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Thread: Your GM toolkit
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2013-05-06, 10:42 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jul 2011
Your GM toolkit
Hey guys! Thought it would be fun to have a thread where GMs could share what tools they use to better their campaigns. When you make your list, please omit any dice (save specifically unique ones), paper, rulebooks, and pencils, as these are common enough that most everyone uses them.
My GM kit includes the following:
-Blank notecards (for writing stat blocks and handouts)
-My GM Screen (reusable and custom made from foam core and binder sleaves)
-My battle mat (w/ multicolored markers)
-Zone markers (cut from free paint swatches)
-my collection of hats (depending on the game)
-some keys I got at Michael's
-My GM Binder (containing maps, notes, and sleaves for name generators that I'll include later)
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2013-05-06, 10:52 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Aug 2008
Re: Your GM toolkit
I don't really have GM kit, and things vary from game to game in any case. That said, there are a few objects of note:
1) A small whiteboard/clipboard, and whiteboard markers. It's like an infinite supply of scratch paper with perfect erasing, and I love it.
2) Note Cards. They are needed to play Microscope, which is among my favorite games.
3) Bowls. My patience with dice going under things ran out a while ago, and using bowls as dice cups fixes things remarkably well.
Mostly though, it's the whiteboard/clipboard. That thing is my favorite tool by far.I would really like to see a game made by Obryn, Kurald Galain, and Knaight from these forums.
I'm not joking one bit. I would buy the hell out of that. -- ChubbyRain
Current Design Project: Legacy, a game of masters and apprentices for two players and a GM.
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2013-05-06, 03:12 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Feb 2008
- Location
- Israel
- Gender
Re: Your GM toolkit
Lets see:
1) My laptop. I use a wiki site to keep my notes one, as well as backup on my computer. Plus it stores pics forthe sessions (places, people, items), and music for specific moments.
2) battle mat with markers and eraser.
3) my miniatures pack.
4) I use transparent sheets upon which I mark complex battle zones I expect might come in play. I prepare them before game and then just place them on the battle mat. This HUGELY reduces the time to mark the battlefield, and this realy helps the tension. As nothing kills excitement more than having the GM closely mark the battlefield for a few minutes, while you're ready to fight the bad guy. Pronot battlefield!
5) I now intend to start playing FATE core and I will use index card to put aspects on the field.
6) same game- Poker chips to represent Fate points.
7) Big blank drawing pad- I draw maps of important locations before hand on it (a small sieged village, maps of an underground cavern, the layout of a cathedral and so on).
That's about it I think.Check my extended signature
Including:
1. Special projects:
Campaign logs archive, Campaign planning log, Tactical mass combat Homebrew, A unique monsters compendium.
2. My campaign logs:
Three from a GM's POV, One from a player's POV. Very detailed, including design and GMing discussions.
3. Various roleplay and real life musings and anecdotes:
For those interested, from serious to funny!
Thanks for reading!
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2013-05-06, 03:21 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Feb 2013
Re: Your GM toolkit
1. large piece of plexiglass
2. large piece of paper with 4 cm^2 squares
3. dry erase markers
4. lego people
5. sometimes i will get a tall glass and roll dice in that, it works fairly amazingly
that's all the notable stuff, almost everything else is on paper and pencil, at least for me. (i mean, i'll get a screen, sometimes, but apart from that)
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2013-05-06, 03:41 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- May 2005
- Location
- Somerville, MA
- Gender
Re: Your GM toolkit
I have a toolkit. It's actually a 3.5 starter kit box. For some odd reason the starter kit was the same price as the PHB but it came with a softbound PHB, a boardgame box, a set of dice, and some minis. Anyway, I don't actually use it because I prefer hosting games when I GM. But just in case, here's what it has.
1. Index cards.
2. Many sets of dice. 2 regular bags and a whole lot of tiny dice.
3. Some cheapo plastic minis.
4. Many-colored wet erase markers. The more colors I have the more likely I am to make the map interesting.
5. A dozen mechanical pencils.
6. Cardboard squares in varying sizes for each of the D&D creature sizes.
7. GM screen. I don't use one anymore but I haven't thrown it out either, so here it lives.
8. Paper clips of assorted color. Not just for binding paper, these also make great status effect markers.If you like what I have to say, please check out my GMing Blog where I discuss writing and roleplaying in greater depth.
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2013-05-06, 03:59 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- May 2007
- Location
- M'wakee, 'Sconsin
- Gender
Re: Your GM toolkit
Adobe Photoshop - for maps & campaign artifacts
Adobe Illustrator - for maps & campaign artifacts
hand-drawns maps
A 3'x5' sheet of plexiglass, scored into a 1" grid
Lots of dry-erase markers
Beer
And then Google Drive for:
- Extensive spreadsheets
- Campaign Docs
- Sharing image files and notes
- offline discussion
- Setting up encounters
- tracking experience points
- Storing PDFs for my reference
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2013-05-06, 04:13 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Dec 2008
- Location
- Michigan, USA
Re: Your GM toolkit
It always includes:
- dry-erase markers in varying colours
- dry-erase sheets of varying sizes
- something to erase the dry erase with
- whatever figures I'll be needing
- whatever figures, small plastic pieces, et cetera I'll use to represent monsters
- printed out campaign plan
- at least two extra sets of dice
It sometimes includes:
- DM screen (AD&D and MERP only)
- our book of revised firearm rules (D20 Modern only)
- a calculator (mostly for high-level D&D games)
- handdrawn maps
- written out letters, notices, and other such
- module I'm using (if I'm using one, which is rare)
For the most part, however, I don't so much have a DMing kit as we have different stations in our house set up for different games -- currently one table is set for our D&D/D20 Modern campaign, and the other is set for MERP. We also have a shelf with an (I'm told) bewildering array of figures (which I'll hopefully get somewhat caught up on painting over the summer). Since that's my usual group, I don't usually have to actually pack anything; for the other groups I sometimes DM for, I pack the above things.
