DM game management tools- help getting my mojo back

[kobold]

My son has renewed my interest in D&D, 3.0 had renewed it and we had a blast but then a glut of rules and high-level game management wore me out.
I’ve been doing a bit of C&C and Mythic Russia, but now I wish to get back into the gaming geek I’ve suppressed for the past few years.
At low levels (my fav) management is essentially a non-issue, with few long lasting or mass buffs, and few spells or feats to keep track off. It’s at mid to high levels that these issues slow the game what tools do you use to keep this stuff manageable.
A few I thought about getting are the Enworld Buff cards and the CMG PDF SRD.
Am I heading in the right direction, what else or how else should I proceed?
Thanks,
Andy

 

[Mark CMG]

A few I thought about getting are (. . .) and the CMG PDF SRD.

Drop me an email today and I'll shoot you a discount just or the mention.

Along these same lines, here are a couple of threads that should prove useful (some more than others) -

http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=191425

http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=189597

http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=189929

http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=187712

http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=187157

http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=184607

 

[amethal]

At low levels (my fav) management is essentially a non-issue, with few long lasting or mass buffs, and few spells or feats to keep track off. It’s at mid to high levels that these issues slow the game what tools do you use to keep this stuff manageable.
A few I thought about getting are the Enworld Buff cards and the CMG PDF SRD.
Am I heading in the right direction, what else or how else should I proceed?
Thanks,
Andy

The buff cards are great, but they are only SRD. If you ever get the Spell Compendium, write out your own for spells in that.

Of course, a great way to keep the game manageable is to stick to PHB only spells, but that would be a real shame.

I also like the CMG SRD, but its quite a few years too late for me to get a discount ....

Download the Magic Item Compendium web enhancement and print out for all your players. Its an outline of a character, with all the magic item slots on it. [CMG also did a free one as a much appreciated community service, but the more recent WotC one is an improvement.]

I also think its a good idea to encourage your players to do "extra" character sheets e.g. a "raging" sheet for a barbarian.

For NPCs, I suggest you look at the "Dungeon Delve" sheets on the WotC website. They have 20th level characters on a single sheet of paper, and taught me lots about how to concentrate on the important bits when statting NPCs.

 

[Mark CMG]

I also like the CMG SRD, but its quite a few years too late for me to get a discount ....

I'll extend that discount offer for any one of my products to anyone who posts in this thread (to help kobold) and emails me.

 

[rom90125]

I own the CMG 3.5 SRD Bundle (worth every penny of the $19.95) and The More Better Indispensable Character Formfolio (again, an awesome aid for DM's and Players alike).

 

[robberbaron]

I use DMGenie which, though it only contains OG material and has a few wrinkles, makes the job of GMing so much easier. I don't know if I would have had the patience to run a game without it, certainly not for 8 players & 3 cohorts.

 

[Ry]

I've done a few things that help bigtime, making the game much easier to manage by not really doing statblocks anymore. My DM's Best Friend thread is here (look at the last few posts)