DM/Player Tool: iplay4e.com

I wanted to spend some time and show off this cool application called iplay4e.com i call it an application because it was originally designed for iphone/mobile phone use. But the site has exploded in the last month constantly being talked about on twitter even by key wizards of the coast people. I'm sure by now most other bloggers are aware of this tool and most people have heard about it but i wanted to spend some time and give it some attention it deserves.

What is iplay4e.com you ask?
Its basically a website that you can store and share your 4e characters, and use it as a interactive character sheet.

All you need is a Google account, and a DDI character file. Once you login you click on the upload button and upload your character file and there you go. Your character is now presented in a nice little screen that will load up on your mobile phone.

But the key is the ability to share your character sheets, first you can just make them public so others can view them, but you can actually share it with your DM so the character shows up in his shared list.

This makes this tool not only great for players but key for dungeon masters and those who run games online or use their laptop to play. iplay4e.com has whats called a Pin up feature, it allows you to pin up the character sheet. this is the feature that will give your DM easy access to your players at all time, and if your using iplay4e.com to play, then he will get live updates as it happens.

Its not just there to show your character sheet, but it also provides the ability to roll dice where ever its needed, add experience points, add and remove damage/healing surges. It is a interactive character sheet.

iplay4e.com also appears to be integrated into the DDI compendium, as all the powers, races and items have a little (?) by them that links to that item in the database.

There is lots of potential to iplay4e.com from the ability for you to play even if you forgot your character sheet, a method to share your character with your DM, to work out tweaks on forums. I think its also good for one shot nights or delves where DM's can just upload your characters for you and your ready to go.

I would like to see the ability for DM's to create campaigns on the site, where once you pin up a campaign it just loads all the characters you've added to it, and add group XP/Gold. And the ability to hide menu and news panels would also be handy.

Its a solid tool that's easy to use, and i highly recommend everyone spend 20 minutes on the site playing around, its easy to see how useful it can be. It makes me wish i had a iphone and was a player.

Overall with some of the other 4e web tools out there they all seem to want to get their own share of money from everyone iplay4e.com is donation based which is good for players

That's it for me, until next time keep your dice on the table.