Here is the post I was going to write yesterday, but got side tracked instead by a flash of inspiration for my campaign that had to be recorded so it wasn’t lost.

Over the last week or tad longer I saved one or two tips for being a DM/GM from my twitter feed. I know these tips are flagged as being for D&D but they are applicable to any system as far as I see it.

So that those pearls of wisdom from others don’t get lost I’ve put them in this post to share with the world, and make sure I have them in a safe place.

Let’s start with Tip #1…

I do use index cards. But for initiative I use the cards that come with the Essentials Kit. For secret notes I use either post-it notes or more likely the dry erase index cards I have.

I really like the dry erase index cards. I track monster stats on them during combat, can quickly hand one out with a message on, write a players condition on one and give it to a player as a reminder. Plus they are great to also use for the next tip.

Tip #2…

I don’t currently run theatre of the mind combat. It’s something I want to add to my tool box as a DM/GM. But I think I need a bit more experience and confidence as a DM/GM before I try it. But this is a great tip to tack on to the end of the first tip.

Tip #3…

I need more confidence in my sketching ability before I try this one on the fly during a session.

Tip #4…

This final tip is a two for one that wasn’t originally a tip. It started off as an image on a post about combat (which is well worth the read btw).

Examine the above photo that I “borrowed” from that post.

The first tip I’m taking from it is to use a perspex (plastic) sheet, not glass to hold up broken walk ways and add a second level to a battle map. This works for terrain or as shown above and the next tip drawn maps.

The second tip is to print out you battle maps on paper and cut them out. This will require me to experiment a little to get the size right so that the squares come out as one inch squares. But it’s a cheaper option than using 3D terrain, and quicker than drawing.

Hope you found those tips as useful as I think they will be for me.