The Makers Bag in Short: A Gamer's Perspective

[MatthewR]

So I'm a tabletop roleplaying gamer, so when I first saw it I naturally thought of it from a gamer's perspective and had to see what all I could stuff into it from that perspective. Here's what I fit in the Maker's Bag:

3 roleplaying books of different sizes. I wanted to see how much I could bring with -- as most gamers know, you don't end up just bringing one book -- there's the core book, the splat books, and that one favorite game that you always have with you just in case someone actually wants to play. I personally chose the Dungeons & Dragons book as the majority of gamers are playing that. I chose Eclipse Phase because I'm a huge nerd for this game. Seriously, if you're interested in Transhumanist themes and horror, check it out. Finally, Call of Cthulhu's venerable 6th Edition is a favorite pick-up game. All 3 fit in the Maker's Bag main pocket at the same time with some room!

The iPad. As a gamer in the digital age, you can keep the books you won't be paging through by hand (I prefer splat books, setting books and canned adventures as digital and Core Rulebooks as print, personally) on the iPad, plus game notes, random-roll tables, character sheets, and dice rollers (if you like -- not for me, personally) with a Cache to cushion it again your books.

In the zippered pocket at the back of the main pocket, I fit my miniatures and dice in. Dice are pretty self evident and miniatures are for D&D.

Slot the pens and a pencil into the Makers Bag's pen holders. Pencil in case you've got a paper character sheet or a player needs one and I keep map markers my gaming bag just in case I'm running a game with a map.

Your phone, slide it in the wider of the pockets next to the pen slots. Good for arranging meet-ups ordering take-out, and reliable access to a calculator app if you're playing something old and crunchy.

A portable charger and USB a cord or two are now a staple in every techno-geek's arsenal. Clip it to an o-ring, let it hang.

Headphones for the bus-ride where you're going -- I bring my Bluetooth headphones with me everywhere.

A tea strainer and some loose-leaf, for all your non-coffee caffeine needs. A little healthier than Monster, a little tastier than coffee (IMO).

[blackbird]

So I'm a tabletop roleplaying gamer, so when I first saw it I naturally thought of it from a gamer's perspective and had to see what all I could stuff into it from that perspective. Here's what I fit in the Maker's Bag:

3 roleplaying books of different sizes. I wanted to see how much I could bring with -- as most gamers know, you don't end up just bringing one book -- there's the core book, the splat books, and that one favorite game that you always have with you just in case someone actually wants to play. I personally chose the Dungeons & Dragons book as the majority of gamers are playing that. I chose Eclipse Phase because I'm a huge nerd for this game. Seriously, if you're interested in Transhumanist themes and horror, check it out. Finally, Call of Cthulhu's venerable 6th Edition is a favorite pick-up game. All 3 fit in the Maker's Bag main pocket at the same time with some room!

The iPad. As a gamer in the digital age, you can keep the books you won't be paging through by hand (I prefer splat books, setting books and canned adventures as digital and Core Rulebooks as print, personally) on the iPad, plus game notes, random-roll tables, character sheets, and dice rollers (if you like -- not for me, personally) with a Cache to cushion it again your books.

In the zippered pocket at the back of the main pocket, I fit my miniatures and dice in. Dice are pretty self evident and miniatures are for D&D.

Slot the pens and a pencil into the Makers Bag's pen holders. Pencil in case you've got a paper character sheet or a player needs one and I keep map markers my gaming bag just in case I'm running a game with a map.

Your phone, slide it in the wider of the pockets next to the pen slots. Good for arranging meet-ups ordering take-out, and reliable access to a calculator app if you're playing something old and crunchy.

A portable charger and USB a cord or two are now a staple in every techno-geek's arsenal. Clip it to an o-ring, let it hang.

Headphones for the bus-ride where you're going -- I bring my Bluetooth headphones with me everywhere.

A tea strainer and some loose-leaf, for all your non-coffee caffeine needs. A little healthier than Monster, a little tastier than coffee (IMO).

Nice!

Could you show us what the MB looks like all packed up? I'm always curious to see the "end result."

