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Sunday, April 30, 2017

Gaming Logistics II: GURPS DF, megadungeon w/minis

I ran AD&D with so little stuff that it could all fit into my backpack. I still managed to bring too much and get disorganized during play, but that will happen.

But when I run GURPS, I run it full-on. Maps. Minis. Handouts on occasion. Small maps depicting large areas that my players then map onto much larger maps.

So what do I bring?


- a plastic "milk crate" with full of:
     three plastic Plano 2-3700-00 tackleboxes with figures (one each Battlesystem, Cardboard Heroes, and Bones/Legendary Encounters/D&D pre-paints/Pathfinder pre-paints/terrain);
     My converted GURPS GM screen;
     two binders (one with DF1-15, stripped down to just what I use in this game; one with DFM1, 2, 3 and my own monsters sheets, plus DF8)
     four-five small boxes of doors (thanks to my players and Archon Shiva), minis (apes, gargoyles, the otyugh just in case), a bag of troll minis, a bag of orc minis, and terrain bits;
     two tea tins of home-made carboard heroes (inc. 33 druagr, thanks to Emile Smirle)
     printouts of sometimes-needed rules and rulings I'd prefer to hand out when they occur (cones, area effect, scatter mostly).

Plus I bring:

- my packet of maps (it's in a folder that says Loved Pineapple on it, because it's made in Korea and was sold in Japan);
- my laptop;
- a GM screen so I can roll behind it and have handy charts;
- printed roster charts;
- my notebook;
- dice.

Then you add a GW 80-mini case full of orcs, which holds about 2/3 of my orc collection. and a Feldherr case over-filled (one extra tray) with all of the PCs, likely hirelings, and what I think will be the monster minis I'll need for the session.

I've managed this in one trip, but it's better with extra hands, usually Vic's thanks to his poor timing coming or going. Heh. It's not heavy so much as bulky, something I like to remind people when they say "Holding that 2 x 2 x 3 chest full of coins and potions only puts my guy to Medium Encumbrance!" Yeah, true, but weight isn't the only issue there.

It's not really heavy, but it's somewhat delicate. I've had minis break in these cases because the minis don't quite fit in the slots and the cases get banged around a bit. That's generally just fragile weapons (cough, cough, Wargames Factory, Dwarven Forge) and odd-shaped minis (GW, Reaper monsters mostly).


If I could change anything this, I'd simply do what we did back in the day: play where I live. That would allow me to have my minis close by.

If the PCs suddenly decide to attack the big dragon, the big dragon comes out of its storage bag in the back of my desk and gets put on the table. But if they do that while I'm away, sorry, no mini. If they plan to and then decide not to, I had to carry a large and potentially delicate mini (I could drop it, that happens) all the way to game for nothing. I have to pack figures in cases and remember where they are (and remember to bring them). I can't pre-set terrain and then just pull it out.

This is a special sort of problem, because a lot of what's in Felltower is an excuse to use minis I've accumulated over time. That's part of the fun and joy that is playing this game - pulling out minis that have sat ready for use since . . . whenever. Figures I'd owned since I was a kid. New ones I bought just to get that reaction from my players when they hit the table. It's combining the minis aspect of my game with the imagination that went into our dungeon and characters.

If it was only the megadungeon, no minis?

I'd need:

- my packet of maps;
- my laptop;
- a GM screen so I can roll behind it and have handy charts;
- printed roster charts;
- my notebook;
- dice.

And that's about it. Felltower is a few files on my computer and a bunch of maps (and I really should make copies of them and off-site back them up, actually). Part of me would like to run things that way. But only a small part. I mean, just wait until you see that dragon on the table . . .

12 comments:

  1. Say, have your players made maps of what parts of Felltower they've explored? I'm curious to see how the place is laid out. I was re-reading Melan's posts at ENWorld on this topic and this came across my feed, hence my curiosity.

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    Replies
    1. What posts are those? Can you link them?

      I've got the maps here, for once, and I can see about getting some pictures up. They're huge and disorganized, though.

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  2. Your mini woes are exactly why I switched to pure paper minis a long time ago (that and they are cheaper). I can fit all of my minis in one accordion folder (stands obviously in a separate bag).

    And if push comes to shove, I can fit all my paper minis files onto one thumb drive and print what I'm missing at the game site (usually).


    It also allows the occasional artist in the group to draw their own minis.

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    Replies
    1. It's an issue, but it really makes up for the trouble when the minis hit the table. It's just not the same with paper.

      Delete
  3. No chessex battle may because you leave it where you play?

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    Replies
    1. Yes. I've got one, I've got one at the house of the player who usually hosts, our backup play location host own his own Chessex mat as well.

      Delete
  4. Mines looking like this:

    Appropriate GURPS Books

    Notebook computer

    Flat Plastic and paper minis (Minis might look better, but FPMs don't break, need painting or weigh so much and still look pretty good.)

    Dungeon terrain

    Dice

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I run most of my games at a gaming club so I can leave some things their or use others material. Will likely donate somethings there just to not have the hassle of transportation.

      Also planning on running games at conventions, would prefer to take less given its such an open space.

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    2. I highly recommend a good PDF reader - I use SumatraPDF for game - and keeping all of the PDFs you'll use open in a specific order. You'll get smoother and faster at searching and locating things with less to drag around and less effort.

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    3. I play with very rules lite players, looking things up probably isn't what they are after.

      Not so secretly my Discworld Demos have been a Trojan horse to get story interested players accustomed to 'good' mechanics.

      Apparently systemless, freeform games might have come out of Australia in the 80s. Thats an interesting legacy still being played out today.

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  5. Mantic, which made the smaller doors I sent you, is currently running a Kickstarter for what can basically be described as *clutter*, which you might enjoy:
    https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1744629938/terraincrate-plastic-affordable-fantasy-terrain?ref=user_menu

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm in for a small fortune. I'm hoping the value gets substantially better in the second half.

      Delete