Tracking Combat (Monster Cards?)

[Scribble]

So generally when I write an adventure if an encounter area has monsters, I will create a page (or more) with the stat block of each monster type on the left, and a list of numbers to the right (for the number of monsters) to track HPs.

I'm thinking though, with the way 4e stat blocks are set up, it would almost be better for me to print out a stat block for each monster and cut them out "card" style and track their HPs/effects and what not right on the card.

I feel it might actually speed up my game (by not having to sort of shift focus from stat block to HP list) and also keep everything a little more organized.

I think I could even stick markers on the stat card to remind myself of effects and stuff.

Is anyone currently doing this? If so how's it working out?

 

[Hjorimir]

Yes, I print my monsters out on 4"x6" cards and store them in a cade case with alphabetical tabs. It works great! I run three games and I am slowly building a library to use over and over again. With the cards, I can freely mix and match monsters for encounters without the need to reprint everything.

During play, I just lay the cards out in front of me (the font it too small for the players at my gametable to read) and have at it.

It works wonderfully.

 

[jasonbostwick]

I do pretty much the exact same as Hjorimir, but with mine organized first by Level and then Role.

It makes it tougher to find three different kinds of Orc, but makes it a bit easier to construct mixed encounters when I want to worry about roles.

If I know that the players are going to be going through an area heavily infested with undead or goblins or something, I can go through and pull out those Monsters from the card boxes ahead of time.

I started printing them out about a week after the MM was released, so I've got a pretty big stash of them so far. I have cards for all the monsters from the books released before they axed the .pdfs, and most of the issues of DDI, but having to use the Monster Builder to print from MM2 and later has made the job a bit more difficult (and the images a bit less crisp), so I've only been printing out recent stuff as needed.

 

[Garmorn]

I use a program call DM Familiar which allows me to connect to DDI and import and display the stat blocks.

There 2 major draw backs. One you must have a DDI subscription to use this feature and second you must have an internet connection where you setup. The program does not store the stat blocks.

There are other similar programs out there. One of them might.

 

[Scribble]

Well, it's not so much just displaying the stat blocks... It's more the idea of one stat block per monster. So for instance if I have 5 Goblin Cutters and a Goblin Hexer, I would have five Goblin Cutter stat cards, and one hexer stat card. I'd track the HP progression on each individual card that it belongs to.

 

[Hjorimir]

Well, it's not so much just displaying the stat blocks... It's more the idea of one stat block per monster. So for instance if I have 5 Goblin Cutters and a Goblin Hexer, I would have five Goblin Cutter stat cards, and one hexer stat card. I'd track the HP progression on each individual card that it belongs to.

Wow, I'd go crazy trying to keep up with that many cards! You must rock the world at those card memory games (flipping a card to see what picture it has and then finding its mate).

 

[WampusCat43]

I do exactly what you describe. Each of my players fills out a card with all their relevant stats, updating as they level. Prior to each game, I go to the Compendium and shop for critters. When I find one I want to use, I simply copy the text and drop it into Word.

The key step then is to convert the text to a table. Select 4" wide, separated by paragraphs. Once that's done, you can quickly click beside each row in the table and format it to whatever color you want using shading. You can also jiggle the numbers as desired. I find this faster and simpler than using the Monster Builder.

I then copy and paste the table into a page in the Word doc that is nothing more than a two row table, each column 4" wide, and each row 5.25" tall, with .25" margins all around. This matches the PC cards' size. Print out on card stock and cut down the middle.

In action, I simply sort the monsters ahead of time by their initiative (just add 10 to their bonus), then go through the PCs one at a time, asking what their init roll was, and inserting them into the deck in that order. As combat goes, I just shuffle that last character that acted to the bottom of the deck. I usually just write conditions on the monster card itself, and let the PCs track their own.

A small sample is attached (I hope). Let me know if there are any questions/suggestions.

 

[Garmorn]

Yea, this is what the program does for me. It tracks the initiative for each PC and monster. On the left side is the initiative track then the stat block for the PC or monster. (PC character sheets are downloaded from iplay4e, the monsters are downloaded from the DDI.). The target is on the right side with the highlighted one stats between the list and the acting PC/monster's

A good program should have all that you want. It also reduces prep time.

Since the one I am using is still in beta mode and has some draw backs (must have internet for the monsters being the worst one.) I am going to take a look at WampusCat43's cards.

 

[jbear]

You might want to check out masterplan tool.

http://www.habitualindolence.net/masterplan/

It allows you to build encounters from the ground up, monsters, map, traps, skill challenges. It calculates encounter level as you click, drag and drop your monsters from your libraries into the encounter. When the map is made from the tiles you load from your tiles library then you drop each monster onto their starting position in the map. Then you can run the encounter. You drop the pcs onto the map adding their initiative manually. Each creature is tracked separately, showing when they are bloodied and disappearing when killed. You just click on the monster or pc and add in the damage they have received, or the condition and the length of time it will last. It reminds you about saving throws at the end of the creatures turn.

If you have DDI then you can directly upload all your monsters into the program. Otherwise you have to do it one by one by hand. You have to upload your map tiles too. But once that is done it's very easy.

Everything you create is printable. Including scale maps... although this feature could use a bit of work. Like being able to slice up your map and fit all the pieces the best way possible onto an a4 paper. But the program is still being developed so, who knows!

Anyway, there are loads of other features as well. I will running it for the first time next session. But I've practiced a few times and it seems to be class A! As far as the encounter creation, that has been excellent.

 

[Jan van Leyden]

Well, it's not so much just displaying the stat blocks... It's more the idea of one stat block per monster. So for instance if I have 5 Goblin Cutters and a Goblin Hexer, I would have five Goblin Cutter stat cards, and one hexer stat card. I'd track the HP progression on each individual card that it belongs to.

That's the way how I worked until I acquired a laptop. I'd set up all the cards beforehand with this Magic card generation software, printed them out, slid them in card protectors and used a marker pen to track the variables. After the first larger battle I decided to commit all minions to just one card and ticking of those guys as they fell. Still, I found the procedure a bit tedious when I had to track statuses as well as HPs. I tried to use status cards which could be put to the stat cards, but was disgusted at the sheer amount of cards I had to handle.

Today, my solution is Mortaneus' Combat Tracker. A great solution for the bookkeeping problem, less set up time than with the cards, and the laptop actually takes up less space at the table than all the cards plus the still necessary pages for note-taking.