Actually I’m working on an invention that would replace this altogether for all kinds of tabletop games, not just Role Play but Wargaming, Board Games, etc. Anything imaginable played on a tabletop.
But I still like the general set-up described/displayed here.
A projector combined with a Web-based tabletop role playing game tool make for a new and really cool way to play Dungeons and Dragons.
Reddit user Silverlight is a developer for Roll20, an online tool for virtual tabletop role playing game sessions, so he knows a thing or two about blending technology into traditional RPG play. By pairing Roll20 with a projector mounted on the ceiling, Silverlight is able to display digital maps on the tabletop for a home session of D&D.
And the coolest thing about these digital maps is the ability to show characters’ actual line of sight as they explore. Discussing the setup on Reddit, Silverlight says that this functionality is built into Roll20, and he made the cones of vision possible by manually revealing portions of the map to the players.
This isn’t really a practical setup to replicate. Silverlight used an Epson brand projector to make the digital maps, and a cheap Epson projector should run you about $300 on Amazon. Still, it demonstrates new possibilities for playing tabletop role playing games. Roll20 runs in a Web browser. Maybe someone can figure out how to make this setup work using a much more affordable smartphone projector.
The man largely credited as “the father of video games” has died at age 92, according to a report from Gamasutra. Ralph Baer, a German immigrant and inventor, created the very first home video game console in the late ‘60s. It was simply called the “Brown Box,” and it later came to be known as the Magnavox Odyssey in 1972 after he licensed out the design.
The device set the footprint for home consoles to this date: a computer in a box that was manipulated with controllers and connected to a television. He also developed a “light gun” controller that was bundled with a shooting game. It is widely believed to be the first-ever video game peripheral. Later, he designed the Simon pattern-matching electronic toy that’s still available today.
Baer was awarded the National Medal of Technology from President George W. Bush in 2006, and he received the Pioneer Award during the Game Developers’ Choice Awards in 2008 (video below). For more on Baer, check out this excellent interview from 2012 and this wonderful profile from Ars Technica.
A new museum dedicated to the advanced technological inventions of ancient Greek scientist Archimedes, has just opened up in Ancient Olympia, Greece, according to a news announcement in the Greek Reporter. More than fifty incredible inventions of ancient Greece have been reconstructed, including Archimedes’ screw, the robot-servant of Philon, the automatic theatre of Heron, ancient war machines, and the famous analogue ‘computer’ of Antikythera, covering the period from 2,000 BC up to the end of the ancient Greek world. The exhibition highlights the brilliance of the inventors of our past, and the amazing creations that laid the foundations for the technology we see today.
The museum was an initiative of engineer Kostas Kotsanas who has also established the Museum of Ancient Greek Technology in Katakolo, southern Greece. According to Kotsanas, the museum aims to highlight even the most unknown aspects of Archimedes’ scientific work, which shows that the technology of the ancient Greeks was not that far from the beginnings of modern technology.
Here are just five of the impressive inventions featured in the new exhibition:
The Robot Servant of Philon
Philo of Byzantium, also known as Philo Mechanicus, was a Greek engineer and writer on mechanics, who lived during the latter half of the 3rd century BC. Among his many inventions was a human-like robot in the form of a maid, who held a jug of wine in her right hand. When the visitor placed a cup in the palm of her left hand, she automatically poured wine initially and then she poured water into the cup mixing it when desired. The robot was created through a complex construction consisting of containers, tubes, air pipes, and winding springs, which interacted through variants in weight, air pressure, and vacuum. The result is the oldest known robot created by man.
The automatic servant by Philon of Byzantium. Photo: Augusta Stylianou
Archimedes’ Screw
Archimedes of Syracuse (c. 287 BC – 212 BC) was an Ancient Greek mathematician, physicist, engineer, inventor, and astronomer. Although few details of his life are known, he is regarded as one of the leading scientists in classical antiquity. A large part of Archimedes’ work in engineering arose from fulfilling the needs of his home city of Syracuse. King Hiero II commissioned Archimedes to design a huge ship, the Syracusia, which could carry 600 people and would be used for luxury travel, carrying supplies, and as a naval warship. Since a ship of this size would leak a considerable amount of water through the hull, the Archimedes’ screw was purportedly developed in order to remove the bilge water. Archimedes’ machine was a device with a revolving screw-shaped blade inside a cylinder. It was turned by hand, and could also be used to transfer water from a low-lying body of water into irrigation canals. The Archimedes’ screw is still in use today for pumping liquids and granulated solids such as coal and grain.
