Dry-Erase Status "Droppables"

As a GM, I'm always looking for ways to communicate game states to my players efficiently and directly. I often run with a dry-erase grid, and keep track of status effects and damage taken by monsters alongside the monsters themselves. This is more efficient for me, as I know visibly which monster on the grid represents which damage taken. It also tracks that for the benefit of the players, since the damage dealt to monsters is (usually) open player knowledge.

But as monsters move, I have to erase and rewrite.

After a few attacks that hit, I will also often reveal the Armor Class of monsters, and write it on the corner of the map in dry-erase. This lets the players know their target number and speeds combat.

And sometimes, I'm not going to run with a dry-erase map... for example, I'll be running the pictured map above, from Questing Beast's The Waking of Willowby Hall. The map I printed at Staples, as a monotone blueprint, which is a great trick to get a big battle map for cheap. (3 pages 18x24 inches, all 3 pages totaled: $6.75)

Now, I guess I COULD have asked Staples to laminate it, and used dry erase on it. But instead I thought I'd take these cool-shaped Post-It Notes and laminate them. I got out my trusty laminating machine, and set to work making these bubble shapes and a couple of AC shield shapes. You could make different shapes and colors mean different things if you want, one for damage taken, one for conditions, ones to signify flying characters or concentration spells.

And sometimes I'm not using a map, I'm using crafted terrain. These Droppables will work great for any surface. I think they'll add just a little big more utility to my DM kit. And they were a fun little project to craft.

And there you have it, a set of Dry-Erase Droppables to keep in your kit!

Have fun!