Post/Author/DateTime	Post
firebeetle 04-30-08, 12:11 AM	I've just been CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) certified and I gave a thought to how to pursue my favorite hobby during a disaster. Imagine these scenarios: A huge ice storm hits. Power is out at your town and will be for days. Wildfires cause you to be evacuated for over a week. Your city is destroyed by a hurricane, you are stuck in a FEMA trailer for months on end. The pandemic flu finally happens. You are under quarentine for up to six months. Victims of disasters end up with something you don't hear a lot about, lots and lots of free time with NO entertainment. In our disaster kits at school (I'm a teacher) we are starting to include cards, books, and games (and those are just for short scenarios) D&D is a good solution, as it is time-consumptive and engrossing. There is a reason it is so popular in the military. So here is the challenge, how do you make a D&D disaster kit that will provide gaming for anything ranging from a day to six months? The kit must: Be light enough to be easily transported. Be able to survive being wet and other environmental difficulties Provide enough materials for months of play Cannot rely on batteries in any way. Here are my thoughts so far: A rugged shoulder bag, preferably zipable and waterproof. PHB, MM, and Rules Compendium in a plastic bag (NB, Mongoose made some small paperback SRD, that would be cool too. I might retire my 3.5 books this way) Dice, 7 sets, different colors. 2 sets should be minimum (1 for players, 1 for DM) Steel Sqwire map crapload of dry erase markers, pencils, and hand sharpeners character sheets on "write in the rain" sheets. A couple of their notebooks would be good toohttp://www.riteintherain.com/ An assorted collection of extra D&D miniatures, inc. enough to choose PCs from. Now, the trick is, adventures. I'm thinking either a random system to generate dungeon crawls. or hauling in one of those giant campaign books like "World's Largest Dungeon" or "Ptolus" Further additions or thoughts? Also makes a handy list for camping, in case you wanted to hike for hours in the woods in order to play D&D.
nytemare3701 04-30-08, 12:50 AM	1. Laminate everything you can. 2. Mechanical pencils are more reliable than normal pencils. Plus you only need 2 pencils and a little box of lead sticks to go for months. 3.A foldout ruler or tape measure. who needs a mat? 4.Legos have saved my bacon for props, counters, etc. I'll be back with more.
Etarnon 04-30-08, 03:14 AM	It strikes me that while the critical human disaster is happening outside with people needing help, I am not gonna sit around and game and pretend to kill dragons. I'm tearing up sheets for bandages and bringing all my first aid kits, and a good knife and peroxide and a gallon of bleach, and going out there. *Survivor of the Loma-Prieta Earthquake, OCT 17, 1989.* ..with a medal to prove it.
_Jayne_Cobb_ 04-30-08, 09:36 AM	It strikes me that while the critical human disaster is happening outside with people needing help, I am not gonna sit around and game and pretend to kill dragons. I'm tearing up sheets for bandages and bringing all my first aid kits, and a good knife and peroxide and a gallon of bleach, and going out there. It strikes me that you are missing the point by a staggeringly wide margin.
Etarnon 04-30-08, 02:05 PM	Roll Dice while Rome Burns? Sorry, call me obtuse.
