Player props and play aids

[Delemental]

Well, I just finshed putting together a whole stack of index cards listing out all my druid's spells. I got tired of looking in 4-5 different books for my spells. Having spent this much time on a project for a character who could end up disintegrated tomorrow, I got to thinking, and wondered if anyone else was as insane as I apparently am.

So, what kind of self-made props or gaming aides have you made for your characters? How elaborate do you get? Do you play in the type of game where such an effort would be worthwhile, or is yours the type of campaign where writing down your stats on an actual printed character sheet is considered extravagant?

DM's can chime in, too. What's the most effort you've made to create a prop for game night, or to keep your game running smoothly?

 

[Gnarlo]

I use the Hirst Arts molds, so I spend a good deal of spare time when not doing anything else casting, glueing, and painting dungeon pieces and buildings.

I commonly create and "age" maps and other handouts for my players.

I have once or twice bought small blank leatherbound journals at bookstores and created "spellbooks" found as treasure with created symbols, emblems, runes and elvish writing in them. This was probably the most time consuming, but fun, thing I ever did for a game.

I've made the spell cards before for my own use and copied them for the players' aid.

I've also used lots of purchased aids, like different colored glass beads for gems, various toy money, costume jewelry, small colored corked glass bottles with various sodas / juices in them for potions, etc.

My current game is played online using Klooge, so I spend lots of time searching the net / scanning in book illustrations / scanning in my own drawings of monsters, treasure, locations, etc., and looking for various sound effects to use in the game.

I majored in drawing and painting in college (though I work as an RN in my "dayjob" so go figure) so none of this is a "chore" for me but rather a fun way to keep the creative juices flowing.

/gnarlo!

 

[Isida Kep'Tukari]

I started a thread about this just the other day. Take a look right here:

Real D&D treasure and other props

 

[Uder]

DM's can chime in, too. What's the most effort you've made to create a prop for game night, or to keep your game running smoothly?

I made over a thousand cardboard minis with scanned images of nearly every monster in the game. Took some serious searching to find decent "figure style" pics of some critters... the WotC art gallery has been a godsend to me.

 

[Sam]

I'm a big fan of index cards in the game. I use them as a player for my spells (made some for my wife as well). As a GM, I love them for initiative/character tracking. I also have a big box of index cards with monster stats on them. Much better than opening up the MM (or other relevant book) looking up the stats. Also doesn't let my players meta-game by trying to figure out what it is by where I am in the book.

I also like to use magic item cards. Using the business cards that you print yourself on an inkjet printer, I've made up a bunch of potions, rings, items, etc. Adds something to it when they player has to give back a card when they use a potion or scroll. Also makes finding / buying magic items a little more tangible.

 

[apocalypstick]

uhm... i'm painting miniatures for all the group's characters?

i think i'm gonna do the index card thing for my Clr of Tyr tonight; that's a good idea.

 

[Terraism]

I started painting minis not too long ago, I've done aged maps, and I splurged on some of the MasterMaze stuff that's been create for dungeon crawls. Not too much else, though. I like the spellbook idea, Gnarlo - mind if I steal it?

 

[megamania]

I tend to type out spells or psionics onto Word and copy/paste into "spell books" as I get new characters.

Back in 2e I had 5x8 index cards for magic items and artifacts I created.

Using Foam knockouts I have created dozens and dozens of "ruin" walls to use for my Abyssal maze layer.

 

[Fenes 2]

I rarely use props. The most I did was when I draw a map and then draw a "secret map" on it with lemon juice, so that the players could use a lighter to make the "magic map" appear when their PCs managed it.

 

[Terraism]

I rarely use props. The most I did was when I draw a map and then draw a "secret map" on it with lemon juice, so that the players could use a lighter to make the "magic map" appear when their PCs managed it.

Ok, for the record, that's amazingly cool. I want to try that, I just can't think of anytime I'm going to have the opportunity.