Hybrid app-boardgames are a thing. The new Lord of the Rings boardgame uses an app as an event randomizer which allows lots of replay value. Card games like Fantasy Realms use an app for quick scoring. In RPG land, we've seen apps for chargen and keeping track of your character.

If you were to imagine an app useful to your RPG play, what would it do?

I'd like a screen that acts as an interactive battlemap with sound effects.

NPC generators are what I tend to use more than anything. Detailed ones.

Quote from: Shawn Driscoll;1111007NPC generators are what I tend to use more than anything. Detailed ones.

Yes an OSR NPC generator with "tone" and "system" settings would be very cool.

One that made all electronic devices within 10-20 feet of the table semi-inoperable.  Let notifications get through, and then the player can go in another room to handle it.

Yes, I know that it is technically infeasible, and in some jurisdictions would get you arrested even if you wasted the time and money to build it.

Quote from: Steven Mitchell;1111037One that made all electronic devices within 10-20 feet of the table semi-inoperable.  Let notifications get through, and then the player can go in another room to handle it.

Yes, I know that it is technically infeasible, and in some jurisdictions would get you arrested even if you wasted the time and money to build it.

"Welcome to game night, you will find the kitchen table and snacks down the hall, pay no attention to the Faraday cage surrounding them."

With voluntary use by the phone owner, that is actually feasible. Something like a Bluetooth mesh of the phones, using the gyroscope or screen wake time... if the phone is picked up for more than a few seconds, let the GM's phone know. Use it for doling out in game bonuses or detriments.

There's a game called (I think) "the phone game" played by people at restaurants, where their phones all go in a pile and the first person who picks theirs up has to buy the group a round of drinks or snacks or whatever. Could be adapted and mechanized for RPGs.

As for Spinachcat's OP, I'd love a procedural dungeon iterator that kept state on the dungeon built so far, generated rooms and levels as the PCs explored, and handled generating at least monster and treasure suggestions. Would be nice to have as an option for low-prep / ad-hoc / last minute sessions to automate away some of the work.

One that jams/deactivates everyone's cell phone except for mine.

I already have the only app I need for RPG purposes: the Crawler Companion.

I run 4E and I find Masterplan invaluable. I write my adventures and campaigns using it (it's also where I create and store NPCs and monsters), and then I use it in play to manage combats.

Love it.

I own a few app-driven board games but have recently soured on the idea. The only one I still use is Mansions of Madness and that's only because my kids like that game. The problem with it, and the reason I don't want something like that in an RPG context, is that it greatly limits any sort of modification of the game. In a traditional board game, if a rule doesn't work well or a card is overpowered, you can simply change the rule or through away the card and keep playing.

However, there is on App that I think would be exceedingly useful for the OSR and that's a Clone Generator. Simply select all the options that you'd like (ascending AC, B/X classes, single saving throw, etc) from a list and the App will generate a PDF file containing a custom made OSR retro-clone. You could even have selections for various campaign settings (medieval, ancient, oriental, Greyhawk, etc) and the generator will populate the equipment and random encounter lists with the appropriate items and monsters.

Quote from: Steven Mitchell;1111037One that made all electronic devices within 10-20 feet of the table semi-inoperable.  Let notifications get through, and then the player can go in another room to handle it.

Yes, I know that it is technically infeasible, and in some jurisdictions would get you arrested even if you wasted the time and money to build it.

Just declare the game room a secure area, and make them leave their phones outside.

A long time ago, a friend of mine built an elaborate companion app for his homebrew system in HyperCard on the Macintosh.

The most useful function was to automate combat, as it allowed the combat system to be complex, with things like detailed hit locations and automatic weapons fire tracked bullet by bullet, without slowing down the game.

Another useful function would be to handle initiative, as again you could make the system detailed and complex but offload all the detail management and calculations onto the computer.

I GM. So Microsoft Note has been useful.

But now I mostly use Google Drive to store my GMing campaign stuff - which lets me use their suite of apps as needed in one nice folder for all my players to access. I will set security controls to allow me to do "blue-booking" during the week with them. I keep a folder for maps, weekly re-caps, and campaign notes for the players. I generally include a list of notable NPC's with blurbs so the players can remember the cast of thousands they run across. I'll include pictures as necessary. Plus I keep a folder for setting-specific rules if any that are in play.