So I DM for some friends at a local coffee shop every week. My players are great at keeping track of their sheets/handouts/dice and so on but I’m the one taking most of the enemy “figures” and maps and all that stuff. I’m looking for suggestions on how to better transport the stuff I need to DM better. Does anyone use any particular backpack or box or any items that would work? Im looking to buy something better. Right now I put most things in a large tote bag but it’s pretty annoying. The items I take are:
-wet erase maps
- arknight and printed maps
-all enemy and NPC models (I use a lot of paper craft to save $$$ but some are 3D miniatures)
- terrain (not that much but some scatter terrain and the like)
- laptop (I use D&D Beyond instead of books)
- handouts / campaign binder
- dice/markers/extra tokens
Mind you this is not about complaining nor asking my players to take stuff.
Crown Royal bag with dice. 12 miniatures in a tackle-box. A hex map you can roll up, maybe 3 by 5, some water erasable markers in 5 colors, a Laptop for D&D Beyond, and you'll need a backpack for your stuff. If they don't already have characters they can use it to make them, they need a one page setting document about the setting and any special rules or hombrew you are going to use. Let them figure out a Backstory of maybe two paragraphs, and have them pick their background, Ideals, bonds and flaws.
After that, they need to write down their character, with very little detail on a sheet of paper if nobody has a printer, and you ought not have to bring one. Keep your laptop to yourself and run the game as usual. Good luck.
I have a KR Multicase quarter size with foam in various sizes. Not the cheapest solution, but it serves for various minis skirmish games as well and for painted minis I really don't want to do without foam for transporting them to another venue. Unless you want a whole lot of minis and/or some really big ones, the quarter size should suffice and have room for templates, markers, dice and other small stuff and it's comparable to a laptop bag, only about twice as deep. Laptop bag for laptop, tablet, whatever else technical stuff I want (power bank, usb stick or external drive, laser pointer, etc) and everything on paper that isn't larger than A4 or A3 folded in half - all paper goes in binders (one with campaign notes, char sheets, handouts; one with maps and 2D terrain, a whole bunch in case of random encounters or the players going somewhere unexpected, which is something that isn't unexpected at all). Cardboard tube for oversized maps. DM screen normally fits into the laptop bag as well, but I built one for myself that's made out of shallow wooden boxes and that's over 2" deep folded up, so that goes into a tote bag with the cardboard tube.
Can't say it's convenient, but for the amount of stuff I get to use on location it's doable. If I wanted to pare it down a bit the oversized maps (and thus the cardboard tube) would stay home and I'd use a couple of smaller ones next to one another and I'd remove one layer of foam to fit in a smaller DM screen and one of the binders, leaving me with the laptop bag and KR carry case, both of which would be fairly light.
Howdy,
So I DM for some friends at a local coffee shop every week. My players are great at keeping track of their sheets/handouts/dice and so on but I’m the one taking most of the enemy “figures” and maps and all that stuff. I’m looking for suggestions on how to better transport the stuff I need to DM better. Does anyone use any particular backpack or box or any items that would work? Im looking to buy something better. Right now I put most things in a large tote bag but it’s pretty annoying. The items I take are:
-wet erase maps
- arknight and printed maps
-all enemy and NPC models (I use a lot of paper craft to save $$$ but some are 3D miniatures)
- terrain (not that much but some scatter terrain and the like)
- laptop (I use D&D Beyond instead of books)
- handouts / campaign binder
- dice/markers/extra tokens
Mind you this is not about complaining nor asking my players to take stuff.
I’ve heard of a lot of people using a fishing tackle box. It’s big and has lots of compartments of different sizes.
Crown Royal bag with dice. 12 miniatures in a tackle-box. A hex map you can roll up, maybe 3 by 5, some water erasable markers in 5 colors, a Laptop for D&D Beyond, and you'll need a backpack for your stuff. If they don't already have characters they can use it to make them, they need a one page setting document about the setting and any special rules or hombrew you are going to use. Let them figure out a Backstory of maybe two paragraphs, and have them pick their background, Ideals, bonds and flaws.
After that, they need to write down their character, with very little detail on a sheet of paper if nobody has a printer, and you ought not have to bring one. Keep your laptop to yourself and run the game as usual. Good luck.
<Insert clever signature here>
I have a KR Multicase quarter size with foam in various sizes. Not the cheapest solution, but it serves for various minis skirmish games as well and for painted minis I really don't want to do without foam for transporting them to another venue. Unless you want a whole lot of minis and/or some really big ones, the quarter size should suffice and have room for templates, markers, dice and other small stuff and it's comparable to a laptop bag, only about twice as deep. Laptop bag for laptop, tablet, whatever else technical stuff I want (power bank, usb stick or external drive, laser pointer, etc) and everything on paper that isn't larger than A4 or A3 folded in half - all paper goes in binders (one with campaign notes, char sheets, handouts; one with maps and 2D terrain, a whole bunch in case of random encounters or the players going somewhere unexpected, which is something that isn't unexpected at all). Cardboard tube for oversized maps. DM screen normally fits into the laptop bag as well, but I built one for myself that's made out of shallow wooden boxes and that's over 2" deep folded up, so that goes into a tote bag with the cardboard tube.
Can't say it's convenient, but for the amount of stuff I get to use on location it's doable. If I wanted to pare it down a bit the oversized maps (and thus the cardboard tube) would stay home and I'd use a couple of smaller ones next to one another and I'd remove one layer of foam to fit in a smaller DM screen and one of the binders, leaving me with the laptop bag and KR carry case, both of which would be fairly light.
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
I'm a pretty big fan of this bag that I got on Amazon.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07KJMP49F/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
1” washers or quarters with colored stickers to represent extra mobs.
Guide to the Five Factions (PWYW)
Deck of Decks
I use a large tacklebox that stores smaller boxes as "drawers." This looks like the same model my son got me several years ago for Christmas:
https://www.amazon.com/Plano-1374-Rack-System-Tackle/dp/B000E3FKTO/
Trying to Decide if DDB is for you? A few helpful threads: A Buyer's Guide to DDB; What I/We Bought and Why; How some DMs use DDB; A Newer Thread on Using DDB to Play
Helpful threads on other topics: Homebrew FAQ by IamSposta; Accessing Content by ConalTheGreat;
Check your entitlements here. | Support Ticket LInk