet/dice roller/drawing programs.
Either way enjoy the gaming.

[Lint of Death]

Did somebody request a dice roller? (http://www.wizards.com/dnd/dice/dice.htm) Granted, it requires the Internet...

[Panthera]

I use gametable as a mass-roller when I DM with my laptop. You can type in commands like /roll d20 + 10
/roll 12d6

http://sourceforge.net/projects/gametable/

I also tend to write little C apps to speed up time-intensive tasks, like using the look-up table in the mass combat system that we use or rolling for heat exhaustion.

[Doogie2K]

I use gametable as a mass-roller when I DM with my laptop. You can type in commands like /roll d20 + 10
/roll 12d6

http://sourceforge.net/projects/gametable/

I also tend to write little C apps to speed up time-intensive tasks, like using the look-up table in the mass combat system that we use or rolling for heat exhaustion.

Back when my friends and I were way into Risk, we did the same thing for large-scale, late-game battles. I made a little VB6 program that rolled a selectable number of dice for each side and announced the outcome. It also kept track of turn-ins for armies. I modelled the UI after some pirate-themed DOS board game that used the same system for determining battle outcomes, whose name completely escapes me at just this time. For the most part, we still used dice, but when it was 170 vs 160, for (effectively) all the marbles, it was handy. The next version would've kept track of all the rolls until you reset (letting you basically simulate an entire battle), but I never got around to it.