Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Melanii Apr 14, 2015 23:11:55	Hai!   After expressing my interest to D&D to my BF and our 3 friends; we tried playing one of the adventure board games at a card/game store, until we eventually purchased one for ourselves. We found it fun, and kept joking about using it as a base to expand into the real thing.   Well, recently we got really serious. Last weekend.   I didn't mean to write a long introduction, by the way. Four out of five of us have disabilities (that's how me and the 3 loyal friends met, actually). Why am I mentioning that? Because that means, we have to play in our own way in order to play at all.   We decided not to expand fully into "true" D&D with all the stats of STR, CON, CHA, INT, WIS, etc. Some of us just can't handle such complexity. So, we are sticking to using the dice roll on everything and have added a town with items and gaining levels, etc.   I created blank character sheets for everyone to fill out (which includes our silly drawings on the back), but right now they're a mess.   Everything is a mess. My questions are:   1) What's the best way for each player to have a "Quick Sheet" of the other characters or places in case they have trouble remembering? For example, I cannot retain information well, so I need everything written down for me.   2) I wanted us to all have a main character sheet that has perminate (sp?) information, or mostly perminate (sp?) information. With each level or item we obtain, we'd like to record what we learn or have. What's the best way to do this? Is using a pencil and erasing the best way? Are there any sample character sheets I could find to make my own?   Actually are there any sample, "simplified" sheets for characters, places, etc. I can find anywhere? My BF, the storyteller (he has no character) will be dealing with people forgetting things, doing things wrong because they can't understand things as well, absent minds, etc. I'd like to help him, and us out, by making this an enjoyable experience!   Thanks!
#2 mellored Apr 15, 2015 5:49:19	I suggest you make your own Character sheet, possibly on graph paper with lines to help keep things sorted.  Put all the combat stuff on one side, and all the non-combat stuff on the other.  That way you can simply flip it over and have less information in front of you at any given time.   Have a second scrap sheet (or note card) for temporary information, like hit points and spell slot uses.  You can use the extra space for long hand subtraction if you have touble with math.  It also helps show you what happens to your resources.   You could also use note cards, and have 1 for skills, 1 for your equipment, and 1 for combat, and 1 for hit points.     Dividing up the information will let you find what your looking for easier.
#3 BoldItalic Apr 15, 2015 6:55:37	Hi Melanii, and welcome to the fun!   One suggestion: suppose each player has a folder, with pockets for small index cards. I'm thinking of something like this or maybe this.   For your character, make separate cards for things that don't change, like name and portrait, separate ones for things that change sometimes but not very often, like a wizard's spells, and other cards for things that change quite a lot, like what's in your backpack and so on, and keep all the cards together in your folder. Then, when you need to change something, you only need to change that card and the others are still good.   It can have another use, too. Whenever you go to a new town, or meet a new character, or get some special treasure, you make a card, just with its name and maybe a little sketch, and slot it into your binder in the next empty space. Then everything will be there to see and remind you of what has happened and, also, the order that the cards come in will remember what order things happened in the game and that is sometimes helpful too.   For example, if you went to a village called Redham and met a blacksmith called Ned and he sold you a magic sword, the card for Ned the blacksmith would be right after the card for Redham and the card for the sword would be right after the one for Ned. And that would remind you about how the things were connected, just by being together in the folder.   Would something like that work for you and your friends?
#4 paulstrait Apr 15, 2015 6:44:46	I dunno how comfortable you are with technology, but our group uses a google spreadsheet.  It may sound complicated but it is really just the same as a written record except that it is typed.  The advantage is that you can have one spreadsheet that anyone / everyone can edit at the same time, so whenever anything changes that you want to keep a record of, you can just add it to the sheet.  Here's our current sheet (this link takes you to a read only version):  https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1CFHyviysgZioak8OM2iM-8KCm1EbpfT4S9IntDz4le4/pubhtml -- you could obviously keep it much more simple.  The drawback is that you'd need people to have laptops or tablets at the table (our group has gone 100% paperless but I know that is not the norm).   It might make sense for everyone to keep a quicksheet that has all the other PC's names and maybe like one or two details about that person.  This could literally be as simple as a blank sheet of paper divided into four squares (one for each PC).   That could be used as a reference, and also whenever anything happened that someone wanted to remember for the future, they could write it down in the appropriate box.  As for character sheets, you could print off something like this http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/character_sheets -- Since you are playing with simplified rules, just keep the parts you aren't using blank.
