D&D game aids
Filed under Love Your Geek on March 10, 2008
Keywords: 4E, Dungeons and Dragons, initiative, spells
The last couple Save My Game columns in Dungeon magazine have discussed game aids used to help your sessions run smoother. I’ll admit I was one of those DMs who would spend too much time thumbing through rulebooks to look stuff up, often making a “common sense” ruling in order to get noses out of books and attention back to the game. I really liked some of the suggestions the articles mentioned, and would use them in upcoming games.
Numbered cards was a great idea for tracking initiative. I normally have a sheet that I write the order down on, but that results in a lot of erasing or wasted paper. With some of the 4E changes to effect durations, the need to track rounds lessens. Another drawback to my method was that I was the only one who saw the order. Having folded cards in front of each player, with a number representing their place in the initiative order, is a great visual cue for everyone.
Another aid I’d like to use are index cards with short descriptions of spells, feats, powers (for 4E) and maybe even skills. While this may take a big investment up front (I’d likely create them myself rather than purchase), I think the dividends are worth it. Not only does it help steer the game clear of the rulebook mire, but it gives the players something tangible to represent what their character is doing. Is your wizard going to cast crushing despair? Toss the index card onto the battle mat or at the DM (but not at the face; it’s all fun and games until someone pokes an eye out 
), who can pick up the card to read the effects rather than dig through the PHB for this obscure spell.
So, what aids do you use in your games?
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March 10th, 2008 at 11:04 am
We had a magnetic dry erase board with magnets for each of the PCs’ names. So we could write in the enemies and just move around the PCs in the initiative count, if needed.
I’ve also used a Tact-Tiles Dry Erase grid mat (their website seems down, I hope the company is still around), which worked pretty well. I’ve also used a projector for visuals, but it was an imperfect system.
March 10th, 2008 at 12:19 pm
I use the Paizo Combat Pad for tracking initiative, which is a magnetic wet/dry erase board.
http://paizo.com/store/byCompany/o/openMindGames/v5748btpy7uvm&source=search
It’s a fantastic accessory, and a worthwhile investment.
I also use wire templates that show areas of effect for spells. It’s always fun to lay one of these suckers down when your character is launching a fireball at somebody.
March 10th, 2008 at 1:53 pm
I’ve used various aids for initiative - white boards, index cards, a single sheet of paper, little pieces of paper with each person’s character name, folded cards kept in front of players. My favorite is the white board, it’s easy for everyone to see what the initiative order is, where each person is, and it takes only a second to update. Having it hanging behind me makes for easy updating and reference.
Ever since starting 3rd ed. I’ve used miniatures (even somewhat before that, but not too much), that is pretty much a given for D&D nowadays. Up until recently I’ve used others grid mats, but just recently acquired my own that will take dry erase/wet erase/permanant marker (nice to have one that takes both wet/dry erase markers).
Of course there are the other essentials like a DM screen (it’s really difficult without one), complete with rule cheatsheets pasted inside.
Other non-essential aids I’ve used (although not consistently): Treasure cards/items, sound effects and background music, various walls/terrain, lighting, counters of various shapes/sizes, movable items (such as torches attached to figures with clay putty), skill cheat sheets and duplicate character sheets.
Most of the time what I use is dependant on how much time I have to prepare, what materials will be needed, and if I have easy access to those materials.
March 11th, 2008 at 5:30 am
I’m in a game where I play a high-level beguiler — lots of spells to choose from, levels 0 through 8, from PHB and PHB2. I made spell cards (Excel file of SRD spell descrips with some additions, printed and glued onto 5×8 index cards) and have found them quite useful. The only drawback is that sometimes there are simply too many cards to shuffle through, so I keep a list on a single sheet of paper handy, too. It would be nice to have a set of spell cards that let me quickly organize things by level, school of magic, etc. In this campaign, we have often found ourselves up against creatures that cannot be affected by many of the beguiler’s mind-affecting spells, so having a way to quickly separate the effective spells from those that aren’t would be useful. Colored card stock instead of index cards, perhaps?
In another game, the DM keeps index cards with the PC names on them for initiative. Then in another game, the DM uses a small whiteboard to track initiative. Both DMs also keep index cards on the table for players to use for notes to the DM. We use miniatures and one of those erasable grids in both of those games (but not in the beguiler’s campaign), but we don’t mark the grid. Instead, we have stone walls made from plaster of paris that the DM uses to mark out the area. They work really, really well.
March 11th, 2008 at 8:37 am
I have been looking for some sort of tech answer to this question. It seems a perfect match because once the data is in electronic format a computer can easily expand, contract, and sort it. I have yet to find anything that justifies the table real estate a laptop takes up, though.
I have played around with some tools (such as PCGen, but these seem more suited to tracking character / campaigns between sessions than actually facilitating a game.
I compensate by getting custom player sheets that show as much necessary mechanics data to prevent the need to mine through a book mid-game.
I like the idea of the spell cards. I might add that they could be laminated so players can easily use dry-erase tick marks for how many times they are used each spell.
March 11th, 2008 at 12:03 pm
Ultimately having something like this:
http://www.microsoft.com/surface/
would be *perfect* for gaming…. just pre-gen your maps, call them up as needed, have the minis be recognizable by the table, and have other mechanics taken care of for you by the program as well.
May 25th, 2008 at 9:19 pm
A couple things I use:
* Post-Its for minis. They can be cut, folded, stuck together, and written/drawn on to create a huge number of useful aids for minis and battlemaps. Buy a pack of 5 at the dollar store and hand one to each player at the beginning of every game.
* Knitting row counters. Easy round trackers.
* Glass beads and small containers, like candy bowls. Need to track anything? Whether you are counting up or down, just use the bowls and beads to track things.
* Dog plastic food & water bowl. One side holds my dice, the other side is my rolling zone. Cardboard + elastic lets to put up a small screen on the rolling side, if desired.
* Cribbage board. Label the pegs and watch them run around the board as you count and track things.
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