What Do You Carry to a Game?

[Mr. Wilson]

It really depends on what game I'm playing and if I'm running the game or not.

I always bring a notebook, pencils, and my box of dice with me.

If we're playing a game I own, I bring the main rulebooks, plus whatever supplements I may have used in making the character, plus whatever supplements other people in the party may need.

If I'm running a game, it's all that plus anything I think I'll need, plus campaign notes, maps, and minis.

At the end of 3.5, I was bringing a bookbag full of books, a gym bag full of books, a box of minis, my dice box, a flip out wet-erase map, and my campaign notes. I actually needed help unloading and loading my car because I couldn't carry it all myself.

 

[Dice4Hire]

Well, 90% of my gaming stuff that I need for the game is left at my friend's house. ALl I carry i a new sheet every month or so, an occasional book, a couple cokes and some snacks.

The stuff I have there is dice, dungeon tiles, DDM minis, and such that I do not need during the week or weeks off.

The friend who lives there owns no books, so he carries his sheet around (he uses my dice, too). He brings few snacks too.

The other friend is the DM now, and he carries the module and about 7-8 books, plus a bit of drinks and snacks.

Overall, not a lot is carried.

 

[Lanefan]

When playing: I bring beer and occasional snacks. And pizza if I haven't eaten recently. I leave a set of dice at the game (mostly so I don't have to remember to bring them every time) and our rule is that character sheets etc. stay with the DM so if you can't make a session your character can still be played.

When DMing on the road: oh dear Goddess. I bring about half the house:
- character sheets and party folder
- players' dice (they often leave theirs here)
- my own dice
- PC mini's in one box
- opposition mini's or tokens in another
- chalkboard, chalk and erasers (if none already on site)
- game rule books (we're 95% homebrew these days)
- DM stuff (DMG, my "red book", monster manuals, module, maps)
- DM folder for that party
- DM screen (it has most of my notes and tables on it)
- DM screen holder (custom-built by my better half as a gift some years back)
- Beer
- [ . . . . ] (this is whatever the key important thing is that I'm supposed to bring but forget to; it happens every time)

This assumes I'm DMing a regular season game; if it's a one-off or a convention game, I bring a lot less. But more beer, if the venue suits.

Lan-"there's a reason I despise DMing road games"-efan

 

[El Mahdi]

deleted

 

[Trevalon Moonleirion]

In my recent campaign that I've been DMing, I think I've finally figured out how to bring a good collection of stuff without being fantastically over-burdened.

My man-purse is a Waterfield Designs (sfbags.com) cargo bag. It's amazing, and goes with me almost everywhere, including gaming (I just swap out the main contents for particular purposes.

I've usually been taking the PHB, PHB2 and Monster Manual with me, plus my laptop (what a huge upgrade from the 2" binders of crap I used to lug around).

In a separate bookbag, I have the 4e 'Battlebox' of counters and two craft containers full of minis for the night, and a big assortment of counters in the same containers. I also have a clipboard, and a pad of graph paper with me at almost all times.

 

[Stormonu]

For my 3.5 game:

Backpack with (roughly 25 lbs.):
- PHB, DMG, MM, MM2, MM3, FF, Tome of Horrors
- Complete Series (Warrior, Arcane, Divine, Adventurer)
- Expanded Psionics Handbook (just in case)
- Extra rulebooks as needed (usually 2-3 more, such as Stormwrack for our Pirate Campaign)
- Adventure (module or notes)
- Campaign notebook (cloth zippable binder type)
- Dice, Pencils, Pens, Blank Character sheets

Laptop* w/ Fantasy Grounds 2, e-tools & PDF copies of all books on a portable hard drive & USB flash drive with campaign/custom material

2 shoulder-carry tackle bags with plastic minis (I no longer tote the metals)
tackle box w/ dungeon tiles
wet-erase battle map & pens
(If I'm at home I also use my Dwarven Forge and Worldworks paper stuff)

It's usually 3 trips to the car for materials any time I play anywhere else other than my house.

