What Do You Carry to a Game?

[Mark]

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

What do you see other people carrying with them?

Players probably carry fewer books than DMs but let's hear the full scoop including what books and why, DM screen, dice, battlemat(p)s, miniatures, writing instruments, laptops, snacks, drinks, additional nongame items, whatever you happen to take with you to a game.

For those who run or play at home, what do you actually use at most games that you would need to take with you if you gamed elsewhere?

For everyone again, does the amount needed for the game influence the gaming?

Also, if you can recall, what about the other people in the group?

Are there some who come with one book, a pencil, and minimal dice (or less)?

Are there others who carrying tons of stuff they never use, just in case?

What's the most you have ever carried or that you have seen someone else carrying?

What's the least?

Thanks!

 

[Crothian]

Last night in my packpack was the Freeport Trilogy which I am running, and a small 80pg notebook of my campaign notes. I have a small bag of dice and pens and pencils. That was the gaming stuff.

I also had a 1000 page fantasy collection book I was returning to a player, three seasons of Avatar the Last Airbender that was being returned to a player, and Sportsnight that I was giving away because I got another copy.

One strategy I use is I use prep to write things in my notebook instead iof needing to lug ariound all sorts of books. It's been commented that as a DM I usually have less books with me then any one of my players do.

The players usually have a PHB, a class book, Spell compendium or other such books that they use for their characters.

We have one player now that doesn't bring anything. She leaves her character sheet and dice at the place we play so she doesn't need to carry things around with her.

I have seen people (not recently) carry over a dozen large books with more in their car just in case. They kept the books in egg crates for easy trasnportation. THe least I've seen is people bringing nothing.

 

[Desdichado]

As a player: dice bag, character sheet, and 2-liter bottle of Mountain Dew.

As GM: dice bag, home-made GM screen, several notebooks and printed pages of notes, some clipped illustrations to hand out, and maybe a book or two. And a 2-liter bottle of Mt. Dew.

 

[Piratecat]

When I GM I carry almost nothing; just my DM notes, pencil & dice. I bring a DM screen, a foldable battlemap and some tokens about half the time. I don't worry about rulebooks unless I'm unsure about the system I'm running.

As a player I carry any books that are both relevant and essential to my character, particularly if I know the DM doesn't have them. For our 3.5 game, that means the PH, the Magic Item Compendium, and the Spell Compendium. Add my dice, my character folder, and any snacks!

 

[CorditeJimmy]

Running my Changeling game I'll have everyone's character sheet, and printouts of the relevant pages from the books for all their contracts/merits for them to refer to. A multitude of D10s and pencils in case people forget to bring their own. My laptop for the soundtrack and pdfs of all the books to save lugging my deadtree copies around.

That's pretty much it.

 

[Blackrat]

Full load currently. A sports bag filled with all the SWSE books. Inside the bag is also a two notebooks. A small one that I use to scribble my ideas at work, and a larger one with removable pages of graph sheet. Three sets of dice and pencils & eraser. Lastly a laptop for all the images/pdf's/npc's etc...

 

[billd91]

If it's a game I'm running or have a lot of rulebooks for that not many others have (like SWSE), I toss them in a milk crate. Toting stuff in them is very easy and they can also be used for longer-term game storage too. I've also got a box of some Star Wars minis that I bring to the SWSE game.

Otherwise, I usually just bring the single rulebook for the game (assuming I own one), my character sheet, and my dice.

 

[Mallus]

I carry my laptop and battle mat into the living room, sometimes a few printouts, too.

I've also been known to carry a glass of whiskey. Last week it was bourbon.

 

[drothgery]

As a player, I used to carry any rulebook used non-trivially by my character, plus a character sheet, dice, a calculator, a pad of graph paper (not that I used it much), and pencils. Occasionally a book or two I thought the DM could use, and a ton of books when we're doing character creation.

With D&Di-driven character sheets and power cards, though, I'm pretty quickly moving to bringing only a player's handbook and whatever rulebook defines my character's class as far as rulebooks go.

As a DM... well, the only thing I ever ran at a tabletop was a short-lived Star Wars Saga game, so I brought whatever books I thought I needed plus a lot of notes (usually printouts from Wikipedia, pre-done enemies, pre-written monologues, etc.) and some Star Wars minis (one of the regular D&D DMs hosts the game for my tabletop group, so I wouldn't need to bring minis if I were running D&D, but sci-fi minis are another story).

 

[Ruined]

I've just decided to stop carrying the milk crate full of 4e books. It was cool nostalgia for me, as I did that with my 1e books, but my back has begun to protest. I have laptop with me anyhow, should I need refence.

Otherwise: toolbox full of minis, tac-tiles, backpack with laptop, dice, printed DM notes. And lots of Diet Mt. Dew.