For Good Or For Awesome - How To Use Google For Gaming

I like to do what they guys at Mystery Science Theatre 3000 did. When they got canceled because they couldn't afford the rights to make fun of crappy movies no one wanted to watch, they looked for new ways to do what they did better. They took technology that had very little to do with making fun of movies, and used it to make fun of movies. They created RiffTrax.com, and use their powers for good instead of evil. They used MP3s to do the job they were doing and not paying for the rights to use movies. That means they can mock big blockbusters and not have to pay for it.

Today we see gaming trying to do the same thing. There is a lot of hoopla about D&D going online. People are saying that its going to detract from the experience, others are saying it’s the next best thing since sliced bread. I say Wizards of the Coast is behind the times, they need to take a page out of Google’s book. instead of designing a show around making fun of movies, why not just take something and use it to make fun of movies. The same can be said for gaming; instead of designing a program to make it easier for your friends to kill the dragon, use a program for businesses to kill the dragon.

So, as we all know Google.com is going to one day own everything. Honestly I am more than content to go along with the ride. My day job uses Google mail, Google Docs, Google Spreadsheets, Google 3D, hell my iPhone uses Google Maps, and Google wrote a better mail webapp than Apple (and they released the damn phone). But what about those of us who like to use work related things for our definitely not work related shenanigans, say like… sending a party of evil doers into the clutches of a band of waiting PCs? Or managing a weekly LARP with 20 PCs? What about discussing what game the group will be playing this week? Google makes all these things possible…

G-Mail

Never mind that G-Mail is the key to a gateway of free apps, the way big G formats your inbox is clear and concise. Ever want to be able to discuss a topic with several people, and keep things easily formatted, say like on a forum? G-mail does that, it saves e-mails as “Conversations”, letting all parties involved click to go back and review conversations, or skip the whole lot if you don’t care to read it.

As someone who receives over 200 gaming related e-mails a day (I’m on a lot of lists) I can’t thank G-Mail enough for this!

Google Docs

Never has it been easier make sure your party is informed about the world you are playing in. Whenever I DM, I usually have my players play in one world that I have slowly been working on since I started gaming. It’s a low magic feudal world. Needless to say there is a lot of information, and history. Some PC driven, some I created. The best way to get information through? Just make a Google doc and invite your players. You can edit information on the fly and it will refresh for all viewers, there is even a chat panel to discuss on the doc.

Google Spreadsheet

Easy access to forms. Setting up a secure form on a Google spreadsheet is a breeze. E-mail the form out to your players, their input is put into a spreadsheet clearly, and concisely. Most of all the other players can’t see it! Running a vampire LARP? What better way to manage the dealings of the Kindred? If the Prince wants to manipulate the press to cover the latest Masquerade the same live update feature will show you the exact second he does. It will also show you the harpy spending actions to watch the prince.

Google Maps

Track a party’s progress over a map. Just use a real world location people have never been too. Medieval landscape? England. Dessert? Death Valley. Sweltering jungle? New Zealand! You can plot points, mark encounters and land marks as well. I ran a game with one game and two tables. There was one other DM and both parties were on the same island. We would both edit the map with the parties progress and when huge events went off we the other party thought it was NPCs. Boy were they surprised.

Google Calendar

Share your gaming schedule easily. Need to change the date of that shadow run? Waiting for a game to be released? Easy as, one, two, three, go. E-mail notifications are sent out, with RSVPs, forget about Facebook.

Google Sketchup

I stole this one from one of my friends, Heather. Need to show off that dungeon? Got multiple levels? Google Sketchup is the way to go. You can easily draw castles, houses, villages, warrens, dungeons, taverns, inns, corporate buildings. The list goes on and on, all in 3d! This works great for a tactical game. When its important for all sides of a building need to be considered.