Heron of Alexandria (c. 10 – 70 AD) was a Greek mathematician and engineer who is considered to be one of the greatest experimenters of antiquity. One of his more artistic creations was an automatic theatre that presented Nauplius, a tragic tale set in the period after the Trojan War. As (presumably) amazed playgoers watched, the doors to a miniature theater swung open, and animated figures acted out a series of dramatic events, including the repair of Ajax’s ship by nymphs wielding hammers, the Greek fleet sailing the seas accompanied by leaping dolphins, and the final destruction of Ajax by a lightning bolt hurled at him by the goddess Athena. The entirely mechanical play, which was almost ten minutes in length, was powered by a binary-like system of ropes, knots, and machines operated by a rotating cylindrical cogwheel. Even the sound of thunder was produced, created by the mechanically-timed dropping of metal balls onto a hidden drum.
Heron’s automatic theatre
Archimedes’ Claw
The Claw of Archimedes (also known as the “iron hand”) was an ancient weapon devised by Archimedes to defend the seaward portion of Syracuse’s city wall against amphibious assault. Although its exact nature is unclear, the accounts of ancient historians seem to describe it as a sort of crane equipped with a grappling hook that was able to lift attacking ships partly out of the water, then either cause the ship to capsize or suddenly drop it.
These machines featured prominently during the Second Punic War in 214 BC, when the Roman Republic attacked Syracuse with a fleet of 60 Quinqueremes under Marcus Claudius Marcellus. When the Roman fleet approached the city walls under cover of darkness, the machines were deployed, sinking many ships and throwing the attack into confusion. Historians such as Polybius and Livy attributed heavy Roman losses to these machines, together with catapults also devised by Archimedes.
A painting of the Claw of Archimedes by Giulio Parigi, taking the name “iron hand” literally. Image source: Wikipedia
Archimedes’ Burning Mirrors
The 2nd century AD author Lucian wrote that during the Siege of Syracuse (c. 214–212 BC), Archimedes destroyed enemy ships with fire. Centuries later, Anthemius of Tralles mentions burning-glasses as Archimedes’ weapon. The device, sometimes called the “Archimedes heat ray”, was used to focus sunlight onto approaching ships, causing them to catch fire. It has been suggested that a large array of highly polished bronze or copper shields acting as mirrors could have been employed to focus sunlight onto a ship. This would have used the principle of the parabolic reflector in a manner similar to a solar furnace. A test of the Archimedes heat ray was carried out in 1973 by the Greek scientist Ioannis Sakkas. The experiment took place at the Skaramagas naval base outside Athens. On this occasion 70 mirrors were used, each with a copper coating and a size of around five by three feet (1.5 by 1 m). The mirrors were pointed at a plywood mock-up of a Roman warship at a distance of around 160 feet (50 m). When the mirrors were focused accurately, the ship burst into flames within a few seconds.
Archimedes Mirror by Giulio Parigi. Image source: Wikimedia
The newly launched museum includes 24 replicas of Archimedes’ inventions such as Archimedes’ screw, Archimedes’ mechanical planetarium, the diopter, the odometer, the hydrostatic paradox, the burning mirrors and war machines, as well as the inventions of other ancient Greek scientists. City mayor Thymios Kotzias said that the museum will contribute to bringing more tourists to Ancient Olympia.
Credit: The Trustees of the British Museum (Phys.org) —Recent evidence suggests that the Roman craftsmen who created the Lycurgus Cup, a glass drinking goblet, used nanotechnology to cause the goblet to change color under different lighting. The cup’s unique properties were first noted when it was brought to a museum in the 1950s—it wasn’t until 1990, however, that researchers figured out how the color changers were brought about…
An absolutely amazing piece of workmanship and imagine this as either an artefact or device in your game, or as an invention, machine, or possession in your writings!
Tome and Tomb 
THE PROJECTED GAME
Feb 3
Posted by Jack
Dungeons and Dragons comes to life on digital maps
on February 02, 2015
A projector combined with a Web-based tabletop role playing game tool make for a new and really cool way to play Dungeons and Dragons.
Reddit user Silverlight is a developer for Roll20, an online tool for virtual tabletop role playing game sessions, so he knows a thing or two about blending technology into traditional RPG play. By pairing Roll20 with a projector mounted on the ceiling, Silverlight is able to display digital maps on the tabletop for a home session of D&D.
imgur
imgur
And the coolest thing about these digital maps is the ability to show characters’ actual line of sight as they explore. Discussing the setup on Reddit, Silverlight says that this functionality is built into Roll20, and he made the cones of vision possible by manually revealing portions of the map to the players.
imgur
This isn’t really a practical setup to replicate. Silverlight used an Epson brand projector to make the digital maps, and a cheap Epson projector should run you about $300 on Amazon. Still, it demonstrates new possibilities for playing tabletop role playing games. Roll20 runs in a Web browser. Maybe someone can figure out how to make this setup work using a much more affordable smartphone projector.
Photo via Silverlight/imgur
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