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Crap I Keep in my RPG Tackle Box

by Mike on 15 December 2025

I'm a sucker for the tools and accessories we use to run RPGs at the table. Today I wanted to talk about the stuff I keep in the tackle box I use at my home game and my in-person game at my friend's house.

This kit doesn't include everything I use, of course. I still need whatever books I need to run the game, my game notes in my fake Trapper Keeper (printed from Obsidian), my dice and dice tray, and my trusty Chessex Battle Mat.

But I have a lot of fun odds and ends in my tackle box that help me run games and I wanted to share.

Lazy Monster Tokens. Not every accessory stays in my kit forever but I love my simple monster tokens. I use them often to improvise combat encounters in my 5e games or to show character positioning on larger maps. This set includes some blue-colored character tokens as well in case I don't have character minis.

Character Miniatures. Two bays of my little tackle box include miniatures for the characters for my two games. Some players have their own minis not included in my kit. I think having good character minis matters a lot. It's not as vital for monsters since I can use monster tokens. If I do bring some real monster miniatures, I often select them during prep and store them in a ziploc bag.

Accessory Miniatures. Some characters turn into bears. Some summon spiritual weapons or little balls of fire. I keep a set of accessory miniatures for these summoned, conjured, or transformed creatures.

Stadtler 315-9 Medium Point Wet Erase Markers. My favorite wet-erase marker, perfect for use on a Chessex Battle Mat or Pathfinder Basic Flip Mat (my two favorites). I keep a bunch of them in my kit but I only need two. Each one lasts about six months of weekly use.

Pencils. I keep extra pencils for players and a nice drafting pencil for myself in my box.

Adhesive Tabs. I keep a set of adhesive tabs in my box to help me tab books when running the game. I mostly use them to tab monsters and, frankly, I don't need them that often because I have tabs already in the book, but it's nice to have if I'm using a book I forgot to stick tabs into. You can pick up these adhesive tabs anywhere you can buy stationary.

Tiny Spray Bottle. A friend of mine gave me this great tiny spray bottle I can fill with water and use to clean up my battle mat.

Cool Metal Tokens. I have some Shadow of the Demon Lord metal tokens in here but any cool coin or token can work. I use these to show off legendary resistances, doom points, or dreadful blessings. Visible tokens make it easier for players to see how well they're knocking down a boss's defenses.

Wet Erase Cloth. I have a little stitch of cloth I can use to clean up my battle map using the little spray bottle to wet the mat down.

Kneaded Eraser. A normal eraser doesn't really work for me so I have an art-style kneaded eraser that works better. I don't use this eraser much so it can probably go.

Blue Sticky Tack. Hidden under the eraser is a glob of blue sticky tack I use to stick characters onto monsters when they decide to jump on top of that dragon (which is like 80% of the time). I can also use it to keep terrain pinned down. My players figured out that statues with sticky tack are usually safe while statues without sticky tack mean they're going to animate and attack so sometimes I have to shake things up.

Index Cards. I can fit a dozen or so index cards on top of the tray and still close the lid. I use index cards to track damage done to monsters these days but they're handy for all kinds of things. I also keep a set of index-card-based initiative tents on top of the trays.

So that's what I have in my kit! Join our Patreon Discord server to share what you have in yours!

More Sly Flourish Stuff

Each week I record an episode of the Lazy RPG Talk Show (also available as a podcast) in which I talk about all things in tabletop RPGs.

Last Week's Lazy RPG Talk Show Topics

Here are last week's topics with time stamped links to the YouTube video.

Patreon Questions and Answers

Also on the Talk Show, I answer questions from Sly Flourish Patrons. Here is last week's question and answer.

Types of Secrets

Talk Show Links

Here are links to the sites I referenced during the talk show.

Last week I also posted a couple of YouTube videos on Lazy D&D and 5e Magic Item Prices and Parsis the Hidden – Dragon Empire Prep Session 47.

RPG Tips

Each week I think about what I learned in my last RPG session and write them up as RPG tips. Here are this week's tips:

Use NPC portraits for townsfolk the characters meet.
Let players annotate their own town or location map as they explore.
Be ready to drop in a random encounter in towns to keep things exciting.
Let players discover betraying patrons early and get inside of their treachery.
Use handouts to capture your players imaginations, focus your prep, and clarify the direction of your game.
Don’t let shopping episodes take too long. Let players manage their own shopping independently.
Keep the spotlight moving player to player when they split up so no one gets left out.

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