1 ton ghost 04-30-08, 02:10 PM	Uh, ditto. If you can pitch in, so be it. But announcing it so vehemantly, with a medal to boot? Glad you were a humanitarian and all, but try and consider disasters aren't all blood and fire scenarios. Even the first responders are humans w/ needs of diversion/distraction, if anything, to keep up morale. Sometimes the dmage is done and all you can do it wait. Like Katrina and Rita, alot of the damage is done w/out alot of victims, just homes destroyed, stuff like that. Horrible and all collateral damage wise, but not like Chernobyl or anything. Initial response was bad, but the politicking, whining, parasitism, and racial rhetoric had no place after it happened. Anyway, this sort of thing is perfect. When people get ******, say, you know, losing all your wordly possessions, amazingly enough, crime skyrockets (note texan violent crime rates due to refugees swarming in). Even on lesser circumstances, when your time is not occupied in a constructive/healthy manner, the chances of you doing something destructive/unhealthy rise; all those G's on the corner talking sh-t to the passerbies on hot summer days, shouldn't they be at jobs somewhere or in school? Ppl that are otherwise engaged do not often find the time or initiative to victimize other ppl. Perhaps an overgeneralization, but a truism nonetheless. Beelte, respect and all. My brother is a teacher here in town too and has hypothesized this. Ran gaming past some of his kids, good afterschool program too. We got this to work as a youth group function for our church back in the day w/ a very modest budget. Getting paid to game, nice... That's another beauty part to it as well, doesn't require much capital at all and if they're not little monsters, the books will last a long time. It's engaging, teaches some basic math, builds imagination & creativity, encourages TEAMwork (pretty relevant considering civic responsibility in a disaster), and practical (portable, if you're literate you can play, healthy).
_Jayne_Cobb_ 04-30-08, 04:06 PM	Roll Dice while Rome Burns? No, something for the victims of a disaster or displacement - particulalry children - to do to occupy their time in the intervening days or weeks while they are sitting around waiting. Sorry, call me obtuse. You're obtuse. Happy?
MacrossSD 04-30-08, 09:56 PM	A rugged shoulder bag, preferably zipable and waterproof. Take a look through your nearest military surplus store. Perhaps they have an Army backpack that'll fill the bill. PHB, MM, and Rules Compendium in a plastic bag (NB, Mongoose made some small paperback SRD, that would be cool too. I might retire my 3.5 books this way) If you can find them on eBay/Amazon, Wizards made some trade paperback versions of the core books, and they might (but don't quote me on this) have made digest-sized versions to save on bulk/weight. Dice, 7 sets, different colors. 2 sets should be minimum (1 for players, 1 for DM) You should be able to get half-size dice sets from your FLGS. That'll help you save on weight. Steel Sqwire map crapload of dry erase markers, pencils, and hand sharpeners Both of these I'd ditch in favor of graph paper and cheap disposable mechanical pencils to save on space. An assorted collection of extra D&D miniatures, inc. enough to choose PCs from. You may want to forget about the minis as they are pretty bulky. Now, the trick is, adventures. I'm thinking either a random system to generate dungeon crawls The Dragon Compendium has an article pretty much directly reprinted from the 1e DMG which is a pretty good way of making random dungeons. Further additions or thoughts? Also makes a handy list for camping, in case you wanted to hike for hours in the woods in order to play D&D. Although your original idea is admirable -- having something for people to take their mind off of a disaster for a little while -- the camping idea is more realistic. Because, really, if you have to choose one of the two to take out of a burning/collapsing/being eaten by Cloverfield house, is it gonna be the first-aid kit or the D&D kit?
TheHarlequin 04-30-08, 10:24 PM	Because, really, if you have to choose one of the two to take out of a burning/collapsing/being eaten by Cloverfield house, is it gonna be the first-aid kit or the D&D kit? I'd take both. You could keep them right next to each other (or in the same container...) As for what to include: mine would have MM, PH, DMG, pencils, sets of the mini dice, and a notebook or two of graph paper (makes excellent character sheets, and you can cut out squares to use in the place of miniatures on a second sheet of paper.
