Gifts For Gamers 2023: AlderDoodle TTRPG Cards
by Anton Kromoff
Welcome to the table,
‘Tis the season for something cool.
When you are engaged in the tabletop role-playing game culture one of the things you learn early on, if you are a decent human and not a pain in the butt to the rest of your party, or if you’re the person running the game, is that taking notes and keeping track of your characters’ abilities and equipment is important to ensuring everyone else is having a good time.
Case in point, there was a guy in one of my games for a short time who was new to gaming. This is not something unheard of to me, as I have had a multitude of people come to the table and learn to play during my campaigns. I welcomed him with open arms and helped him build a character with easy-to-read notes and labeled abilities and powers so he could make the best of his time in the game.
The party realized about a month in that he had not leveled, taken notes, and was grossly overusing abilities, but chalked it up to him being new. So, they took three hours with him to show him how to level, go over his character’s powers and abilities, and help him get on track. Within a week or so he was back off the book, blowing multiple charges on things, not taking notes, and kicking open doors in situations where the rest of the party would have to scramble. There would be almost total party kills trying to get out of the situations he created.
After a particularly unhinged one-on-one phone call, he was no longer at our table and we added someone, who, to date, has been one of my favorite people on this planet or any other. That story does two things. One, it speaks to the fact that the table is open for all, but if they prove themselves to be a hindrance and harmful to the other players, it’s totally cool to ask them to leave and move on with your lives, and two, notes at the TTRPG game are important to track your spells and abilities.
If you are looking for a really spectacular way to keep track of your character’s spells, abilities, and other important information then I want you to take a look at these cards from AlderDoodle.
Created during the COVID lockdown in 2020, these cards were born out of a need that many of us had at the time to find something to do while also focusing on an aspect that brings us joy. In this case, TTRPG.
These cards are stellar, in both design and feel. They are made of really nice recycled paper so they are thick and durable but feel toothy and textured as you hold onto them. AlderDoodle offers a lot of options but one of my favorites is the Spell Slot Tracking Cards that help you keep track of, well, your spell slots.
What makes them cool, aside from their clean and easy-to-read design, is that they are laid out in a way that gives you not only space to track your spell slots, but there is also space for your spell save DC. That’s something my players forget from time to time. There’s also space for your spell attack bonus, something that can be great to have in front of you when you are in combat and things are getting a bit chaotic. These work so well, both in person and also at the desk, when you are playing. With space for spell save DC and spell bonus makes the flow of table combat run a little more smoothly, be it at the virtual tabletop or in person.
One of the other cool cards that AlderDoodle offers is their Dry-erase Stat Block Cards. Each of these cards features space to write in all the key details about the monster or NPC. The writing side is laminated so if you are using a non-permanent marker you can wipe it off using a cloth and then reuse the card. These are super cool to have on hand if you want a quick reference or want less clutter on the table. These are also really good if you want to have a few pocket stats for the various NPCs that your players adopt.
AlderDoodle is doing some stylish and charming things in the TTRPG space and as someone who sees a lot of these kinds of things, these are high up on my Christmas list for my players (and a few for myself) because they really fit a need in a super stylish way. You can shop AlderDoodle at this link.
Until next time, it’s the small industrious creators like AlderDoodle who elevate the TTRPG space and I’m grateful they are out there making things.