This is a LaTeX template for typesetting item cards (intended to print and cut) in the style of the fifth edition of the "world's greatest roleplaying game".
- Can create (at the moment) up to 9 cards with front and back information
- Card information is contained in their own files
- Customizable backgrounds
I was playing Moon over Graymoor with my family, and was looking a way to quickly print items that I could hand out. Many hours more than "quickly", and I had this template spun up.
This template is derived from the wonderful work of DrailNecross and their D&D Item Card Template on Overleaf.
Which itself uses the DnD 5e LaTeX Template.
I have kept the images included in DrailNecross' original Overleaf project, as well as added a few others. I believe they are all copyright free, but I could be mistaken. If so, let me know and I will take them down!
To use this template, place item images in the item_pics folder, and card information as tex files in the cards folder.
A card file looks like the following:
% Arrow of Shapechanger Slaying
\renewcommand{\cardtitle}{Arrow of Shapechanger Slaying}
\renewcommand{\cardimage}{item_pics/silverArrow.png}
\renewcommand{\cardbg}{img/B1.jpg}
\renewcommand{\carddescfront}{%
\ItemTags{Weapon (arrow)}{Very Rare}{0}{n/a}
\FlavorText{1}{Dropped in the woods by a fey on the run. A silver arrowhead that is only active when affixed to a shaft and fired from a bow. This magic weapon is meant to slay a shape\-changer.\\
If a shape\-changer takes damage from the arrow, the creature must make a \textbf{DC 17 Constitution} saving throw, taking an extra \textbf{6d10 piercing damage on a failed save}, or \textbf{half as much extra damage on a successful one}.}
\BonusText{1}{Uses}{Once this arrow of slaying deals its extra damage to a creature, it becomes a non-magical silvered arrow.}
}
\renewcommand{\carddescback}{%
}
The cardtitle defines the item name. cardimage points to the image (png with alpha looks best). cardbg can be used to place a background. Several are provided in the img folder (Thanks DrailNecross~), and the default to use would be paper.jpg. The final two commands --- carddescfront and carddescback are used to put item descriptions on the front and back of the card.
There are several options defined in the itemCommands.tex file. This allows for things like attunement, curses, and a few other predefined macros.
I have included the items for Moons Over Graymoor, including letters and a spell scroll if you are curious.
In the dndItemCards.tex file, an array is defined for all the cards to be included.
\def\cardfiles{arrowShapechangerSlaying, cardArrowHead, LetterFromLadySybil, SerThamesFinishedLetter, SerThamesUnfinishedLetter, ScrollOfMoonbeam, MoonTouchedSword}
To quickly generate a list, you can use
ls cards | grep -Po '.*(?=\.)' | paste -sd, - | xclip -selection clipboard
to copy a comma-separated list of all files in the cards folder onto your clipboard.
Run pdflatex (or your preferred engine), and things should be good.
I thew this together somewhat quickly, so this is by no means feature-full.
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At the moment, this only works with up to 9 cards. I have not included any logic to switch to new pages after 9 cards. It is best to include 9 in a list, generate the PDF, and then run a new batch of 9.
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The spillover from the front card description to the back card description is not automatic. The user must decide where this cutoff is.
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There are some spacing issues. I'm working to fit everything in a US lettersize paper, and it just /barely/ doesn't fit. A combination of simple twiddling with margins, but perhaps better use of tikz and scaling would get proper results.
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In working to shrink the card sizes to fit 9 on a sheet, the graphics backgrounds are an odd aspect ratio, and will get stretched in some strange ways.