GeeBee 04-30-08, 10:24 PM	My wife and I actually take D&D backpacking with us. It's a great way to spend a night in camp, and is light enough that it doesn't distract from the great views during the day. Group stuff (divided between three or four of us): - 3 core rulebooks - a small chessex battlemat (we roll this into our sleeping pads). - a CCG card tin with a handful of 1" and 2" ceramic tiles, for use as tokens on the mat - three wet erase markers each player also carries: - 1 set of dice - a mechanical pencil with extra lead - a character sheet in a sheet protector - a couple of blank character sheets the DM carries: - a moleskine leather notebook with campaign info - pencil, dice As for adventures, I usually write my own and have them written in my moleskine. This is a huge space/weight saver and, to be honest, writing your own stuff is the only efficient way of ensuring games for 6 months or so. If you aren't up for that, I think Ptolus is a great idea. Expedition to Castle Ravenloft would also work well because you have so many encounters, and because there is room in the adventure to write your own stuff. And, because someone HAD to bring it up, having D&D stuff with you in a disaster is a great way to watch a small group of kids so that their parents can help their neighbors. I've been through disasters as well (earthquakes, fires and riots...I love So Cal), and it's healthy to take some time for fun; it keeps you balanced.
Catsnightmare 04-30-08, 10:58 PM	Put a pad or two of these in there. http://www.norcominc.com/productsdetail06.asp?search=76636 Its a legal pad of 80 pages, each page is graph ruled on one side and college ruled lines on the other. I carry one around in my satchel all the time for scribbling down character ideas, or sketching maps for future adventure ideas.
firebeetle 05-02-08, 07:04 PM	It strikes me that while the critical human disaster is happening outside with people needing help, I am not gonna sit around and game and pretend to kill dragons. I'm tearing up sheets for bandages and bringing all my first aid kits, and a good knife and peroxide and a gallon of bleach, and going out there. *Survivor of the Loma-Prieta Earthquake, OCT 17, 1989.* ..with a medal to prove it. I'm a CERT, so yeah, I'll be out there. I appreciate your attitude and recommend you get trained, you'll be much more useful as a trained volunteer and less of a tax on resources (untrained volunteers take coordination, extra food, water, etc.) You've missed my point entirely. Here it is again, for the second time. . . "Victims of disasters end up with something you don't hear a lot about, lots and lots of free time with NO entertainment. In our disaster kits at school (I'm a teacher) we are starting to include cards, books, and games (and those are just for short scenarios)" In fact, this level of boredom and frustration is a serious issue. It causes further problem. Not surprisingly, people are rarely content to sit still and wait for help. People were stuck in the Astrodome for over two weeks. Pandemic flu is predicted to last months. Some Katrina victims were housed for months on end (I have a survivor in my class.) Many excellent suggestions. I like: tiny dice mechanical pencils It has occured to me that I could pick up "gronk" books and take the covers off, making them lighter. If I were to take "World's Largest Dungeon" I wouldn't need a MM, as it has all the creatures in the SRD. I found this, which is very helpful: http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/mi/20041104ahttp://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/mi/20041104a
Etarnon 05-02-08, 08:06 PM	+1 to you guys for keeping the spirit of gaming alive in the rubble.
1red13 05-02-08, 08:55 PM	Most natural disasters, evacuations or even power outages leave people with a lot of time with no activities. I think some people are purposefully miscontruing the OP to be melodramatic.
pigknight 05-02-08, 08:59 PM	During the fires in San Diego the first things I took from my house was my DnD stuff (took roughly 1 min.), then I got my clothes and stuff. And remember kids, stuffed animals and a ruler are useful WHEN YOU FORGET YOUR CONTAINER OF D&D MINI'S! WHEN YOU TAKE YOUR BOOKS TAKE THOSE MINI'S! (BTW this is how Chris P. Bacon was created)
Shiftkitty 05-03-08, 12:22 AM	It strikes me that while the critical human disaster is happening outside with people needing help, I am not gonna sit around and game and pretend to kill dragons. I'm tearing up sheets for bandages and bringing all my first aid kits, and a good knife and peroxide and a gallon of bleach, and going out there. *Survivor of the Loma-Prieta Earthquake, OCT 17, 1989.* ..with a medal to prove it. A little off-topic, but I'm curious, what were you doing during Loma-Prieta that got you a medal? My brothers and friends and I were organizing tent-cities, feeding the residents thereof, getting names and reuniting lost family members, watching over scared kids so their parents could collect their thoughts and figure out what they were going to do now that their houses were gone and running food and medical supplies to isolated communities. When were they passing out medals? (Seriously, I'm not trying to belittle your actions. I just don't recall anything about medals. But then, we were pretty tired afterwards.)
