Adventure Path Item Cards: How do you use them?

[William Edmunds]

I just bought the item card deck for Carrion Crown and just wanted to hear some general advice for using them. In general, do you hand the cards to the PCs and let them fill in the blank spaces on the cardbacks as they learn about the items? Or does the GM usually have the specifics filled out beforehand? What kind of pen/marker works best for these cards?

[Vic Wertz]

William Edmunds wrote:

What kind of pen/marker works best for these cards?

If you want to reuse them, I'd suggest a light pencil.

[Cpt_kirstov]

Vic Wertz wrote:

William Edmunds wrote:

What kind of pen/marker works best for these cards?

If you want to reuse them, I'd suggest a light pencil.

I put them in penny sleeves (the cheap clear card sleeves that are 99 cents for 100 sleeves) and use dry erase marker on the sleeve for anything I want to write on them. If I'm writing a lot, I can print out the details on card-sized parts of paper and slide them into the sleeves.

Generally I show them the picture of the card until they actually gain the item, then they get the card and sleeve of the item. when they identify the item I'll write the details or give them the printout I mentioned. This also allows for characters not present when an item is found/identified to not know what the item is

[deinol]

Cpt_kirstov wrote:

I put them in penny sleeves (the cheap clear card sleeves that are 99 cents for 100 sleeves) and use dry erase marker on the sleeve for anything I want to write on them. If I'm writing a lot, I can print out the details on card-sized parts of paper and slide them into the sleeves.

Generally I show them the picture of the card until they actually gain the item, then they get the card and sleeve of the item. when they identify the item I'll write the details or give them the printout I mentioned. This also allows for characters not present when an item is found/identified to not know what the item is

I do this as well. I usually just cut a piece of scrap paper to slip into the back side. When I tried a game of 4E, I would print out the weapon statblock to slip in. Either way, I've got a nice re-usable card in a protected sleeve.

[Segallion]

William Edmunds wrote:

I just bought the item card deck for Carrion Crown and just wanted to hear some general advice for using them. In general, do you hand the cards to the PCs and let them fill in the blank spaces on the cardbacks as they learn about the items? Or does the GM usually have the specifics filled out beforehand? What kind of pen/marker works best for these cards?

I've got a subscription so we use them as follows.

Any weapon or armour that is Masterwork or better I select an appropriate card.

Any other magic item or piece of equipment that matches a card I then give that player to keep.

If a player buys or purchases a magic item they get to select the card that represents the item.

We use sticky notes for the back of the cards so that they can be re-used in other games in the future.

[jhallum]

William Edmunds wrote:

I just bought the item card deck for Carrion Crown and just wanted to hear some general advice for using them. In general, do you hand the cards to the PCs and let them fill in the blank spaces on the cardbacks as they learn about the items? Or does the GM usually have the specifics filled out beforehand? What kind of pen/marker works best for these cards?

I take a picture of the card with a cellphone, embed it in a word doc, and send it out as a part of the session summary, as the blade/wand/potion/wondrous item they found this time (I'm rather loath to hand the cards out to others, I fear they might not return).

[Dave the Barbarian]

I bought a ton of item cards for my Legacy of Fire campaign. I bought the Legacy of Fire cards and tons of other standard item cards. Each player had a few nine card plastic sleeves and I handed out cards for each item. I stuck a yellow sticky note on the back of the card with the description of the item. They worked well and I will use them again. Everytime a player used a potion, they told me, handed me the card and that was that. It became a little more difficult once they were higher levels but it still worked well. I recommend you buy a box (not a pack) of item cards and give it a shot. The players really enjoyed it. When you hand them a card, it makes it seem like getting real treasure.

[Shieldknight]

deinol wrote:

Cpt_kirstov wrote:

I put them in penny sleeves (the cheap clear card sleeves that are 99 cents for 100 sleeves) and use dry erase marker on the sleeve for anything I want to write on them. If I'm writing a lot, I can print out the details on card-sized parts of paper and slide them into the sleeves.

Generally I show them the picture of the card until they actually gain the item, then they get the card and sleeve of the item. when they identify the item I'll write the details or give them the printout I mentioned. This also allows for characters not present when an item is found/identified to not know what the item is

I do this as well. I usually just cut a piece of scrap paper to slip into the back side. When I tried a game of 4E, I would print out the weapon statblock to slip in. Either way, I've got a nice re-usable card in a protected sleeve.

This is pretty much what I do. I only use the cards for masterwork and magic items though, no mundane. They work really well for Society play, as most players forget they even found a potion or scroll or whatever.