D&D General Favorite Accessories to play D&D and RPGs from the past 52 years

[SlyFlourish]

This one is for the old timers...

What are some of your favorite first- or third-party accessories that you bought, or saw for sale, to help people play D&D and other RPGs? What were some of the weirdest you remember seeing? What parts of the game did they shore up? Do you have any stories about the companies who made them?

 

[DEFCON 1]

Dungeon Tiles. Hands down. While I've also enjoyed and picked up the gridded poster maps from WotC... Dungeon Tiles (especially the Wilderness Set) has allowed me to make much more varied and elaborate maps for my players. I have also actually combined the two and used Dungeon Tiles on top of the poster maps to change those up as well for different scenes. The Great Road poster map? I've had all manner of camps, buildings, ruins and whatnot on the sides of the road, or the road leading to important landmarks.

While I can and have printed and taped together maps downloaded from the 'net... being able to save time and toner by making my own have been a godsend.

 

[Lazybones]

I remember the 1e DM's screen being pretty cool. There were so many table to remember with that edition, and the screen made them easily accessible.

I liked the art, as well.

In the current edition, I have been impressed by the plastic condition tokens that one of my players brings to our in-person game. It makes it a lot easier to follow what's going on in the battlefield. I got so used to having all that information easily accessible when playing in a VTT, it was nice to have a physical reminder when playing in person.

 

[Maxperson]

This one is for the old timers...

What are some of your favorite first- or third-party accessories that you bought, or saw for sale, to help people play D&D and other RPGs? What were some of the weirdest you remember seeing? What parts of the game did they shore up? Do you have any stories about the companies who made them?

I still have my three favorite. Central Casting: Heroes of Legend, Central Casting: Dungeons, and Demons(by Mayfair Games 1992).

 

[darjr]

Battle matts, no idea how many I’ve owned or how many times I’ve used one. Flip matts and poster maps included. And miniatures. Going as far back as I can remember. In 1981 we even used large paper, maybe because we couldn’t get the matts? Not sure. I do have memories of matts but that could be apocryphal.

Now though it’s terrain and minis. Mostly not tactical play, at least not like in 5e.

Both I think the less tactical nature has always been a part of my gaming, 4e and 5e being the big exceptions.

 

[Cordwainer Fish]

An index card with an explanation of vector addition on it.

 

[BruceWright]

Invisible ink modules. I never played one, but they were designed to be played either solo or with a group.

1980s D&D Invisible Ink Solo Adventures: Revealing (Secret) Fun

Rediscovered Realms reveals hidden fun in 1983’s invisible-ink solo modules—Blizzard Pass and Maze of the Riddling Minotaur—where magic pens, secret maps, and solo quests brought dungeon-crawling to life.

www.rediscoveredrealms.com

 

[aco175]

I second dungeon tiles. We have been using them for 20something years and generally each week. We also use several of the posters from the 4e modules such as the King's Road for a quick battle map.

Something I wish I made earlier is an initiative tracker. We used to have one player track this and eventually I made a pole with clothespins to track where we are so everyone can just see who is next and it freed up time and questions.

 

[SkidAce]

I still have my three favorite. Central Casting: Heroes of Legend, Central Casting: Dungeons, and Demons(by Mayfair Games 1992).

Oh noes! I'm missing the dungeons one!!!!

 

[Gecko85]

This one is for the old timers...

What are some of your favorite first- or third-party accessories that you bought, or saw for sale, to help people play D&D and other RPGs? What were some of the weirdest you remember seeing? What parts of the game did they shore up? Do you have any stories about the companies who made them?

I loved the Judges Guild campaign maps. I don't remember what they were called exactly, but they were numbered in such a way that you could piece them together to make one massive map (if you had a large enough space). I used select maps for my homebrew campaign.