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I found a big easel pad of one inch grid paper on Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AQDGJRO/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_.PrEzbBDQR1KT), I draw each section of the dungeon on one sheet so they can be replaced on the table as we go. I've tried a few approaches and this is my favorite. Sections take only ten minutes each to draw out, less of I don't care about details like coloring in terrain and stuff. I also think the drawn aspect encourages the players to imagine the terrain instead of relying on the printouts, but maybe I'm projecting
Engineering paper is like graph paper, but the graph is only printed on the back of the paper (and it's printed very dark on the back). This means that you can see the graph from the front of the paper, but it's very faint and isn't distracting like graph paper normally is when you write on it. The top of it is also usually divided into 3 sections for your header, which is nice for including the date, the subject, and the page number for notes. The downsides are that it can be a bit more expensive (depending on what brand you get) and it really can only be used on one side for the most part (because the graph is printed very dark on the back).
I personally prefer the Roaring Springs pads in "buff" color (not a gross green-yellow, but a more aesthetically pleasing brown-yellow) because it's some nice quality paper with good weight to it and the pads are solid. You can buy it on Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/Roaring-Spring-Engineering-Enclosed-95182/dp/B001TJ5JZM), but I instead bought a full case of 24 pads for ~$120 ($5 per pad) in the middle of my freshmen year when I found the kind of paper I liked best. I've gone through about 2-3 pads a semester up to this point, which isn't terrible in terms of cost (pirate/don't buy one textbook and you come out a long ways ahead) and I get to write on nice paper.
There are also some classes that mandate you to use engineering paper, not so much in EE, but I've seen some mech e classes where the professor requires all assignments to be handed in on it. I'm guessing it mostly is for assignments with drawings and such included, since the graph background on the paper would make the drawings neater to look at. It's also pretty great for math notes/assignments, since it makes graphs easy without the super thick lines of most graph papers.
Do you need books? Don't just buy em all willy nilly unless you're gonna run a specific module or setting.
That said, I highly recommend Mordenkainens Tome of Foes and Volo's Guide to Monsters. A lot of great stat blocks in there. Amazon has good prices for D&D books, and they are often on sale for 20~ dollars.
This is perfect if you like to hand-draw maps for your table. Its 200 sheets, will last forever. I bought this like 2 years ago and I'm barely through the 2nd pad. Course 65 bucks for just paper is a hard ask for some. You can certainly find cheaper easel paper, but this is my fave.
You could always use more minis of course, just search around.
I grabbed a few pads of 1-inch gird easel paper on Amazon. I draw out dungeon, town, and various maps on it before the session, and it's great. It's awesome watching the players explore a dungeon when I have the whole thing mapped on battle-ready squares already, so I can just drop a new sheet of paper as they travel.
Under that, I have a wet-erase Chessex battlemat, which is good for when I haven't planned something out . . . which seems to be happen more than I would like.
Engineering notepad is what I used in school. You may want to keep it in a folio to prevent damage to the corners and top page(s).
I posted basically this exact same message a year ago and someone suggested Appointed notebooks, as well as this one: https://www.amazon.com/TOPS-Computation-Inches-Numbered-Quadrille/dp/B000F78JLU
(I was able to find a backstock at a shop near my house and bought out the entire stock of rollbahn xl - hope it will last me a while but I do not look forward to the day I run out - I really do not want to use any other notebook ever)
I don't know what a good battle mat is, but when I played in-person, I used to use gridded easel pads. The sheets aren't reusable but you get enough of them to last a long time. They are good for both drawing maps on the fly and preparing them before sessions. You can combine that with a piece of acrylic plastic (which you can get from a home improvement store) to lay over the sheet you want it to lay flat perfectly flat (a few paperweight style anchors is usually sufficient to avoid any problematic creasing though), which you can use in combination with dry erase markers.
The downside is that the sheet and pad can be a little cumbersome to store (they have large surface area, but are thin) and the acrylic sheet is cumbersome to transport. With sheets from the easel pad, you can just rip them off and fold them though, so no problems with transport there. You can also reuse the maps you draw, though the sheets aren't the most durable, so I wouldn't expect them to last that long before showing signs of wear.
So for objectives I have a separate large piece of paper (I bought something like this a while ago for DnD and things and it was a super cool purchase) that I use to write down objectives and who has what objective, then at during the status round I go and write everything down as people score. I think using the tokens and stuff is fiddly and this is way clearer.
Replacement found!
https://www.amazon.com/TOPS-Computation-Inches-Numbered-Quadrille/dp/B000F78JLU
Slightly larger than the Rollbahn, but meets all essential criteria. Mine just arrived and the cover and paper are both high quality.
Slightly off-topic: Regular graph paper like you used sucks. The heavy grid lines interfere too much. Check out engineering paper; once you try it you'll never go back. It's basically graph paper, usually yellow-green in color, except the grid lines are only on the back. The grid lines are still faintly visible on the front so you can use them as a drawing aid, but they don't have the visual clutter that would be a problem with normal graph paper. Also, if you scan it, the grid lines disappear. The grid squares are also smaller (1/5" instead of 1/4"), more suitable for construction drawings.
Here's a link: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B001J87JTM. It's a bit expensive but I don't use much so to me it's totally worth it.
Amazon has them!
