Pathfinder pawn storage...

[Killogre85]

So, I have bought a couple of the bestiary boxes of pawns, and some of the adventure path ones as well. I have them separated into zip lock bags by what type of creature they are,I i.e. ababerration, dragon, undead, etc. Does anyone know of a better way to store these things to where if I need a certain monster in a jiffy, I won't stall the game for half an hour while I dig through the bag?

[shadowkras]

Pictures please. The idea sounds interesting.

[DM Papa.DRB]

HERE is what I use.

I created a document and printed it of the pawn # and what it is and taped it to the back of the lid. Then put all the pawns in the box in numerical order by size, so all the smalls were together, all the mediums were together, etc.

-- david

[Shiftybob]

I keep them in plastic sleeves in seperate folders, divided by adventure path. Then I just punch them out as I need them for each session, and put them back in the punch cards they came from... If you get what I mean.

It gets awkward when the players go somewhere I don't expect them to go, which they almost always do, and I haven't brought the appropriate pawns. Because I sure as hell couldn't be bothered to lug those big ass folders to every session. So it's not the best solution in the world. But it keeps them pretty well organized.

[atheral]

The Plano Tackle boxes that DM Papa.DRB linked to work pretty well but if you are like myself and pick up all of the pawn sets you are going to need a lot of them. I think with Beastiary 1-3, Runelords, Skulls and Shackles, Shattered Star and Reign of Winter I have just over 6 or 7 full it may actually be more than that.

I keep them organized by size and alphabetical by name and it seems to work pretty well.

[rknop]

I use larger versions of the tackle boxes. They're craft boxes that I've picked up (or, to be fair, that my wife picked up for me) at a Michael's. One of these boxes can store all of the Small/Medium and Large pawns from a Box, with room for all the S/M and L bases. For the Huge pawns, I've been collecting them in binder plastic sleeves with four slots that are exactly the right size, putting three per slot. I really ought to get a binder, but right now I've got all of the B1-B3 Box sleeves in my B1 Box.

I sort them by number, and then keep files where I've cut and paste the list of numbers and pawn names posted on the pages on this site. I can search those to figure out what number to look for.

I don't have any other pawn sets other than Boxes right now. I do have a whole bunch of paper minis that I've printed out and pasted. I paste those with the bases folded together so that I can use them with the bases from the Bestiary Box, rather than with standalone bases. That makes them easier to transport, and I transport them in smaller versions of the same craft boxes.

[MendedWall12]

I put them in plastic sleeves inside a three ring binder numbered/alphabetically just like the list on the back of the box. I have the numbered/alphabetical list inside the front cover and the inside pockets of the three ring binder. I used the sleeves they sell that fit hobby cards like baseball or MTG cards. For the Huge size pawns I actually used sleeves designed for photos, not sure the size, and I don't have it here with me, maybe 5x7, whatever it is it fits two huge size pawns right next to each other (with a bit of squeezing), and has two pockets per sleeve, so I get four pawns per sleeve. I just have the bestiary box set and it takes up two three ring binders, again not sure the size, but they're pretty big, 2 or 3". This system, while time consuming to set up, is absolutely ideal because I know exactly where every pawn is, and they are easily accessible. Of course it also takes up quite a bit of space in my bag, but I went to using a portable luggage cart a long time ago, because I have a huge tackle box full of all my prepainted plastic minis. :)

Edit: Forgot to mention that the bases all fit into the tackle box where my minis get stored.

[TheMetal1]

+1 to what MendedWall12 does.

I went the 3-Ring Binder route. IMHO, the 5" Binder works best, 3" and 4" will work though for the Box Sets. The Adventure path you can use smaller sizes (1" to 2"). I use Ultra Pro 9-sleeve Sheets for my Medium and Smalls. I also use the 100 card sleeves for a dollar for multiples an insert those into the sleeve sheets so I can conserve space and makes it harder for them to fall out. I use a Ultra Pro 6 Sleeve for Large and then the 4 Sleeve for Huge. I give each pawn (other then Medium/Smalls) their own slot in the sheets.

