Last night I was invited to attend a party at Carnegie Mellon University’s Entertainment Technology Center, which was showcasing some of the best projects from their students.  The event we attended seemed to be a sort of after party for the Building Virtual Worlds show, and we got to tour this impressive facility filled to capacity with geek and entertainment culture.  I wasn’t able to get quite as many pictures as I wanted, because believe me when I say the place was packed to capacity and not to mention we had a 6 month old baby demanding as much attention as he could possibly get. But, the reason I attended this event was not the massive gallery of geekery.  No, I was there to see SurfaceScapes I can’t stress my love for Dungeons & Dragons enough in this forum of communication.  Whenever I have time, I absolutely adore heading down to one of our many local gaming stores with books, dice and miniatures in hand, and jumping into a game of D&D.  But I’m not a purist.  I’m always looking to make my D&D easier and more streamlined.  I use my netbook or laptop along with the D&D Insider, which is a series of tools and programs that manage everything from character sheets to item compendiums to monster manuals.  I still buy the books, because I like reading them.  But I do not like carrying them.  It can get heavy hauling all of that stuff around!  So the more technology they can pump into D&D, the happier I am.

That is where SurfaceScapes comes in.  Leave your books and dice at home!  Bring a few select miniatures.  You’re ready to go.  How is this possible, D&D without dice or books?!  Check out the video below.  Short explanation as I understand it is there are 5 infrared cameras under this touch sensitive tabletop.  Items you put down can be sensed, interacted with, labeled, identified and modified (Stats wise).  So imagine the table you’ve been having your adventures on simply becoming an extension of the DM himself.  It is truly amazing stuff.  Check out the video above and the link to their project, it will explain the minutia better than I can, as I’ve only had about 15 minutes hands on with this little wonder.

Photos from the Geek Mueseum:

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