D&D 5E Physical and/or Tactile Gaming Aids, Tips, and Tricks

[Oofta]

In addition to the monster cards I also have

A list of NPC, business, tavern and town names, often with random descriptions. Cuts down on the list of people named "Bob".

Blocks - another DIY project, I have inch square blocks I use to represent terrain.

The rings from soda bottles that I hang on minis to indicate they're blind/hypnotized or whatever. Fortunately I don't need near as many as 4E, but they still comes in handy.

 

[happyhermit]

I am a huge fan of DIY when it comes to tabletop props...

I am as well... in theory, but I sometimes find myself wishing I could purchase a profesional version these days. I think it is due to mostly being very busy with other stuff, but also that I sort-of want to give a few bucks to support things I like (5e) and since I don't really want any splat or adventure it seems like a good option. I really have no idea if they get more than a few pennies when GF9 sells a deck of cards though.

I make my own DM's screens, and I use Lego to represent (N)PCs, monsters and terrain features. I have also tried to use Lego to represent weapons and magic items, but they are quite limited in what you can build at the small scale and equip directly on the "minis".

I make "spell cards", "magic items cards" and "monster cards" but they are very simple, basically just photocopies or printouts cut down to a minimal size, so they have different sizes. It would be nice to format them uniformly and print them out in colorful rigid cardboard, but the main problem is that there are many spells that just wouldn't fit to a playing card's size.
...
*If I had more time to waste, I'd love to design not only my own spell cards, but also cards for actions that the PCs can take. For instance, weapon cards (attack action) and cards for a PC's special abilities. Then a possible alternative table arrangement for the cards would be by action type i.e. action, bonus action, reaction, 1minute, 10minutes, short rest etc... This is something I've tried to design in custom character sheet, since it's useful info but missing from the official sheets.

Thanks, the way you put it does make sense, it is pretty much what the players are doing, and it does sound efficient.

The way you put "the spell slots are separate" brings me back to trying something I thought of before, a small white board/scratch pad/something dry erase with a set of spell slots on it that can be checked off or written in, then "reset" quickly after a rest.

I have thought of and tried making other cards for abilities and even attacks and it can be very handy for reference, but especially with new players I am very leery of anything that could potentially narrow a players idea of what they can attempt.

I use a custom dm's screen because the original lack a lot of info I need. The initiative tracker from paizo is a great tool for me.

So, I have avoided it so far, but so many people have mentioned it. So I will admit it, I just don't know what to put on a DM screen in 5e What used to be the ultimate "cheat sheet" for us in the past I have utterly failed to create in so far. Conditions, actions, world building info ??? I just don't know, if there is something I want to add, by the time I have come close to making a custom screen I have it memorized

I have thought about making something like I have seen in tabletop games like mysterium, where the screen has slots with cards, or old protective organizing sheets. I think for me it might have to be very easily modifiable in 5e to be useful. It would be cool if someone made something like that, that would stand well and hold cards, but I doubt it.

So, here's yet another question;

What do you put on a 5e DM screen?

 

[Ezequielramone]

What do you put on a 5e DM screen?

I printed and use 4 of the six panels in here: http://www.enworld.org/forum/rpgdownloads.php?do=download&downloadid=1141

 

[Li Shenron]

I am as well... in theory, but I sometimes find myself wishing I could purchase a profesional version these days.

There is no doubt that professional products are much better than my own domestic products The reason why I go DIY is simply because I have a lot more fun making stuff than actually using it The month or two spent designing, prototyping and crafting spell cards would be for me a lot more exciting than using them at the table itself.

So, I have avoided it so far, but so many people have mentioned it. So I will admit it, I just don't know what to put on a DM screen in 5e What used to be the ultimate "cheat sheet" for us in the past I have utterly failed to create in so far. Conditions, actions, world building info ??? I just don't know, if there is something I want to add, by the time I have come close to making a custom screen I have it memorized

I have thought about making something like I have seen in tabletop games like mysterium, where the screen has slots with cards, or old protective organizing sheets. I think for me it might have to be very easily modifiable in 5e to be useful. It would be cool if someone made something like that, that would stand well and hold cards, but I doubt it.

