Thanks for the review and comments!
Hi,
This is Ryan from Open Mind Game (
www.openmindgames.com). Thanks to everyone for the complements and criticism on the Combat Pad! I thought I’d take the opportunity to answers some of the questions, and explain some of the design decisions.
To answer the question about how the “readying” and “delaying” guides are used… When a player readies or delays, just slide the magnet to the right into the readying or delaying positions to indicate this. (
http://www.openmindgames.com/omg_products_cp_photo.htm). Later when the player takes their action, slide their magnet to the new position. This way the magnets are always in the correct initiative order.
Before we came up with the Combat Pad, we used initiative index cards. The advantages of the Combat Pad are: The PC’s can see who’s up next, so they can be prepared for their turn! This actually ends up being a big time saver in our group. Also, you can distinguish between “readying” and “delaying’ which can be drastically important. Another thing, which my PC’s really like, is the ability to “see” the initiative order, so they can make smart tactical decisions… For example, the fighter might delay knowing that the cleric is just about to cast “prayer”, the rogue make delay for a flank, the wizard might ready magic missile to disrupt another spell caster, etc. And don’t forget… no need to worry about dropping them.
We decide to make the Combat Pad 8.5x11 and fairly thin, so that it can easily fit in a folder, or even your DM’s guide! We’ve had a lot of opinions on this; some people love it, while other would prefer a bigger or thinker version. Either way we appreciate the feedback.
Oh, btw, we’re working on a better system for international orders, but we do have a temporary process in place. Just send us and email at “orders” at “openmindgames.com”.
Thanks,
Ryan
