So I’ve been getting all this email lately about making monster cards for D&D.  Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind one bit.  I rather enjoy the fact that people out there care enough to ask rather than just moving along the internet to some other site.  However, in the interest of saving everyone some trouble I’m going to give out the how and where of making monster cards for Dungeons and Dragons 4th edition.  3rd edition users can follow these directions but frankly you’ll be disappointed.  I don’t know if there is a 3rd edition template out there.  If so, somebody please put the hyperlink in a comment below.

Okay, so the first thing you need to do is visit http://magicseteditor.sourceforge.net/ and download a little program called Magic Set Editor.  This program is 100% free and has been around for quite some time.  It is a beautiful and nifty little application that can be used to make all kinds of cards for just about anything you can think of.

Next download DDM RPG Stats Side template.

The set editor requires that you have templates installed for all of the various cards that you want to make.  Again the template is free.

Now just go to town making the monsters that you want.  If you are like me then you won’t have any pretty pictures to put on your cards.  You may have noticed that I don’t publish art on the cards on this site.  There is a reason for this.  That art belongs to somebody and in general artists like to get money when people use it.  I have very little of this money and use it mostly to buy food and clothes for my children, so my cards end up with art.

But I’m sure that if you were to print cards and use them only at your table that nobody would no the difference if you downloaded some nifty artwork and printed them on your cards.  If however you started distributing those cards across the internet and trying to sell them to make millions (good luck with that), then somebody will get pissed off and toss a lawyer your way (and don’t think the DMG will help you out of that mess).

Really that is just about all there is to it.  If you are looking for support or help about using the set editor then frankly I’m about the worst person you could ask.  I will simply direct you back to the link above and say look it up on their message board which is pretty popular and full of answers to just about every question you could invent.

In case you are wondering you can poke around the internet (might I recommend Enworld) and find templates for making magic item cards and power cards as well.  However, since the new Character Builder from wizards prints these automatically and calculates all of the values you need automatically I honestly have to suggest using their software unless you have some serious compunction against supporting the company that brought us the game.

If I get enough interest I will hook up a post with some links to the different magic item templates and other useful accessories for Magic Set Editor as they pertain to D&D.  Otherwise ’nuff said.

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