Make a Card, Any Card

Anyone who follows our little ol’ DnD 3D RPG print blog knows that we loooooooove physical cards in our ongoing campaigns. The reason is cards are a bit old school but they also help aid gameplay in countless ways. So today we’re going to show you a great new utility we’re utilizing to make all sorts of new card supplements.

We’re going to highlight a new PDF utility and template library by FelraiderRPG on Etsy (who resides in Forcheim, Germany as a matter of fact). We’ve used a few free templates in the past but those are free for a reason so ultimately we decided we needed a more polished utility that someone has reason invested heavily in perfecting.

We “test-drove” one of FelraiderRPG’s templates…specifically, the Magic Item Cards. The cost entry point was only $6.12 so the risk on it seemed super reasonable. So today we’re going to show how two recent card needs from a previous blog post were made using this slick PDF tool.

First, though, let’s start with all the different types of cards we make:

• NPC Cards
• Face Cards
• Spell Cards
• Magic Item Cards
• Equipment Cards
• Inspiration Cards
• Rules Reference Cards

That’s a lot, right? However, you see that each one can serve a purpose and most importantly, keep the game from being bogged down. DM Ben uses so many cards (in a good way) that each player even has their own deck box to store them (e.g. very Magic-the-Gathering-esque).

Their template comes preformatted with all the relevant fields you need to update on your own to actually make a DnD magic item card. You can also add a background image based on the item card type (scroll, potion, weapon, etc). The template is highly customizable in terms of background colors, border colors, symbols, etc. Remember, you’re the content generator here (no prefilled stuff included in most templates).

The only real bummer is the brilliant example displayed in his Etsy store isn’t a premade template that you can immediately start using. We adored the example shown in their Etsy store but with a lot of finagling, patience, and a Bookman font purchase, you’ll get there. However, maybe he will add it as a default (wherever possible) in future releases.

The other thing to keep in mind when using this template is you really, really need to read his instruction guide. Don’t be one of those guys or gals that just wings it. You’ll get frustrated and give up. His instructions PDF is excellent but you will have to read it thoroughly and then re-read certain steps to get the hang of it. Once you do though, creating these fun cards becomes a snap.

Next, let’s demonstrate how we utilized this wonderful PDF tool to make two specific, home-brewed magic item cards for our own game. Previously we created the “One, Two, Tree” herbalist shop run by retired seaman Keanu Leaves.

And in that blog post, we crafted two new custom magic items for the party to potentially buy:

• Keanu’s Pungent Punch: provides 2d4 temp hp
• Calena Cream: Grants adv on Medicine check to stabilize

Pretty slick, right? Once you make the first card, you can start copying and pasting text from one to the other and it will take that formatting with it. Thus, making cards gets quicker and quicker as you get more practice and confidence.

Once you print out your creations (again, following his instructions), you get a card that cuts out and slips perfectly into a traditional Magic the Gathering sorta card sleeve. We use old Warload cards (remember that fun game?!) as the firm backing for the front and back inserts we created. The example above shows a different template we use to use but you get the gist. 😉

Lastly, FelraiderRPG has alllll sorts of different templates you can buy to expand your library including:

• Spell Cards
• NPC/Monster Cards
• Ability Cards
• Crafting Cards
• Player Cheat Cards (rules reminders)*
• Equipment & Mundane Item Cards
• Inspiration Cards (Social, Exploration, & Combat)*

*And several templates for purchase actually do come with prefilled content that you can print off right away (as well as a template to make your own additional home-brew cards). We love that because those ready-to-print examples become very inspirational for making future cards. Those were our faves and we naturally snatched those additional templates up quickly. 😉

And remember, you don’t have to necessarily get all crafty and make all your own cards. As we covered earlier, there are alllll sorts of premade options. We just love this FelraiderRPG PDF utility because it’s just so darn fun to make specialized cards for your specific campaign.

Plus, it’s simply delightful to have a little of both in your life: some handy pre-made cards to use in a pinch and the ability to whip up a custom card that perfectly suits your next home-brewed encounter.

Card on, my friends…card on. 🙂