As each of the cards is numbered, I just put them in order. The Binders I use have clear inserts on the front, binding and back so I photo copy box cover, side and back. The back has the list of the pawns in order/numbered so it makes for a quick reference. For the Adventure paths, I just cut the cardboard stuff up. For the bases, I just leave them in the bestiary boxes.

It does take some prep to get set-up and with a 5" Binder you're adding another $15 to $20, plus a set of 100 Ultra-Pro 9 Sleeves will run another $20 (probably get you through a couple of bestiary boxes) same with the 6-sleeve and 4 sleeve, though you probably could find it cheaper.

Is it worth the cost and time - IMHO, Yes.

It makes it very easy to search through for a monster or NPC at a Glance, or read the back find the specific monster/npc number and go right to it. Ideally, if I do some prep I can throw all the planned monsters pawns in a box and be ready to go.

[M0u53b41t]

One of the things that's stopped me from buying the pawns is ease of access and storage. Those are some really good ideas, I think I might take the stuff I got with the beginner box and try the folder/binder idea. I hate having to try to find the monster in question, but the kids really enjoy having the pawns to "kill" lol

[Dustin Ashe]

I store mine in the original boxes they came in, separated by long cardboard strips to make rows. That way I just flip through them much like flipping through my parents' old recipe box of 3x5 notecards.

It doesn't work too well for the Small and Huge pawns which I store in small Ziploc bags and in the bottom of the boxes respectively. I have the Beginner Box pawns, NPC codex, Bestiary 1, and Rise of the Runelords.

Making binders sounds like a lot of work and extra weight to carry.

[MendedWall12]

Dustin Ashe wrote:

Making binders sounds like a lot of work and extra weight to carry.

Oh, it is, for sure, but you have to balance that with the fact that, when I want to find a pawn, it quite literally takes me a maximum of 20 seconds to locate and get on the table.

[Basara549]

Plano Stow-Away boxes are popular with miniature & counter based games with good reason.
3700-series are the big ones, though can come in standard, deep (About double the size) and shallow (abit over half the size) in depth.
3600-series are the next size down.
3500-series are great for dice and other item (pencils, markers, etc.) storage.
There are smaller series boxes as well, that are generally made for specific larger containers, or meant to be totally stand-alone.
Boxes of near-identical sizes are also made by Flambeau (ArtBox) and Rubbermaid.

Due to silly excise taxes on "tackle boxes" you'll want to get the (identical in all but labeling) versions that are labeled for crafting storage (available at places like Jo-ann Fabric, Michaels, etc. Tend to be the Flambeau versions), Home Improvement places (Lowes, Home Depot, etc. but can be in odd places in the aisles that don't make sense) or in the Household tool section of Wal-Mart (where I found the Rubbermaid boxes).

The Planos have a few row-division options the others don't, and can be a bit more versatile. For example, the 3750 variant of the 3700 box has 2 normal rows as the back half the box, with the front half using double-size dividers that would allow you to create space for the huge pawns.

The Rubbermaid and Plano boxes tend to have the standard amount of dividers you need to make all partitions; The Flambeau boxes tend to shaft you, especially if they have their Ze-rust(?) anti-oxidation dividers (10 out of 30 or so dividers needed). The dividers MAY be compatible between types on an individual basis, but it can vary. I had a bunch of OLD Plano 3600-series dividers that some worked in a Rubbermaid, and none in a Flambeau of the same size, yet the Rubbermaid ones mostly worked in the Flambeau, and could use some of the Plano ones that would fall loose in the Flambeau. It might have been the age of the divider tabs, though. Typically, you can't find spare tabs for sale (2 companies ship you 1 per slot to start with, while Flambeau wants you to pay $10 for 8-10 extra anti-rust tabs, PLUS shipping, which is twice what you paid for the box, and still will leave you short)

Now, to organize it all, you'll probably have to pay that extra money in the Sporting Goods area, as it's hard to find the Stow-Away compatible carrying boxes/bags as anything other than fishing support.

