House Rules & Colored Markers - a sort of advice contest with free stuff!

[CraigAT]

Contest Winners!

OK folks, sorry about the delay - some great discussion here and good ideas - we appreciate it!

I said I was gonna give out some credits for our stuff, so here are the winners - Duncan, Bh2, Amy Kou'ai and RangerWickett.

You all have $20 credit towards merchandize on our site www.aleatools.com.

Drop me a note at craig@aleatools.com - I will give you instructions on how to make sure you get the credit applied to your order.

Thanx everyone!

 

[ShadowChemosh]

Missed contest, but wanted to share....

I know I missed the contest, but I wanted to share anyways. I have used the markers for a good two years in 3.5 games and they worked great. In 4e I had to change a little of how I was using them, but they seem to be even more useful in 4e actually.

Attached is a PDF that goes over the different marker colors and what they stand for. I use only one level for tracking health and thats red for bloodied where in 3.5 I used white, orange and finally red to go from being hit, 50% health, to almost dead.

The really fun thing I do is I have all the 4e conditions setup to be printed on 3x5 index cards (see attached .zip file). I have the color of the index cards match the color of the markers I am using. So for example if you have any type of condition I use a White marker and that matches to a White index card. For a condition that requires a Saving Throw I use a Orange marker and that matches to information on a Orange index card. A dying PC gets a Red + Black marker and a Red index card with the information about death and dying in 4e.

Marks work the same way with Dark Blue & Dark Purple for use by the NPCs and Light Blue, Medium Blue, and Light Purple for use by the PCs. As my players are very new to 4e, and D&D in general for a couple, I have matching colored Index cards that explain what it means to be marked.

These markers are way better than the small colored glass beads we used before I found the Alea Tools website. Only wished I had waited for the neo version as that I think finally makes this a perfect game aid.

Later

 

[RangerWickett]

Hey Craig. Thanks for the contest. I love your markers, and wow, this is nice of you. Email sent.

One new use was discovered today, when we tried putting two folding tables together and putting a large pre-gridded magnetic dry erase board on top. The tables were a bit uneven, so the board wobbled. Alea Tools to the rescue! A bit of quick stacking later, and everything was balanced.

New color use today - beige: represents being covered in bloodsucking bats!

Unfortunately, tonight we didn't manage to get to that encounter I talked about. If only you guys could make tools that would let players stay out later on a week night.

 

[Timeboxer]

Hey Craig -- that is nice of you! E-mail sent, too.

Another use: I created a warlock who has an "I curse you and if you die I get some ability" ability. So we put the markers under them to indicate cursing -- and then I kept a stack of "You've died so I get this resource" markers to spend on various abilities. So useful connection between those two mechanics.

 

[blalien]

A friend of mine has a ton of these and sometimes he actually uses them to make maps. For example, if the room has an overhanging ledge, he builds the platform out of brown magnets, and we get a better grasp of the relative height of each character. Easiest way to build a 3d map, and fairly stable, too. Of course, you have to put a little pad under the markers you actually use for creatures, or they get stuck to the floor.

 

[theedj]

Caveat emptor

Just a caveat emptor: I highly suggest shopping around to see if you can locate the Alea Tools products elsewhere. One of my items arrived damaged and I tried to get in touch with someone at Alea Tools. Despite repeated efforts for nearly a month to contact them using the e-mail addresses provided on their site (plus replying directly to the invoice e-mail) I never heard anything back. Once I looked around online I heard from other people that the company does not seem to reply to e-mails--ever. As neither their site nor their invoice included a phone number, I was (and am) at a dead end. Their products may be a good idea but if you run into a problem with missing or broken items, or any situation at all in which you need to reach someone at the company, best of luck. Remember: caveat emptor if you place an order with them.