For the Organized DM: Using Info Cards to Increase Roleplaying and Decrease Metagaming

     Hey fellow dungeon masters! I know it's been a while since I promised more tips on organizing your campaign, but here at last is another one!

My D&D binder and my beloved dice. <3

     Imagine this: you're in the middle of a gaming session, and the party comes across some information that only one character would know/understand. For example, Draconic runes on the dungeon wall, a symbol that requires a Knowledge (Religion) check to know what it means, or a vital detail that only a high Gather Information roll could uncover. Whatever it is, only one of your characters has the appropriate knowledge, skill, or language, so that character would in essence have an important bit of information that the rest of the party wouldn't have. The problem is, as a DM, how do you convey that information to that character's player without the other players also finding out?

     Most DM's I've gamed with had the same solution: they would just outright tell the player in front of the others, trusting the rest of us not to metagame and act like our characters knew the information too. But this usually resulted in the exact opposite response. Often we all role-played it out as if the well-informed character had already filled the rest of us in. We didn't intentionally metagame, but in that situation, it's sometimes hard not to.

     Another solution I've seen used is to take the one player into a different room to tell them the information. This leaves the other players bored and in a bit of a limbo, waiting for the DM to get back. It usually works fine for the bigger, more important secrets, but it  would be too inconvenient to use all the time.

     So are you ready for my solution yet?

     Info cards!

An example of some info cards my group received while playing through the "Dark and Stormy Knight" module.

     Here's how it works: When you're preparing for your next session, take a look at the material you expect to be covering (whether it's a pre-made adventure module or one you created yourself). Figure out what information might end up being revealed to only one character. Usually this would include things found out through Knowledge checks, speaking certain languages, and sometimes Gather Information checks. (I even like to include Spot/Listen checks sometimes, when I want the specific monster or villain's big reveal to be more dramatic.)

     When you find a bit of information that fits the bill, write it down on an index card. Then flip the card over and on the back write the method of obtaining the information - skill check, language, whatever. On skill checks, make sure you note the minimum DC for obtaining the information. You can also write what room number or event number the card corresponds to, just to make it easier to find the relevant card at the right time.

Back of info cards. I used abbreviations for Bardic Knowledge and the Knowledge checks, but write it out if it makes more sense to you. The number beside those is the DC. The "S" in the square stands for "start," because this info was before the characters made it in to the actual dungeon. But normally I would write the room number in the square.

     During the session, have your characters make the required rolls as normal. If someone rolls high enough (or knows the necessary language), you just hand them the card. It's all mysterious. ;) Seriously though, the player who got the information feels important, and the other players are in suspense waiting to find out what's on the card.

     As an added bonus, the player who has the information then gets to decide whether or not to share the information, depending on what his/her character would really do. In some cases the character really wouldn't share the information, would share only part of it, or would twist it to suit his/her own purposes. Giving the player a chance to do that really makes for some good opportunities for interesting role-play. And even if the player decided to tell all the information, just letting the character tell it his/her own way, and having the other characters react in-character, presents more great opportunities for role-play.

     Got two different DCs for different amounts of information? No problem! Just write the lower DC info on one card and the higher DC on a different card. If the player beats the lower DC but misses the higher one, give the player only the lower DC card. If he/she beats both, hand over both! (Just make sure the cards are read in the correct order, if it matters.)

For example, if Aster the bard had rolled a 12 on his Bardic Knowledge check, he would've only gotten the information on the first card.

     It's as simple as that! Of course, if you're the fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants, make-it-up-as-you-go, spontaneous type of DM, this probably won't work for you. But if that were the case, you probably wouldn't be reading tips for being an organized DM to begin with, now would you? ;)

     If you missed my first tip, for using highlighters to organize campaign information, you can check it out here. Stay tuned for more tips soon, and leave a comment letting me know any tips of your own! Thanks for reading!

For the Organized DM: Highlighers Are Your Friends.

     As I mentioned in my last post, one of my favorite past-times is playing tabletop RPGs -  particularly Dungeons & Dragons. I'm a 3rd/3.5 girl at heart, but I've also given 2nd and 4th eds. a try.

Just recently bought these shiny new 3.5 core rulebooks. <3

     I've DM'ed before, with my own campaign that I created, but it's very time-consuming to come up with all the adventures myself. I'm the kind of DM who wants to flesh out every NPC, have every detail nailed down, and be prepared for anything. Which of course is impossible, because the party will always do something unexpected. That's like the number one rule of DMing.

     So anyway, I finally realized it's actually much easier for me to simply run premade adventure modules. If I had all the time I wanted I might try creating my own again, but for now the modules are working really well for me. There's still a lot of room for creativity, playing with the unspecified details, and thinking on your feet. The only problem is that most experienced gamers have either played, read, or heard about a lot of the modules published for 3.5. Luckily for me, my current gaming group had never played 3.5 before we started this campaign. ^_^

 

The youngest player in our group... Just kidding. ^_~
But he does seem to want to play. Always stealing his mom's dice and dice tower.

     Right now, the party is working their way through the Sunless Citadel. I figured out early on that one of the problems that modules presented for me was the difficulty of finding specific information I'm looking for when it's given in such a compressed format. There are large blocks of text which contain information on everything from the layout of the room to the tactics of the monsters to the types of treasures to be found there. I realized I had to have some way of making it easier to home in on the exact information I need each time.

      Enter the highlighters.

      The color-coding system is fairly simple:

• Orange = Headings (helpful for separating each area)

• Blue = Descriptions (stuff I need to read out loud or paraphrase to the players)

• Green = Monsters' stats and tactics

• Pink = Treasure

• Yellow = Skill checks I need to ask the players to roll

     Since I can't bring myself to deface a book (even a module), I made copies, hole-punched them, and stuck them in my D&D binder.

     Of course I read through the entire adventure at least once before I even began highlighting it. Then I went through a second time with the highlighters. At first I didn't use the orange, but then with all the other colors jumping out at me, I felt that the entries for different areas needed something to separate them more definitely.

     It might take a session or two to get used to, but once you remember which color is which, you'll know just what to look for. Actually, I got used to it quickly while I was doing the initial highlighting.

     All of the information in the module might be useful at some point, but I only highlight what I'm sure I'll need - the basics. Stuff that I'm going to need to find quickly in order to keep the game flowing smoothly. I hate it when we're in the middle of combat and I have to stop and look something up. This system allows me to cut out as much of that as possible.

     As you can see from the pictures, I also like to make a few side notes, like which characters have certain skills or can speak a certain language, so I don't have to ask when they encounter it. It's much more suspenseful to say, "You can't read the letter. But you can," than to say "Who can speak Goblin?" and wait for everyone to shuffle their character sheets and check. It just flows better and makes the game more realistic and more enjoyable, in my opinion.

     I also try to check off each enemy as it is defeated, and each treasure as it is gathered, so we don't have repeats. No good giving the characters deja vu. ^_~

     That's all for today! Check back another time to see how I use index cards to organize both combat and information for the characters. In the meantime, chime in yourselves through the comment box! What's your favorite DMing organization tip?