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The inventory is the section on yourDungeons & Dragonscharacter sheet that is so often forgotten. This is unfortunate because games that rely on inventory are next-level in terms of strategy and fun! Still, it often goes by the wayside. This is no one’s fault. In fast-paced games and with character sheets going digital, sometimes it’s harder to log items quickly.
More importantly, on the physical character sheet, there’s only so much space for you to write your items. As the campaign goes on, not only will that area become a bleary blur of gray, but the constant erasing and rewriting of the paper will make it more susceptible to tearing. Here are a couple of ways to manage your inventory.
How To Manage Your Inventory
The easiest way to keep track of your inventory is to keep a separate paper for your notes.Some common examples include players preferring to staple them to the back of their sheets. It’s simple and effective.
You also may choose toprint out sheets with blank backsto write on, though both of these methods may still leave you with the ‘messy character sheet’ problem, and as the paper gets rattier, the integrity of the sheet will become more and more compromised.
Either way, this lets you have access to your inventory at any point. But what happens when you’ve entered year two of your campaign, or your party has moved to digitalizing? Here are two good options for anyone,whether the campaign is online or in-person.
Note Cards
With the rise of Dungeons & Dragons,many creators have developed ways to make the harder parts of the game more palatable, whether it’s digitally adding modifiers to rolls or creating battle maps quickly.
Spell managementhas become easier than ever, with spell cards hitting the mainstream. Spell cards arecards that detail the effects of your character’s spellsand makeaccessing and reading them simple.
With inventory, if you have some note cards on hand and a list of the items in your inventory, taking some timebefore the sessiontowrite out what you’ve accumulatedon individual cards(with notes on whether you’ve attuned to the item) can be easier than putting it in list form.
There are a couple of reasons for this. Instead of scouring your character sheet for that one particular item, for instance,note cards let you flip through your stuff quickly.You canremoveandaddcardsas you see fit, making it a lot easier to manage.
There’s also no chance of accidentally erasing an item when you meant to erase another, or having your card disappear into the aether of the internet.
Binders
Some players may need their information more easily filed. Another good way to keep your inventory manageable is to have asectioned binder with tabs indicating each section.
Not only will it make your inventory readily accessible, but you’ll also have yourspells, features, skills, and stats availableat the flip of a page.
Another reason a binder might be worthwhile for you is that you canremove and add papers to it,just as with the cards. You can list your inventory and then have subsequent sheets explaining what each item does.
You can label with tabs based on the most to least frequently used. You canhand them offto other players. You can even have a clear sheet for spell cards or item cards.The customizable natureof having a game binder could be great in your game.
Group Document
For online campaigns,a document where everyone can join and log things onto a spreadsheetcould be a game-changer. Not only can the configuration be changed based on the party’s preference, but it also makes group containers like aBag of Holdingeasier to keep track of.
Plus, your Dungeon Master can see what everyone has whenever they need to, which can save them the trouble of pausing the game to ask around. Now, they can pause the game and scroll in silence.
Joking aside, group documents can make online games run so much more smoothly, but they only work if players are committed!
Notepad
Half the battle is remembering to write it down in the first place. A great way to keep track of your inventory at the moment is tohave a notepad on hand.
You may or may not be a note taker, but truly, the best way to keep any of it in mind for later organization is to justwrite it down and deal with the logistics later.
How To Keep Track Of Ammunition
Ammunition is a contentious subject in the community, with some Dungeon Masters claiming that tracking itslows down your partyand others saying it makes modules like Out of The Abyss orgames with a survival aspect more challenging and fun.Tracking it is an entirely different problem.
Now, as a player, it’s common etiquette to keep track of this yourself and operate on the honor system. This will help out your Dungeon Master!
The best way to keep track of ammunition is totally it out.If you have, say, fifty arrows, and you fire six, make tally marks for every arrow loosed.Don’t tally every single arrow you have! Only track the arrows you shoot.
This is another method that requires you to only worry about keeping track of the ammunition in the moment andimplementing the changes to your total later.
Luckily, keeping track with tally marks lets you keep track by fives, making the math quite a bit easier. You can eyeball the amount without having to devote too much time to thinking about it, which is especiallybeneficial in boss battles.
This is a great method for games that use bullets, as they fire multiple at a time.
Rations and torches can be tracked with any of these methods, but becausethey’re often consumable, you may be more interested in using counters from game stores or something similar.
However, please note thatthis can get cumbersomeafter a while, especially if your game is online. We’d only recommend this for tables that are in person.
