Stop Marking On Your Character Sheet (Seriously, There Are Better Ways)

When you first fill out your character sheet, it looks pristine. The sheet, like your PC, is newly-minted, as yet unscarred by the ravages of goblin blades, or the crippling touch of a shadow. But once you've gone up a few levels, you start to notice the dark marks, and ragged edges. The places where your damage isn't quite erasing the way you want, or how your stats are progressively tougher to read thanks to the ravages of ghouls, succubi, vampires, and other awful creatures you've had the misfortune to encounter.

Look at it. So neat. So clean. If only it could last...

Of course, you can just get a fresh character sheet and re-write the whole thing every couple of levels, if that's your bag. Or you can keep a digital character sheet, if you're willing to fully embrace the age of digital gaming. But for those of us who like to have the same sheet for an entire campaign, there is something to be said for keeping your shifting tallies somewhere other than on your permanent record. And in today's day and age, there's a unique way to do that.

Scratch Paper in The Digital Age

This is going to sound obvious to most players, but it didn't occur to me until recently that just because there's a space for damage, spell slots, etc. on your sheet, that doesn't mean you need to use it. Especially if it means you're going to constantly be marking and erasing, possibly several times a session. That's just how most groups I've played with rolled, and it didn't occur to me to change it up until one of my DMs got a thank you present from his job. At first I thought it was just a clipboard, but when he took out the stylus and started jotting the initiative order, NPC notes, and other things on it, I realized it was actually an electronic notepad.

Basically, this thing.

This LCD writing tablet is simple, durable, and it's got some serious staying power since it runs off of a basic watch battery. It's great for tracking damage, stat boosts/hindrances, pools of points that constantly shift (looking at you, swashbucklers and gunslingers), and most importantly keeping track of what spells or spell-like abilities you've used that day. Best of all, there's no worries about keeping it charged, and needing to get it prepped before game night; it uses so little power that a single watch battery can keep it running for years of gaming without incident.

On the one hand, it can be argued that this tablet doesn't do anything that a simple piece of paper doesn't do. And if you have a pad of scratch paper on-hand (as any good gamer should, really), then you can basically keep track of everything in a small notebook. I'm not denying that, as I basically have small pads of paper I keep in my character folders for exactly this reason... however, the tablet has one major advantage; it saves serious travel space.

And if you're a player who is going to someone else's house, or a DM who's running in an organized play style setting, that can be a serious advantage. Especially if you just want to leave said tablet in your bug-out bag so that you've always got it ready to record the results of the latest carnage.

Also, if keeping yourself organized at the table is your thing, you might also want to check out my previous post Organize Your Spell Cards With A Portable Spellbook!

Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!

That's all for this week's Moon Pope Monday. Hopefully you enjoyed, and if you've used run these kinds of games before, leave us a comment to let us know what worked for you!

For more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, and stop by the YouTube channel Dungeon Keeper Radio. Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife, then head over to My Amazon Author Page!

To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now Pinterest as well! To support my work, consider Buying Me a Ko-Fi, or heading to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron. That one helps ensure you get more Improved Initiative, and it means you'll get my regular, monthly giveaways as a bonus!

Organize Your Spell Cards With a Portable Spellbook!

One of the biggest frustrations when you're playing a spellcaster in any game is keeping track of how many bullets are left in your gun, so to speak. What spells do you know? Which ones did you prepare or pray for? Which ones have you cast? It's simple when you get started, but soon the back of your character sheet where you've kept your daily load out is so marked up and worn down by your trusty eraser that you're scared to try to write anything new on the page, lest it tear through and require a total re-write.

There is, of course, an easier way to keep yourself organized when you're a spellcaster of any sort; spell cards. Whether it's something like the Ultimate Spell Decks For Wizards from LPJ Design for use with Pathfinder Classic, The Wizard Spell Deck from Total Party Kill Games for use with Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition, or even the Pugmire Shepherd's Spell Cards from Onyx Path Publishing, there is a deck out there for your class, and your edition to make sure you have all your spells right at your fingertips.

These spell cards give you all the details of the spell, saving you time looking them up on your turn, and making sure you've got your entire arsenal ready to go. However, it's not enough to just have the cards on-hand; you also need a way to organize them. Because leaving them spread out on the table may be fine when you're a 1st or 2nd-level caster, but you don't want your spells edging out fellow players' dice and elbow room.

That's where this glorious gaming accessory comes into play.

That beautiful little tome is the Pocket Compendium, and it has enough room to fit 54 separate cards in it. A small spellbook that you can keep on-hand, and even make a part of your character if your inquisitor needs a field version of their holy text, or your wizard prefers a pocket grimoire. Durable, easy to carry, and able to fit enough magic for any character (even the vaunted mystic theurge), it keeps everything neat and tidy. And then, when you've cast your spell, simply remove the card and set it aside to keep a record of what you've got left. Refill as your daily resting and studying allows.

EDIT: There's also a Necronomicon version! It's called the Tome of Horrors, but we all recognize that face.

Wait A Minute... Isn't That Just A Fancy Card Wallet?

Astute observation, heading. Technically speaking, yes, that's basically all this item is when you cut down to its core. You could achieve much the same results bringing something like a business card book organizer or a leather credit card holder to the table. The price between the different items isn't really all that big, though, and I can tell you from experience that products meant for business often aren't properly sized for holding gaming accessories like spell cards, which can lead to a lot of frustration. And, of course, there's the matter of bringing a boring business accessory to your table over something that's got a bit of personality.