#5 Melanii Apr 15, 2015 8:55:28	I really like the idea of using note/index cards + a binder for each person. It would probably be incredibly helpful! As for the Google Spreadsheets thing, I'm personally comfortable with technology, and so is our game master and one other friend, but the other two are not at all. One doesn't even know how to operate a computer very well and the other has a physical disability that makes typing way harder than it should be.   Paper is what I think is best for all of us.   I'm going to look at that character sheet you linked me and see what I can do!   Thanks for all your suggestions so far! :D
#6 paulstrait Apr 15, 2015 12:20:14	The nice thing about the binder or folder idea is that you can use it to keep track of handouts and things as well.  Like, for example, suppose that the PCs talk to an NPC who wants them to do something (defend a caravan, rescue a kidnapped child, check out a mysterious structure, whatever), and the PCs agree.  The DM could then hand them a piece of paper that has the name of the NPC and a basic 1 sentence description of the quest.  Any clues they pick up or whatever related to that quest could be written on that sheet, and then if something is unresolved from one session to the next, at least one of the players will have a paper copy of the quest in their notebook that they will have in front of them whenever they pull their binders out, and they don't have to worry about getting the basic details right or spelling the name or whatever b/c the DM will have prepared it for them.
#7 Tempest_Stormwind Apr 15, 2015 13:28:10	If we knew what your simplified rules were, we could design a simplified (specific to your needs) character sheet as well.   In the meantime, the binders are an excellent idea, assuming the disabilities in question don't interfere with using binders (some do, but since you're playing a dice game, those are unlikely).   For what it's worth, the way I work is that I have a permanent sheet, a scratch sheet (for notes (narrative threads, names (something I suck at remembering), backpack contents), tallies (i.e. HP, spell slots, spent arrows), and quick maps), and a small pile of stones that I use as all sorts of counters. Whenever I level up, I print out a new character sheet to fill in as the permanent one, and file the old one (occasionally along with an Adventure Log, which is basically me just tidying up the scratch sheet and including adventure summary data. There's a different version of this used for the Adventurer's League at the link upthread). This isn't terribly involved, but you're right, it does involve a lot of information.   I do suggest copying me on the stones, at least - they work really, really well at tracking resources and visualizing effects. For instance, you might mark out how many HP you've got by drawing a square big enough to hold your HP in stones, and pull them away or put them back as you take damage and heal. You can mark out spells on index cards of different colors, and use different colors of stones to keep track of spell slots (blue stones are 1st level, orange are 2nd, red are 3rd; write your 1st level spells on blue cards, your 2nd on orange, your 3rd on red); the spells you "know" (in your spellbook, say) are held in the binder, while the spells you have prepared are taken out and put in front of you. Casting a spell is just removing a stone of the right color and reading the card.   (I say "stone" but if you go that granular, poker chips might be better choices.)       Incidentally, have you looked into simpler systems than D&D? D&D has a reputation for being rather.... crunchy, in terms of how many numbers and dice it needs to track. Maybe a different tabletop system might be better suited to your group's needs? There are some that are basically handled entirely by simple dice and narrative choices instead of dice, modifiers, arithmetic, and reroll conditions, and many work in a lot of different fantastic settings (including the basic fantasy world painted in D&D's core rules, or the assorted D&D campaign settings).
#8 Melanii Apr 15, 2015 14:56:35	I love the quest idea! I need to tell our game master that idea! Get him to draw out some maps too!   Well, we spent 60+ USD for the board game, and that is our base. Using only the HP, AC, and SPD is pretty good for us. We use the 20d that came with the game as well.   I'm pretty sure our character sheets would include the following:   (permanent) - Character Name - Character Age (for fun) - Character Race - Character Class - 1 Sentence Character Description - Character Picture (I already got them excited for the art I said I'd make them XD) - 5 Level One Abilities, 3 with limited use - Racial Trait     (changing) - Current Level - Max HP/Current HP - AC - SPD - CHA - Character Relationships (like friends, hatred, alliance, etc.) - Inventory (our characters can only hold 2 of each item) - Equipment Section (1 main weapon slot, 1 shield/sub weapon slot, 1 helmet slot, 1 body slot, 1 hand slot, 1 footwear slot, and 2 accessory slots) - More Abilities - More Traits/Skills   The stones idea is a good idea. I actually just pulled out lovely coloful marble/stone-thingies with that same intention. :D
#9 BRJN Apr 15, 2015 17:54:28	Melanii,   Welcome to the game!   Look around in the 'DM help' forum for these people: iserith, bawley, AaronOfBarbaria.  (Sorry, I haven't figured out how to get links to work inside a post reliably.)  They DM / story-tell for other groups, and are very good at it.  Their advice is among the best you can get on these forums.
(Reply to #9) Melanii	BRJN wrote:
#11 mellored Apr 16, 2015 5:24:13	Just post a new thread here.   Simply ask for advice on how to make the game more accessable.
#12 Tempest_Stormwind Apr 16, 2015 10:18:39	Melanii wrote: