I have recently become quite interested in Dungeons and Dragons. I had played a little while right after high school in the summer of 2019 with my friends Ian and Matthew (and another we shall exclude). At Ian's request, I had been listening to Dungeons and Daddies and Not Another D&D Podcast continuously. Having been wholly captivated by these worlds I wanted to play again.
Two years in to having a miniscule geographically available social circle, I decided the best option was to be the DM myself. So I invited Shaye, Daniel, and Amanda to play! Being completely new to DM-ing, I thought it wise to use a some official DnD content: The Dragon Delves.
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It's Just SO cool!
When playing a TTRPG (Table Top Role Playing Game) there are many options for how to provide an "immersive" experience at the table. My personal choice would be the use of maps, miniatures, terrain pieces, and a ruler, but this comes with a need for space, money, and an amount of patience for painting/crafts that I just simply don't have.
So, I came up with an idea for a table top focal point: 40x30 grid of 1"x1" screens individually driven by their own microcontroller networked together with a z-axis linear actuator for elevation representations!
Yeah... that's a lot
When that idea proved to be too complex (for now), I moved on to a simpler, more attainable idea (SMART Goals and all). I would purchase a small computer, an existing monitor, and a compatible touch screen and just build an aesthetically tied-in frame for it all.
Now that's an attainable idea!
Beginning
I want to say I did everything the way I was taught. You know, aerospace design in three familiar stages: conceptual, preliminary, and detailed design. Why did I keep all the textbooks if I wasn't going to use them? But, that's work, this is a passion project! I jumped right in.
Early Purchases
There were a few things I knew I was going to need: a monitor and a computer. Luckily for me, my friend and FREDDY's propulsion expert, Logan had given me a Raspberry Pi as a graduation gift. So all I needed at this early phase was a monitor to be able to test all of the software I might want to use on.
I was so excited to have such a meaningful head start!
