TOPIC: Recommendations for Changes to the Player Mats

It is time to make new player token mats for Coaching. Below is a link to the current version. What additional spaces/circles do you think we need to add to it? Any other tweaks?

Also, we are thinking of making a set of player token mats that are to be used during sealed-run events -- specifically to be less intimidating to new players. What slots (and circles per slot) should we place on these mats? Any ideas of additional info to place next to some (or all) of the slots?

Thanks for the input!

truedungeon.com/files/Token_Mat_2023-1_HR.jpg

For sealed-runs which had more new players that I interacted with while assistant coaching - I'd recommend the mat have something for consumables (potions, scrolls, and the like) because those tokens caused confusion when everything else had a "slot". Maybe class specific mats? Since not every class can use scrolls, but if it's on their player mat, they'll know "oh, I can use those! Send them to me!"

I think the players who are new like placing their tokens and making sure everything is filled up. For a sealed run. I'd probably keep most of it but maybe drop the Ioun/Bead/Charm slots since those typically don't get full on a sealed run. As I type this I'm realizing it's hard to know what people will get in their 10 packs, but Ioun Stones for C->R are 3, so drop that to 3 instead of 5. But that could be dependent on the year unless you follow strict "X Charms in C->R, Y Iouns in C->R" every year.

Initial thoughts at least. I'll think on this a bit more as time allows though!

Would be interesting to have a precon set of tokens printed on the mat as a baseline in case players don't get anything useful other than a weapon in their 10 pack. Chest for example could have something that gives +3 hp and 1 AC if nothing is equipped in that slot.

Kusig wrote: Would be interesting to have a precon set of tokens printed on the mat as a baseline in case players don't get anything useful other than a weapon in their 10 pack. Chest for example could have something that gives +3 hp and 1 AC if nothing is equipped in that slot.

This is an interesting idea!

Preprinting tokens on the mat is a very good solution for sealed builds. Just fill the classic DnD slots with commons. Could even use commons from TD’s past.

Slots I’d fill are:

head
amulet
torso
Back
hands
2x rings
Belt
Boots
Melee Mainhand
Melee offhand
Ranged mainhand
Ranged offhand

I’d be happy to make some suggestions for actual tokens if this idea has some legs.

As a fellow coach, I want to second this idea. The most common question for new players is "Where does this go?"

alesiev - Alex wrote: For sealed-runs which had more new players that I interacted with while assistant coaching - I'd recommend the mat have something for consumables (potions, scrolls, and the like) because those tokens caused confusion when everything else had a "slot". Maybe class specific mats? Since not every class can use scrolls, but if it's on their player mat, they'll know "oh, I can use those! Send them to me!"

I think the players who are new like placing their tokens and making sure everything is filled up. For a sealed run. I'd probably keep most of it but maybe drop the Ioun/Bead/Charm slots since those typically don't get full on a sealed run. As I type this I'm realizing it's hard to know what people will get in their 10 packs, but Ioun Stones for C->R are 3, so drop that to 3 instead of 5. But that could be dependent on the year unless you follow strict "X Charms in C->R, Y Iouns in C->R" every year.

Initial thoughts at least. I'll think on this a bit more as time allows though!

My counterpoint is that sealed runs are mostly ran at the normal difficulty and running naked with a weapon is typically good enough to get into the final room. Im afraid that TD would have to scale the adventure difficulty to match the improved characters. But I do agree it would make for a more fun new player experience to at least have a baseline of gear represented. many new players at GC were concerned by their lack of gear but I was quick to let them know the difficulty was set to match their build levels and that they would not suffer any reduction in gameplay experience.
Pregenerated token slots also makes it more difficult for coaches to note what default tokens have been replaced from the 10 pack as its impossible to hover over the player mats for 8 hours. That can also be rectified by adding those base stats into the party card default box reminders. There are definitely a lot of factors to weigh to make such a change.

New Face slot.

I'm going to fight hard to keep to the topic here.

I was a brand new player at GenCon this year and I started with the Fang and Fury sealed run with two friends who had also never played. Here are a few changes I would recommend based on our experience:

1) Add a note that Runestones are only usable one time. Maybe color the circle differently? The one time restriction is printed helpfully on the token, but this is the only slot shown on the character sheet that isn't a permanent, reuable equipment piece. I would suggest taking that slot away entirely if it wasn't performing the important role of showing a limitation on how many runes you can use per run.

2) Add the current year's set common set bonus to the sheet. The tokens have no indication they are part of a set, so our group had no idea there was a set bonus for equipping three and five pieces of Dawn gear. By the time the coach made it known by commenting on it while recording our sheets, it was too late for us to make any changes. Knowing about this would have made swapping tokens between our builds beforehand much more exciting. St. Lorca's Bracers and St. Valla's Ring are a good example of this, as we were excited to discover that we could make a "set" of those two by trading tokens.

3) A minor nitpick, but I would change the first sentence at the top of the sheet from "try to place tokens on the GREEN circles - especially if your character is not a spellcaster" to something akin to "Focus on filling the GREEN circles first. Every character should have at least one weapon except the Monk." Other tokens are nice too, but the priority is on weapons (and torso). Sliding is fun, and you can't slide without a weapon. Even if spellcasters can get away with never sliding (especially in a 4-room intro dungeon), players might decide they want to once they see what combat actually entails, and leaving the coaching room without a weapon equipped would deprive them of that option. Except for Monk, where equipping a melee weapon in a sealed run will almost always deprive you of your most interesting ability: Flurry of Blows.

Off-topic bonus:

-It would be nice if the tokens themselves had a spot on them where they identified what slot they filled. The difference between Shins and Legs, or Eyes and Head and Face can be blurry for people new to the game, even as veterans of other RPG systens. You might pull a belt and then spend quite a bit of confusing time looking around your sheet for a "belt" slot before finally realizing there's a "waist" slot.