Etarnon 05-03-08, 01:03 AM	Our unit USS Gridley (CG-21) had been sent to San Francisco for Fire Fighting Refresher training, at Naval Station, Treasure Island, CA, from our Home Port in San Diego that week. Were were to start after the weekend. Turned out we were at T.I. when the first shock hit, in the afternoon, during evening mess. At first we thought that one of the Ship's boilers had exploded. The crew went to General Quarters, because the whole ship had lifted up about a foot as the First wave passed beneath the ship. After we assessed via Damage control teams that the ship wasn't going to sink, and a few minutes later via National Geographic Survey people that the epicenter had been on land, moving outward, rather than an epi offshore, (which would have cause a Tsunami), we began to convert our sea water Desalinization plant to making fresh water for all of T.I. as their island based pumps were offline, damaged, or suspected to be contaminated. AS I recall, we also provided limited emergency power, from our generation system. From were we were, just right after it hit, you could see the Oakland bay bridge span collapse, and most of I guess it was Oakland on fire with all those mushroom clouds from the bigger fires. pretty soon after, we had teams of people heloed off via CH-46 (from one of the USMC units in SoCal) the to various places around the city from there to escort drivers off of bridges, direct traffic, respond to what first aid we saw, and work to get people out from trapped in buildings and structures out in the Marina. There was a California National Guard unit there as the time, as well. Both units got the Humanitarian Service Medal. I know a guy online from that CA NG Unit. If I recall, he plays Traveller and lurks the QuickLink Interactive Inc. forums.
Kobajagrande 05-03-08, 03:23 AM	I spent a war playing cards, HOMMIII hotseat, MOO2 hotseat, and D&D. Oh, and trying to find a place selling cigarettes. But that's a whole different story.
Shiftkitty 05-03-08, 12:29 PM	Etarnon- Ah, very impressive! We were just a bunch of civilians working at a San Jose radio station. San Jose got through pretty much unscathed, but others weren't so lucky. My reward was to see my brother finally coming home that evening. He had been up near an area that took heavy damage and we didn't hear from him. We had begun to fear the worst when we saw his junker rolling slowly down the darkened street, overheating and almost out of gas, but at least he was home! Bravo, my friend. Bravo. :clap:
wtsutton 05-03-08, 12:58 PM	Our unit USS Gridley (CG-21) had been sent to San Francisco for Fire Fighting Refresher training, at Naval Station, Treasure Island, CA, from our Home Port in San Diego that week. Were were to start after the weekend. Turned out we were at T.I. when the first shock hit, in the afternoon, during evening mess. At first we thought that one of the Ship's boilers had exploded. The crew went to General Quarters, because the whole ship had lifted up about a foot as the First wave passed beneath the ship. After we assessed via Damage control teams that the ship wasn't going to sink, and a few minutes later via National Geographic Survey people that the epicenter had been on land, moving outward, rather than an epi offshore, (which would have cause a Tsunami), we began to convert our sea water Desalinization plant to making fresh water for all of T.I. as their island based pumps were offline, damaged, or suspected to be contaminated. AS I recall, we also provided limited emergency power, from our generation system. From were we were, just right after it hit, you could see the Oakland bay bridge span collapse, and most of I guess it was Oakland on fire with all those mushroom clouds from the bigger fires. pretty soon after, we had teams of people heloed off via CH-46 (from one of the USMC units in SoCal) the to various places around the city from there to escort drivers off of bridges, direct traffic, respond to what first aid we saw, and work to get people out from trapped in buildings and structures out in the Marina. There was a California National Guard unit there as the time, as well. Both units got the Humanitarian Service Medal. I know a guy online from that CA NG Unit. If I recall, he plays Traveller and lurks the QuickLink Interactive Inc. forums. Et...thanks for your service the our country. Not just during the earthquake...but in general. Like a lot of other people in the nation, I was watching the start of the World Series when Al Michaels nearly fell out the window of the broadcast booth because of the ground shaking. If I remember correctly I was in 8th or 9th grade at the time. My grandfather was in WWII and was at the invasion of Normandy on D-Day. He is and always will be my hero, just like any service member willing to risk the ultimate sacrifice.
