Using cards in your game?

[Morrus]

One idea that I haven't seen mentioned yet that I'm planning to do is spell effect cards. Like condition cards, they would specify what spells are in effect on the character, so keeping track of bonuses and penalties is easier.

Already slotted into my production schedule!

 

[Gargoyle]

Thanks for the suggestion Morrus, I hadn't realized that these were available and now I'm making good use of them. The spell cards are especially good for my newbie players.

 

[Fishbone]

Buff cards. Sometimes its the only way to make some of the thicker people, I mean deeply immersed people, to remember Inspire Courage or Spikes or Elation.
I really love buffing people but I got sick of saying over and over and over "Dude! Don't forget X" that I started writing the major ones on tented up notecards.

 

[Mark Hope]

Player knowledge of items...

I use index cards in one form or another in my game and will be using magic item cards (much like el-remmen's) as of this Friday.

A technical question:

When do you give the cards to the players? When they first learn that the item is magical (but probably don't know its exact powers)? Or only when it has been fully identified and its powers known?

In the former case, the card wouldn't have all of the details of the item's powers (such as Hornet's powers in el-remmen's example). In the latter case, the card would have all the details.

Do you make two cards, one abbreviated and one full? And give the full version to the player when they have fully identified the item? This seems a little resource-heavy to me when it comes to disposable items like potions. Or have the mechanics covered up with a little sticker, which you remove once the item's powers are known?

I'm interested in hearing how folks who use item cards have been handling this aspect of information flow.

 

[Morrus]

I use index cards in one form or another in my game and will be using magic item cards (much like el-remmen's) as of this Friday.

A technical question:

When do you give the cards to the players? When they first learn that the item is magical (but probably don't know its exact powers)? Or only when it has been fully identified and its powers known?

In the former case, the card wouldn't have all of the details of the item's powers (such as Hornet's powers in el-remmen's example). In the latter case, the card would have all the details.

Do you make two cards, one abbreviated and one full? And give the full version to the player when they have fully identified the item? This seems a little resource-heavy to me when it comes to disposable items like potions. Or have the mechanics covered up with a little sticker, which you remove once the item's powers are known?

I'm interested in hearing how folks who use item cards have been handling this aspect of information flow.

Here's how I do it (I'm sure others will disagree vehemently!)

I don't bother with identify, etc. I'm fairly lax with that info - I'm happy for the player to have it unless there's a good plot reason they shouldn't. Otherwise, I find it's another bit of record keeping; and I've found that the requirement to identify, while being "realistic", doesn't actually add any fun to my game.

If I had to try and justify this in game terms (other than speed of play/effort-reward/convenience terms), I'd say that the PC wizards, sorcerors, and clerics tend to have, between them, enough resources in knowledge skills and divinations where necessary to identify most things less than an artifact in short order. I don't force them to go through the process in-game - I'd rather get on with the adventure.

I appreciate that this isn't to everyone's taste and won't suit everyone's game, but it works for me. I tend to cut out anything I think is too tedious to add to the game, whether realistic or not (I doubt many of us use the encumbrance rules, for example). I'm not interested in tracking low-level inventory (ropes, spikes, rations, ammo, etc.), and just assume the party can produce such stuff when needed (heck, they own a ship at present - it seem anal to worry about whether they have a 50' length of rope on them!). So identifying stuff is just one more thing I don't bother with: if it adds to the plot, then sure, but otherwise I'll just hand them the full card.

 

[Varianor Abroad]

Except even THEN I don't usually have to crack a book. The great thing about the cards is that they don't go away after the session. I have a big stat of them and oftentimes when I need a "random encounter" I'll just flip through the cards and pull out something appropriate.

Even better, the cards help me keep track of stuff I need to remember about individual monsters or NPC's like which magic items they have and what spells they have memorized. It is also a useful tool for helping me remember tactics that the bad guys are likely to use. Nothing like having the word "POUNCE" written in big letters on the card to help you remember that ability.

Rel, I agree with what you and a lot of others are saying. Visual representations are excellent! They work so may ways.

However, I quoted what you said above. That's the point where I found the cards hampered me rather than helping me. I kept forgetting abilities. Easy stuff (like DR) belongs on the card. But, when the creature has a special ability that when played right freaks the player out, I tend to gloss over or ignore it unless I have the book open.

That said, I'm keeping an eye on this product.

 

[Goblyn]

Definitely

I use cards for lots of things; mostly because all my players are pretty new ... things like how stats change when they do things like rage or use various feats.

Also special items, custom monster stats(for lower level anyway; dragons and spellcasters require a lot more space), dungeon 'mini-maps', and notable NPCs.

Also coasters.

 

[Jason Bulmahn]

I use index cards in one form or another in my game and will be using magic item cards (much like el-remmen's) as of this Friday.

A technical question:

When do you give the cards to the players? When they first learn that the item is magical (but probably don't know its exact powers)? Or only when it has been fully identified and its powers known?

Personally, I hand out the cards when the item is found (which is almost always preceeded by a detect magic). When they are identified, I tell the Players what the item is and they write it down on the card.

Jason Bulmahn
Game Mastery Item Card Lead Designer
www.paizo.com

 

[SpiralBound]

I've used cards for items, spells and NPC's. I've also used cards for "secret plots / organizations" in more political campaigns. I've been wanting to use cards for locations /encounters for a while now. I vaguely remember a discussion about that idea years ago... either here or as an article on www.roleplayingtips.com

Also, when I was playing in a shadowrun-influenced campaign earlier this Spring, the GM was actually building and refining the rules as we played... (ok, that sounded wrong, the rules were complete, he was just improving them as we played - it wasn't a total new set of rules every session!)... and he would hand our index cards with revised rules. I remember when he streamlined the casting system he gave me a card with the rules for this on it for may Shaman character. It worked really well. I remember when I was learning D&D 3.5 I made an index card with the grapple and trip rules on them cause they were (and sometimes still are) confusing.

 

[el-remmen]

A technical question:

When do you give the cards to the players? When they first learn that the item is magical (but probably don't know its exact powers)? Or only when it has been fully identified and its powers known?

In the former case, the card wouldn't have all of the details of the item's powers (such as Hornet's powers in el-remmen's example). In the latter case, the card would have all the details.

Do you make two cards, one abbreviated and one full? And give the full version to the player when they have fully identified the item? This seems a little resource-heavy to me when it comes to disposable items like potions. Or have the mechanics covered up with a little sticker, which you remove once the item's powers are known?

I wait until the item is identified, and then I give out the card. Until then I just give them a physical description and they make a note on their sheet and I keep the card in my file box until it is identified, or when it becomes clear what it does (and knowing the associated backstory info is not plot-breaking).

A lot of times, my players have had their items "identified" by bards or those with high appropraite knowledge skill.

I like the idea of two different cards (i.e. pre and post identify), but I think that is a little too much work even for me.