Shawn_Kehoe
First Post
I ask one of my players who lives much closer to bring his core books, so I just need the accessories.
Travelling Light to games
- Thread starter Ry
- Start date
jdrakeh
Front Range Warlock
rycanada said:
I bought an NEC MobilePro 900c on eBay for $100 + shipping. I grabbed a 4 GB flash drive from Amazon for $30 (free shipping). I then proceeded to download the hell out of things like the PDF modern SRD, Anime SRD, and the Sovelier (sp?) & Sage HTML SRD. Then I grabbed an electronic dice roller, loaded up with free printable counters from D&D Counters, and added a small library of character sheets just for good measure.
I've got three very rich systems with lots of time-saving devices in a package about the size of a travel tissue box for a great deal less than buying the relevant books would have cost (of course, I already own most of the D&D 3.5 books that compose the S&S SRD). Add my wireless connection to that, and I have a near endless stream of resources at my fingertips (provided that I'm within 100 meters or less from a public wireless hub).
Varianor Abroad
Explorer
This is very similar to going to a convention. I like to:
1. Pick the one book that I know I will reference more than 2-3 times a session.
2. Use counters.
3. Pack a Flip-mat or a pre-drawn map on large sheets of white one-inch square graph paper.
4. Print the pages from the pdfs/SRD that I will use (mainly non-standard monsters, items and the occasional bit of flavor).
5. Take my campaign notebook(s).
Many other good ideas in this thread! Alternatively, you could offer XP to whatever player gets to your work early and carries your stuff! (Seriously, send them a link to this thread and see if they'll volunteer for anything.)
1. Pick the one book that I know I will reference more than 2-3 times a session.
2. Use counters.
3. Pack a Flip-mat or a pre-drawn map on large sheets of white one-inch square graph paper.
4. Print the pages from the pdfs/SRD that I will use (mainly non-standard monsters, items and the occasional bit of flavor).
5. Take my campaign notebook(s).
Many other good ideas in this thread! Alternatively, you could offer XP to whatever player gets to your work early and carries your stuff! (Seriously, send them a link to this thread and see if they'll volunteer for anything.)
What a cool guy. Makes me feel like a real sucker.Hjorimir said:
Umm...I usually carry a bag of the core books, battlemat, a box of dice, notes, campaign specific stuff and relevant splat/HC books.
I found that leaving the minis behind and using labeled cards as miniatures is much more useful. I can't keep who's who with miniatures straight, anyways. Having identifiers like "Orc with Mustache" and "Joe Pesci" written on my cards helps.
Jack Daniel
Legend
I used to lug a floor-to-ceiling sized stack of books to my games, packed into a briefcase and a suitcase (with my megamat rolled up and stuck through the flap of the briefcase), a tackle-box for dice, and a backpack for minis, markers, and pencils. At first, I tried to lighten the load by getting rid of Complete X and Races of Y books, since there really wasn't THAT MUCH of a call for swashbucklers or dragon adepts or whatever; but then I just went and got rid of ALL my hardcovers, and now I go to my games with a backpack full of minis and markers and pencils, my battlemat, ONE bag of dice (with plenty of extra d6s and d8s), and the old 1983 Basic Red and Expert Blue booklets. My spine has never been happier.
Philotomy Jurament
First Post
Yeah, I'm still adjusting to that with my OD&D/Holmes game; I have a 3-ring binder (w/pockets) that has the Holmes rules, the three brown OD&D books, B4, a screen, and my notes. That one binder is it, as far as rulebooks. I always feel like "this can't be it -- what am I forgetting..."RFisher said:
We're using minis and a battlemat, though, so I still have a mailing tube and a tackle-box (also holding pens/pencils and dice) for those.
Man in the Funny Hat
Hero
Near the end of the 1E era I was packing my harbacks in a big, grey, hardside briefcase along with fat folders full of maps, modules, house rules and whatnot. When one of the reasons for the 2E revision was stated to be "cutting down on the books" I was all for it.
Of course the gawdawful stack of 2E books I wound up with later was worse - except that I never bothered to be packing them all to a game. I was fortunate enough to have most of the games I ran to be taking place at home, not on the road. Towards the end we were playing at the conference table in an office for the business owned by one of the players. We kept a shelf unit full of all the miscellaneous books, miniatures, dwarven forge pieces, etc. Made it really convenient.
For 3E the books again started out with just the core 3 so it was easier again to take the game on the road. That did change but not too badly as I never invested too heavily in options books for 3E and never felt the need to burden myself with toting them to games when I DID buy them.
These days my only real burden is the 5 or 6 cases of minis that I don't want to be without. I can live quite happily using a battlemat instead of dwarven forge (though they ARE preferred when practical) and the mat gets used for everything NOT dungeon anyway. Rules books I use are just the core and maybe one or two others I'm making immediate use of for an adventure. Players keep copies of books they need to reference and they actually have a worse time of it for that reason. All the books are for THEIR characters - not my NPC's, or I simply use their books rather than mine which remain at home. When I do feel the need to bring lots of books somewhere I use luggage of an appropriate size.
I don't have a bad back so I use small duffel bags or totes, but they put wheels on a lot more such things these days. Should it come to that, that's what I'd invest in myself.
Still, one of the things I look forward to for 4E is another round of rules simplification/book reduction for a while.
Of course the gawdawful stack of 2E books I wound up with later was worse - except that I never bothered to be packing them all to a game. I was fortunate enough to have most of the games I ran to be taking place at home, not on the road. Towards the end we were playing at the conference table in an office for the business owned by one of the players. We kept a shelf unit full of all the miscellaneous books, miniatures, dwarven forge pieces, etc. Made it really convenient.
For 3E the books again started out with just the core 3 so it was easier again to take the game on the road. That did change but not too badly as I never invested too heavily in options books for 3E and never felt the need to burden myself with toting them to games when I DID buy them.
These days my only real burden is the 5 or 6 cases of minis that I don't want to be without. I can live quite happily using a battlemat instead of dwarven forge (though they ARE preferred when practical) and the mat gets used for everything NOT dungeon anyway. Rules books I use are just the core and maybe one or two others I'm making immediate use of for an adventure. Players keep copies of books they need to reference and they actually have a worse time of it for that reason. All the books are for THEIR characters - not my NPC's, or I simply use their books rather than mine which remain at home. When I do feel the need to bring lots of books somewhere I use luggage of an appropriate size.
I don't have a bad back so I use small duffel bags or totes, but they put wheels on a lot more such things these days. Should it come to that, that's what I'd invest in myself.
Still, one of the things I look forward to for 4E is another round of rules simplification/book reduction for a while.
cignus_pfaccari
First Post
I don't run games, so I have the freedom to travel pretty light. Which is good, because I have back problems, and I notice a downgrade in my condition if I pack too much.
Typically I'll bring one or two books pertinent to my character, or that I want to browse through while someone's doing something else or my character's dead. I haven't been bringing a PHB, since I don't usually need one.
The rolling backpack/suitcase is a good idea. Having people bring books is a good idea as well, though in our case, we hold it at the DM's apartment, and the DM'll usually have whatever they need there.
One of our DMs absolutely loves his tablet PC.
Brad
Typically I'll bring one or two books pertinent to my character, or that I want to browse through while someone's doing something else or my character's dead. I haven't been bringing a PHB, since I don't usually need one.
The rolling backpack/suitcase is a good idea. Having people bring books is a good idea as well, though in our case, we hold it at the DM's apartment, and the DM'll usually have whatever they need there.
One of our DMs absolutely loves his tablet PC.
Brad
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