Maptools tips & tricks

[mhd]

From previous threads I've gathered that quite a few people use Maptools as a virtual playground software, both for online and offline play. I recently got into it and it's going pretty well. I mostly use two instances at the table, one one my laptop, one on another screen (projector or old monitor) and do all the moving around myself.

So I'd be happy to hear your current tricks and maybe get a few neat macros. But I'd also like to hear some specifics, if possible:

- Do you still use Maptool or a Fork (like Mote)?
- Any ideas on how to speed up player movement, like passing around a tray with a wireless mouse, getting everyone a laser pointer or something similar?
- Is it worth having detailed NPC info in the Tokens themselves? Right now I'll just have a few macro buttons to quickly add damage tallies and then compare them to my regular notes.
- Close combat is a bit of a mess, with two tokens occupying the same spot. You get the pop up on a double click, but it still slows me down untangling them and at a glance not everything is visible. Can this be improved upon?

[Bruno]

As my two games a week are both online, I mostly use MT there, but when I last had face-to-face games we did use MT. So, some comments:

Because we're a pile of nerds, we had just about everyone with their own device. This obviously simplifies passing controls around (ie, we don't have to), but absent that the wireless mouse is a good route.

When we had players without devices (we were first testing the idea) some players wanted to move their token themselves quite a bit. Some other players really couldn't give a crap (or had sore backs) and were happy instructing movement from their comfortable armchair across the room. Depending on your group, a mixed solution might be best.

Re: stuff on the token. As a GM, I have found that tracking HP on the tokens reduces a lot of confusion for a pile of NPCs. This is best done with some sort of HP management macro, but just manually adjusting the HP total works fine. A HP macro that alerts you when the NPC has gone over some interesting breakpoint is very handy, though.

For a combat heavy game, I find it really helps to put basic stat roll macros on the NPCs - being able to select a group of NPCs and roll HT or Will resist for all of them at once with one button click is great.

I've also written a token that handles explosions and shrapnel as that's a feature that's omnipresent in our games. It makes those rules kinda cool, instead of painfully fiddly.