Ben relishes D&D 4E’s combat system. As a DM, he despises losing track of particular powers and effects. That memory loss snafu can completely ruin the battle’s outcome – oh the humanity.
Ben’s game group needed a plan…a way to remember who had what effects on whom. Inspired by Penny Arcade’s sticker effects, our group mind meld produced our first true home-brew accessory! It was a long and tenuous production process to build but Craggy got it done (with a sort of China sweat shop determination).
We’ve done the usual suspects ( Dazed, Bloodied, Fumbled, Prone, Ongoing, Dying, pluses, minuses, etc). And then to spice it up, we threw in some sponsorship flags to reward great moves (ex: after a critical hit, “Magnum – Oreo is on line one.”)
Our condition flags are combined with medium and large bases. And while there is some occasional fat finger clumsiness, the end product has worked like a charm. No more pesky “Who has what questions?” and annoying game stops – just good ol’ fashioned battle beat downs.
November 17th, 2009 at 6:24 pm
How did you make these?
November 19th, 2009 at 7:46 am
Patience I guess:) The Flags were a rather laborious process. We did all the usual phases: brainstorming, design, print, building, painting, and assembly. It had a great sweatshop feel to it.
November 25th, 2009 at 8:44 pm
Great stuff! I just found your website via a post you made on the Dwarven Forge forum. You’ve inspired me to make some dungeon terain and perhaps markers for my group. However, could you explain the parts you used for making those markers. Also, do you have a file of all those stickers? Too cool.
Thanks for the great inspiration!
December 3rd, 2009 at 10:07 am
[...] got a lot of praise and such from our first home brew installment so Ben decided to double its pleasure with a review of our game group’s initiative board. Alas, [...]
December 10th, 2009 at 12:48 pm
Hi Dan – we haven’t forgot about you. We will be posting a source label file and an instructional PDF. We’re just trying to wrap up the winter theme first. Check back in about a week or so on the Downloads page.
March 8th, 2010 at 12:50 pm
[...] been inspired and driven to create a slew of handy home brewed accessories (including our beloved Condition Flags and Hit Dice). We’ve uncovered a clump of handy downloads from fellow skillful inventors (such [...]
April 13th, 2010 at 12:39 pm
You have really great taste on catch article titles, even when you are not interested in this topic you push to read it