Pen and Paper Combat Tracking

[levinth]

I'm hoping to run a real life game of Pathfinder in a month or so and I'm looking for a way to track combat (initiative, HP, effects etc..) that is a bit more organised than my usual hurried scribbles on bits of note paper. I was wondering if anyone had any tips on how they do things?

Maybe I've just got a bit too used to the luxury of FG, but Id like something as organised that I can use at a gaming table (coffee table). I've seen the gamemastery combat tracker and I'm tempted to make my own version of that... has anyone used it and is able to give me a recommendation?

If not, are there any pdf (for example) that people know of that i could laminate and use erasable markers on?

Any help gratefully appreciated!

[Trenloe]

You mention the Gamesmaster combat pad, which is what I use extensively for fave-to-face games: https://paizo.com/products/btpy9066

I'd recommend it - easy to track ready/delay actions, easy to rearrange initiative order, spaces to use wet/dry eraser to track HPs etc, the round marker can be used to track when spells/conditions end.

Before I used this I made my own - a small magnetic whiteboard, I then printed out some markers on magnetic paper, laminated the printed magnetic paper and removed the laminate on the magnetic side, cut out the magnetic markers. Of course, you then don't have the background markings on your magnetic whiteboard...

Then, there are some people on these forums who take a laptop along and run Fantasy Grounds and use the FG combat tracker.

[levinth]

Yeah, the gamemastery one looks good.. just now i'm on student budget, i'm not sure i can justify it...

I thought about using FG, but as some of my players will be new it might confuse them and I think rolling real dice is half the fun when you play face to face. I'm trying to design something simple that I could laminate but I'm still at the stage of working out what info I need. Maybe basing it off the FG combat tracker might work. I assume I'd be allowed to do that as long as I stick to OGL stuff and don't try and sell it? I just mean using the headings/ labels it uses and designing something new from that.

[Trenloe]

YeaI thought about using FG, but as some of my players will be new it might confuse them and I think rolling real dice is half the fun when you play face to face.
You don't have to use it exactly as you would in a full blown FG session - just us the combat tracker to track initiative, damage, conditions, etc. and you and the players roll as normal.


I'm trying to design something simple that I could laminate but I'm still at the stage of working out what info I need. Maybe basing it off the FG combat tracker might work. I assume I'd be allowed to do that as long as I stick to OGL stuff and don't try and sell it? I just mean using the headings/ labels it uses and designing something new from that.
If all you do is use it for yourself you can use anything you want. If you plan to distribute what you produce, even for free, then you'd pretty much be limited to just OGL stuff. As the majority of data you'd want on a tracker would be OGL I'm not sure what wouldn't be OGL - unless you started using FG graphics, in which case you'd need to ask Smiteworks for permission (only if you were distributing the end result, for personal use only you don't need permission).

[Midhir]

Have you looked at the Combat Manager program (https://www.combatmanager.com/) if you have a laptop it's free, they also have an iPad version that is very budget friendly.

[levinth]

@ Trenloe - I hadn't thought about using it like that, that could work quite well actually, thanks! If not I might pull something similar together to laminate for the time being and put the gamemastery one on a birthday wishlist ;)

@Midhir - Yes, I downloaded it when I was searching for something suitable online. I think I'll experiment with that and FG before I get players involved to see which one suits me best!

Thank you for the help!

[hawkwind]

There is a android app called PF Battle that is an excellent combat tracker, not as good as the Combat Manager windows app mentioned above but it runs on a phone or a cheap android tablet

[jshauber]

I have used FG a couple of times to run face-to-face games. I have all the character sheets so I can monitor HP, and do skill rolls in secret as needed. Also great for tracking monsters and combat.

I still draw out maps and use minis as needed so they can roll dice.

Having everything in FG makes it much easier to run and keep organized. Doing maps still slows things down but we are working toward having a couple people also with laptops running so everyone can see the map and move characters.

Would be nice to have a giant touch screen to use but Bill Gates we ain't...

[levinth]

Would be nice to have a giant touch screen to use but Bill Gates we ain't...

Seconded!