Aides, Props, Tools and Peripherals: what do you use?

[Altair]

So! This came up in my "what is HERO combat like" thread, and I wanted to expound upon it further. 

 

So game aides! Physical tools and peripherals. Some of us use them, some of us don't, but I imagine there's a range. What I want to know is, what kinds of tools do people use? Christopher Taylor made an awesome sheet regarding different options in combat, and the situations they apply to. 

 

In my brief experience, I used one of those big chessex roll-up hex mats; which kind of to my surprise, was super-useful. I'm thinking of making a SPD chart printout, for ease of tracking who's going where. Also, Hero Designer. I can't speak to Hero Combat Manager, but with some more funds, that might change. 

 

I recently ordered some damage trackers from the card game Sentinels of the Multiverse that I plan to use for keeping tabs on END and STUN, maybe BOD too.

 

So, I suppose what I'd like to know is: what do people use when they're running HERO? What have you found useful? What would you find useful, if it existed?

[Altair]

I made a thing! An 8.5 x 11 SPD chart. I used Futura instead of Helvetica Neue so it doesn't get confused with the version from the book. Made my own grid & Icon in illustrator, thank you very much . So this should be good by all legal standards.

 

Anyway! I'ma try using it during our next rumble session, see if I like it.

 

http://www.herogames.com/forums/files/file/266-85-x-11-spd-chart/

[IndianaJoe3]

Pedant: "Aids," not, "aides." (Although having an aide would make running a game easier.)

 

One thing that I've done is to write out the combat order chart, instead of calling out SPD and DEX. It's a lot easier to remember that your character goes between Carver and Bulletman then to listen for, "Phase 6, DEX 23."

[BlueCloud2k2]

I myself use a spreadsheet prepared in advance that lists combat order for all PCs and NPCs due to appear in the current issue.

[Lucius]

Pedant: "Aids," not, "aides." (Although having an aide would make running a game easier.)

 

One thing that I've done is to write out the combat order chart, instead of calling out SPD and DEX. It's a lot easier to remember that your character goes between Carver and Bulletman then to listen for, "Phase 6, DEX 23."

 

So has anyone ever actually had an aide?

 

Lucius Alexander

 

I find a palindromedary will assist during the planning stages but usually is not much help at the gaming table.

[Altair]

Heh. Fair, and that's what I get for typing so late. I've actually had a GM'ing Aide - lovely young woman who wrote down the names of all the NPC's I made up on the spot. In both RL and gaming, I am just rubbish with names. She also tracks total campaign XP, takes notes on where the game is, and sometimes cooks burritos. 

 

I highly recommend GMing AIdes. 

 

On the topic of aids, I think yeah, writing out the order might work better than something like making tokens and put them on a SPD chart.

[bluesguy]

Well I use to use a worksheet that went into a plastic sheet and I used a marker to track combat (back in the 80/90's)

 

When I started playing again about 4 years ago I started using a spreadsheet with a complicated macro to try and manage combat.  That was nuts.  Out of that grew Hero Combat Manager.

 

I am also a firm believer in using maps, figures, and if you have the patience for it 3D models (buildings, trees, vehicles, hills, etc).

[Christopher R Taylor]

I uploaded several of the tools I've used over the years, mostly from old Champions books.

 

Campaign Sheet for informing players about the ground rules of your campaign

The old "Hit List" for characters by DEX and Speed, with basic notes

A post-session debriefing Adventure Log for keeping track of what you did and are doing with characters and the story

The GM's PC Reference Sheet for what you as a GM know and are planning for a character

And a Combat Management Sheet I whipped up to put in a plastic sheet and keep track of NPCs, including guys that just take x "hits" to drop

 

I highly recommend hex maps and any figures or props you can on the map as well.  I used to use an old program called GSPC that was strictly DOS and ascii graphics.  It worked great, but newer operating systems won't run it without excessive tweaking.  Now I use the Hero Combat Manager, and its even better.

 

Paper minis are cheap and easy to make, and although I haven't had a chance to start using them my next game definitely will include them if I don't have figures.

 

Things I  haven't used but want to:

-Tokens for Hero points to toss to players and let them hand them in.  Poker chips work well for this kind of thing.

-Cards for special abilities or resources to use in a game (from Savage Worlds, great idea that players seem to like a lot)

[Scott Baker]

Hero Clix figures for minis - come in all shapes and sizes, You can re-paint them and mix-and-match many of the parts (X-acto knife and glue not included).

 

As I mentioned in one of your other threads, we use the Combat Record Export from HD. (I have Hero Combat Manager, but I don't GM all of the time, and several of the things it didn't do were common in the current campaign--I'll be revisiting this as both the tool and the characters have changed over time.)

 

 

Edit: Fixed a spot I rewrote when originally posting, but didn't get it all cleaned up.

[Altair]

That Hit List is interesting,  I may try that.

 

I am a big, big proponent of physical representations of HAPs, Fate Points, Bennies, Destiny Points whatever they're called in this system. 

 

I have found that using Skittles incentivizes their use. 

[Nolgroth]

I made a campaign framework for MapTool. I tend to use that for online games. It isn't perfect and there are some limitations to it, but overall covers the basics. I've even recently delved back into it to see if I can "optimize" game flow.

 

Other than that, the typical stuff like dice, maps, character sheets, minis, a vinyl battlemat (hey, I'm old school), etc. Index cards are an absolute must for me, as they provide a small, self-contained space to jot down notes. Another reason I like MapTool is that I can add GM notes to each token (virtual mini) that only I or somebody signed in with GM privilege can read. Makes for handy character notes. 

 

The best prop I've ever used was built by me and a friend. We made our own papyrus scroll with Egyptian hieroglyphics. I'm sure our syntax was completely wrong, but it looked cool and served the purpose of an ancient, prophetic scroll. It was a big hit at the game. My friend, who did much of the work, kept that little scroll. I helped another friend take the Forgotten Realms maps and seal them to some heavy cardstock backing. We hung them on his gaming wall as a reference for our D&D games. I've used various techniques to age paper for clues, pieces of maps, etc.

 

I've used Tarot and Tarokka decks to ad lib a game. I've used poker chips as ammo counters or as HAP/Karma Pool/etc. points.

 

I suppose that, if there is a tool to be used, I've probably given it a shot at one point or another.

[Altair]

I made a campaign framework for MapTool. I tend to use that for online games. It isn't perfect and there are some limitations to it, but overall covers the basics. I've even recently delved back into it to see if I can "optimize" game flow.

 

Other than that, the typical stuff like dice, maps, character sheets, minis, a vinyl battlemat (hey, I'm old school), etc. Index cards are an absolute must for me, as they provide a small, self-contained space to jot down notes. Another reason I like MapTool is that I can add GM notes to each token (virtual mini) that only I or somebody signed in with GM privilege can read. Makes for handy character notes. 

 

The best prop I've ever used was built by me and a friend. We made our own papyrus scroll with Egyptian hieroglyphics. I'm sure our syntax was completely wrong, but it looked cool and served the purpose of an ancient, prophetic scroll. It was a big hit at the game. My friend, who did much of the work, kept that little scroll. I helped another friend take the Forgotten Realms maps and seal them to some heavy cardstock backing. We hung them on his gaming wall as a reference for our D&D games. I've used various techniques to age paper for clues, pieces of maps, etc.

 

I've used Tarot and Tarokka decks to ad lib a game. I've used poker chips as ammo counters or as HAP/Karma Pool/etc. points.

 

I suppose that, if there is a tool to be used, I've probably given it a shot at one point or another.

 

Nice! Ever use Roll20? That's my VTT of choice, generally. I've also used Obsidian Portal to make some campaign wikis. (Example)

 

The heiroglyphs thing now has me thinking... I actually learned Maya Hieroglyphs as my foreign language requirement in undergraduate... I could legitimately make some etchings... oh man. That would be completely boss for a Pulp Hero game, n'est-ce pas? 

[Nolgroth]

Nice! Ever use Roll20? That's my VTT of choice, generally. I've also used Obsidian Portal to make some campaign wikis. (Example)

 

The heiroglyphs thing now has me thinking... I actually learned Maya Hieroglyphs as my foreign language requirement in undergraduate... I could legitimately make some etchings... oh man. That would be completely boss for a Pulp Hero game, n'est-ce pas? 

 

I tried Roll20 but the dice rolling mechanisms are...less flexible than MapTool. It is a much slicker interface, but in this case I have to choose Substance over Style. For any other game, I would probably use Roll20. I have vacillated as to whether or not I want to use an online Wiki like Obsidian Portal or Epic Words or not. So far the "not" vote has won out. Maybe if/when I assemble another gaming group.

 

Mayan Hieroglyph props would be really quite awesome for a Pulp Hero game. 

[Altair]

Yeah, I've tended to use wikis to communicate information in the planning and early stages of a game, then move to a spreadsheet on Google Drive once the game's underway. In the above example for the Mass Effect game I'm running, the crew of their ship alone is 104 people (not counting them), each with backstories & motivations, etc. Spreadsheets all the way.

 

On that note, if everybody in the gaming group has a Google account, then Drive is incredibly handy. Dropbox works well too - any way to share files with a defined group. 

 

Although, if I'm going to show people an image during play, I usually just pull it up on my tablet, and pass it around the room.

[mhd]

I usually print out some in-game docs if they're relevant and short enough. At least until I forget it and have to repeatedly read it from my gaming notes... I prefer to leave things to imagination and thus avoid pictures and detailed maps. For battles, small pencil sketches or positioning dice, penciles and coke bottles is sufficient most of the time, but when it's important I'll break out my old Chessex battlemat. I think there's still the picture of the High Elvish galleon on it that we fought on 3 months ago...

 

Other than that, it depends on the campaign. Our current HERO combat is very stripped down -- fixed SPD, no hit locations, no martial arts. So I don't need many references for that, but previously having the necessary charts of a piece of paper was very helpful. Better if it's on everyone's charsheet, though. Which is probably where I wasted the most time for my current campaign -- our house rules move us dangerously close to Fuzion, so I had to tailor the export format considerably. I've reached the limits there, so I'd have to buy a source license or reinvent the wheel myself (and I'm severely tempted, considering that the other road is paved with Java).

 

Our current campaign is a conversion, so there's no need to publish setting details -- we've got those in printed form with nice pictures. For other campaigns, I was quite fond of jottit.com, back in the days. Not as capable as a real Wiki, but very easy to setup, and even the less technical players didn't have issues publishing there. I'm a bit worried about it being out of support and not open source, though.

 

For my personal notes, I'm using Emacs and org mode.

[Lucius]

 

An old fashioned pencil and notebook is invaluable to me for tracking what's happened in the game, and what I plan for next.

 

Lucius Alexander

 

The palindromedary thinks I should try running Monster Hunter sometime.

[Nolgroth]

Luddite.

[dmjalund]

Luddite.

No - graphite

[bluesguy]

So I have all kinds of things to help with the visuals for my game.
 
Items that are Assembly Required:

• DramaScape - publishes very high quality PDF battle maps.  I print these using my color printer, onto card stock and then use Avery Self-Adhesive Laminating Sheets to put the individual pages together into a large battle map.  These things are awesome.  It seems like they mostly focus on Fantasy type maps vs. Modern/Science Fiction (60/40)
• Heroic Maps - publishes very high quality PDF battle maps.  See above for how I handle them.  They are very much oriented towards fantasy/outdoor maps.
• Dave Graffam models - publishes paper craft 3D models.  Again I print these using my color printer and onto card stock as well.  I have built some of the buildings.
• Fat Dragon Games - publishes paper craft 3D models.  I have built a lot of the terrain items - rocks, trees, logs, bushes, hills, etc.  The players really love the terrain.

Just use as I purchased them:

• Paizo Maps - Some really nice pre-printed maps (you can also get them as downloads)
• Inkwell's Monster Stand Ins (actually I was in on the Kickstarter for this one)
• Steve Jackson's old paper minis
• A ton of fantasy miniatures I have collected over the decades.  My favorite mini monsters are a set of orcs.  There are about 50 of them.  They are either armed with sword & shield, spear & shield, or bows.  They are all painted in matching colors and styles.  It is very satisfying as a GM to tell the players "You hear a swarm of orcs coming your way" and for them to see me start to pull out 50 orcs. 
• Map Flats (Kickstarter project) - Excellent vinyl maps.  I ended up with 2 sets of ship and keep maps.  The ship is actually three (or maybe it is four) maps to represent the decks of the ship.  The keep is two maps.  If anyone is interested and lives in the USA (shipping out of country would be expensive) contact me via PM.
• Fantasy Coins (Kickstarter project) - Each player got one coin from the culture they came from when I first got the set.  Since then I have handed out more to 'represent' treasure they find.  I also give them out when players do something really cool during the game.

Work on my part:

• Maps of the world.  I use Inkwell Ideas commercial products, specifically Hexographer and Cityographer.  The players currently have a physical copy of this map

 
 

and which has been 'aged' before they got it...

 

 

 

• I have also given them parts of diaries which I will print out on something that looks like parchment and has been aged either physically or using GIMP to create an aging effect.

[Altair]

Rock. I have some Fat Dragon stuff that I've never built, mayhaps I should. It always seemed like too much work for my expected joy return, but since I'm on this kick anyway, I might try that. 

 

As for minis, I've given up trying to paint them. My manual dexterity is just crap for physical art - I minored in graphic design, and I'm not terrible in the digital, but man. Give me a paintbrush and it's all ruin and woe. 

[Greywind]

That's where HeroClix comes in handy. Sure, they look like someone else's character, but at least they are painted.

[Christopher R Taylor]

Yeah if you pop the character off that huge base you can put it on a more modest one that fits on maps better.

[Altair]

Yeah if you pop the character off that huge base you can put it on a more modest one that fits on maps better.

 

I did not know that.

 

*Schemes*

[kjamma4]

I did not know that.

 

*Schemes*

 

Supposedly, if you put the Heroclix in the freezer for a while, you can then use a sharp razor **CAREFULLY** and pop the character off the base easily.

[Christopher R Taylor]

Freezer?  Never tried that.  Just a sharp object and some patience.  The glue isn't that impressive.