Most indispensible DMing tools.

[Reynard]

Soon, I will be running 3.5 again (this time with a 1E feel). In the past, a lack of organization and preparation has made my 3E games suffer, so I was hoping to ask those ENWorlders who had success with running the game what tools -- everything from software to physical stuff -- were indispensible in running 3.x.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Fenes]

Laptop with SRD, namelists, PC sheets & stats and adventure/campaign notes.

 

[Nymrohd]

What do you usually use and are you starting from level 1?

 

[Gilladian]

Indispensible may be a slight exaggeration, but I find the SRD very handy, and SOME SORT of battlemat and minis to be nearly a necessity. I use either a real battlemat with wet-erase markers or gridded paper flip-charts that I predraw with colored pencil or markers.

Other things I like a lot are props, spell-wires, and either cards or a cork-strip to track initiative on. In fact, an initiative tracking system is nearly imperative. I best like a strip of cork and thumbtacks. But even just assigning one player as "init caller" can take the burden off the DM.

 

[Reynard]

What do you usually use

A very disorganized binder, plus sketches on paper (rather than mat and minis)

are you starting from level 1?

Level 0 actually -- I picked up the Goodman Games "Known World" gazeteer and am starting the campaign with the 0 level adventure found therein. Whether we remain with DCCs or go all sandboxy afterwords depends on a lot of factors.

 

[Nymrohd]

Well I use an dry-erase battle mat and a whiteboard for combat information. After some point in 3.5 I pretty much needed the whiteboard just to track spells. The SRD on a laptop is sure useful. What I find indispensible is preparing monsters beforehand. As in collecting all the rules I need to run each monster in one place (what each feats and spells do mostly).

 

[phloog]

I am normally incredibly disorganized, and 3.5 while still my system of choice is so befuddling at times...so I actually ended up buying a laptop computer that is devoted SOLELY to DMing and game prep. I'm not sure if you'd want everything that's on it, and there's lots of redundancies, but here goes:

1) DMGenie - - this would, frankly, probably be enough even if I had NO other tools. It manages initiative, can auto roll attacks, can make Listen/Spot/Etc. checks for the Entire Party without them knowing. It accurately tracks each and every fiddly little modifier, including ENCUMBRANCE. It's not perfect, but it's close enough. It also tracks time in battle and campaign levels, has all the monsters and their stats, all the base spells, and adding feats/classes/etc is about the easiest thing ever. I even enter the adventures right into DMG, and after each fight it can divide up treasure and calculate/assign XPs.

2) The Creative Mountain SRD collection

3) Fantasy Grounds - - While for game mechanics (rolling, adding modifiers, etc.) it is next to useless compared to DMGenie, it is useful in terms of mapping, keeping track of who's where, etc. I also have Klooge, which I might tend to use in a non-face-to-face game, but for me FG seems friendlier.

4) PDF versions of many of the other books I use

With that laptop, I can actual DM anything without bringing any other books, and I don't even have to have dice, though I still tend to bring them because it just 'feels' wrong to DM and not actually roll.

5) My web site...on my web site I maintain a forum where we discuss the game logistics (who can make which dates, who wants what food, etc.) and any other topics. Also, DMGenie will export character sheets as HTML so any time a player needs to see their character all they need is a web connection. Also on my site I maintain a TiddlyWiki of all the campaign flavor stuff (gods, nations, history, notes on previous characters, major NPCs, etc).

Part of me was initially reluctant to go electronic, feeling it would take some of the connection away...but for me at least it's certainly no less distancing than a DM Screen, and the benefits in terms of keeping the game rolling are huge.

 

[AnthonyRoberson]

Soon, I will be running 3.5 again (this time with a 1E feel). In the past, a lack of organization and preparation has made my 3E games suffer, so I was hoping to ask those ENWorlders who had success with running the game what tools -- everything from software to physical stuff -- were indispensible in running 3.x.

Thanks in advance.

i really like the sovelior SRD and to make it even more useful, I used the free HTTrack Website Copier to make a local copy to browse on my laptop.

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

i really like the sovelior SRD and to make it even more useful, I used the free HTTrack Website Copier to make a local copy to browse on my laptop.

The sovelier-sage SRD has (or at least had) a zip file version so that you didn't need to go to that extra effort - I use it on my laptop when I run game.

My main things are:

-Laptop with SRD, initiative tracker, campaign history and notes - I can bring my enture campaign notes and history to game if need be
-Battlemat, minis, and markers.
-printout of this weeks session notes, notebook for taking notes

 

[AnthonyRoberson]

i really like the sovelior SRD and to make it even more useful, I used the free HTTrack Website Copier to make a local copy to browse on my laptop.

I forgot to Paizo's GameMastery Combat Pad. While I wouldn't say it was 'indespensible', it does make my life as a DM much easier.