Supplies for a New DM

[LivesForPain]

Thanks for all the great replies. It's given me a bunch of great ideas.

One thing I'm a little fuzzy about is how the battlemat actualy works. The way I'm imagining this in my head is that when you come across an encounter you use it mark where everyone is at and where the monsters are, and where everybody moves? Do I have that right?

Thanks again.

 

[Grim]

usually you use it to draw out the room, or cave, or whatever, and then use tokens or minis to note where everyone is. At 1 square = 5 feet, most people can move up to 6 squares in a move equivelent action, with optional rules for how diagonals work (my group uses 1st diagonal = 5 feet, second diagonal = 10, then five, then ten...)

 

[pogre]

Also, since I write all this up in Word, I cut and paste monster stat blocks into another document, which is in alphabetical order. Then, the next time I need goblins, I just cut and paste them into my current adventure notes.

Exactly what I do! Really has made writing encounters up much easier.

 

[pogre]

Critical Supplies

I find the following indispensable to my game:

*Around 500 painted miniatures in a case nearby.

*Several sets of mastermaze - you can never have two much.

*Custom built buildings for the adventure.

*Lots of custom built rooms and encounter areas for your adventures.

*You MUST have one of these!



What I did for a recent group when I did not have access to my stuff is I laminated a large sheet of graph paper with 1" squares. We used coins and bottle caps to represent the PCs and their foes. Worked quite well.