So, I was playing PF last weekend, when I noticed something, we all get to take our character sheets home with us, but we all have very different means in which we store them.
I use an old plastic folder that I recieved in high school, laminated and with fancy pictures, both printed and drawn by me. In this folder are plastic sleeves for all my characters from all game systems I play. I also have character generaton foldersd, which are colour coded for game systems levels. I keep the modules that I DM in my bag, along with my Pencil case.
A resident persona here (you know who you are) on the boards uses an A4 size perforated leaf binder book with dividers. In this folder is character advancement from levels 1 through 20 for multiple characters, and, again, holds all the characters from all the game systems we play. They have no bag, instead, they are the main means of transport between gaming locations, and keep all their stuff in their car.
Another in our gaming group, I shall call him J, what J does is just keep loose sheets in a black folder, along with just about anything that strikes his fancy, from character break-downs all the way to random print-outs of his old character profile pics, J keeps this along with his 20 year old leather pencil case, and usually puts it in his backpack that he uses for his notebook computer.
P, as I shall call him, is another strange one. Instead of carrying one folder for his character, he has about 5 or 6 folder, all around the same shape and colour, making it almost impossible for him to know which folder is his current gaming folder, and making him take 5 to 10 minutes to find which folder holds his current character for the current game. (We play multiple APs at the same time, different DMs). He has no pencil case, instead, uses a felt pouch with all his dice still in their plastic containers he bought them in. Along with his Mac Notebook, his bag is usually too full to close properly.
The newbie in our group only has one folder for every game, much like my own, but has no other books or folders, allowing me, his usual DM, to carry around his stuff so he can't misplace it before we game.
The last two, whom I shall name A & B, are the most unorganised pair i have seen. Their gaming bag used to consist of two folders, both of them black, one for each of them, and a large pencil case with all of their combined dice. Their bag has undergone an internal struggle somehow, and now their gaming bag consists of the previously mentioned pencil case, on of the previously mentioned black folders, and about 100 loose leafed sheets of paper (A somehow managed to destroy his folder, and decided that he didn't need to buy a new one).
So after all this, and a few days of scortching heat and boredom, i got to thinking.
So now I'm asking all of you, what is the state of your gaming folder, if you have one, if not, what is the state of your gaming bag, or pencil case?
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I actually keep several gaming folders myself. One is for my characters and the other is for all the other players' characters in games I've DMed (I collect character sheets at the end of a game).
The folders themselves are pretty standard; just cheap paper folders with a pocket in each side and the metallic bendy central binders. I think I paid like... 20¢ for each of them. Got a ton of the things too.
When I go to game somewhere that isn't my place I typically pack all of my stuff (dice, pencils, et cetera) into a Hellsing messenger bag. I keep my character in a hard plastic three-ring binder along with a good amount of college-ruled paper. I also bring a Player's Handbook and whatever other books I'll be needing for that character or adventure (if I'm DMing).
I don't carry paper character sheets, I have an Excel document for that. My gaming back is essentially my computer, or my laptop when we aren't gaming over Vent.
My dice bag however contains all the dice I own, which is at least ten sets, probably much more. My metal "DM Dice" are in their own separate bag.
Hmm, mine is a backpack and a plastic box for minis. The box has an upper removable level for storing smaller minis, and the lower portion of the box holds large and huge minis.
The backpack's main pocket is filled with books - between four and six sourcebooks at any given time. It also holds: a netbook, netbook charger, DM screen, AP booklets, spare character sheets, handout sheets, illustrations for clipping to the DM screen, pencils, paper clips, thumb drives, post-its, poker chips, pens, index cards, a Harrow deck, dice, a small whiteboard eraser spray bottle (emptied of erasing fluid, washed, and filled with water), paper towels for wiping down a battle mat, washable markers, and a double-sided Chessex mat.
My gaming backpack is a utility closet for my hobby.
