Palm/Pocket PC OS Play Aids

I am curious.... how many players/readers have a PDA (personal Data Assistant)?

Does it use the Palm OS or Pocket PC OS?

My theory is that Star Trek fans, and hence players, are liekly to be on the leading edge of technology... and perhaps more amenable to play aids in this particular vehicle (vs PC). The Palm OS in particular is fairly efficient, and there are several Worksheet/Excel equivalents available. In addition, Adobe has an Acrobat Reader for the Palm OS, so one could view data (not necessarily pictures... yet) in their Palm.

When Decipher Trek comes out early next year, anyone facile with Palm OS skills interested in a character generator or ship design application (I'm not that proficient with the programming... yet).

Charles

On top of leading tech? For me I have to say "NO." I just got my first cell phone this year. I have been thinking about a PDA, but I just can't take the time to learn that short hand stuff. Though there is an accessory you can buy, its a leather folder with a pad of paper and a special pen. Whatever you right on the pad goes into the PDA, either that or I would have get the keyboard which kind of takes away from the compactness of the unit. I think the closest I will get is one day getting a lap top, when I can afford it.

I think it is more of a sterotype that ST fans are all technophlies, I'm not one, that's for sure.

I am. (a technophile)

Was dead set against Palm's prior to my current job as I was sure I would not be able to take the shorthand data entry. The person I was replacing had one and after a few days of playing with it I was hooked and got myself one. I'm still not going to be writing letters on it, but even though I have lousy handwriting it took me about 30 minutes to pick up the modified alphabet and I can now put in a short e-mail fairly quickly.

Mostly I use it for filling out forms of one sort or another (calender, to do, a database, etc). I can see how they would be useful. Basically one could either put the character sheet together on their computer and "sync" it over or if the format was fairly simple just put it right into the palm.

Now honestly I've played a diceless and paperless ST game for so long that I've almost forgotten what character sheets are for (that's what happens when one's players are no longer on the same land mass). But I can imagine that if you are playing a traditional game and everyone has palm pilots that you could do this. If you are really creative you might even be able to "beam" plot points to the character that figures out a clue, etc.

It isn't going to make gaming "easier" but if done correctly it might be a fun thing.

I personally love my Palm Pilot. I've got several gaming aids on it such as dice rollers, Storyteller system rollers, and other tools.
Learning the graffiti writing took all of ten minutes. Full text recognition on the Newton is what killed it - because the routines for recognition make writing agonizing.

You don't use the Palm for data entry - it is an 'extension' of your PC (the Palm inventors call it a tentacle). You don't write long documents on it unless you're a sucker for punishment. Keyboards require software to drive them, and they cut down on system resources which makes typing slow, and most of them suck up battery power to boot.

None of my apps relate to Trek, except a fun little game that reminds me of Red Alert.

What sort of aids were you looking for or suggesting? I have one (Casio running CE2.11) and about to purchase a new PocketPC 2002. I have thought about writing some apps for several gaming systems - but just never have gotten around to doing it?

Just to be the odd one out, I've got a Psion 5mx. I'd rather have a decent keyboard than a touchpad - my handwriting's lousy at the best of times.

No game apps yet, although I have a couple of game-related databases on it. I wrote a fair chunk of my contribution to the Cardassians book on it on the train (you can write longish documents on this one!), and I'm beginning to look into OPL to program my own stuff - once I have a couple of apps, I'll mention them here if anyone's interested.

You could set up a good suite of gaming tools by collecting a few pieces of software. I don't know the names of them off hand (because I know very few people with PDAs in my daily life), but here is what they can do:

An app that beams notes to other palms. Can be used to transfer player notes back and forth, or GM notes.

An app that can beam images to other palms. Can be used for maps.

An app that can be used as a doodle pad, then the doodle beamed to another palm (for quick maps).

I don't think one of the more important ones exists: A dice roller that can beam results back and forth.

Quote:

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Originally posted by ImperialOne
My theory is that Star Trek fans, and hence players, are liekly to be on the leading edge of technology...

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Unless, of course, they spend all their money on Trek stuff instead of non-Trek toys.

On a related note: Woohoo! I finally have the entire TOS run on DVD!

Tehnophile? Me? Hee hee hee. I'm known as "Crasher" to some of my friends. I swear, I can walk by a computer and it'll blow up, melt down, or just plain smush.

I use the cash at work: it freezes. I look the same thing up on the computer twice, it gives me different information. I have a watch that runs backwards after I wore it for a week. My microwave stops at random. My friends wouldn't let me look at their PDAs, let alone use one. :)

I make candles as a hobby, though that's no relation to my habit of burning through lightbulbs like a demon. ;)

The engineer in my tabletop group has a PDA, and she uses it for her character. I'm not allowed to touch/look/read/feel/come within four feet though. :)

The Doc

Imagus, nice to see someone else with some common sense, I too have a Psion, only a Series 5 though :) Good luck with the OPL programming. When I had the time, I used to program in OPL. If you need any help with anything, I would be glad to try and help.
I don't have too many play aids for my psion, just a few dice rollers and a few spacedock stats on there. I haven't really come across any material or aids for the psion. I wonder if it's a big enough niche?

I've got a Palm m130 and a collapsible keyboard. Along with WordSmith (word-processing) and Brainforest (an outliner), I can work on my ST adventures where ever I feel like it. (And, believe me, a Palm and a collapsible keyboard isn't nearly as cumbersome as a laptop.)

I've got a few dice-roller programs and a few programs specifically for D&D, but I've never found anything useful for Star Trek (well, other than the electronic PalmReader version of the Starfleet Survival Guide.)

OT: Post two hundred: Yes!

I've got a Toshiba e740) Pocket PC and it's just sweet. One of my players (and occasional co-GM) has a Casio Pocket PC, and we're planning to use 'em to beam notes, scans and other stuff back and forth during the game.

We've done similar stuff using our laptops. It's quite handy.

Sony Clie T615C...about the power of a slow desktop in the late 80s. I use it for class notes, working on my books when I'm not dragging the computer around. I've run games off of it, carrying the notes for an adventure with me, it's got a dice program that works (although a card program where I can just specify the number of cards per hand would be great for Castle Falkenstein...) It does good graphics, so I can load pics of things for the game, as well.

The keyboard does use up the battery a little faster, but it's no problen for a 6-8 hour game night where I don't use the keyboard and the PDA's not always on.

With the new ones, if you've got the Bluetooth or wireless modems, you can just call back to the PC, if there's something you need sent, or you need to hit email. A friend of mine had some thingy (tech term) that turned his into a cell phone, as well.

Give them another 2 years; they'll be a damn good alternative to the laptop.

Pocket PC here, specifically HP Jornada(would like a newer model, but can't afford it). Pocket PCs have an on screen keyboard, which can be turned off, as well as handwriting recognition, and an available external keyboard. Also I don't have the link handy but there is a dice roller, I have it on mine, and I think there is a palm version as well. Pocket PCs naively handle html(web) pages, word, and excel documents, and images. After doing a car mileage tracker/calculator in excel on my jornada I can't imagine doing a character generator would be too difficult. There are also database programs, html editors and even object oriented programming environments.