DMing with a White Board

[Nyarlathotep]

Originally Posted by Lord Mhoram

We use a whiteboard instead of a battlemat (it's scored with a square grid). .

Pretty much same for my group, I have a 4' x 8' sheet of melamine board, scored with a one inch grid. Great for quick battlemaps, plus I can write all over it, so monster HP, stat penalties, initiative all get recorded on it somewhere.

[inkmonkeys]

In the game I play in on Mondays in the office, we have magnetic initiative number strips we stick to the board with magnetic character names that we place as combat begins and move as it proceeds.

I'm experimenting with it in the game I run right now, but as that's not at the office, we don't have a big whiteboard. We have a small one, but it's less wieldy.

[DMShoe]

For a while, I used a dry-erase surface that consisted of an easel, a 1"-gridded easel paper pad, and a cut sheet of clear plastic/cellophane (rigid stuff, not the saran-wrap). I'd write permanent stuff on the paper beneath -- at one point I'd draw the maps on the paper, and use dry-erase to mark creature and PC locations.

More recently, I've used Tact-Tiles - but I'm more likely to use dungeon tiles, battlemaps, printed maps, or dwarven forge for the table surface. And I've had one of those magnet-sheet-based initiative trackers I picked up at Gen Con a couple years ago (one of the players manages init for me).

Biggest challenge with using a vertical whiteboard at home is that we game at the dining table, and I don't have a good mounting location for it. Someday (he says), I'll get a more dedicated gaming room set up, which will have white boards.

[Mark]

We could use more data points on this poll.

[Aus_Snow]

Yep, I use 'em. Well, most sessions. It's a pretty flexible arrangement, as to exactly what bits and bobs do get used, per session. But mostly, I like the whiteboard - handy thing.

[neuronphaser]

It constantly amazes me how many different systems there are for handling initiative. I learn a new one every time threads like these come up.

[/threadjack]

I most often use the folding battle maps (can't recall the brand; got 'em from paizo, they fold up to be about 8" x 11") for battles, and a small white board for tracking initiative and status effects.

I'm trying to determine if there isn't a better way to handle initiative and status effects though...the whiteboard I have is getting pretty beat up, and I find that the erasing and re-writing is still just time-consuming enough to be an annoyance.


Edit -- did some research and loved what I found thanks to this thread! See my blog for a gaggle of ways to track initiative and conditions...including white board-y ideas!

[Mark]

Originally Posted by neuronphaser

Edit -- did some research and loved what I found thanks to this thread! See my blog for a gaggle of ways to track initiative and conditions...including white board-y ideas!

Great stuff! (Fixed the link in my quoting.)

[neuronphaser]

Originally Posted by Mark

Great stuff! (Fixed the link in my quoting.)

Thank you muchly; just made the fix myself (good catch!).

I originally had different thoughts about my blog, but I keep getting inspired by the folks here to post things that didn't really fit that original vision. So now it's a little more focused on just providing tips & tools that should be immediately useful for anyone's D&D game.

Direct your friends to it; comment on it; send me some suggestions! And thanks for reading!

[Jeff Wilder]

When dealing with problem players, I prefer to water-board.

It's a broad question.

For general use, we have a very large vinyl battlemat.

For initiative, we use the init tracker magnetic system created by Open Mind Games and now sold by Paizo.

For secret notes and temporary stuff, we have several small (6" by 9") white boards around the table.

I think I could get some very good use out of a large white board mounted to the wall behind/beside my DMing chair, but:

(1) People DM from different chairs in our gameroom.
(2) Large white boards are expensive.
(3) Large white boards are a PITA to anchor properly.

That said, if and when I buy a house, I'll likely install a "DMing white board."

[Longtooth Studios]

I used a gridded dry erase board since 3rd. It is funny how it hard to imagine playing without one now, but that is just what we did for 1st and 2nd edition.

Now I use my own Battlegraph Dry Erase boards. The idea spawned from my original board that I scored with a ruler and a yard stick. The scoring method has come a long ways. : ) I still have the old board on the wall as a reminder of where we came from. Many, many adventures played out on that old board.

I was going to offer clear acrylic boards but I abandoned the idea for a few reasons. First the acrylic is not that great of a dry erase surface. It becomes abraded quickly and starts to hold marker. If you have ever owned acrylic cups that was washed often, you know how they scratch easily. Second, clear turns out to be disappointing. The lines cut white which needs a dark surface underneath to show well. Then the marker doesn't stand out well due to the darker play surface. Lastly, the imagine perk of a clear board is that you can place maps underneath, but this really does away with needed a board at all. If you have the map drawn, just use it.

That why we created a high quality white dry erase surface that will not ghost, and shows the color of your markers very well.

Another big perk of using modular boards is that you can expand the map as the game advances. Just move the boards from the back, to the front and continue your map. Also if you have the time, you can draw your maps in advance, and then just place them on the table as needed.

We will have a video up soon with tips on how you can make the most of your boards.

http://www.longtoothstudios.com

[DM_Jeff]

Two-Part answer.

While we don't use a white board for minis (we have a raised battlemat for that). we do have:

* A big magnetic white board behind the DM's seat with an initative tracker, magnets, and notes and stuff.

* When my wife and I built our game table, we covered the top in whiteboard to make character note taking easier.

-DM Jeff

[Agamon]

Not as a battlemap. On the wall, listing names of NPCs, places and such, yes. Also a small handheld one that one of the players uses as an initiative tracker when playing D&D.