* Sometimes I take the laptop only and not the backpack

I used to have a very strong back in my 2E days, when I carried even more - I looked like a WW2 paratrooper in full kit, with mailing tubes full of maps instead of a rifle over my shoulder...
------------------------------------------------

Non-D&D game:

folder with campaign, pencils, a couple blank character sheets, dice and rulebook.

 

[Cyronax]

I normally host and DM from my apartment, but in the rare times when I travel for a game I carry (currently; changes based on campaign pace):

- Monster Manual 2
- Revenge of the Giants
- DMG 2
- DM Screen
- Folio of Dungeon Tiles and Published WotC Mats (kept in a folio from the KotSf)
- Dice

I also have my laptop, which I mainly use for notes and session planners and a smaller plastic set of drawers I got from Target. In this small set of drawers (less than a square foot in size), I keep a good assortment of generic minis, the established minis for the PCs, and a set of the smaller Dungeon Tiles.

As a player:

- Phb1
- Relevant class-related book (if any)
- usually one extra D&D book to flip through if waiting
- Dice

C.I.D.

 

[dvorak]

What's the full armload, backpack-full, etc. that you take to a game with you?

I bring in this order: Character sheet, dice, players handbook and a change of underwear (because you never know when an accident will happen).

What do you see other people carrying with them?

I don't care as long as they pay attention, add to the game and we have fun (not necessarily in that order).

You can go to enworld.org/forum/blogs/dvorak and post a comment on my blog.

 

[Steel_Wind]

I host/GM from home. What I bring to the table:

Home Game

Copies of the Core Rules and other relevant books for the game system I am running. I usually have multiple copies (at least 2, often more) of the Core rules of the system I am running so I put those out on the table for other players to use who need them.

A Megamat goes on the table as well as my White paper poster tablet w/ 1" grid which is my projection surface.

I bring out the big boxes of minis - PC are placed out on the mat and I then spend a while breaking out the minis of foes I expect to be using that night into small white cardboard boxes that are typically used to store 500 or 1000 magic cards. I put those aside so I can get at them later without too much trouble.

Big bag o dice comes out by my chair.

My binder with notes and adventure/module is by my chair on the table. (I try not to use a screen anymore.) Player sheets are left with me, so that's in there too.

And the laptop comes out, of course and that all gets hooked up to the projector and I'm done.

I have a new dedicated gaming room in my basement with a 6'x9' table which sits 10 ready for next month, so there will be much less of all of the above going on. I expect to be able to do ... essentially nothing in terms of set up. It will ALWAYS be set up.

I'm adding in power bars to the player stations, under table sound system and of course I've got the projector set up with a dedicated machine to drive it. Bookshelves with doors for minis and books that keep the dust off.

It's very cool and I'm very happy about it. It's a teenage fantasy coming true. "When I grow up, I'm going to have this FREAKING COOL gaming room!!!" I'm not sure I've grown up - but at least I got the gaming room (and a young, pretty & understanding wife who plays too!)

All-in-all, the gaming room fantasy was a lot easier realized than the wife part. I had to upgrade to wife 2.0 for those bonus features!!!


Road Game

In the rare circumstance I am travelling to another venue to GM, then it’s the core rules, a copy of the DMs Guide/MM if that exists in that system (or something akin to it if I am running another system.) Laptop and book of notes, smaller bag o dice all goes in a backpack. The other venue which is used to host games in my gaming circle (a player's house) also has minis (far more than I have, actually), another projector and battlemats are all there too - so I don't have to double up on that stuff.

What I have all fits in a largish backpack. I stop when I'm near the venue to grab snacks so I don't have to transport those far.

All-in-all, I vastly prefer to host as there is a lot less lugging crap around and I can spend more time prepping the game and making sure the minis I need are out and available (but tucked in boxes so I am not telegraphing punches to the players).

 

[megamania]

As a player my standard goods include:

Players Book
Character Sheet
Any "Splat" book that applies to my character
Campaign book
Figure of my character
paper
pens / pencils
soda
chips
money for pizza / food
dice
requested figures

and most important- my gaming attitude