Battlebox - How to get more use out of it

[Olaf the Stout]

I've bought the Battlebox from Fiery Dragon a while ago and I've been using it in my games ever since. I feel like my players aren't getting as much use out of the Battlebox as they should. What can I do to get my players to use the Battlebox more? I have laminated the action cards so that they'll last longer and I have cut out and laminated a lot of the spell templates. I just feel that it's an underused resource at my table.

One player that regularly grapples found that the grapple card lacked a lot of the information that he needed (which I think is a fair comment). As for the rest of the group, they'll look at the cards occasionally but for the most part they just sit in the middle of the table, unused. What does your group use the Battlebox for?

Olaf the Stout

 

[Varianor Abroad]

Well, I'd email Fiery James a suggestion about the grapple card then. Those rules are complex - no wonder a lot of folks ignore grappling - and I can see where he'd want more details if he does it a lot. That said, wouldn't he be better putting the full rules on a clipboard if he does it all the time?

The cards often go unused in my game depending on what NPCs they face. (Tons of roleplaying means less usage as well.) What I've found works well is to delegate to a player who is good at paying attention. I ask him or her to put the card in front of someone whose PC is using the manuever or suffering the condition.

 

[Olaf the Stout]

Well, I'd email Fiery James a suggestion about the grapple card then. Those rules are complex - no wonder a lot of folks ignore grappling - and I can see where he'd want more details if he does it a lot. That said, wouldn't he be better putting the full rules on a clipboard if he does it all the time?

The cards often go unused in my game depending on what NPCs they face. (Tons of roleplaying means less usage as well.) What I've found works well is to delegate to a player who is good at paying attention. I ask him or her to put the card in front of someone whose PC is using the manuever or suffering the condition.

Yeah, I printed out the copy of the grappling rules from the SRD for my grapple-firendly player. He liked that.

The grappling rules are that detailed that I doubt that Fiery Dragon would be able to put them all on a card. I still use the card to remind me of the things that you add to the Grapple checks (although I have nearly memorised it now).

You also said suffering the condition. I may be misremembering this here but I don't remember the Battlebox having any cards that described conditions.

Olaf the Stout

 

[Varianor Abroad]

Oops. Sorry. I got mixed up between the Battlebox and the AE Battlebox. The latter has condition cards. I use those all the time. (They list out, for example, stunned, dazed, blinded, etc.)

 

[dpmcalister]

On the grapple front, my current DM dislikes grapple. I've brought my box to the games but it hasn't been need since. In fact, there's nothing in the box, so far, that's been needed. Perhaps that's because I'm a new player in this group and I don't want to overstep the mark by bringing in lots of extra stuff (the group does very well without templates and reference to rules - the DM calls it and that's the way we go (personally, that's something I prefer anyway, makes for more enjoyment IMHO)).

Maybe, when (if ) I run some games I'll introduce some of the things I've used in the past. But, then again, maybe I won't. The guys I play with now seem happy to run with things more

 

[Olaf the Stout]

On the grapple front, my current DM dislikes grapple. I've brought my box to the games but it hasn't been need since. In fact, there's nothing in the box, so far, that's been needed. Perhaps that's because I'm a new player in this group and I don't want to overstep the mark by bringing in lots of extra stuff (the group does very well without templates and reference to rules - the DM calls it and that's the way we go (personally, that's something I prefer anyway, makes for more enjoyment IMHO)).

Maybe, when (if ) I run some games I'll introduce some of the things I've used in the past. But, then again, maybe I won't. The guys I play with now seem happy to run with things more

I find it strange that the DM doesn't want any of the rules references or templates to help him. I guess if everyone is happy with the situation that is all that matters though.

Olaf the Stout

 

[dpmcalister]

I prefer it myself. Sometimes (in other games I've been in), everyone can get bogged down in the nitty gritty of the rules and spend 30 minutes or so on one round of combat. My current DM tends to make calls on things, which are accepted by the group, and we get on with things. I've certainly found that my new group tend to get an awful lot more done in a session than my old group did.