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It depends on the game for me, I have several large three ring binders filled with the different games that we run.
For my Legend of the Five Rings game I have an old L5R Clan Rivals Binder depicting the Crab vs. Mantis that contains all the npc's, maps, and histories of the characters and plot hooks as well as any other notes I might have. It also contains all of my players character sheets.
For my Dragonlance games: I have an older black binder that has every D&D sticker/Fantasy Sticker I could find, I've had this binder for something akin to nine years. It contains everything in no specific order save that one divider splits "stuff for my players" and "stuff for my eyes only"
For my various World of Darkness games I was in a weird mood and put them in three different colored folders each one roughly the same color as the game we were playing. Green for Masq, Red for Apocalypse, Purple of Ascension. Orange for misc.
every other game has pretty much a variation of this for itself, with the noted exception that our Star Wars and Aberrant games are both much more modernized with most of my notes being on my Acer Netbook and characters being printed on excel spreadsheets.
For my dice its a large leather skull dice bag filled to the point where I can barely tie it, another cloth skull dice bag that is half full and a plastic green pencil case with wet-erase markers, a flash drive with paper mini's on it, pencils, and a couple of "one's" for the pizza guys tip.
Laptop
1 TB external hard drive with PDF library
Dungeon magazine with adventure
Printouts of 4E conversions of said adventure
Random DM screen from another game
Dice
Critical Hit and Fumble decks
Playing cards
Wet erase markers for battle mat
I run everything off my laptop and save all my notes there. It works quite well. We are doing age of worms right now in 4E and its great, but I think we're doing Savage Worlds next, probably in Hyboria (Conan) for a change of pace.
My wife and I share a Sauders metal document case for all our paperwork basics. It's got all our sheets in it, 2 small notepads (one is a spell list the other is the group's default initiative tracker), some bookmarks and our supply of pencils and erasers.
There some other odd papers in there, but they all related to various campaigns or generic use case stuff like what we define as 'standard adventuring gear' so we don't have to write it all down on the character sheet individually.
Depending on if I'm DMing or not, there can be several shoulder bags and backpacks full of books or just one shoulder bag with laptop and one backpack with some books.
The dicebag is a handmade one from my wife which has all my dice, some in their original packages, most not.
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My Beloved Spouse (Kobold chorus: "We love you!") is Very Organized. Multiple expanding folders, pocket folders (Tinkerbell and Wonder Woman... we are SUCH girls), clipboards and similar.
I have three folders (One of puppies chewing on each other, one of puppies and one with horses), one of which is utterly torn. The characters therein aren't sorted, and I often spend at least 10 minutes at a time trying to find a character or group of characters. Amidst modules I've previously run, handouts from games I've run and played in, and so forth.
There's a reason that my wife is the Lawful Neutral and I am the Chaotic Neutral. *shrugs*
When I travel to game, I keep about 10+ pounds of books in my satchel purse, along with my ponyprint dice bag (made by my sisters!)
I have, however, cleaned up our selection of gaming books in a nice cubby on my side of the bed. Which terrifies my wife, as it's very much MY side of the bed. *grins*
Anyway, there's my answer and some ramble to boot.
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Depends on if I'm DMing or PCing.
If DMing, I have at least 2 or 3 AP books, usually the Bestiary or other pertinent sourcebook, legal pad, 2 flip mats (Hexes/Squares and one scene appropriate - personal triumph: Just ran the Sixfold Trial and was able to pull out the Opera House flip mat...no drawing, no counting, and it matched the game map exactly -)
Pens, Dice, Mini's and the like stay at the house of our usual host.
If playing, it can be as little as 2 sheets of paper, quad-folded and slipped into a backpack. One of our players routinely brings exactly this and his set of dice, and that's it. Usually, however, I just pull out the various DM things I don't need and run with the rest.
-t
I walk about 30-40 minutes each way to my friend's apartment to game, so I try to travel light. I just take a backpack with my dice, the PFRPG core rulebook and Bestiary, a pad of graph paper, a screen, the adventure and a mechanical pencil.