The comtainers that hold multiple boxes are typically called "Tackle SYSTEMS" (as to differentiate from "tackle boxes" with permanent trays). Often, this will be 2-4 3600-series or 3700-series Plano boxes (or their equivalents from the other companies), and come with all or most of those boxes already inside. A few types even have combinations of smaller boxes and one of the other two sizes. A lot of these are soft-sided/cloth/vinyl these days, but some are more rigid plastic, or even rubber. And, there are a number of the bags that only use PART of their storage for the boxes, leaving you with ample space for Books, snacks, etc.) Examples, if you go to the Plano site would be the 44xx-00, 46xx-00, and 767-000 787-010 series. The "fun" part, once you find one you like, will then be tracking down a local store carrying the one you want so you don't have to pay shipping from an online store (these things are big and bulky). Then again, there are a couple of big online fishing retailers known to have good sales when you can catch them.

My personal box, dating from the late 90s, is a hard plastic Plano combination; they don't make anything quite like it anymore. The front opens downward to hold 3 3700-series in slots (and I think came with 1 or 2), while the top opens like a more conventional tackle box to reveal an area that has slots for 6 3500-series boxes (came with 1 or 2), and another area to the side of the slots that had removable partitions for hanging spinner baits. After removing the partitions, there was enough room for several decks of paying-card-size (critical, fumble, and other pathfinder decks), and 4-5 CCG decks. Or, you can just use the storage for things like magnifiers, writing tools, staplers, tape measures, tape dispensers and other oversized crap that won't fit in one of the tray-style boxes. Originally, this was used for hauling stuff to Classic Battletech games in the 3 large (3700) box slots, but I've repurposed it for Pathfinder.

While still using minis instead of pawns currently (plan on purchasing the Bestiary sets once a family crisis pasts), when I do get the pawns, I'll have 1 or 2 3700 boxes for each set, divided roughly in alphabetical order. This will be for storage. On game day,I will pull all the potentially needed tokens/minis from the different sets and load them into one of my spares, so I don't have to take them all to the game site.

I hope this gives you a few ideas about what can be done.

[Southeast Jerome]

I'll second the Plano boxes. They're very versatile for both pawns and minis, and their modular dimensions allow them to pack very compactly in a messenger bag if you don't want to haul around a tackle box.

The small 3500 series is great for dice and pencils, and can also fit a couple dozen small and medium minis provided they're not too wide or bulky. The standard 3600 and 3700 accommodate the larger medium minis, but not the large minis, due to the 2" base. There are deeper 3" versions of the 3600 and 3700 series that accommodate most large minis, as well as card decks and giant dice. However, some large minis with extra wide or tall wings may still be too tight a fit, even for those deep boxes - I'm looking at you, Nabasu.

[Basara549]

Some good examples of the modern Plano systems for carrying the boxes. you can look at them at planomolding.com but I don't believe they do direct sales through the site.

4673-00, 3700-size Tackle bag; comes with 5 of the 3700 boxes inside, and has 4 external pockets, external elastic tie-downs and another pocket inside on the lid. Looks little different from a fancier gym bag, and you can carry books inside the bag instead of some of the 3700 boxes. 4663-00 is the 3600-box version of this. 4674-00 has 2 3700 & 2 3600.

The 4477-00 has 2 3750 boxes, a lot of internal and external pockets, but is a lumbar strap-on system (think dire fanny pack on steroids). 4475 and 4476 are similar packs for 3500 & 3600 boxes respectively. Not something you'd want for weekly gaming, unless you walk or bike to games, but would be useful for someone who runs at cons a lot (allowing you to carry other stuff in your hands)

[Jim Goings]

After seeing so many people use foam core to organize board games, I set about doing the same for my Pathfinder Pawns.

