Character status tracking when using mini's

[garhkal]

OK. So you have certain wound status that might matter (ko'ed), certain weapon/effect status that might matter, (Glopped/netted) and the like.

So when using mini's in game, how do you mark said statuses? Put a little chit with the status wrote on, by the mini? Put a poker chip under the mini? Put something else there? OR do you put it all by the player/s cha sheet?
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[Wajeb Deb Kaadeb]

Sheet.

Or notate it on the map. I don't use minis, but I do use large sheets of graph paper sometimes, using a black marker to draw. I'll make all sorts of notes on the side of the map paper. I'll even record initiative scores there (in different games--like D&D).

Sometimes, I place the graph paper on a big cork board. I use thumb pins to represent minis, and I buy colored dots to put on top of the thumb pins. I can number the pins, too, using a pen, if I want.

That way, all stormtroopers are in red. Imperial officers are in yellow. The PCs are all in blue. Etc.

[Bren]

Probably none of the above.

This very rarely occurs in practice. If and when it did, I would only bother putting down some kind of signifer if what I was noting was some kind of barrier to movement or LOS that effects other characters. (Surely the glopped character can remember he's stuck to the deck with sticky goop, so he doesn't need a chip or post it note.) If I bothered to put down a signifer, I would likely put down a post it note or draw a web on an erasable board or hastily drawn map.

Its more likely that I would note it on a GM character sheet. (Never on a player character sheet.) If I did that, I'd probably use a post it note (first choice) or lightly write it in pencil (second choice).

I don't often need to look at my copies of player character sheets. So I'd be way more likely to just scribble it on a notes page or piece of scratch paper where I jot down various GM notes during an adventure that to go to the effort of pulling out the specific character sheet just to make a note.

Since this is a temp status not a lasting or even long term temporary change, I'd be far more likely to just keep track of a temp status like that mentally.

[Volar the Healer]

I don't mark the miniature in any way. I just tell the player his status, usually with a dramatic description, and expect him to play accordingly. The other characters will usually react by covering or applying first aid to their injured compatriot.
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[NutUrFatha]

[Random_Axe]

For me, there's not that many status changes that require different markings for using miniatures.
For instance, for a KO (which is a.k.a. Incapacitated) the player would mark that on his sheet, and on the tabletop I would just lie the mini down on its back. If the PC is in dire straits, ie. Mortally Wounded, then no other marker is really necessary since the player himself would most likely be very loudly reminding the other players present, "Please get over to me!!!"

But for a glopped or netted condition, okay, one technique I like to use (and this also goes for other combat-conditions in other fantasy games, for instance) is to place a colored ring on the mini. Have you noticed that all pop bottles with plastic caps have a plastic ring on the neck? Coke has red caps and red rings, Pepsi has blue caps/rings, and so on. I like to pry off the various rings from pop bottles or juice bottles (or booze bottles) to get a collection of various colors that you can designate mean various conditions.

Or, in the absence of coke bottles, you can get a bunch of twist-ties (that you get with any electronic cable bought from anywhere) of different colors, make each into a ring like above and use them the same way.

[dph]

I found some solid colour poker chips just larger than the Star Wars mini bases which we place under the mini. Blue for stuns (1 or 2) red for wounds (1 or 2) but don't really bother with worse conditions, though you could I suppose.
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[MrNexx]

When 4e D&D was out, there were a lot of status chits designed to go under standard-sized miniatures... a red one for bloodied, another for flying, etc. Once you got the code down, it made it easy to tell, at a glance, things your characters would also see at a glance.
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[garhkal]

For adnd games, i made 2 by 2 inch cardstock cut outs for various trackings, such as "light in eyes/darkness in eyes, paralyzed, magically confused" in red for negative things, and "bless/chant/prayer/strength enhanced" in green for positives..

For poker chips, i use el-cheepo white/blue/red for HP tracking (white - 1hp, red - 5hp, blue - 10hp), and more "up-town" ones that look like proper poker chips to represent horses/mules and other mounts...
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[TauntaunScout]

The miniatures game came with chits to photocopy and cut out like "wounded", "stunned", etc. But for the RPG I'd have those notes on character sheets or scrap paper. Not on the table.

[Mamatried]

I use different color round flat plastic markers/tokens of different colors.

stun is yellow
dead is red
blue are imobilized, but no stun and so on

the colors and what they mean can vary from time to time, not often used

[dph]

I use slightly smaller poker chips (just bigger than the standard 35mm base) Blue for stuns, red for wounds, but nothing else is really necessary as once they're I or MW, they're not keeping track of Die penalties (which is really the only reason they're needed)
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