Bennies / Drama Dice / Visible tokens for players

Hi guys, I'm running a game of 7th Sea - which uses "drama dice"; similar to Bennies in Savage Worlds, Action Points in Pathfinder, Inspiration in 5th Ed ... you get the idea. What I want to do is display, visible for everyone is how many drama dice my players (and me, the GM. I have Drama dice too in this system) have. The way cards are displayed would be perfect. I'd like players to be able to give myself and each other drama dice out of thin air (so not from their own pool) with a few clicks. The card system that's in place sorta works for this, but the popups and the having to play a card to remove it (far as I can see) are pretty annoying. Any suggestions?

Without really being familiar with the system, you could create a token of a die (I found several in the art library by setting the drop-down choice to "Everything" and searching for "dice") that each player has control of. Then use one or more of the colored dot status markers to add numbers to the token, so that everyone could see how many dice each player has. The numbers on the status marker can be changed by mousing over the appropriate marker and typing the number you want. Dual digit numbers (if it's possible to get that many dice) could be displayed by using two status markers.

Gozer the Gozerian said: Without really being familiar with the system, you could create a token of a die (I found several in the art library by setting the drop-down choice to "Everything" and searching for "dice") that each player has control of. Then use one or more of the colored dot status markers to add numbers to the token, so that everyone could see how many dice each player has. The numbers on the status marker can be changed by mousing over the appropriate marker and typing the number you want. Dual digit numbers (if it's possible to get that many dice) could be displayed by using two status markers. That's a pretty good idea. Just so I grasp how this would work in practice; I'd position this token close to where the player's name is displayed to make it clear which belongs to who? The players could then add the numbers on the "3 dots" that tokens have, but those would only be visible if they went and clicked on 'm ,right? They could see how many they and others have with a few clicks? Functional - if I'm understanding you correctly, but not perfect. I'm currently toying with the card system in a campaign with just 2 'cards' with pictures of dice set to infinite. This would work pretty well - if there were a way to disable the popups every time one is granted, or players could just right click a 'card' to delete one or so. Ditto with functional, but not perfect.

Niki K. said: That's a pretty good idea. Just so I grasp how this would work in practice; I'd position this token close to where the player's name is displayed to make it clear which belongs to who? The players could then add the numbers on the "3 dots" that tokens have, but those would only be visible if they went and clicked on 'm ,right? Not exactly. You wouldn't use the bubbles, but status indicators. When you click on the token, in addition to the three bubbles which appear above, there are also two circular tools which appear below. One looks like a cog, which is for adjusting the token settings, and the other (looks like a little button, for want of a better descriptor) is for adding various status markers. Click on that, and on the first row of status markers are simply colored dots. If you mouse over a colored dot, and type in a number, a colored dot with that number (from 1-9 only, no double digits, but see my fix for that above) appears on the corner of the token, and everyone can see it without having to click anything. It's adjustable by clicking the button, mousing over the colored dot and typing in a different number. If you want double digits, you can do two tokens, you just have to put the tens in after the ones.

Got it. Just tried it out. That's pretty cool, if a bit clumsy to position, and if I keep the token tiny as I want it, the number's almost too small to read. Being tokens, they also disappear when the map changes (and since I use maps in a sorta retro 80's adventure game style - just pictures to show your current location) that changes very often. Basically; It works - but they're either too large, or the number's invisible & dragging them all out and retyping them every map change is a hassle. If those 'hoops' could be averted, I'd be happy :).

Well, it seems like your idea of the cards would work as well. Just deal a certain number of cards to each player when they get dice. You'll probably need to make more than 2, unless you only deal one at a time. Another thing you might try is make a card deck of maps, keep the PCs on one page and "deal" a new map when the players move to a new location. That's kind of like what I do. I just have a few pre-set maps if I know there will be a big tactical battle: I also have card decks which the spellcasters draw from when they get their new spells (We have a cleric & a druid - so, C1=Cleric 1st level spells, etc) The brown rectangle to the left is for the map, which I deal from my card deck, and the one to the right is for the PCs to place their tokens, shows marching order, and allows them a token to select for their macros. Anyway, just some thoughts. Good luck, and happy gaming!