Props: Untapped Market?

[Glyfair]

I recently started running James Bond again. One of the things that struck me was how great the props were for the game. They had a For Your Information pack that included a pad of MI6 blank dossiers. Each adventure had a manila envelope (marked "Top Secret," "For Your Eyes Only" and "Classified Information") with various quality handouts for the adventure.

For example, the Goldfinger II adventure contains:

MI6 dossier on missing scientists.
Postcard clue
Q-Branch Aston Martin DB-V details with picture
Program for Light & Sound show (where an important scene takes place)
Intercepted Telegram
Notepad clue
Hand Drawn map with directions
Brochure for a historical site (another important location)
Another hand drawn map to previously mentioned locaion

IIRC, Call of Cthulhu was also well known for these sort of props.

Of course, this game came out in 1983 and ended in 1987. Computers were just beginning to scratch the surface of their RPG use. Today it should be an easy task to create a Microsoft word template for the MI6 dossiers, for example.

I expected that RPGNow would be loaded with props of this sort, especially templates. However, the pickings are quite meager. Even a website search finds very litt.eIn fact, Paizo is the only ones who have really scratched the surface, IMO (with their item cards).

Am I missing anything? Are there any products or sites that cover this sort of field?

 

[Asmor]

I know a lot of adventures come with handouts... I've never even taken a look at it (not the sort of thing that interests me) but I've heard that Ptolus is absolutely filled to the brim with handouts and other props.

Honestly, I don't know that there would be such a great market for props... I mean, if you get a template of, say, a spy agency's letterhead (ignoring the amusing conundrum of a spy agency using identifying letterhead), you still need to prepare it every time... Might as well just whip something up yourself.

I think that the only place you'll find really useful props are in adventures, where they can be specifically tailored to the adventure.

 

[MerricB]

James Bond was one of the best systems for props, and the adventures made good use of them. I've just acquired a few old JB adventures; and I'll be running one of them soon.

Cheers!

 

[Haffrung Helleyes]

props

This was a lot more common in all kinds of RPG products back in the 80s. It's one of those things that was lost with the move to the hardcover book format.

Ken

 

[mcrow]

I think there is a market for a "Bag O' Props" type of thing.

Basically each bag contains a bunch of small props. Maybe an ornate key, wrinkled old leather map (some spot left blank), a letter writtne as an adventure seed, and things like that.