Ampad Computation Book, 4x4 Quad Ruled, 76 Sheets, Ivory, 11-3/4" x 9-1/4", 1 per Pack (22-157) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000DZEA2G/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_TAZ74Y35AB5960S7FJAW
Try out printing some maps and see how it goes - worst case, all it costs you is a bit of paper and ink, right?
If it doesn't go well - can you pre-draw the maps on your existing battlemap?
If you can't (it'll get smudged, you need multiple maps, etc) - Amazon sells large pads of 1" grid paper, for example: https://www.amazon.com/TOPS-Standard-3-Hole-Punched-Sheets/dp/B00AQDGJRO/
Worst case, just buy some regular graph paper, pre-draw the maps, and use some small tokens rather than minis.
>when playing IRL I find that taking the time to draw the maps can kill the suspension of disbelief. Is there a way you do this and keep it fun?
An old school thing is to make the players draw the map. You give them dimensions of a space and talk with them as they draw it on graph paper. Effectively, you get a group cartographer sitting there with a note book. Part of the fun is they get it wrong sometimes.
You can even get an easel pad with 1 inch squares. You give the players a sheet, and they draw out the map and put their characters on it. Basically, make the players take some of the load off you.
You could go a little hybrid in this case, and do theater of the mind for non-essential rooms, and then have them map out the space that is important. You could just draw lines representing passages connecting the important locations.
A simple way of doing maps if simplicity is something you value, is picking up a big pad of 1"x1" grid paper like this: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00AQDGJRO/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Then just get some colored sharpies or something and you can draw up whatever you like. There are also dry erase mats you can get if you want to go that route, but I like these pads because it means I can draw multiple maps ahead of time if I want to. Biggest downside is finding a good place to store such large pads of paper. Under the bed works for me though.
Yes, I drew it on two sheets of gridded presentation paper. It’s this one:
TOPS Standard Easel Pads, 3-Hole Punched, 27 x 34 Inch, 1" Grid, White, 50 Sheets/Pad, Carton of 2 Pads (7902)
Niceee! It’s really good, an upperclassman who aced Orgo 1 and 2 recommended it to me. I don’t know if this would help, but I use this notebook. My handwriting is horrendous and it keeps neat, and the organization keeps me motivated.
I got through engineering courses in college using standard notebooks for note-taking and using these for homework problems.
It's super easy to use in terms of staying neat and organized (both great skills to hone at school) and I personally liked how easy it was to tear sheets out and turn them in (versus grudgingly ripping out the frilly mess on some spiral notebooks).
Definitely not knocking the tablet route, I just enjoyed the old-school method the best. Good luck at school btw!
This is my go to, more expensive but I like the color and scans very nicely if you have a feed scanner.
If you use a fountain pen, get this one: https://www.amazon.com/NATIONAL-Brand-Computation-Sheets-42389/dp/B0017TMB64 All the other papers tend to be fuzzy / will gum up your nib.
I expect I am in the minority though.
I recently bought two 1" grid easel pads, which I draw maps on. You can find them on Amazon, or at an office supply store depending on what's available near you, I bought mine from Staples.
As an example of what I'm talking about, here's a link to one from Amazon
For tokens, I use a small collection of D&D miniatures I had from when we last played 3.5 ten or so years so, I don't have much in the way of duplicates and a decent amount are basically impossible to use (My level 3 group ain't fighting Bane any time soon...), so I've been supplementing with some spare dice for the time being, anything will work so long as everyone is clear on what each token represents.
I would check amazon. I have something similar to this, but this particular one is a big pricey
https://www.amazon.com/TOPS-Standard-3-Hole-Punched-Sheets/dp/B00AQDGJRO/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=large+graph+paper+27x32&qid=1562945390&s=gateway&sr=8-3
So in my experience, the green "light" paper is extremely thin, while the tan "buff" is thick enough that you can still see the lines through it, but it doesn't feel as prone to tearing. Here is an Amazon link, and here are some (admittedly poor) pictures that I just took of a pad I have lying around. Basically, you can't see the grid if it's just a single piece of paper, but I have no trouble seeing and using the gridlines when they're stacked up, like on a pad or in a notebook. So yes, it would be a deal breaker, but with the "buff" paper, it's not really an issue, at least for me.
On amazon. I think the green version is more commonly used, but here's the red version
Usually go with an iPad, next is pads of engineering paper (example) as a backup, and sometimes type on my laptop.
Before I got my iPad, I really liked pads like this one that had large left margins where I could put topics and stuff on the left and notes on the right. It’s nice for finding stuff when the find command isn’t a thing
I used these guys. Just pop them is a binder and go. At $7 my student budget approves.
TOPS Engineering Computation Pad, 8-1/2" x 11", Glue Top, 5 x 5 Graph Rule on Back, Green Tint Paper, 3-Hole Punched, 100 Sheets is all I ever use. I use them for notes, sketches, even tracking HP when I'm DMing in my D&D campaign...
My apologies, I mean the interior paper being something other than the standard green engineering paper. Some color like this , which is apparently called buff. I always called it tan engineering paper.
I bought mine from an auction on ebay, but here it is on amazon for $12: https://www.amazon.com/Roaring-Spring-Engineering-Green-sheets/dp/B005UOD4W2/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=roaring+spring+engineering+paper&qid=1550382315&s=gateway&sr=8-1
Here it is on ebay for $10:
I guess $8 was a lower than normal price.