I carry my boring black dice bag which contains all of my dice (probably 12 full sets, lots of extras). In addition, I bring at least 3 pencils. If I have a mini of my character, that comes along as well. As party chronicler, I bring a small wirebound notebook to take notes for later translation into campaign journal articles here and at home.
My current persona sits in a 1" 3-ring white binder with no other characters sharing space with her; other, older character sit in a 1" 3-ring black binder. The white binder has a print of the picture Hugo drew of my PC on the front. Within is the current copy of my character sheet (a modified Neceros sheet), my spell list (don't remember the source), assorted typed notes regarding my character, the GM's Player's Guide for her world, and a copy of each campaign journal article in case I need to reference past events. There is also the active 'Dramatis Personae' list of people we've met and a few notes about them. A few index cards sit inside the binder in the inside pouch in case I need them.
The books I currently bring consist of the Core Rulebook and Bestiary, though previously I carried the PH, DMG, Unearthed Arcana, Complete Divine, and Arms & Equipment Guide. I converted necessary items to Pathfinder, typed them up, and these also sit in my binder.
I bring the swag in my Ghost in the Shell: 2nd Gig bag that I have owned for several years and through multiple years of college and field work.
Oh, I didn't mention about the books, my group carries on average two boxes, both about 70 pounds each, mostly the 3.5 and the D20 books we use along with 2 copies of the Pathfinder Core Rule book and 1 copy of the Bestiary.
So if y'all wanna post about your books, go ahead.
I am probably the most unorganized Player/DM around. When I play (as opposed to DM) I usually carry my character in a yellow tablet stuck between the pages. Said yellow tablet has all the notes and such from the play sessions, along usually with notes from previous games too. Usually I only take my PH or Rules Compendium when I'm a player. As far as dice, I only barely have two sets (long story), I think I only have 1 d8 in that mix. I carry them in a Crown Royal bag, you know purple with the yellow draw strings. All of that is stuffed in an old nylon backpack from my college days (the early 90s).
Now when I DM, things get more chaotic. I came into the possession of a first responder bag. Big duffel bag with lots of pockets, you get the picture. I usually stuff as many books as I can comfortable carry in it, DMG, PH, RC, MM1,2,4; forgotten realms stuff etc. All my campaign notes, when I take them, are on said yellow tablet above, or backs of maps, scraps of paper next to the taco place's number, on top of old player notes....
Curiously no laptop, I have one but where we play space is at a premium with two other laptops. I would love to use a screen but again space limitations.
My gaming bag is fairly simple. I've got my laptop which has all the books I'll need for a good many games, a Crown Royal bag with six sets of dice, a handful of mechanical pencils, and a folder with character sheets in it. These include the sheets for my players as well as a number of characters that I've played over the years. These former PCs are used for NPCs whenever I feel that an NPC from the AP just won't work for my players. Other than that my bag is empty. I plan on adding a flip mat, the combat pad, some wet erase pens, some minis, and possibly some map packs.
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Fortunately, my group is currently meeting at my place. But at one point, we were switching locations weekly and I had a backbreaking load:
DMG
PHB
MM
Fiend Folio
Stormwrack
Sandstorm
Heroes of Battle
Heroes of Horror
Hordes of the Abyss
Cityscape
Psionics Handbook
Complete Psionic
Complete Warrior
Magic Item Compendium
Spell Compendium
2-3 copies of Dragon
1-2 copies of Dungeon
Critical Hit Deck
Critical Fumble Deck
DM screen
2 sets of dice
Wet-erase game mat
Wet-erase markers
Pens and pencils
legal pad
All stuffed into one duffel bag.
Fortunately, my group is currently meeting at my place. But at one point, we were switching locations weekly and I had a backbreaking load: **20 books plus supplies**
All stuffed into one duffel bag.
