Our First Game -- What some non-RPG fans Learned that they want to share!

[Goblyns Hoard]

Bodhiwolff

Always willing to listen to the suggestions#

On the boxes - for stats I was thinking of actually putting in both stat and modifier. I know this is a change from your base design but didn't think it would take up much room, and some people might like to see it. For skills I was intending one box to be the mod and the other to be a 'trained' marker. Some skills have actions that only people trained in them can do, so I thought that would be a useful addition.

I hadn't realised what the little boxes inside the HP boxes was actually for - but it definitely makes sense to have a max indicator so people don't get over enthusiastic about healing. I'll add that.

As to the sizes of other bixes - I haven't yet had a chance to play 4E (first trial run tonight) so didn't appreciate the need for space in some areas. I'll try and incr4ease the surge box size, maybe rearrange things to make more space for it.

Any more suggestions will always be listened to. Afterall we're refining a tool here, so if anyone starts using this and thinks of anything ese they need on it then let me know.

 

[Goblyns Hoard]

Version 2

 

[Bodhiwolff]

I really like it!

(edited to remove a silly queston that was right there in front of my eyes).

I think it is a thing of beauty!

 

[Thasmodious]

I do not use the term 'dude' lightly, but dude, this is quite nice. You're approach is great, as is your wisdom in taking it and thanks for sharing all of this. I've stolen your game mat and my players will love it, even while one won't use power cards, as he insists that power cards are too M:tG.

I looked around to find Grandpa's power cards, but I just found threads where people talked about them, could you throw up a link to those as well and complete my new game kit?

 

[Bodhiwolff]

Grandpa's Cards

http://www.enworld.org/forum/showpost.php?p=4351249&postcount=718

Full-disclosure -- originally these were the cards I'd wanted to use, but I was using the Power Point files and foolishly didn't read the Acrobat File note about printing. Thus, I thought you could only print one card per page, and agonized over this for days, eventually giving up on them.

I then went with another set. One which was good, and similar, but which I didn't like quite as much (and that is why they look different in the pictures)

Recently I came back to Grandpa's Cards, though, and they are better than ever! He has skill cards, cards for inventory items, every single additional rule and condition ... just ... everything!

And he explains, use the acrobat set. The powerpont set is for editing your own (yay!) but the acrobat set is for printing, complete with instructions for printing up individual cards, specific cards in specific ranges, etc.

So you could ...

print up your Feats, your Aligment description, your Racial characteristics, every item in your inventory (mundane and arcane), all of your Rituals, and then have a "skill deck" which you draw out whenever you need to use a skill, and even a "combat deck" with the special finicky rules for combat actions like Bull Rush, etc.

Everything is there!

Or, you can just print off your powers, of course.

 

[RigaMortus2]

Nice work and all, but my preference is to see all the calculations, not just the end results. I like to know I've added everything correctly. For example, what happens when your Fighter or Paladin tries to perform an Acrobatic or Athletic skill? Is the Armor Check penalty already factored into it? What about the AC penalty for shields? How does the new player know that if they drop their heavy shield, they get +2 to the Acrobatics check? Is the DM supposed to remind them of this?

Even some of the pre-gen characters that were "dumbed down" (the ones from D&D Experience) had errors in their calculations.

Anyway, just a difference of oppinion. Good work none the less!

 

[Storminator]

Nice work and all, but my preference is to see all the calculations, not just the end results. I like to know I've added everything correctly. For example, what happens when your Fighter or Paladin tries to perform an Acrobatic or Athletic skill? Is the Armor Check penalty already factored into it? What about the AC penalty for shields? How does the new player know that if they drop their heavy shield, they get +2 to the Acrobatics check? Is the DM supposed to remind them of this?

Even some of the pre-gen characters that were "dumbed down" (the ones from D&D Experience) had errors in their calculations.

Anyway, just a difference of oppinion. Good work none the less!

I find that when you have all the numbers for calculations, you end up actually using about one quarter of the numbers on your sheet. For a casual player that didn't make the sheet originally, that means everything is hard to find when you need it.

I've gone to this approach for my own sheets.

PS

 

[Bodhiwolff]

Nice work and all, but my preference is to see all the calculations, not just the end results. I like to know I've added everything correctly. For example, what happens when your Fighter or Paladin tries to perform an Acrobatic or Athletic skill? Is the Armor Check penalty already factored into it? What about the AC penalty for shields? How does the new player know that if they drop their heavy shield, they get +2 to the Acrobatics check? Is the DM supposed to remind them of this?

Even some of the pre-gen characters that were "dumbed down" (the ones from D&D Experience) had errors in their calculations.

Anyway, just a difference of oppinion. Good work none the less!

This is one of the "sacred cows" I had to kill for myself.

This is my own personal preference. This is the way I roll. This is the way my brain works, the way my preferences run, and the way that makes me comfortable, the way I figure that is the best possible solution for the largest number of situations.

And it would've been completely wrong.

I never would've learned what I dd had I not changed my approach. I'm glad I did.

Now, we still have our complete character sheets tucked in behind the game mat, underneath inside the Report Cover. We can haul 'em out if we need 'em.

But frankly, we don't need 'em.

They rank up there with the Player's Handbook when compared to the Power Cards. You can haul it out when you need it, and it is nice to have at the table, but in 90 percent of the situations it just sits there, and in those other 10 percent of the situations it is might even be wasting more time than it is worth to crack it out (especially when there are other options available)

I'm glad I changed my old approach for this group. I learned some interesting things.

 

[Smart]

Thanks for sharing this with us. I found my way to Grandpa's Cards through this thread, which are amazing!

By the way - love your use of Arkham Horror tokens!

 

[porter235]

Sweet baby Jebus, these are awesome! 4e combat + player's mat + grandpa's cards = good chance I'll get my boardgame geeks playing D&D. This will simply all of the fiddly bits, present something that seems safe and familiar, and allow us to concentrate on having fun! Thanks a ton!