My earlier thread about the best improvised miniatures game aid gave me a lot of good ideas for use in my game. Continuing in the same area of thought....what has been your best homemade game aid?
My wife gets credit for this one--she bought two clipboards and taped them together with duct tape, using a painter's ruler as a backing. She cut the ruler in half and put the clipboards on top of the two ruler halves, securing the whole thing with duct tape. Now she has a large double spined clipboard. She keeps her character sheet on one side and her combat information sheet on the other side.
Yes, she used pink plastic clipboards and pink duct tape....
....oh, and if I can add to my own post. My pool table makes a great homemade game aid. While it's not the most comfortable table to sit at, my 2 year old can't reach the miniatures or dice :-)
While it's not the most comfortable table to sit at, my 2 year old can't reach the miniatures or dice
Your 2-year-old isn't a monkey, like a child I know it... You're lucky!
My favorite (somewhat cheesey) game aid is using the "Knight" lego figures for mini's in my D&D game. I love those little dudes.
I agree on the "knight lego"....Although I tend to use them as statues, constructs or suits of armor that come to life.
Bandit of LV
Right after 3E came out, I stumbled upon a great group in central New Jersey. The DM made great aids. The best was when he made a scale representation of a circular / roting door to represent the entrance to the main dwarven stronghold in our AO. In order to gain access, we had to show him the proper combination. It was really cool.
We love our map projection setup.
We love our map projection setup.
I went to your site...that projector setup is one of the coolest D&D map tools I've ever seen, Great Job! I want one now, I just need a basement...in my apartment...
Ditto. I'd like a basement...in my apartment...that's a pure gaming room...
When I was in high school, I took a print shop class and made my own notepads & stationary & stuff. One of the notepads I made said "Slimy Lizard Skins", complete with textured scaly background. Made it soley for game.
I rely on my 'Party Data Sheet' and 'Combat Record' - both are simple Excel spreadsheets that have been heavily modified from those found online.
The Data Sheet contains most of the standard character info for up to 10 characters (I cropped it from 15, back when I had it filled up), as well as areas to track Date, food supply, current location, marching order/light sources, XPs and encounter notes.
The Combat Record contains lines for up to 16 combatants, each with 2 boxes; the top box is where the actions of each character is written and the bottom one tracks spells cast or that are in effect. There are enough columns for 15 rounds, including the 'surprise' round. After an encounter is over, you are left with a complete written record of what happened (great to keep rule lawyers and argumentative players at bay); my weekly game summaries are written using these as notes.
My group's longest encounter battle ever took up three pages over four sessions...48 rounds. The game summary was 9 pages.
M
My goup Has never had a big enough collection of mini's to use so we have had to rely on drawing character icons and environments on grid paper
Finally I got fed up with it and me an a buddy used the Battle grid from the back of the 3.5 DMG and layed it on a peice of lenolium flooring material, threw some clear construction plastic over it and taped it all together. The end product it a big dry erase board with a battle grid as a backround. We use markers to draw envirionments and dice to represent characters and enemies (they are easy to move each round and the number facing up on the dice is that characters place in the initiaive so i don't have to keep track)
I've turned my garage into a full-fledged Dungoens & Dragons room. Other than my work desk and a huge library of role-playing paraphanalia, I painted three of the walls like an old-style banquet hall, with decorative weapons, brass cups, silver chandeliers and a nice long table with a velvet-like tablecloth. I also painted one wall like a real dungeon (big stone blocks with chains and rusted swords). I also have on hand a full rack of cds of old music and movie themes. All of this really helps to bring atmosphere to the games.
Ultradan