Best props for your game?

[ShogunAssassin]

What are the best props for your game you use?

i have a dragon onesi and a solid goblit what's yours?

 

[Janx]

I've used a Folkmanis Raven puppet as my Gnome Conjurer's familiar (Ravens can talk, so I had the Raven do all the talking in character, the Gnome didn't speak much as he could only whisper, due to an old injury.

I made a journal/spell book for an NPC wizard that the party found and had to decipher to solve some other problem.

I made a miniature campfire for the party's camp site (pebbles and twigs for the ring of rocks and and wood pile).

I made a wooden canoe-like boat for when the party was travelling down a river

I made a wooden bar, for when the party is in a tavern (like the bar you belly up to, with the barkeep behind it). This was scaled to fit the miniatures.

I have a bamboo map-case for holding all our group's maps.

I have a leather book wrap that holds 2 books (PH + some other book) that makes it look like a big spell book

I have a leather tubular pencil case (looks like a small scroll case)

I have a replica rusty old medieval style padlock, useful for demonstrating how you're going to pick a lock

 

[Bride of Cthulhu]

In my current gaming room I have a curio cabinet that I use just for the purpose of storing and displaying gaming props. A few examples: Wild West campaigns may require my replica 19th century dueling pistols and authentic Native American war club to serve as 'magical items' or 'fetish artifacts' where as Dungeons and Dragons games often require daggers and swords and elaborate, torn maps to be presented. I will also always represent the toast of a magical treasure hoard with a tangible element the gamers can turn over in their hands, i.e. magical rings, helmets, goblets, lutes, sculptures and talismans.

My favorite prop, however, that I have ever created/used in a game was for a Call of Cthulhu campaign: a set of stirling silver grand father clock hands stained with 'blood,' concealed in the hollowed cavity of a large, battered leather tome.

It tied in with a peculiar clock the players had come across earlier that had no hands. It was only a side note at the beginning of the campaign that tied in towards the end, revealing the true identity of the cultist who had sharpened the clock hands when he couldn't find a pure silver dagger on hand for a sacrifice.

JANX: I love the padlock idea. I do have a large set of iron keys, but an actual padlock never occurred to me.

 

[Razjah]

I have had great success with flat plastic thread bobbins (probably not the right name) and small plastic screw top containers. Add masking tape and you can number scrolls and the players can later identify them and label them.

I had a leather dice bag that was starting to wear which I converted into a prop coin purse with some clearance rack chains to make up the bulk of the weight.

A "decorate yourself" wine bottle case from a craft store works great as a scroll case.

I found an old Jewish prayer book that had Hebrew (or Yiddish, or another language I can't speak) on the right side and English on the left. It makes for a cool prop.

Ripped out pages of a destroyed book of genealogies make good props for stuff. The page is set up in a semi-circle instead of the normal branches so it can be more useful as a prop than a page that looks like a flowchart.

I gutted my sister's old Clarinet case and have used it many times.

I found an old warped pool stick someone was throwing out. The tip is broken, but the back half is carved and decorated. It can even unscrew at various points for a macguffin to assemble, a wand, a staff, a club, and more.

I have a craft made "Indian Talking Stick" or something like that. I have used it as a speaking stick when I have had new players being tread on by the more experienced players and as a prop as a totem/fetish/item of power for rituals.

Toy handcuffs make decent props "Your character is shackled. Put this on. You have to roll your dice with them still on."

The cheap wooden puzzles at dollar stores and other discount places can make great props.

An "ancient" laptop that really doesn't work anymore makes a good prop for any game with some hacking or any Mission Impossible related anything.

A bathrobe. Seriously. Put it on backwards for a doctor, wear it open for a grumpy old man, close it for a wizard, hold a toy lightsaber to act as a Jedi.

Glasses- think of all the elderly NPCs who wear spectacles. Sunglasses for various sensors/scanners/epic future binoculars in a sci-fi game.

A three pack of little ceramic vases for all sorts of things (bound genie, decanter of endless water, Mr. Hyde potion, etc).

 

[malier]

I started a blog about a year ago with some of my fav props that I have used--w-w-w.dndprops.com check it out

 

[Umbran]

I assume you're talking for tabletop play. There's a few of us who also do live-action play, and for that, you have a rather different view on props.

In my tabletop games, I use few props, to be honest. In a tabletop game, you don't generally *do* anything with your props, so you look at them for a few moments and then set them aside. Not much point to them, then. The exception are information-based props. Books, scrolls, maps, and the like, where the prop is a representation of something the PCs must work with to figure out - these, I use when appropriate. If the PCs find an ancient scroll detailing a bit of history, with a secret message coded in the text, I'm far more likley to make up a prop for it.

 

[malier]

Its not safe to assume anything I have found in the past-but your assumption that we play tabletop is correct--But I disagree in your statement "not much point in them" A player character breaking down a door and finds a goblin on the other side who then dumps a bucket of guts on the pc can be pretty mundane. But if the GM stands up and sprays the player with red silly string--well..it services a purpose. But everybodies game is different-there is no right or wrong to it.

 

[Janx]

ah, thread necromancy, my favorite spell...


I concur with Umbran. props for info are worthwhile for tabletop play. Character props, not so much as now you look like you dressed as your D&D character.

 

[Nytmare]

When I'm running I tend to do a lot of hand out, map, and/or puzzle props, though it tends to vary depending on the game. As a player in a campaign I tend to enjoy, if not a simple hand prop, at least a little bit of character sheet, miniature, or dice window dressing.

Last year for Christmas, I made these for my sister's book shelf: http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?333139-Potion-Bottles

 

[Jhaelen]

Well, when playing my obsidiman warrior in Earthdawn, I always brought a piece of snowflake obsidian that was meant to resemble a piece of his 'Liferock'. The rules mention that this is a common practice among obsidimen to have a reminder about where they're coming from.

For those not familiar with Earthdawn, here's the wikipedia excerpt about obsidimen:

Obsidimen are a race of large, rock-based humanoids. They stand over 7 feet (2.1 m) tall and weigh over 900 pounds. Their primary connection is to their Liferock, which is a large formation of stone that they emerge from. Obsidimen are loyal to the community around their Liferock, and eventually return to and re-merge with it. Obsidimen can live around 500 years away from their Liferock, and their ultimate lifespan is unknown, as they generally return to it and remain there. Due to their rocky nature and long lives, obsidimen are rather slow moving and deliberate in both speech and action, and can have difficulty understanding the smaller races' need for haste. However, if aroused by a threat to self, friend, or community, obsidimen are fearsome to behold.