So, here's yet another question;

What do you put on a 5e DM screen?

My current custom DM screen is nothing more than a blank cardboard screen (scrapped from a nice cardbox box) with several printouts pinned or clipped on the DM's side. On the outer side I was supposed to glue some large nice artwork, but haven't done it yet. But my idea was to make a DM screen that has non-permanent printouts inside, so whenever I change my mind or a new adventure requires different things, I can just replace some printouts with new ones.

The true key for me is to keep it light. The vast majority (if not every) DM's screen I've seen - custom or professional - have a lot of stuff that you don't really need on it, either because it comes up rarely or because it's so easy to remember anyway.

 

[happyhermit]

My current custom DM screen is nothing more than a blank cardboard screen (scrapped from a nice cardbox box) with several printouts pinned or clipped on the DM's side. On the outer side I was supposed to glue some large nice artwork, but haven't done it yet. But my idea was to make a DM screen that has non-permanent printouts inside, so whenever I change my mind or a new adventure requires different things, I can just replace some printouts with new ones.

The true key for me is to keep it light. The vast majority (if not every) DM's screen I've seen - custom or professional - have a lot of stuff that you don't really need on it, either because it comes up rarely or because it's so easy to remember anyway.

Yup, I think I just have to accept that one that is useful for me in 5e, at least for the foreseeable future, is going to be seeing some alterations. The GM screen linked above looks really good but there are thing on each page that I will never use.

 

[pdzoch]

But my idea was to make a DM screen that has non-permanent printouts inside, so whenever I change my mind or a new adventure requires different things, I can just replace some printouts with new ones.

I would think that some acrylic document stands/holders would work for a durable screen with replaceable content. I'm not sure they make one large enough to create a full screen, but two or three side by side should do the trick.

 

[Li Shenron]

Here is a template I created using the Magic Set editor to create spell cards.
http://www.enworld.org/forum/rpgdownloads.php?do=download&downloadid=1245

Your deck is really a nice work! But of course now I want to make my own Is it easy to use this Magic Set Editor to create a custom card template? Can you suggest any good tutorial or step-by-step instructions/example?

 

[pdzoch]

Your deck is really a nice work! But of course now I want to make my own Is it easy to use this Magic Set Editor to create a custom card template? Can you suggest any good tutorial or step-by-step instructions/example?

Many of the templates for Magic Set Editor include lots of design options for the templates. Most of the templates on the MSE website are for Magic The Gathering (obviously, since that is what it was designed for), but templates for other games are also included, such a POKEMON, FLUX, POKER CARDS, etc. There were even a series of POWER CARDS for D&D 4E available for a while (and I recall a discussion thread on ENWORLD years ago on 4E POWERCARDS in MSE).

Making a template from scratch is not easy -- it does require some coding capability, but there is lots of helps in the forum.

It is easier to adapt an already existing template to one of your making. Changing a background is a simple file swap. Changing anything more requires adjustment to the script for the template files.

I have included numerous background and font choices, as well as a few optional design features for the cards. Hopefully, those will suit you. If not, take a crack on designing your own. If you need help, PM me.

 

[pdzoch]

Your deck is really a nice work! But of course now I want to make my own Is it easy to use this Magic Set Editor to create a custom card template? Can you suggest any good tutorial or step-by-step instructions/example?

I forgot to add what I like most about the MSE program. I can pick and choose which cards I want printed. And I can organize them by campaign and player group. Because I include standard standard content with my custom content, they appear seamlessly integrated because they share the same design. I also like to add my own pictures/art styles for the items. I use MSE for my Spell Cards, Treasure Cards, and Monster/NPC/Player Initiative Cards. (Which is probably overkill, but once I got the hang of it I worked it to death).

 

[Li Shenron]

It is easier to adapt an already existing template to one of your making. Changing a background is a simple file swap. Changing anything more requires adjustment to the script for the template files.

Thanks! I will look into it, I am sure that even with hundreds of templates I will not find one that suits me as-is. That's because in this kind of works 99% of the people seem to want to compete on fancy tweaks while the actual content remains identical (I have a similar problem with character sheets... they are all the same in the end), while I want to try something different. But I hope that modifying an existing template won't be too hard.