Happy Thurpsday, all you GURPS-heads and gamers!
One of the most popular Game Geekery posts from 2015 was the exhaustive peek inside “My GM Kit.” Since that time, lo’ these 11 months, I have picked up more than a few bits and bobs, gadgets and such. Here are the three worthy of use at the gaming table.
New Dice. The first are some new dice, courtesy of Doublesix Dice. Like many gamers, I have a ton of dice in a wide array of colors and sizes, but these still caught my eye. They are 12-sided, numbered 1 through 6 twice. Thus, the probability curve doesn’t change (each die will still only generate a number from 1 to 6), so they are still perfect for the 3d6 of our beloved GURPS, but they roll a bit nicer and just look sweet.
Who let those dirty Fate dice in here?
I got mine through the Kickstarter, but their web store is now open for all (and I’ve already ordered a few more in colors I was missing the first time around).
Dice Shaker. Speaking of dice, I grabbed this great dice shaker off of Amazon for 8 bucks. As a bonus, our pooch Einstein von Furbrow makes a cameo in the video.
This is perfect for convention games (or board games) — you’ll never have to worry about the dice going off the table or smashing into minis (or game pieces).
There is a thin slit on the top red cap that widens enough to slip the dice out by just squeezing the tube — you can add/remove dice in just a few seconds.
I went with 6d6 made up of the following as a baseline, which is pretty much all ya need for running GURPS:
The materials are sturdy, and the design well thought out. The bottom of the tube isn’t just spongy foam, it’s like a little trampoline. They call it the “Dancing Dice Shaker” because the dice really hop around in there once you give it a shake or two.
Luck Timer. And lastly, one of my favorite gadgets ever. It just so elegantly fits a perfect niche for me, I can’t help but love it. (I actually thought I had posted it before, but didn’t see it in a search).
When I run a convention game, 90% of the time two things are true: there are four pre-gen PCs, and they all have the Luck advantage. Now, sure, I could just jot down a note on a character sheet when someone uses their Luck and track the time until it resets by the clock, like a savage.
Or, I could use a kitchen timer that separately tracks four different times (which means I can seat each PC’s timer to 15, 30, or 60 minutes based on the level of Luck they have).
It even has a little whiteboard and attached marker for writing in the PC names, and a kickstand on the back so you can keep it horizontal. Set everyone’s time at the start, activate the timer if someone uses Luck, and then just… ignore it. When a player’s Luck can be used again, an alarm will beep and that PC’s timer will blink. As you can tell, I love it.
And those of my favorites from the past few months. Honorable mention shout-out to the magnetic battle mats from Gaming Night Life. Their Kickstarter hasn’t quite shipped yet, but these mats look really, really great, and I can’t wait to have ’em in my mitts so I can give you a review.
If you have any favorite gaming doodads to share, I’m always on the look-out for more paraphernalia!
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Precis – New useful items for the GM Kit: 12-sided d6, dice shaker, and multi-timer.
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