I was bored the other night so I created some nice playing card sized (poker cards so 63mm x 88mm) playing aids:

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c383/thorfang/ExampleDHpokercards.jpg

While I think writing stuff down on scraps of paper is fine, having some cards you can refer too for the main stuff would be nice I think, both for the players and GM...The weapon cards are good cos if a player loots a weapon off an enemy you just hand them the card and they have all the stats : ) In the example above I filled in the cards for a Cult Fanatic from the Dark Heresy Core rulebook, and I can assure you they are readable when printed, I realise the text seems pretty small so those with extremely bad eyesight might have a problem.

So far I've done:

Melee weapons, Ranged weapons, Basic Stats, Basic Skills and the fate card.

Like I say they are all 63mm x 88mm though they can be shrunk to the more common playing card size of 57mm x 88mm and still fit everything on so if you have a spare deck of cards you can simply print and stick!

They were made in photoshop so if anyone wants the files I can put them up (everything is layered), also the image on the fate card is from a "Divine Heresy" Album cover, I don't know their music but I liked the picture lol : D

What do people think?

I started to use cards for "special equipment" the pc had to give back after mission (a holy hammer and a revolver with sanctified bullets).

While the cards are nice to use in games, they are pain to create. At least if you want to cut them down to the size of an actual card so you can use "protections sleeves" (? right word?) for them.

I quite fancy having a bash at that. Can you post the files up somewhere? (sweet cards btw especially the fate )

http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=d70936c01c754e72d2db6fb9a8902bda

That should be everything you need, its all photoshop files so if you want just jpgs or gifs or something just say I don't mind : ) everything is on layers but they aren't labled so sorry about that, I'm not one for organising these things XD

Great idea. Definitely going to steal that one. Do your players like using them? I suppose you could do a similar thing with PC/NPC portraits...

Haven't had a chance to try them but I will definately be using them when we get back to playing (when I go back to uni) : ) my players have only given positive feedback on the look of them.

I like em, good stuff. Considering I tend to do this sort of thing with 3x5 cards myself. Very useful

You know what else I'd like? A series or deck of bizarre, inspirational, 40k esque, image cards, that I could shuffle through and use to generate ideas on the fly during a game.

Would you want a uniform style of art or would a mix be ok? Would it have to be 40k art cos fantasy has a lot of cool art too (infact the picture of the slaneesh demonettes in the core book is of Empire soldiers being slaughtered )...also how about none gamesworkshop art? Would you want tag lines to go with the pictures to help inspire, or just the pictures?

I ask only cos this sounds like a task I'd enjoy lol : )

I don't think uniform art style is necessary, so long as a quality was maintained. Masterful professional work isn't necessary (nor even necessarily desired for theme) but one wouldn't want poor attempts at fan art either. I don't think it need be 40k art exclusively so long as it had a 40k feel to it. Personally I think I'd prefer pictures without taglines, as the idea would be to get what inspiration one could from the imagery without being guided through dialogue or description.

Well I have a fair few pictures after scouring google for an hour, if people have the will power and want to throw some image packs together for me I'll turn then into cards : ) Also any other card suggestions are welcome this is turning into a fun little side project!

Here's the first batch:

i31.photobucket.com/albums/c383/thorfang/Page1copy.jpg

Thoughts? Opinions?

Some good stuff here ... I like the entire left row - some of it could be darker, however, and leave some more room for interpretation ... you don't want it to be too specific.

Here is another image I really like: http://radojavor.deviantart.com/art/Invasion-137442871

I know what you mean about being too specific, its just quite hard and I like so many of the images XD but if nothing else some of the character images are good NPC ideas : /

This sheet contains 35 cards, including the ones from the first sheet, I tried to branch out and stuff so again let me know what you think:

i31.photobucket.com/albums/c383/thorfang/Page2copy.jpg

EDIT - just realised some of those those you can't see eith cos they're too small or too dark : / so here's the jpeg file:

www.mediafire.com/imageview.php

A lot of good images here. As you say, some of them would be good for NPCs and it might be worth considering making a secondary NPC deck for GMs who need npcs on the fly. For the initial idea of an inspiration deck for generating ideas, however, some of the images here would not make the cut, I think.

I'll number these from left to right, so top left is #1, while the image directly beneath it would be #6, and so on.

#1. Fine image, but "The Monster" is probably something most GMs can fall back on without the card, so I'd lose it.

#2. A good 40k image and might be taken to mean "The Wanderer" - I'm up in the air about that one.

#4. A bizarre picture that I'm not sure enough to know if I'd know what to make of it. I'm afraid I'd turn that over in a game and be stumped ... but that might just be me.

#7. Good for the NPC pile.

#9&10. Too Specific I think

#11. Another NPC

#12. Cool image but limited use

#14. I'm up in the air about 14 ... on the one hand it seems very specific ... on the other it could have metaphorical meaning. Keep it.

#15. Deffinately throw her on the NPC pile.

#16. I don't like this image, I don't know why, personal taste.

#17&19. I'm going to call it too specific again.

#21&24 Could be called specific, but I think there is enough underlying meaning in each of them to keep them in.

#29. Is an awesome image, but I don't know how much milleage you're going to get out of it with the other xenos images already in the deck, and those with more symbolic depth.

#31. ORKS! I'd argue it's too specific ... but it's the only image in the deck which specifically says ORKS! So maybe it should stay.

#33. It's a cool image, but I don't think it adds anything new ... maybe toss it in the NPC pile.

So, those are my thoughts ... I'd say it's a darn good start.