Dood! Even at my worst I had like 8 books for me and and extra PHB for my wife to use so we didn't have to share...
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Dood! Even at my worst I had like 8 books for me and and extra PHB for my wife to use so we didn't have to share...Fortunately, my group is currently meeting at my place. But at one point, we were switching locations weekly and I had a backbreaking load: **20 books plus supplies**
All stuffed into one duffel bag.
Yep. Which is exactly why I lobbied to have my house as the fixed location for the game. No one else had to carry that much stuff around, by a long shot.
The drawbacks and perks of being the DM, all in one anecdote.
Generally, I keep three spiral notebooks (one with a hand-drawn character sheet), a 2nd edition D&D DMG, soon to be replaced by the PFRPG Hardcover.
/d
As we play at our FLGS, my bags contain quite a bit of stuff. Here is the list:
Bag 1: Flipmat appropriate to session; Dice tray; bag of dice; ziplock bags of minis (4 bags); Drow of the Underdark; GM Gems; Ultimate Toolbox; AP Chapter of current session and future session; Character Traits web enhancement; Bonus Bestiary; 2 3-ring binders with GM notes; 3 GM screens; Clipboard with paper; Fantastic Locations accessories;
Bag 2: Laptop Computer;
Bag 3: PRPG Rullebook; PRPG Bestiary; bottle of water.
Just my 2 cp.
We also play at the FLGS, and I think a few people in the thread have seen the Bag O' Doom.
Pathfinder Night (When I GM):
Bag:
Pathfinder Core Rulebook (2, GM copy, Player Copy)
Pathfinder Chronicles Campaign Setting
Council of Thieves Volumes
Pathfinder Bestiary
Cheliax, Empire of Devils
Pathfinder GM Screen
Book of the Damned: Princes of Darkness
Gods and Magic
Dungeon Denizens Revisited
Heroes of Horror
Player's Handbook II
Unearthed Arcana
Bag of Pencils
Bag of Pens
Bag of Wet Erase Markers
Various Paizo Flip Mats (Usually at least the blank ones)
Tray o' Dice
Notebook
Index Cards
Glass beads for unexpected/summoned monsters
Campaign Folder (with my notes in it)
Sometimes a roll of Gaming Paper with a map I'll be reusing for multiple sessions.
Laptop case:
Laptop
Portable hard drive with all of my gaming PDFs on it in case I need to reference something I didn't bring
Pathfinder Night (When I Play):
Pathfinder Core Rulebook (2)
Player's Guide to Legacy of Fire
Dark Markets: A Guide to Katapesh
Bestiary
Tray o' Dice
Folder with Character sheet, pen and pencil
Calculator
Notebook
Star War Saga Night (when I GM):
Star Wars Saga Core Rulebook (2 copies)
Star Wars GM Screen
Paizo Flip Mats of various Extractions
Gaming Papaper roll if I have a location that will be revisited over multiple sessions.
Starships of the Galaxy
Threats of the Galaxy
Scum and Villainy
Jedi Academy Training Manual
The Force Unleashed Campaign Guide
Legacy Era Campaign Guide
Knights of the Old Republic Campaign Guide
Clone Wars Campaign Guide
Galaxy at War
Rebellion Era Campaign Guide
Scavenger's Guide to Droids
Campaign Folder with my notes
Index Cards
Bag of pens
Bag of pencils
Bag of wet erase markers
Tray o' Dice
Glass beads for unexpected/monsters/creatures I can't find a mini for
Laptop Case:
Laptop (for looking up stuff on Wookieepedia if needed, initiative program)
Portable Hard Drive (for Star Wars MP3s)
The Banker Box Full O' Minis is actually deployed full time at the FLGS, and my FLGS owner and my players when they run games at the store get access to the minis.
OOPS!!!!!
Addendum to Bag 1: Bag of Dry Erase markers; Bag of poker chips to simulate flying (white=5',red=10',blue=20').