Either way, those do make up the majority of what I use in any DMing situation. There have been occasional rare circumstances where I've used a laptop, but I find that difficult to work with, so I don't usually.
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2013-05-06, 04:16 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Sep 2008
Re: Your GM toolkit
Back when my game was mobile my kit consisted of several containers, a large dice bag, my laptop, and a battle-mat. The containers were loaded with tiles, objects, and figurines, on top of character sheets, pens, and pencils.
Now it is just my laptop. The best part is I can roll dice without my players being any the wiser about it.78% of DM's started their first campaign in a tavern. If you're one of the 22% that didn't, copy and paste this into your signature.
Where did you start yours?
On the road, heading to an abandoned church.
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2013-05-06, 05:18 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Feb 2013
- Location
- Sweden
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2013-05-06, 06:30 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jan 2012
Re: Your GM toolkit
Always Present:
-Notecards- For notes and stats and whatnot
-Game Plan Page-I like to have a single page with the general info on that session's plot present. It's easier than searching through my notes.
-Platter of various mini-figures and small toys- For when we need the battlemap.
-Heroscape Tiles- Simple and easy to build, I prefer them to drawing or using pre-built grids.
Sometimes Present
-ipod- I keep music on it for atmosphere in game.
-Speaker Attachments- For the above mentioned ipod.
-GM screen- Sometimes I don't like the weird metaphysical barrier it makes, but it definitely helps players not to read my notes.
-Scene Illustrations- Sometimes I'm not a good narrator. So instead, I draw the locations out before the game. I'd like to think it still gets the point across.
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2013-05-06, 08:43 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Oct 2011
Re: Your GM toolkit
Right now my GM toolkit consists of my Nexus Tablet.
And that's it...
I've been wanting to buy a battlemat and some minis... And some dice...
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2013-05-07, 04:23 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Aug 2006
- Location
- England
- Gender
Re: Your GM toolkit
I usually make a cheat sheet for the game I'm running. Or cheat sheets for introducing players to the core concepts of the game.
Laminated sheets and some dry erase markers.Mannerism RPG An RPG in which your descriptions resolve your actions and sculpts your growth.
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2013-05-07, 08:30 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Oct 2011
- Gender
Re: Your GM toolkit
My GM Toolkit:
- My laptop!
- PCGen6000, the best character creation program I've ever run into (AND it's free!) This thing not only does easy PC generation with all kinds of nifty features, it has a checklist of things you haven't yet done, and has a sub-window you can use for GM stuff like initiative trackers and all kinds of neat things. Right down to custom magic item creation, etc.
- My bag of minis and the grid-mat for combat that warrants the use of a mat (for example when ground-hazards exist in the immediate area, when space is restricted, when there are a bunch of monsters to keep track of)
- My set of black-and-white-with-red-numbers dice.
- My arsenal of different accents and voices.
- Aaaaand my personal favorite - I'm an audio engineer and a musician, and when my BBEGs have a pre-planned monologue and such, I will record it and use fun effects to add things to it. I had a demon lord who actually had ten different voices chorused, echoing and other fun things.My GamerTag: OutOfLine Lead
Add me :D
Avatar by Me! I take requests!
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2013-05-07, 08:48 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Oct 2010
- Location
- Dallas, TX
- Gender
Re: Your GM toolkit
A single sheet, kept in spreadsheet form in Excel, with all the players' names, AC, stats, saving throws, major magic items, and any information they don't have yet (magic items incompletely known, curses not yet set off, etc.).
All minis expected to be used in today's game, laid out behind a curtain so the players can't see them, with a ringer or two in case they get a glance. (Nobody notices the owlbear minis if there are three red dragons or a demon laid out as well.)
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2013-05-07, 08:49 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jun 2010
- Location
- Helsinki, Finland
- Gender
Re: Your GM toolkit
- A computer, typically a borrowed laptop since my own laptop sucks and I can't exactly carry my desktop computer all over the place. I use it to plan all my sessions and access my books, which are in PDF form.
- A plastic battle grid (made by Paizo apparently)
- Water-soluble markers which I use to draw and occasionally write on the plastic grid.
- Old collectable Pokémon figures, used for the PCs and some NPCs.
- Figures from some strategy game that's name I can't remember, used for most enemies.
- Legos to use for really small enemies.
- The Myth-Weavers website, which hosts the best virtual sheet storage/creation in my opinion. Our group always uses it to create their characters before writing them on paper, since that saves you a lot of math and messy erasing.
- Though I typically use a computer for planning, I use an A4-sized notepad when I'm drawing maps or traveling without a computer.
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2013-05-07, 08:58 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jul 2005
- Location
- At the home of the blues
- Gender
Re: Your GM toolkit
The Scroungers Campaign Setting
Main Thread | Crunch
Other Projects
The Giver d20
Other Homebrew
A Zombiemageddon Campaign Journal!
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2013-05-07, 10:11 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jul 2011
Re: Your GM toolkit
I forgot to mention: I also use a plethora of tokens I made with Tokentool. Sometimes I wish I had miniatures, but tokens are so much more cost effective.
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2013-05-07, 10:48 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Dec 2011
Re: Your GM toolkit
Notes.
A pocket nerf gun for when the players go off topic too far.
thats it, but I like to play very free form and without minis and maps.Last edited by GnomeFighter; 2013-05-07 at 10:48 AM.
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