I know 4th edition is relatively new, but does anybody know of any GMing software or tools that would be easy to use on a laptop in both pre-game and during the game. things like Charactor generators, and something to make maps with quickly would be good.

I've looked at a few like Open RPG, but everything i've looked at seems like it was made for AD&D and then quick and dirty adapted for other RPGs.

I use Google SketchUp to make maps. Probably not fast enough to use during a game, but if you know your PCs are going into a location, you can make the map before hand.

I, too, am looking for a tool to aid in my GMing. I need something to help me track people by their relationships. Someone described to me once a tool they had where they listed each character (PC and NPC) and then would say how they related to others. It would then display your list in a chart format with connecting lines between names and relationship descriptions on the connectors.

For instance, I might input this:

are you looking for something that keeps track of that info for you? or "generates" npc relationships?

Oh. I definitely want to put it in myself. I've got a scheme in my head and I've put some of it down, but as it grows in complexity, I'm inevitably going to forget something.


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I'm looking for something that will allow me to create my own NPCs and configure them myself, and create a database of them. Plus a generator that will create an NPC on the fly according to certain prerequisites so that you don't have to stop the action when the players go off course and I don't have an NPC for the occasion.

Map Editors, Plot generators and Dice rollers are a bonus really, but it would be nice to have as well

Interesting. I'll have to play with this some and see if I can make it do what I want it to. It's certainly the closest I've seen to what I envisioned so far. Thanks!


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I'm a flash developer, looking to make a few flash apps for similar tasks. The reason I'm using flash is that I can write apps that will work on mobile phones and with little modification (very little) also on PCs.

Right now I'm working on a dice roller, with what is IMHO a good interface, and a few bells and whistles attached. I'll try and get that one out for both mobile and normal flash (7+ unless I go crazy with features). I figure that if something runs on a mobile with a good interface then it'll be a small window on the screen so you can have a bunch of apps open.

That project's on-ice for now, however, as I'm doing real work this week (lots of real work, 8 days of it to be precise).

If people give me ideas for apps then I'll look at what I can do. Certainly boxes with names in them and labelled lines are easy enough. It might not be a realistic option for a mobile app due to space and input options, but flash can go full-screen on a PC and that opens-up the mouse as an option...

Just don't expect 'flashy' graphics like you might have come to expect from flash. I've been lucky and had designers (some really good ones at that) doing that side of things for me. We're talking solid blocks of colour and maybe a drop-shadow, gradient, 'tween', or alpha fade if I'm feeling creative. For me flash is simply a way to code cross-platform graphical interfaces quickly.

There's some free mind-mapping software that can help show relationships like that as well. Try: Free Mind