I posted photos and a little more details on Reddit

In total, one bin and one original PF box holds all the pawns from the following sets:

2x PF Pawns Beastiary 1
1x PF Pawns Beastiary 2
1x PF Pawns Skulls and Shackles
1x PF Pawns Rise of the Runelords

Note that I store all minis upside down so their name is visible.

[Ninja in the Rye]

Jim Goings wrote:

After seeing so many people use foam core to organize board games, I set about doing the same for my Pathfinder Pawns.

I posted photos and a little more details on Reddit

In total, one bin and one original PF box holds all the pawns from the following sets:

2x PF Pawns Beastiary 1
1x PF Pawns Beastiary 2
1x PF Pawns Skulls and Shackles
1x PF Pawns Rise of the Runelords

Note that I store all minis upside down so their name is visible.

That looks nice, I've been looking for a solution for my pawns.

However, I'm not a very craft oriented person so excuse me for asking dumb questions -- but what is "foam core"? Is it the same thing as "foam board"?

Are the dividers in the boxes loose or have they been attached to something?

How do you make the insert, is it just cutting the foam material with a utility knife and gluing the pieces together with craft glue?

[Ivan Rûski]

I recently picked up various sized trading card pages, and they seem to be working nicely so far. I say seem to as I am still in the process of getting them all in the pages, and have no idea how the wear and tear on the pages will be. These pages are what I'm using for small and medium pawns, these for large, and these for huge. You should be able to find these at your local card shop if you have one. Each box should fit in a 2" binder (at least the NPC codex does, may have to bump up to a 2.5" for the bestiaries because they require a few more pages). I don't yet know what size binder I'll need for the adventure path collections.

Pictures can be seen here.

Each bestiary box requires 11 20-pocket pages, 11 9-pocket pages, and 7 4-pocket pages. The NPC Codex box requires 23 20-pocket pages and 1 9-pocket page. The Rise of the Runelords collection requires 5 20-pocket pages, 6 9-pocket pages, and 4 4-pocket pages. Haven't done the math for other pawn collections, as I don't own them. If you combine them all together, you will save yourself some pages, but it will still span multiple binders.

EDIT: Noticed after posting this that MendedWall12 and TheMetal1 upthread are doing more or less the same.

[Joey Virtue]

Ivan is there room to double up any of the pawns in the different pages (I got two of each of the bestiaries so I was just wondering

[Ivan Rûski]

Not really. Doing so stretches the pages too much and the pawns start falling out.

[Joey Virtue]

Ok that's going to take a lot of pages and quite a few binders
Thanks for showing the little sleeve pages
Those will make these binders so much better and easier to use

[Joey Virtue]

So should I sort them in binders by creature type or by bestiary? I have two of each and one of the NPC and each of the adventure paths

[Ivan Rûski]

That really depends on personal preference. I'm doing a binder for every pawn set, but the only AP set I have is RotRL, and I'm only going to get AP sets for APs I actually run. If I were to get all the AP sets, I'd probably just double up the APs for a binder, maybe even triple them. Doing it by creature type, while cool and likely useful, would be tedious to sort, especially with more coming out every few months.

[Brother Fen]

I just keep them in the big boxes such as the Bestiary Boxes or the NPC boxes. I have them organized by type. The NPC/PC pawns are divided by demi-humans, dwarves, elves and humans. The Inner Sea Pawns are divided by priests, warrior groups, and mage groups. There is also a section for specific groups such as Pathfinders, Aspis Consortium, Hellknights, pirates, and red mantis assassins.

The bestiaries are divided into plants, animals, undead & planar, aberrations, magical beasts, monstrous humanoids & fey, and so on and so forth. The big boxes make storage quite easy as there is usually room for an AP set of pawns or two to be added to each big box.

[WhatAShame]

I've almost got one of every pawn set released, including the AP ones. Just waiting for May to get Wrath of the Righteous and Iron Gods.

I haven't begun finding a good way to sort them. I still keep them in their sheets. That's fine for the big box sets, but I'm thinking of putting the AP sets into a binder with the plastic sleeve idea. (Using the packaging cover as the binder cover.) Gotta find some half inch binders first.

