Best Game Aids

[diaglo]

Hope this helps -

http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=175755

http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=172492

http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=168698

http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=166948

http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=134419

d00d,

get the flip map from STeel Sqwire. i used wet, dry and sharpie on the thing to try it out. all of them came out with just a bit of elbow grease.

 

[dragonlordofpoondari]

d00d,

get the flip map from STeel Sqwire. i used wet, dry and sharpie on the thing to try it out. all of them came out with just a bit of elbow grease.

if only steel sqwire made them in mondo mat size ...

 

[Emirikol]

I consider good-lighting, comfortable chairs, fridge, microwave, battlemat & mini's to be essential, so they're not really considered "game aid's."

Best game aids for our ongoing games (TOP 10 we use EVERY GAME):
1. Rocks, pebbles & dominoes. I now use them for walls instead of boring vis a vis pens for dungeon walls.
2. Cardboard houses & castle walls (any company)
3. Cardboard 3-D DOORWAYS (D&D AC series)..plus I created a few more on my own.
4. Train-layout bushes & trees. The players can now actually use cover and concealment.
5. Cardboard counter river and road tiles (D&D AC Rusak scenario).
6. PILLARS (I think dwarven forge). We use these EVERY GAME in AGE OF WORMS
7. Cardboard counter or plastic chairs, tables, chests, traps, etc. (I think also dwarven forge as well as the cardboard counter companies). I also made up some quick torches from cotton and yellow/red paint (important in our low-magic games).
8. Modelling or creative clay
9. A sheet of paper (I put a grid on the bottom for initiative..I dislike cards)
10. "Junk." I have a box of string, cans, junk, dead bugs, twisted metal, clear plastic and whatnot that I use on the fly for creating "stuff" for the game.

I keep it all in one of those clear-plastic-screw-n-nut-sorters from Home Depot right behind where I DM.

jh

..

 

[Twowolves]

Classic. Everyone I know has a permanent wall or stairway or something staining their megamat. Don't feel too bad about it. Monte Cook (whom I don't know personally) has one that he jokingly refers to as his permanent wall of force in one of his blogs.

Before we made our gaming table, we had a permenant wall of fire right down the middle of our mat. :\

 

[Mark CMG]

d00d,

get the flip map from STeel Sqwire.

I have one. However, I also have a megamat from chessex and it is sometimes better (because of its size) for some situations. At home, I also use a big piece of plexiglass when I use battlemaps, like from DDM sets and Dun/Drag mags. I have a number of large maps that are also laminated. I love the flip map but it can't be the only tool in my belt.

 

[diaglo]

I have one. However, I also have a megamat from chessex and it is sometimes better (because of its size) for some situations. At home, I also use a big piece of plexiglass when I use battlemaps, like from DDM sets and Dun/Drag mags. I have a number of large maps that are also laminated. I love the flip map but it can't be the only tool in my belt.

true story:

last year at Gen Con i was in line to get some free beer at teh Embassy suites. and the d00d in front of me was looking at the game table where one of the flip mats was in use. i asked him if he'd tried to use one before. i then went into a long pitch about how great they were... he told me he should know. he was the owner of steel sqwire.

 

[Mark CMG]

true story:

last year at Gen Con i was in line to get some free beer at teh Embassy suites. and the d00d in front of me was looking at the game table where one of the flip mats was in use. i asked him if he'd tried to use one before. i then went into a long pitch about how great they were... he told me he should know. he was the owner of steel sqwire.

After talking for a while, and having a few more beers, was he surprised and, perhaps, just a bit frightened by the uncanny depth of your knowledge of diseases?

 

[diaglo]

After talking for a while, and having a few more beers, was he surprised and, perhaps, just a bit frightened by the uncanny depth of your knowledge of diseases?

i had to get my foot outta my mouth first.

i actually nominated his product for an ENnie. so it wasn't all bad.

 

[deltadave]

I always use the following:

DIY stuff:
home made DM screen - landscape layout 4 panel with flip panels
spell templates - made from piano wire and coated with tool vinyl
blank 4x6 index cards - item cards, initiative cards, etc - pre printed

Bought Stuff:
miniatures
campaign planners
chessex battlemat or megamat and vis-a-vis wet erase markers

That and the core books are pretty much it....

I'm also thinking of getting a bookreader like the Sony PRS500 and loading all of the core and supplemental books on it in PDF form.

 

[TarionzCousin]

Classic. Everyone I know has a permanent wall or stairway or something staining their megamat. Don't feel too bad about it. Monte Cook (whom I don't know personally) has one that he jokingly refers to as his permanent wall of force in one of his blogs.

Yay! My DM-fu is just as strong as Monte's! Wait, isn't that what you meant? Oh....

\impressed that you used "whom" correctly in a parenthetical aside.

Thanks to Mark CMG for the threads. I'll peruse them when I have the time...tomorrow at work.