What do I need to GM?

[atys]

I got the recent Alkenstar AP Humble Bundle, and I plan on running the Beginner Box for some newbies, then gauging interest in the AP. What do I need to prepare? I've GMed some other systems, but never in person. I've listed what I've thought of below:

- Dice sets (at least enough for four players)
- Pregen character sheets (maybe some blank ones?)
- Dry erase grid map
- Objects to represent PCs and NPCs/monsters

I'd love some recommendations for specific products, and also if you all could point out anything I may not have considered.

[Dancing Wind]

You and your players all need a way to track the loss and restoration of Hit Points.

Traditionally, players' character sheets were written in pencil, and everyone spent a lot of time erasing and re-writing all the changes.

Personally, I keep my PC character sheets in plastic sleeves, and use wet-erase markers to track those.

As a GM, I use both white-boards and the Combat Pad as tools to track NPC/Moster HP, rounds (especially how many rounds spells and effects last), and as a way to track initiative order (crucial when people are dying and you need to move their turn in the initiative order).

Combat Pad

You can, of course, use digital tools for these tasks as well. But if you're somewhere with less-than-stellar internet access (the basement of a store, or the middle of a convention center), these manual tools are a godsend.

[Steve Geddes]

I thought The Condition Cards looked like they’d be close to essential for people new to the system running a face-to-face game.

PF2 has a lot of conditions and these were really well done, imo. Granted these are pre the remaster changes, and I’m not sure how compatible they are with the remastered terminology.

[Paul Watson]

Very. Most of the terms didn't change. and where they did,. the effect didn't so it's a matter of sharpie-ing the new name

[Arutema]

An alternative to the combat pad is a simple stack of index cards. Write each players initiative on a single card, and stack them in initiative order. Flip a card to the back of the stack as turns end, and move a card in the stack if initiative changes. You can also use spare index cards to track monster HP.

[Perses13]

I found the PF2 GM Screen to be what I consult the most when DMing. Not only does it have definitions of all the conditions, but having the various tables for DCs (by level, spell, and rarirty) and the skills to recall knowledge on creatures all in one place is incredibly handy.

I think the remastered GM screen isn't out for another month or two, but the old one is mostly compatible or printing off the relevant tables from GM Core or the Nethys GM Screen to make your own also works.