Either way, before you buy, make sure you read the fine print and check all the measurements. With that said, though, the key to a potent spellcaster truly is how organized you can make all your information. That's why I recommend giving this method some consideration... especially if you've already got decks of spell cards laying around gathering dust!

Also, if you're looking for more handy accessories to add to your gaming shelf, I'd recommend checking out:

- Need Cheap Minis? SCS Direct Has You Covered!

- 4 Tools To Help You Control Your Dice At The Table

Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!

That's all for this week's Moon Pope Monday. Hopefully you enjoyed, and if you've used run these kinds of games before, leave us a comment to let us know what worked for you!

For more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, and stop by the YouTube channel Dungeon Keeper Radio. Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife, then head over to My Amazon Author Page!

To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now Pinterest as well! To support my work, consider Buying Me a Ko-Fi, or heading to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron. That one helps ensure you get more Improved Initiative, and it means you'll get my regular, monthly giveaways as a bonus!

Towering Defenses Against My Chronic Bad Rolls

I mentioned a couple months back in my post about Alistair "Lefty" Rockhammer that my group gets together on Thursdays to do crafty stuff. Sometimes it's related to gaming, and sometimes it's just drawing, hot gluing, or beading our way through the evening while we shoot the breeze. While I've been doing some character artwork, the main thing I've been doing with these weekly get-togethers is trying to find a solution for my terminal ill-luck with dice.

Which is why I started building dice towers.

You gonna roll initiative, or just stand there and bleed?

Now I'm not that crafty of an individual, but I had some parts and pieces lying around, and the results are better than I expected them to be. So I thought I'd share what I've managed to put together this week.

The Diceman's Box

Tumble the ill-fortune from your bones.

The first piece I made, the Diceman's Box is a simple, stable box that's easily transportable. The top even opens, with one half of it meant for dice storage, and the other side filled with angled wedges to make sure your dice get quite a tumble before they're spat out the bottom end.

I have been contemplating turning this little box into a segment for Dungeon Keeper Radio, and the new show we're debuting soon called Exploring Evora. The priests of Se'da, a two-faced god of chance and luck, carry these boxes with them. Using special dice carved from knuckle bones and blessed in holy rites, they can predict someone's fortunes, and divine the future.

If that sounds like a feature you'd like to see get made, leave a comment below telling me so I can work on the script! Also, if you'd be amused at an expanded history of the other two towers, let me know that as well.

Thornwood Hall

A day without a corpse on the thorns was a day the lord had not been displeased.

Thornwood Hall, though simple in design, went in a different direction. More of a traditional tower, it uses what I call the plinko method to tumble dice (which means there are several sticks pushed through, and the die bounces off of them before hitting the angled floor, where it rolls out). At first I thought about trimming off the protruding spikes, but I decided to leave them in order to give the tower kind of a bargain basement Hellraiser feel.

The resulting structure, known as Thornwood Hall, is a rickety pile of stone that was the ruling seat of Lord Horace Thornwood. A brute and a bully, Horace often insisted on heinous punishments for crimes both real and imagined. He would often impale those who displeased him outside his hall, as a sign of his strength. One morning he was found impaled on the tallest spoke, a look of enraged disbelief on his features. No one knows who put him there, but even in death the Lord of Thorns refused to cede his seat. Now haunted and bloodstained, few will risk the dangers of this place.

Rookwood Hall

You take the queen? Sure, roll for it.

My most recent tower, Rookwood Hall used the same basis as Thornwood Hall (which is to say, a Pringles can), but inside are half a dozen plastic tumblers. And instead of trying to paint over the exterior, as I did with Thornwood Hall, Rookwood got a full complement of foam masonry. A little uneven due to a forced change in materials, the stone coating and gloss helped. Additionally, adding a simple base to weigh it down meant that there was no need to hold the tower while the dice tumbled through. The final touch was the bronze elk skull above the exit.

Built and established by Cerene Rookwood, the hall was originally a place for hunters and rangers to keep eyes on the forest around them. While the tower fell into disrepair over the years, and its lady grew old and gray, it still stands firm. Some say the great skull atop its entrance is part of what sustains it, granting the tower the protection of some fey lord whose name has been long forgotten, even if his pacts have not.

Do They Work?

A lot of folks consider dice towers to be just one more thing cluttering up the table, and adding unnecessary terrain to a player's space. However, I'll be the first to say that now that I have a tower of my own, I'd be loathe to game without it.

If you've thought about making your own tower, this video from Blue Shark is the one I used to get a grip on the basics. If you would prefer assembling your tower from a kit, instead of making your own from scratch, then you might want to check out this Dice Tower Kit from Blue Panther, or the Mini Dice Tower Kit from the same company. Or, if you'd prefer something that's a little more than just the basics, you might want to take a look at The Ultimate Dice Tower from Fat Dragon Games.

That's all for my Moon Pope Monday installment this week. Next week I'll get back to deep thoughts about player agency, or talking about how to be a more open-minded DM. For now, though, I just wanted to do something fun and simple.

If you'd like to see more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, or just head over to my Gamers page to see only my tabletop articles. You could also drop in on the YouTube channel Dungeon Keeper Radio, where I work with other gamers and creators in making videos for players and dungeon masters alike. To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, and Twitter. Lastly, if you'd like to help support me, then you should consider either Buying Me A Ko-Fi, or going to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron. Either way you'll get a lot of sweet gaming swag, as well as my thanks for helping me keep the lights on.