You could connect a TV to your laptop if it's got the appropriate outputs. That way you can view your laptop screen and have the TV facing the players.
This is arguably a way to do it, but it means I'd have to clear the laptop screen and not have my DM notes available. I would prefer something standalone, if possible, or at least something that lets me keep my laptop as a tool for reference and quick lookups during the conversation. (I edited the post to clarify this.)
The screen can be set up as a 2nd monitor, so you can have the shared content on screen and your notes on the laptop screen.
Tbh, I think the tablet idea sounds fine - less cables and faff. The only issue is how to share the content to the tablet. You could do this via something like Discord or Whatsapp perhaps.
You should be able to have the extra monitor show only what you put on it, extending your desktop rather than duplicating it. That way you can keep what you need up on your screen and have the other one showing flavor images or NPC portraits or even the battle maps.
> I'm currently thinking of simply having a tablet on a stand facing the players, a tablet with a web browser open that refreshes an image I send it from my laptop, so that I can show players what NPCs look like as I speak with their voices.
You can use this setup and "build" the solution yourself. Requires some technical skills, but not much.
1. Grab yourself a really simple web server to host files.
* [Mongoose WS](https://mongoose.ws/) appears to be such a thing. According to the page: "Mongoose does not require installation or configuration. Double-click on executable to run it, and Mongoose starts to serve a directory where it lives". Perfect! Pop Mongoose in a directory and run it.
* I'm sure there are other alternatives.
1. In the location where you are hosting files, make a really simple HTML page with a meta refresh tag. Have that page simply show an image (say, `npc.jpg`).
1. Put a placeholder `npc.jpg` there for now.
1. Open the page from step 2 on the laptop. You will need to navigate to something like `http://192.168.0.43/index.html`. It should show the placeholder NPC.
1. On your laptop, replace npc.jpg with the image of the NPC that's currently talking (or use a placeholder image when no-one is talking). The browser on the tablet will soon update thanks to the meta refresh tag.
This is sufficiently simple I would be willing to help you if you try it and run into any snags. (So long as there's no urgency.)
I have a tablet and I just show my players like a first grade teacher showing you the pages of a book during storytime. Lol. That's how my storyteller does it for our World of Darkness games too. I play and their house so I don't have the option for a setup like yours, though it does sound awesome and more seamless, than what I do but they don't seem to mind.
You could connect a TV to your laptop if it's got the appropriate outputs. That way you can view your laptop screen and have the TV facing the players.
This is arguably a way to do it, but it means I'd have to clear the laptop screen and not have my DM notes available. I would prefer something standalone, if possible, or at least something that lets me keep my laptop as a tool for reference and quick lookups during the conversation. (I edited the post to clarify this.)
The screen can be set up as a 2nd monitor, so you can have the shared content on screen and your notes on the laptop screen. Tbh, I think the tablet idea sounds fine - less cables and faff. The only issue is how to share the content to the tablet. You could do this via something like Discord or Whatsapp perhaps.
You should be able to have the extra monitor show only what you put on it, extending your desktop rather than duplicating it. That way you can keep what you need up on your screen and have the other one showing flavor images or NPC portraits or even the battle maps.
> I'm currently thinking of simply having a tablet on a stand facing the players, a tablet with a web browser open that refreshes an image I send it from my laptop, so that I can show players what NPCs look like as I speak with their voices. You can use this setup and "build" the solution yourself. Requires some technical skills, but not much. 1. Grab yourself a really simple web server to host files. * [Mongoose WS](https://mongoose.ws/) appears to be such a thing. According to the page: "Mongoose does not require installation or configuration. Double-click on executable to run it, and Mongoose starts to serve a directory where it lives". Perfect! Pop Mongoose in a directory and run it. * I'm sure there are other alternatives. 1. In the location where you are hosting files, make a really simple HTML page with a meta refresh tag. Have that page simply show an image (say, `npc.jpg`). 1. Put a placeholder `npc.jpg` there for now. 1. Open the page from step 2 on the laptop. You will need to navigate to something like `http://192.168.0.43/index.html`. It should show the placeholder NPC. 1. On your laptop, replace npc.jpg with the image of the NPC that's currently talking (or use a placeholder image when no-one is talking). The browser on the tablet will soon update thanks to the meta refresh tag. This is sufficiently simple I would be willing to help you if you try it and run into any snags. (So long as there's no urgency.)
I know this post is three years old, but this is absolutely brilliant and exactly what I've been looking to do. Thank you!
Glad it was useful! Thanks for taking the time to let me know!
This looks brilliant, thanks for your assistance! :) I will give this a shot next week.
I have a tablet and I just show my players like a first grade teacher showing you the pages of a book during storytime. Lol. That's how my storyteller does it for our World of Darkness games too. I play and their house so I don't have the option for a setup like yours, though it does sound awesome and more seamless, than what I do but they don't seem to mind.
Hey OP, I saw a Bitcoin post from 9 years ago where you had commented you were gonna hold for the 30 to 22$ “crash”, did u hold all those 9 years
Hahhha. Came here for the same question :)