[Fumarole]

I am considering buying one of these bad boys. They're on the expensive side, but look very nice. Each holds about 1200 pawns, but I might need to buy a second case since I already have just over 900 pawns with Bestiary 1, Inner Sea and Rise of the Runelords.

[BenS]

Fumarole wrote:

I am considering buying one of these bad boys. They're on the expensive side, but look very nice. Each holds about 1200 pawns, but I might need to buy a second case since I already have just over 900 pawns with Bestiary 1, Inner Sea and Rise of the Runelords.

That is perfect, thanks for pointing that out!

[MendedWall12]

Fumarole wrote:

I am considering buying one of these bad boys. They're on the expensive side, but look very nice. Each holds about 1200 pawns, but I might need to buy a second case since I already have just over 900 pawns with Bestiary 1, Inner Sea and Rise of the Runelords.

That's great for storage and mobility, but not for locating the pawn you want, quickly, when you want it, unless you came up with some kind of an index card labeling system, like one might find in a recipe box, but that seems like it would take an inordinate amount of time to create. The binder and plastic-sleeved pocket pages are nice because I have typed up the index of the pawns as they are listed on the box - numerically and alphabetically, put that list inside the clear front cover of the binder, and then placed them in the sleeves in exactly that order. When I need to locate a pawn, I simply check the index for the beast or NPC I'm looking for, find the number, and locating it in the binder takes only a matter of seconds. I have a large "tackle" box for my prepainted plastic minis (love wizkids), and that works great, but for cardboard pawns I've found the binder/plastic sleeve option to be indispensable. To each this own, though. Game on!

[BenS]

MendedWall12 wrote:

Fumarole wrote:

I am considering buying one of these bad boys. They're on the expensive side, but look very nice. Each holds about 1200 pawns, but I might need to buy a second case since I already have just over 900 pawns with Bestiary 1, Inner Sea and Rise of the Runelords.

That's great for storage and mobility, but not for locating the pawn you want, quickly, when you want it, unless you came up with some kind of an index card labeling system, like one might find in a recipe box, but that seems like it would take an inordinate amount of time to create. The binder and plastic-sleeved pocket pages are nice because I have typed up the index of the pawns as they are listed on the box - numerically and alphabetically, put that list inside the clear front cover of the binder, and then placed them in the sleeves in exactly that order. When I need to locate a pawn, I simply check the index for the beast or NPC I'm looking for, find the number, and locating it in the binder takes only a matter of seconds. I have a large "tackle" box for my prepainted plastic minis (love wizkids), and that works great, but for cardboard pawns I've found the binder/plastic sleeve option to be indispensable. To each this own, though. Game on!

Most of the pawns I've been using, actually, are from 3.5 and 4th edition; in other words, they lie flat on the grid maps. Have you used these kinds of pawns, and if so, what would you recommend for storing them?

[Fumarole]

MendedWall12 wrote:

That's great for storage and mobility, but not for locating the pawn you want, quickly, when you want it, unless you came up with some kind of an index card labeling system, like one might find in a recipe box, but that seems like it would take an inordinate amount of time to create. The binder and plastic-sleeved pocket pages are nice because I have typed up the index of the pawns as they are listed on the box - numerically and alphabetically, put that list inside the clear front cover of the binder, and then placed them in the sleeves in exactly that order. When I need to locate a pawn, I simply check the index for the beast or NPC I'm looking for, find the number, and locating it in the binder takes only a matter of seconds. I have a large "tackle" box for my prepainted plastic minis (love wizkids), and that works great, but for cardboard pawns I've found the binder/plastic sleeve option to be indispensable. To each this own, though. Game on!

Put them in alphabetically and upside down, this way the names are visible by flipping through them. The case also comes with dividers, and more can be purchased to further define sections.

[Zepherus_DM]

I'm a little late to this topic, but I wanted to share the solution I have found.

I found these small parts organizers at a local big-box style hardware store, they are made by Stanley, and contain multiple little boxes that drop into a storage case.

