[october8140]

There is a huge demand for an off the shelf device like this for TTRPGs. There are entire companies making animated maps that are predicated on people laying a TV on its back on a table and building a custom case for it. I imagine they would all love to sell their maps on a dedicated off the shelf product.

[shib71]

Yes, I could see a lot of GMs being interested in plug in and go product that fills that niche. Implementing the right feature set is challenging, as existing dedicated virtual tabletops have already shown. But something like a simple Owlbear Rodeo extension that adds basic miniature recognition might be all we need.

[kdmoyers]

Sure! It's smallish, but ttrpg players are accustomed to filling in with their imagination. You might even have a pan feature that would shift the map and show markers to help minis get replaced correctly. This might help with the size problem a bit.

[1313ed01]

Many say they would be useful for RPGs, but how? I know those that play with a large screen (i.e. old tv) on the table to display maps while playing. You do not need to track the pieces for that though? Typically the GM has a phone or laptop with a UI to control what is displayed when, to reveal new areas etc. I can't imagine a game or time when it would make sense that a player moves a miniature/token on a digital board and triggers something that happens automatically? Maybe if you were playing more like a solo or coop CRPG without a GM, but that is a completely different kind of game and everyone here is specifically mentioning using it to support TTRPGs.

[mdouglass]

I am one of those DMs and I've thought before about trying to build a system like this. The main problem for me with the screen is that it is hard from my position to tell exactly what square any particular mini is in. It would be great for me if my laptop's view of the map showed where minis were and where they were moving to.

I agree that I wouldn't want new area of the map to be automatically revealed, but detecting where they were and giving me a one-click option to reveal X squares around the mini would definitely save me time at the time.

That being said, this screen is a non-starter for me because it is just too small. We use a 40+ inch screen and I'd love to go even bigger than that. Definitely not down to a (maybe) 23x13 square screen.

[qwertytyyuu]

its too small to work for TTRPGs at the moment but if we could get the capacitive pattern tech and expand that to work on digitiser layer on a tv sized screen, i would be really cool.

[sleepybrett]

It depends on the size of your table, of course. The area looks no bigger than game's i've played that use a battlemap or like a little miniature scene with dungeon tiles. Bigger is certainly better as we age or if the physical table you play on is huge though.

[_zoltan_]

would you have a video link to such a map in action? I've never came across this before and sounds very interesting.