4e GMing Tools

[bryant]

As per request, quick summaries of the tools I’m using to GM D&D 4e:

First cool tool: the GameMastery Combat Pad Initiative Tracker. It’s a wet/dry erase board with a steel core and a bunch of magnets that you shuffle around to track initiative. It works very well; in the first session, I was pretty much able to run combats with the module and the tracker held in one hand. However, it’s got a lot of wasted space.

This last session I added the printableDM Encounter Manager to my toolbox. It’s nice; I tried the ones without the initiative trackers but I think I’m going to swap over. As noted, the GameMastery tracker is a bit clunky in that half the space is chewed up in ways that simply aren’t useful in combat. Holding two full page sheets in one hand is obviously a lot harder than holding one full page sheet; if I can track initiative easily on the Encounter Managers, that’s a win.

I think the right thing to do here is find a slim steel clipboard of some kind, clip the Encounter Managers to it, and use the GameMastery tracker magnets to track initiative. That gets me back to one sheet. Unfortunately, steel clipboards are hard to find.

The Wizards Dungeon Master’s Screen is very good. I just need a better place to put it, since I’ve been DMing standing up. I’ll figure that out with time.

Alea Tools is good magnets for tracking status effects on miniatures. I didn’t use them enough last session, but I will.

Jim Goings’ Condition Cards (scroll down a bit) are great easy reminders of which PCs are undergoing which conditions. Also it’s nicely intimidating to say “you’re weakened” and slap down the big indicators. There are a bunch of other nice tools on that page, btw — I particularly like Kiznit’s character sheets.

Originally published at Imaginary Vestibule.

Comments

[head58.livejournal.com]

Why not just affix the Encounter Manager to the front of the GameMastery pad with chip clips or something, then slap the magnets on top of the EM sheet? Probably even easier than finding an 8.5x11 slab of stainless steel at Home Depot (which was my initial reaction).

[bryant]

... that would work.

[foxbat.livejournal.com]

Funny; I use those very same tools... well, the Initiative Tracker and the Encounter Manager stuff. I have to check out those Condition Cards... they sound useful. Thanks!

[bryant]

I like the Condition Cards a lot. You burn a lot of paper, but hm -- you could probably print 'em as 2-up and cut each sheet in half pretty easily.

[kodi]

steel clipboards are hard to find

[that-cad.livejournal.com]

Wow. I, uh, well, let's just say this post has succeeded in convincing me that I will never ever run a game of D&D 4e. Man, that shit sounds like work.

[bryant]

Yes and no.

Point the first: I'm running a combat-heavy game on purpose, so there's a fair bit of fighting. Thus I prep more encounters than I did for, say, Orlando Trash. But it's always gonna be a combat-oriented game, so there's that.

Point the second: the distraction value of carefully prepping the accouterments of ritual is high right now. So I'm putting more effort into it than I need to.

I could run it just as happily with a battlemap and markers and none of the rest of that stuff, though.

Found Steel Clipboards

[satchelmarr.livejournal.com]

Man, you're right, they're hard to find. The ONLY U.S. supplier I could find (apparently they manufacture them themselves) is Terra Universal, a clean-room supplier.

http://www.terrauniversal.com/cleanrooms_equipment/cleanroom_clipboard.php

They're out of stock on the ones that aren't anti-microbial, so I just ordered one of those 'cause I want it for next week's session if possible. Plus the non anti-microbial ones are just under their $50 ordering minimum (expensive clipboards!) I think it came to something like $45. Man.

Otherwise you've gotta get 'em from England or Europe and have 'em shipped. They're stainless steel so they BETTER be magnetic. I can't see how they wouldn't be. I asked two sales reps if they're magnetic. Everyone else sells aluminum, which is sadly non-magnetic.