Treasure Tables is on hiatus as of December 13th, 2007 -- after two years of daily posts, I needed a break. If you're looking for GMing material, I have two recommendations: the hundreds of posts in TT's archives, and my new project, the multi-author GMing blog Gnome Stew. Happy GMing! -- Martin

Storyboard, Prep Tool and GM Screen

Fri. January 12, 2007 

The other day at the office, I got a catalog from a company I’d never heard of before, Ultimate Office, and they had one product in particular that really stood out: a three-in-one GMing tool.

The product is the T-Card Portfolio — take a peek.

It’s a three-panel portfolio with pockets on the inside — the pockets are designed to hold T-Cards, one of their organizational tools. There are 32 pockets on each panel, and the cards themselves are designed so that when you slip them into a pocket, the card’s title is still visible.

As a screen, you could customize the 96 cards to hold a lot more info than most screens do (with the possible exception of Kenzer’s Kalamar & HackMaster screens). Give each card a clear title, and you could pop them out to reference them during play. (It looks rigid enough to stand upright, but I can’t be 100% certain. It’s standing up in the catalog picture.)

The three-panel structure also suggests some organizational approaches: encounters on one panel, fiddly rules on another and NPCs and adversaries on the third one, for example.

When writing an adventure (perhaps for Worldwide Adventure Writing Month), you could use this portofolio to storyboard your scenario, moving cards around as needed.

And as a prep tool, it’s another way to implement Laura Heilman’s excellent idea for using index cards and a cork board for campaign prep.

For $30, you get the portfolio plus a pack of 100 T-cards (an extra pack will set you back $8). (Thanks to TT reader drow for the product link, which, to my embarassment, I couldn’t find.)

More posts about: Organization, Prep, Tools

Comments

12 Responses to “Storyboard, Prep Tool and GM Screen”

  1. ScottM on January 12th, 2007 9:17 am

    Hmm, it’s not speaking to me yet. That’s probably because the next game I’m planning on running has a quick reference bookmark instead…

  2. drow on January 12th, 2007 9:27 am

    http://www.ultoffice.com/catalog/2685 ?

  3. Martin on January 12th, 2007 9:59 am

    drow, you make it look easy — I don’t know how I missed the product page. Thanks! Post updated.

  4. VV_GM on January 12th, 2007 10:18 am

    I like it as an organizational tool, but not as a screen (I’m not big on screens to begin with). I would want some labels that would fit nicely onto the t-cards though so that I could have an electronic copy of the info and print out a sheet of labels as needed with the info on them.

    It’s intriguing Martin. I might just pick one up.

  5. Ian on January 12th, 2007 5:39 pm

    That is very, very nice. If nothing else, I could see keeping something like that just as a cheat sheet… I’d probably wear the “grapple” card out pretty quickly.

    Is it sad that I’m honestly excited for office products? I love browsing through Staples.

  6. Martin on January 12th, 2007 6:22 pm

    Yeah, I like shopping for office supplies too. Ditto with home improvement stuff. And I occasionally buy candy that comes in tins because they work well for dice. In other news, I’m a huge geek. ;)

  7. Cassandra on January 13th, 2007 9:45 am

    I think that someone selling office supplies displayed as game accessories could probably do big business at conventions. :)

  8. Telas on January 13th, 2007 10:43 pm

    Waaaaay back in the day, there were 3-ring binders that stood upright (the lower half of the binder folded back like a kickstand). Some gaming company was selling them at an unheard of figure, something like $25 each (that’s a lot in 1980 dollars).

    At least that’s my recollection…

  9. Thandar on January 14th, 2007 10:45 am

    I like to browse through staples every few months for roleplaying stuff. You can find new and interesting ways to organize things and improve your game.

  10. Martin on January 15th, 2007 8:46 am

    (Cassandra) I think that someone selling office supplies displayed as game accessories could probably do big business at conventions.

    So many office supplies are close to perfect for gaming that I wish I had enough money to start a company like this. The baseline products would be as-is office supplies, but I’d throw my Bill Gates-like fortune at tweaking them in ways that made them perfect for RPGs. Give me a few years… ;)

  11. Crazy Jerome on January 17th, 2007 10:15 am

    Slightly OT, but I figure the next big thing is craft stores selling materials for gamers, especially those into miniatures. There used to be a scrapbook store next to a game store here where I live. They had an empty room in between that where they had some kind of joint rental worked out for game sessions and craft classes. Occasionally, both would be going on at once. There was a surprising amount of crossover. The owner of the craft store told my wife that gamers were her second best customers for awhile, behind scrapbookers. And of course, I was more willing for my wife to spend a long time in the craft store, since I had something to do. :)

    I’ve always thought that a game/book store located between a craft store and office supply store could really do well, if the three owners worked together. Put a pizza place on the end, and you are set. :)

  12. Martin on January 24th, 2007 11:03 am

    I’d love to see all of the peripheral stuff that’s not carried in game stores — like craft materials (great point!) and office supplies — stocked in one place, with gamers in mind. That might be prohibitively expensive for a physical retailer, but it should work online.