I started gaming fairly recently, so my gaming bag isn't as impressive as some here :). But here's what I carry in my little black (gaming) tote bag:
-Pathfinder Core Rulebook (newest acquisition)
-Notepad (for scribbling, so I remember important things during our session, lists, & the occasional goblin doodle)
-Mechanical pencil/eraser/highlighter/extra lead for pencil
-Dice (in a small fuzzy blue/pink change purse...yeah, I'm a bit of a girly gamer girl :P)
-Clear purple plastic folder containing: character sheet, info about the Varisians (my char's race), recaps/additional info printouts from my GM, & a printout of the 'Gods & Magic' PDF (as reference & b/c I'm in love with this supplement XD)
-Small Notebook w. pic of Desna's symbol on cover (containing lists of my char's abilities/spells/etc. for quick reference during game, so I'm not constantly flipping through the rulebook *lol*)
-The occasional bags of snacks, bottle of beverage, & random odds and ends.
I'm sure the more I play, the list will get longer :D
I started gaming fairly recently, so my gaming bag isn't as impressive as some here :)
*snip*
I'm sure the more I play, the list will get longer :D
Look inside yourself. You know it is true. Come to the dork side. We have the best shinies!
Look inside yourself. You know it is true. Come to the dork side. We have the best shinies!
Yes, I shall become one with the dork side...*grins*.
Without a doubt, this side definitely has the best shinies ^_^
The gamer bag has long since given way to the gamer bookshelf, which is now bookshelves. Most games for my group are played at my residence, thankfully, as I could not possibly carry everything i use without some kind of pack animal. I honestly am not certain i could list every gaming book that is in that shelf but it includes
Every Star Wars Saga Edition book
Most 3.5 material by wizards of the coast
2 copies of the Pathfinder Core Rules
The Pathfinder Chronicles Campaign Setting
The Pathfinder Bestiary
2 Binders filled with 3rd party Pathfinder and 3.5 material printed from PDFs
D20 Modern Core rules
Ubran Arcana, Weapons Locker
A couple 3rd party books for Modern
A game of thrones d20 RPG
Mutants and masterminds 2nd Edition
The entirety of the Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game Set of rules and supplements
Several Miniature Cases with minuature for various game
About a dozen binders at least containing notes from campaigns, former characters, house rules
several tape measures
Several boxes of wargamming terrain.
2 dice bags
In my actual backpack that I use for gaming I include some subset of that depending on what is appropriate for the game i am carrying. The only thing that is always in my backpack and never on the shelf is a 5 section folder containing all of my current characters and notes for those characters separated by which game the character is in. (If a character dies or is replaced he remains in the folder slot untill that game is completed. I also have one dice bag that always is in the backpack, which contains my 'favorite' dice.
I'm currently playing in two groups (one local and one online) which just converted to Pathfinder. Here's the contents of mine:
One Laptop backpack (the container)
One laptop and accessories (wireless card, plug, etc.)
One notebook
Packet of graph paper
Assorted pen and pencils
Dice
Miniatures for my characters (stored in tissue and baby food jar which actually keeps them quite secure)
Note cards (for passing notes)
1 USB Flash Drive
Obviously, this list will change if I run a game but for the most part, I have the PF books that I need on the lap top along with the necessary character sheets and other miscellaneous documents. It's definitely a bit change from what I had just 2 years ago.
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Whether I'm player or DM, here is what I usually have:
- Folders for various blank sheets (PC, Animal Companion, Magic Items)
- A folder for each campaign with my character sheets, and several sheets of engineering paper with notes/curent HP's, spells, etc.
- A binder containing folders for game handouts & maps, and extra paper for making notes.
- A clipboard
- A calculator
- And, for when I'm a player, a small notebook in which I keep track of the party treasure.
Plus, whatever other game material I need: books, modules, dice, mechanical pencil (usually 0.9 lead).