GameMastery Item Cards

I'll start his review with an admitted bias: I'm a sucker for "accessories". I eat them up far faster than I do new rulebooks and the like. My game uses magnetic initiative boards, fantasy money, handouts and printouts all the time. To me, that adds an additonal, tactile element to the game.

I first bought Paizo's Item Cards a few months ago; I grabbed a load of them off eBay - something like fifteen decks of the darned things. Well, if you'r egonna do it, you don't want to run out, right? In addition, I was running a high-level 3.5 game at the time, so you can imagine just how many magic items were floating around.

The cards were an instant hit. The first time I used them, I put a pile of them, along with some fantasy money, in a sealed envelope. When the PCs came across the treasure hoards, I simply laid the envelope in the middle of the table. Within minutes, the players were physically dividing out money and items, handing them to each other, exchanging stuff with each other, and so on. We introduced a very basic and simple rule: if you don't have the card, you don't have the item. If you lend or give another PC an item, you hand them the card. Then they have it, not you. If you trade with an NPC you receive cards or hand cards back to the DM.

No record keeping required. No equipment lists. No arguments or mistakes. You got the card, you got the item. You don't, then you don't. Nothing to discuss. It works perfectly. It magically does all your record keeping for you.

The cards themselves

The cards themselves are gorgeous. Full colour, glossy, decent cardstock, curved corners, excellent artwork. There's a full colour image on the front, a brief physical description on the back, along with space to write any notes about the item.

You have to buy a lot of 'em, though, and you have to avail youself of all Pziao's different decks. Because, believe me, it's quite frustrating when you run out of potion cards, or have to use a short sword instead of a scimitar. There are a number of "unusual" items - feathers, unicorn horns, dice, mirrors and so on; a load of mundane items,a dn the expected armour and weapons. As long as you buy enough of them, you'll cover pretty much any contingency. I had to buy several hundred, though. For this reason, I've given the cards a lower score on the "Value for Money" rating.

All in all, I just can't think of a reason not to use them. You'll just ahve to trust me if you can't envisage the point - try them and you'll see. As a concept, it just works. Combine them with one of various "money" products (or some monopoly money if you don't mind what it looks like) and something will change about your game - for the better.