Etarnon 05-03-08, 01:17 PM	Most of my family were in the military, or career police officers, or both. Thanks to all. I'm not opposed to keeping D&D around in some kind of disaster. But I'd rather be out in it. That's All.
lunoc 05-04-08, 03:00 PM	Roll Dice while Rome Burns? what? its what i did small paperback SRD, i need to know were to get these im gonna stock up
Edymnion 05-04-08, 04:00 PM	Not all "disasters" are immediantly life threatening, just long in duration. For example, in 1993 the southeast (and most of the eastern US in general) was hit with a major blizzard. I was snowed in at my house for 7 straight days, with no electricity, unable to get out due to the huge amount of snow. Luckily, we listened to the snow predictions and had stocked up plenty of food, and had a wood burning stove (we lived in the woods). So, we were in no danger, nor was anyone else in the area (everybody out here has wood stoves and stocks up on food when heavy snow is predicted), but there was still a solid week of nothing to do but play cards, an old game of tiddlywinks, and recycling candles (remelting the wax on the stove, using string for a wick, and old toilet paper tubes as molds to make new candles when the old ones burned out). I *WISH* I had been a D&D player in 1993, it would have made that week so much easier. So yes, just because the immediant danger of death and destruction has passed does not mean you can just go back to your normal lives. There is often long periods of time where you just have to wait to rebuild before you can actually get to work doing so. D&D is a good idea for passing this time. What you would put in your kit depends greatly on where the kit is to be stored, and how mobile you want it to be. For an actual emergency kit, with the assumption you are going to have to carry it around with you, I would honestly not recommend more than a PHB, a blank notebook, a deck of cards, and some mechanical pencils. Thats all you would really need. PHB for basic rules, and everything else can be put together on the spot from whatever is available. Notice the lack of dice. The reason is because you want as many uses for your gear as possible. All functions of dice can be replicated with the deck of cards (1d20, just take ace through ten in a black suit, and ace through ten of a red suit, shuffle, and draw, a red 3 would be a 13, a black ace would be a 1), and when you're not playing D&D, the card deck can then be used for poker or solitaire. I wouldn't bother with minis of any kind, as they aren't that important. If you just want to use them, there will always be small bits of things that can serve, from coins to frito chips to pebbles. But, considering how rare it is for me to even use minis, I say just leave them out entirely and do scenarios that don't require the level of tactical minutia that would require the use of minis. Stick it all in a gallon sized ziplock bag, and there you go. If its going to be something that will not be carried around, then you can get fancier and add in the MM and laminated graph paper & character sheets w/ wet erase pens. Again, no minis, just use colored dots on the laminated graph paper, or pebbles, or whatever.
firebeetle 05-04-08, 04:09 PM	what? its what i did i need to know were to get these im gonna stock up There are two, both by Mongoose. The Pocket Player's Handbook http://www.amazon.com/Mongoose-Pocket-Players-Handbook/dp/1904577660 and the GM Guide Bestiary http://www.amazon.com/Mongoose-Pocket-GMs-Guide-Bestiary/dp/1904854508/ref=pd_sim_b_njs_title_1/105-1196289-7870862 Note that most of the prices on the Player's Handbook are way up. Mongoose obviously didn't publish enough of these. I've also thought that it would be easy to provide cards and a couple of sets of the miniature rules. That way there are two options with the same set of equipment. Candles and matches may be needed Rulers should be added, I make specialized ones out of square dowels (I should really post about those, everybody likes them) There have been lots of suggestions about paper use, such as using a stack of sheets instead of a laminate map. Remember, we want everything water proof or resistant that we can, as well as light. All books will need to be in sealed bags. I really like the water-resistant paper, it's great. What would be a good selection of miniatures to use? Things that we don't mind throwing in a box possibly never to be used, but need to sustain us through months of play. Any suggestions?
