Keeping track of bloodied, marked, etc...

[SuperGnome]

Hiya,

I'm curious what you guys do to keep track of who's bloodied, marked, has Riposte' Strike on them, etc...

I know there are the monster\PC cards you can write on, but most effects come and go repeatedly.

I was hoping to use small game/poker chips (7/8"), but they're a hair too small so they'd disappear under the minis usually. That sucks, because they're $1/20. I'm thinking of using multicolored twisty-ties as they're free, and also would be quite visable if a bit cheesy.

I cold print out things on card stock, but I think they'll just be a pain to move around. One thing would be if they were vaguely star shaped, the points could flare up around the edges and maybe "stick" a bit, making moving them with minis easier.

What have you guys done, or what ideas do you have?

 

[klobbermeister]

I grabbed an .89 package of multi-colored pipe cleaners at the craft store, cut them into thirds, and made rings out of them.

Red is bloodied. Each player gets a color to signify their effect on the appropriate mini.

Aside from the stack of 'fuzzy leis' that obscures a mini sometimes, it works out well for us.

 

[SuperGnome]

ooo, beats the heck out of twisties! Thanks man, that's exactly the kind of thing I'm looking for.

 

[Aristotle]

Invested in Alea Tools. I could have done something cheaper, like the pipe cleaners, and gotten the same result. I like 'game gear' so I spent the money. One session down and I'm mostly happy with them. I think I may not use all of the colors I got, but the ones I was using for bloodied, marked, and ongoing damage were very helpful. I posted a little something in my blog about them, too.

 

[andarilhor]

I am not using miniatures just because they are so much money in my country, so I am cannibalizing some boardgames I dont use for pieces.

For the players I am using pieces of a boardgame which are connical, and for monsters I will be using War (Risk in USA, i believe) pieces for the medium and large ones, and maybe botle caps or some other thing for huge and gargantuan ones.

To the conditions I an using power cards I made in excel for the players, for monster I simply put in a table of mine, writing in a code. Some effects I ask to the player let the power card in the table turned to indicate his effect instill will in.

For marks, hunter´s quarry, warlock´s curse and blodied i will use plastic bottle caps rings cutted in little pieces and give a color to which player, minus red ones, which indicate bloodied.

 

[andarilhor]

Ah! For duration of effects I am using a simple code:

ET(...): End of the Turn (character or monster name)

ST(...): Start of the Turn (character or monster name)

EE: End of Encounter

Other(...): For 1 hour, 1 day, specific powers.

 

[Obryn]

Invested in Alea Tools. I could have done something cheaper, like the pipe cleaners, and gotten the same result. I like 'game gear' so I spent the money. One session down and I'm mostly happy with them. I think I may not use all of the colors I got, but the ones I was using for bloodied, marked, and ongoing damage were very helpful. I posted a little something in my blog about them, too.

I have mixed feelings about them. On the one hand, I think they fill their purpose better than most anything else I could imagine getting. They are attractive, simple to use, and a lot of fun. I can't imagine running 4e without them.

On the other hand, the fact that they're magnets drives me up the wall. I'm probably one of the people whose posts you read, where I complain about their attraction/repulsion issues.

Every session, I have at least 1 stack of magnets "steal" a magnet from elsewhere. Also, every session I have magnets too close to one another that either pull or push.

It's far from insurmountable - and I still like them better than other options - but I don't think I would be as sanguine had I spent $70+ on them.

-O

 

[Skyscraper]

So, um... what are pipe cleaners?

English is not my first language so I might in fact know the device under another name. A detailed description would be nice.

Thanks,

Sky

 

[JGulick]

So, um... what are pipe cleaners?

Pipe Cleaners at Wikipedia

 

[Skyscraper]

Pipe Cleaners at Wikipedia

Thanks. Wiki. Still not a reflex

 

[Stalker0]

My currently use tini multicolored die that we put in teh same square as the mini. Its not bad, though I like that pipecleaner idea.

 

[SuperGnome]

Invested in Alea Tools. I could have done something cheaper, like the pipe cleaners, and gotten the same result. I like 'game gear' so I spent the money. One session down and I'm mostly happy with them. I think I may not use all of the colors I got, but the ones I was using for bloodied, marked, and ongoing damage were very helpful. I posted a little something in my blog about them, too.

I was actually thinking about them, but I get all thrifty. *8) They'd work great though... the only thing would be converting about 200 minis... yikes! The price wouldn't be too bad, as I'd just build my own set of more tokens of fewer colors. Probably spend $40 on the magnet pieces but another $40 on the conversion pieces. For now I'm going the pipe cleaner route though... We're talking like $10 for a pimped out collection of pipe cleaners!

 

[Jarec]

We are still using coloured glass beads. They work fine until either the figures get tightly bunched or you get lots of figures that can shift in which case moving them with figures all the time becomes a pain.

Still looking for that perfect solution

 

[zlorf]

We use karma beads for bloodied (kids toy which they make colourful patterns out of and then you iron them so they melt and join together). We use blue tack to stick a red one onto the head of the characters miniature.
Works well. Theirs about 8 colours all up.
Z

 

[WampusCat43]

Push pins - a colored set for each player. Push the pin gently into the base of the mini. Doesn't hurt the mini, and it looks like they've had darts thrown at them.

 

[Aristotle]

the only thing would be converting about 200 minis... yikes!

I have a sizeable stash of minis myself. I'm currently only converting minis as needed. I prewrite most of my encounters, including potential random encounters, so I just put bases on whatever I might need for a given session. I didn't want to deal with the labor or cost of converting all of them at once.

They aren't perfect. I'd still like the precut bases to come in DDM small and large sizes, and I really wish they would've had the new (less powerful magnet) version ready for the inevitable 4e purchases, but I'm digging them thus far.

 

[senorcoo]

Just buy the ALEA magnet discs. They're expensive, but they work great - IF you buy a sheet of metal (2x3 or 3x3 galvanized steel - $7) to place beneath your map, tiles, etc. Otherwise they will stick to each other something fierce.

 

[reveal]

We use 1" mini-poker chips. They don't disappear under the mini's and stack easily. We have a list of which color represents which condition. For example, the red chip means "bloodied."

http://www.unclesgames.com/product_info.php/products_id/1886

 

[Syrsuro]

We use 1" mini-poker chips. They don't disappear under the mini's and stack easily. We have a list of which color represents which condition. For example, the red chip means "bloodied."

http://www.unclesgames.com/product_info.php/products_id/1886

Are those actually 1" chips or are they the same size as the 7/8" chips the OP mentioned?

Carl

 

[reveal]

Are those actually 1" chips or are they the same size as the 7/8" chips the OP mentioned?

Carl

They are 1" in diameter. They take up the entire square when I put them on the board.