[Rintaran]

There are different types of candles out there and all of them give off a different amount of light. I find that a small box of short white emergency candles tend to give off the most light, usually more than enough to see a couple of character sheets by. As tempting as it may be, stay away from large dark-coloured candles. They may look cool, but they give off almost no light.

[ladyofdragons]

Quote

As far as #1, you do realize you'll be reminded by the whole group to have some coffee with dinner now.     It could be worse though... if yer hubby was still working at the medical warehouse, I could have seen a coffee IV drip in your future.

After dinner, please. The thought of drinking hot liquid with dinner skeeves me out. must drink cold stuff.

[Shadow_Wolf]

The trick with candles is to "layer" the light. It is possible to get both atmospher and efetivness. The important thig is varity. do not limit yourself to only one type.

[donaghey]

ahhh true i find that a candleabra (god i can't spell) you can use a regular 12" candle and three of them will fill a my room which is about12 feet by8 feet which is pretty good a candleabra is exactly what you should us or use just 12 inch candles in regular candle holders 2 will deffinately cover your entire dm screen and everything inside
you just have to play around with these things
>donaghey

[Pieter Turash]

We use the computer quite a bit to speed things along. The DM uses the computer and puts any dungeons up on Photo Shop on a second monitor. None of the players are allowed to see the DM's screen (in this case a real screen). and the DM canerase the blacked-out areas of the dungeon or map as the players reach them. it also helps to use dots to show where each character is in relation to the map. It it sooooo much faster than trying to use lead figurines. We also set up a special program for rolling initiative and the DM rolls the dice for everything. It is also fun to have pictures and images as well as MP3's of music that the DM can bring up on the screen or on the speakers at appropriate times. Using the computer has managed to really speed up the game as well as make it much more interesting so that there is less of a likelihood of people falling asleep.

[Rintaran]

I've found through experimentation that the use of a computer is a two-edged sword. To play mp3s during the game, good, provided there aren't any lyrics. If there are lyrics, the players get distracted trying to listen to them, or worse, sing along. The rolling utility is alright, but my players like to make use of dice themselves and get bored if they haven't rolled something for an hour {even if the roll actually means nothing at all}. As for the map on the screen, well, to have anything on a computer screen naturally attracts eyes and attention, even if the players can't see it, the DM can. We've tried it with several different DMs, all with the same result: the DM is distracted by the screen. Also, unless you have a lap-top, computers aren't mobile. So if you're going to play a session someplace special {like in a grove, a cave, a beach, or that old abandoned and apparently haunted house up the hill} or if you rotate locations for your games, you have to do it the old fashioned way.

Now, many of the cons having been said for using a computer DURING the gaming session, I must say that it's a great time-saver for DMs between sessions. You can keep track of your character's progress in nifty little charts and graphs that players just love to see later on, you can create your maps using any one of the numerous mapping programs out there, obtain special effects sounds that you can burn on a regular CD and play using a simple discman and a pair of $2 speakers, etc. No doubt you can think up more.

That all being said, if you've used a computer during gaming sessions forever, congratulations on staying on the good side of the sword.

[Pieter Turash]

It has worked for us and the music we use is usually just mood music, you're right about the lyrics. We have even been able to have a player who moved away still play in the campaign by putting PC Anywhere on his computer and having him link up to ours as well as hooked up an omnidirectional microphone and webcam so he can see us, hear us, and know what is happening almost as if he were in the room. None of us seem to care too much about rolling our own dice, role-playing is the most important factor for our group.