firebeetle 05-04-08, 04:15 PM	Our unit USS Gridley (CG-21) had been sent to San Francisco for Fire Fighting Refresher training, at Naval Station, Treasure Island, CA, from our Home Port in San Diego that week. Were were to start after the weekend. Turned out we were at T.I. when the first shock hit, in the afternoon, during evening mess. At first we thought that one of the Ship's boilers had exploded. The crew went to General Quarters, because the whole ship had lifted up about a foot as the First wave passed beneath the ship. After we assessed via Damage control teams that the ship wasn't going to sink, and a few minutes later via National Geographic Survey people that the epicenter had been on land, moving outward, rather than an epi offshore, (which would have cause a Tsunami), we began to convert our sea water Desalinization plant to making fresh water for all of T.I. as their island based pumps were offline, damaged, or suspected to be contaminated. AS I recall, we also provided limited emergency power, from our generation system. From were we were, just right after it hit, you could see the Oakland bay bridge span collapse, and most of I guess it was Oakland on fire with all those mushroom clouds from the bigger fires. pretty soon after, we had teams of people heloed off via CH-46 (from one of the USMC units in SoCal) the to various places around the city from there to escort drivers off of bridges, direct traffic, respond to what first aid we saw, and work to get people out from trapped in buildings and structures out in the Marina. There was a California National Guard unit there as the time, as well. Both units got the Humanitarian Service Medal. I know a guy online from that CA NG Unit. If I recall, he plays Traveller and lurks the QuickLink Interactive Inc. forums. When you are no longer serving, you need to get yourself to a CERT course. We need your skills, I trained with two veterans who run our JROTC program. They taught the trainers a thing or two. It's not the same however, you need to learn how to do triage the CERT way, "boxing" collapsed structures, etc. You would be a valuable asset. When your work it done, you can play D&D with the survivors (now won't that be fun?)
pigknight 05-04-08, 06:20 PM	Instead of using tiles and minis just use stuffed animals and rulers. (I still can't believe I left my minis when I was done putting my things into the car 2 hours before my parents), this would be really good for 3 reasons: 1. stuffed animals are good for kids, 2. your kids might play D&D, and 3. you can get away with bringing stuffed animals, but may not be able to get away with minis.
firebeetle 05-05-08, 11:28 PM	Just thinking, it's possible to expand this idea further. We can provide a set of minis to play: D&D D&D minis Chess (minis that substitute for pieces, which ones? needs a board) Checkers (I'm thinking one set orcs, one goblins here) Dragon Chess (with set of rules and separate board pieces) I'm going to keep working on this, something soon.
pigknight 05-06-08, 07:14 PM	Use stuffed animals instead o' minis?
Shiftkitty 05-06-08, 07:59 PM	What, you never heard of a Dire Carebear? ;)
pigknight 05-06-08, 08:02 PM	I'm saying in a disaster pack stuffed animls instead o' minis.
RPJesus 05-06-08, 09:59 PM	Unused dice make fairly nifty Minis as well.
Edymnion 05-06-08, 10:32 PM	I'm saying in a disaster pack stuffed animls instead o' minis.You ever try to tell little Susy that her teddy bear just got eaten by a dragon? :P
pigknight 05-06-08, 10:49 PM	Well then you should've optomised a bit if you were going to borrow a stuffed animal.