[luvdabags]

Your picture is so amazing! Love the coyote against that blanket! Cool.

Your book made me think of this classic tune:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anM1N5oN-OM

[adalangdon]

So pretty! That's a lot of dice BTW. Do you usually carry all of that around? (My hubs used to play 40k...)


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[marytattoo]

this looks cool. I'll admit I don't understand a word about gaming stuff that you wrote, however!

[Kothar]

It's a great bag for it. Come convention side, it can get a bit on the full side depending on the day's events but even with a modest collection of books and gamer accessories, it still had enough room for a bottle of water and snacks. For a single night of tabletop gaming, it's size and capacity can't be beat. So much that I've noticed more maker bags pop up in my local game stores during events.

[BrianI]

Nice! I'm a roleplaying geek, and love this ... and you probably just sold me on another Tom Bihn bag. :)

[Kshni]

I hadn't even thought about using it as a gamer bag... dang, I miss our gaming group :(

[MatthewR]

@blackbird -- I'll see about taking another pic in the next couple days. :)

@luvdabags -- I hadn't heard that one before -- it reminds me of Badgers, Africa, and Norway by Weebl, though.

@adalangdon -- Yeah, I have a weak spot for dice. It's all I can do to not contribute to every wood and metal dice Kickstarter that comes along and stick with the Chessex and Q-Workshop dice. Pretty much I chose the dice to go along with the character and if I don't have any dice that I feel goes with the character, I end up buying some new ones, lol.

@Kothar -- I haven't been to a con with it yet but I can imagine considering I load it up pretty full on a normal day's excursion. I'd probably have to either really travel light for those days or use a bigger bag like the Brian Bag. (Good on you for DMing, by the bye -- I see that AL adventure below your book. D&D Next and 5E really brought a lot of people into the hobby and made it super easy and incentivized being the DM, which is awesome!)

[threeteez]

So pretty! That's a lot of dice BTW. Do you usually carry all of that around? (My hubs used to play 40k...)


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My son was into Warhammer 40K too...wish I had a dime for every teensy body part/weapon that I stepped on or sucked up with the vacuum. First Legos, then Warhammer, then Magic the Gathering. My daughter is a gamer girl. I take pictures of my TB bags in public places. It's all grand :)

Ditto for MatthewR's excellent color coordination with the Coyote MB and the gorgeous blanket. I have a Coyote Little Swift, SE, Skookum leash and Coyote/Black Citizen Canine...it's a wonderful, rich neutral.

[GoStanford]

When I was a kid, the neighbors (two brothers a few grades ahead of me in school) let me tag along and play D&D with them. I always ended up being some kind of orc without skills. I couldn't keep up with them, but I felt proud of myself that I got to join in. Now I live near a game and card shop and almost nightly there are tabletop games going on of various kinds. Seems like a nice change from the computer games that are so popular now. Now we just need some of those fancy multi-sided dice to roll to decide on the new interior color....

[MatthewR]

@threeteez Wow, you just couldn't catch a break! Legos, Warhammer, and M:tG are all not exactly cheap hobbies (unless you git gud, as the kids say, and win some tourneys)!

@GoStanford Hey, if you just want to use 6-sided dice, there are plenty of games like that, too (although some of those games are dicepool-based games and take a whole lot of d6s -- I didn't even put in my bag of d6s in the picture because I don't carry them unless I'm actually playing a game like Shadowrun).

[Andesign2]

Daughter is a huge MTG gamer...she's trying to teach me too. She's been wanting to do a good gaming bag drop for a while (she did do a comic and gaming store synapse bag pic recenlty...lol) but wasn't sure it would fit in here. Glad to see other gamers on the forum.

Jason

[PandaOps]

Is the Maker's Bag 13" tall or wide? I'm looking to having this be a new camera bag for me with an Ape Case insert. Thanks!

[threeteez]

Is the Maker's Bag 13" tall or wide? I'm looking to having this be a new camera bag for me with an Ape Case insert. Thanks!

The 13" measurement is for the width from one side to the other. It's 10" tall from bottom seam to top.