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I mentioned briefly an Awesome D&D Setup Using Projectors, which is basically just hanging a projector on a ceiling, with it pointing downward on a table, and using a computer to display map images through it. This makes using miniatures while exploring a dungeon a bit more fun, as your players can see what’s going on in their characters’ points of view.

Now I’ve found that there are prototypes being developed of computers that would literally be inside a table, with the screen being the table surface. This can be just as awesome, if not more so, as using projectors to display maps for miniature use. Here’s a couple links with images of such computers:

• Microsoft’s Milan
• HP’s Misto PC

While the idea definitely isn’t knew (Pacman games have been on table top arcade systems), I think both companies are improving on the idea, by using the actual screen as the table surface. And as long as the screen itself is nice and sturdy (CRTs, for example, are really thick), they would make for a really nice play surface for miniatures and dice rolling!

Now the pictures I’ve linked to above are pretty and all, but they pale in comparison of this video of Microsoft’s Milan: