Evening all,
Brither Brimstone and I have just played a couple of games and I have a few things to talk about in the way of gaming aids. Firstly, we used some of the counters Fragmatic posted earlier in the thread - they worked pretty well, but they're mostly for things that I either mark down elsewhere or have no trouble remembering. I could definitely recommend them for new players as they're a pretty useful reminder. The main downside the the cramp I got in my hand cutting them all out.
The second thing I did, which was so simple I don't know why I didn't do it earlier, was to print out the reference sheet at A5 instead of A4. This made it much easier to handle and meant it didn't take up as much space on the table and is something I'd definitely recommend it to everyone (except perhaps those with less good eyesight as it does make the text rather small).
Both Brimstone and I were using different character sheets to cut down on the amount of paper we brought to the table; he used Marco's one that fits three or four characters on one sheet of paper and I used some small character sheets that I'd made to fit in plastic CD sleeves so I could write on them with dry-wipe markers. It did mean I got ink on my fingers but otherwise worked really well and the small size meant they hardly took up any room at the edge of the table. Again, this is something that is definitely worthwhile.
Finally, rather than listing all the characters Speeds and Initiatives on a piece of paper and then covering it with arrows as they get injured etc, I made up a set of cards showing each character's name Speed and Initiative, put them in order and simply flipped through the deck as each turn progresses. This meant, for example, that if a character's Speed dropped due to injury I could simply move their card down to the appropriate place in the deck. And if a character went out of action I could remove their card. Each card also had a section for notes where I could track things affecting the character (for example, being stunned). The bottom card in the deck was different and marked the end of a turn and listed the most common end of turn actions so they didn't get forgotten.
The system worked rather well I think and I'll probably continue to use it. It also has the advantage that it reduces the set-up time at the start of the game as the GM can get each player to fill in a card for each of their PCs rather than having to go round the table making a list of everyone's Speeds and Initiatives.
Anyway, I hope there's something there that's of use to people...
- Dave
