Tricks to make your RPG experience better!

[MadLordOfMilk]

Place them around a mini to represent a mark. Or bloodied status (if it's red).

What Rechan said. To elaborate a bit, basically you can just toss it on top of the mini without much trouble, and it's usually really easy to notice. Most minis have an arm or weapon or SOMETHING sticking up also so it hangs across part of it making it really visible.

Also, IMO it's about 400x easier (and it's more noticeable) to just put something on a mini rather than have to pick it up and slide something under it. Hence, the rings work well.

You can also get them in virtually every color (coke = red, pepsi = blue, water bottles = white/grey, mt dew = green, certain juices have different colors, etc) for effectively zero cost. Just take them off of stuff at home and ask people to save them, or take them off of everyone's drinks at the end of a session, or w/e. For larger rings, just find things with larger tops (1-liter bottles, gallon jugs of milk, etc). I'm sure you could also use them as a substitute for miniatures if you wanted to.

As far as REMOVING the rings off of the bottles, it depends on the design. The general concept is the same: get one part over the lip and just lift the rest from there. For coke products I can usually just push in on one side giving enough room on the other to lift it over the small lip. For pepsi I usually end up having to use a butter knife or something... the designs are slightly different, but it's easy enough once you get the hang of it.

 

[Jib]

The pipe clean idea is excellent! My current DM uses them for walls extra but also to mark the areas effected by spells. You can pre-bend them in the shape of assorted spell effects.

Not using a battle mat is also cool. Use a ruler or tape measure for movement, weapon ranges, or spell radius. We used this trick back in 2E and it rocks!

 

[Solodan]

I've got some transparencies that I've cut out for large blasts/bursts. Sometimes visualizing the larger blasts (burst 2, blast 5, blust 3) is harder. Of course, the very large bursts (5 or larger) tend to hit everyone in the room, so they don't matter nearly as much.

 

[weem]

I've got some transparencies that I've cut out for large blasts/bursts. Sometimes visualizing the larger blasts (burst 2, blast 5, blust 3) is harder. Of course, the very large bursts (5 or larger) tend to hit everyone in the room, so they don't matter nearly as much.

I love this idea! I'm definitely doing this soon.

Let's see... materials... I bought (and never used/played) the board game Descent - it came with all kinds of markers, etc - I use them for conditions, etc - but this is nothing new as I have seen others do this.

I did want to mention one thing though - about pens for your mats. I bought a set of 9 from Staples... $15... later, I wanted more and a friend told me to go to Walmart... I got a set of 30 for $4!!! I hate that store, but you can't beat that price.

 

[jdrakeh]

I didn't mention this earlier because I guess it seemed kind of obvious to me but, as a friend pointed out, if you're not a wargamer, it might not be (obvious, that is). Paper milk cartons, empty packing tape rolls, empty wallpaper rolls, and empty paper towel rolls can all make great, inexpensive, buildings. All you need is a pair of scissors and your imagination.

Further, if you have the time, you can go the extra mile and spray all of your makeshift buildings grey (for stone), brown (for earth), or tan (for thatched grass). Roofs can easily be made from corrugated cardstock. You can assemble a whole vilage like this in less than an hour if you absolutely must (thankfully, I've only had to do that one time).

 

[SlyFlourish]

I just wrote a blog article about using one of those $2 bankers box as a campaign box to keep together all of the maps, minis, and handouts you need. It makes it really convenient to have it all together.

Another favorite trick of mine is to use 3x5 cards cut in half, written on both sides, and draped over a DM screen for initiative. It works really well.

 

[jdrakeh]

Speaking of 3x5 index cards and tricks to make your RPG experience more effective. . .

I was just reading an older-ish RPG the other day that said something to the effect of "You may want to write the stats for important NPCs on one side of a 3x5 index card and then keep campaign notes pertaining to those NPCs on the reverse side." The book was printed in 1980.

I was immediately struck by the fact that this is how people tend to keep track of unimportant NPCs today and, instead, often write several pages of notes or use multiple page character sheets to detail important NPCs. Things have changed a little bit since 1980

 

[CharlesRyan]

I find putting things under (or even on) minis on the battlemat to be more trouble and time-consuming than it's worth. The time you spend picking up the mini, untangling it from the mini next to it, straightening up the minis that got knocked over, and pushing them all back to the squares they were it, just isn't worth it--especially when you have to do it all over again two minutes later when the target makes its save.

For monsters, I usually put a small marker or token next to the mini. Sometimes that's a bit awkward, but rarely as much as faffing around putting something under it.

For PCs, I keep a stock of more visible "markers" (I usually use skeleton minis!) on-hand. When a PC is affected by a condition, I give the marker to the player and have him set it on his character sheet. That makes it more likely he'll remember the condition--and remember to make his save--than if the marker is on the mini.

Faster and more effective, I find.

 

[Vurt]

Terrain features: Pick up some felt fabric in various colors. Blue can be cut into strips for streams. Brown can also be cut into strips for roads and paths. Grey can be used for stone walls or rock debris.

Cheap easy props: When you see a gum ball machine or one of those that offers cheap dime store rings and creatures dig out some change and give it a try. A cheap ring can be an easy prop. A rubber snake can become a monster. I have even picked up a few super heroes in the coin operated machines outside my local food store.

Chances are good that someone in your gaming group has a box of Lego packed away somewhere in their basement. Do I really need to say more?

 

[MadLordOfMilk]

Here's a simple one: if you're using a battle mat, just write the initiative order on it. Whenever I DM I usually have the players handle taking the initiative order down, and it's easily visible to everyone along the side of the wet-erase mat.

Of course, this assumes you're playing a system where the turn order is consistent for each round.