They can be found at Home Depot as well, if you search their site for "Stanley-10-Compartment-Deep-Pro-Small-Parts-Organizer-014710R" or "Stanley-25-Compartment-Shallow-Pro-Small-Parts-Organizer-014725R", you can see what I'm talking about.

I have mine arranged by size and type, and grouped within the small boxes. I will eventually have labels on the underside of the lid.

When I need a specific pawn, I can pull the box that it's in and I only have to flip through 10-15 pawns to find the one I'm looking for. I have pretty much all of the Bestiary collections except for the first one, and 3 of the AP collections...and they all fit into 3 of these cases.

Just thought I would share my solution, as it has worked for me quite well.

[radarthomas]

The best solution I've seen so far has been to get binders and those document protector pages that hold a standard American sheet of paper. Keep the sheet they come on and just slide each sheet into the document protector. (Thanks to Adam from Jadekind Gaming)

For those who only have the pawns, but not the sheets they came on you can use business card sheets and Scotch velcro dot fasteners to double them over for the small and medium pawns (so they don't fall out so easily). For the larger ones 3.5 x 5 photo sheets will hold them. (Thanks to Mark Humphries on YouTube for this one.)

I have also seen variations using the original box and affixing cardboard box cuttings and just putting the pawns into the original box. This is by far the cheapest solution, but it does require some crafting skills to set up the rows. (This was shown by Dungeons and Coffee Tabletop RPG Show on YouTube. Parsley Mitchell also has a YouTube video showing his solution.)

[Unikatze]

I keep them in their cardboard put them in binder sheets like this
Pawns in Binders

If it's a Box one I just photocopy the cover and backside and slip it into the binder. If it's not a Box I'll actually cut the sheet they come in.

To actually find a pawn, I keep this sheet updated and just CTRL-F to see what set the pawn is in and whether I have that set or not.

Pathfinder Pawn List

[Kronk the Confused]

Jim Goings wrote:

After seeing so many people use foam core to organize board games, I set about doing the same for my Pathfinder Pawns.

I posted photos and a little more details on Reddit

In total, one bin and one original PF box holds all the pawns from the following sets:

2x PF Pawns Beastiary 1
1x PF Pawns Beastiary 2
1x PF Pawns Skulls and Shackles
1x PF Pawns Rise of the Runelords

Note that I store all minis upside down so their name is visible.

Jim, would you happen to have the "cut piece" dimensions and the grade of foam board that you used on hand still? This is a perfect solution to a situation I find myself in, and I would benefit greatly from your measurements and advice.

Thank you in advance!!

[Haladir]

I keep mine in their original boxes/folders, with each pawn stuck back into the original sheet of cardstock they came in.

[james noyes]

radarthomas wrote:

The best solution I've seen so far has been to get binders and those document protector pages that hold a standard American sheet of paper. Keep the sheet they come on and just slide each sheet into the document protector. (Thanks to Adam from Jadekind Gaming)

For those who only have the pawns, but not the sheets they came on you can use business card sheets and Scotch velcro dot fasteners to double them over for the small and medium pawns (so they don't fall out so easily). For the larger ones 3.5 x 5 photo sheets will hold them. (Thanks to Mark Humphries on YouTube for this one.)

I have also seen variations using the original box and affixing cardboard box cuttings and just putting the pawns into the original box. This is by far the cheapest solution, but it does require some crafting skills to set up the rows. (This was shown by Dungeons and Coffee Tabletop RPG Show on YouTube. Parsley Mitchell also has a YouTube video showing his solution.)

Hi

Do you just throw them in there, or are they arranged, stacked, filed, I want to do something like this...I just have so many

[Staffan Johansson]

I've been using binders with protector pages intended for mini-size cards (16 to a page). They fit Medium-size and Small pawns very well. I use ones for regular-size cards for Large pawns. Then I put all the Huge pawns in a single box, because there aren't enough of them to be a mess to search through.