Tricks to make your RPG experience better!

[Jib]

I like to DM/ GM better than take the role as a player. Over the years I've come up with a few tricks that seem to make games flow better and enhance the total experience for both players and DM/ GMs. Many of these are visual and cheap. Here are a few.

Cheap battle mat: Buy a roll of either butcher block paper or an end roll of news print from your local paper (they used to sell these cheap!) and draw away. No problem if Rude Johnny spills Mountain Dew, just rip off another sheet and you are off and running.

Terrain features: Pick up some felt fabric in various colors. Blue can be cut into strips for streams. Brown can also be cut into strips for roads and paths. Grey can be used for stone walls or rock debris.

Cheap easy props: When you see a gum ball machine or one of those that offers cheap dime store rings and creatures dig out some change and give it a try. A cheap ring can be an easy prop. A rubber snake can become a monster. I have even picked up a few super heroes in the coin operated machines outside my local food store.

4E "marks": Need to show which PC is marked or which NPC is under the effect of a spell? Poker chips can fit under a mini to show the various conditions in 4E. And you can paint them to show even more effects...

I'll post a few more ideas as time goes by. But I bet you have some wonderful ideas too! Let's share! Post your ideas for making the game run smooth and look exciting!

 

[mudbunny]

Another option for marking or showing effects - The plastic rings from pop bottles.

 

[Jib]

Plastic rings from pop bottles? That's great!

 

[Jib]

I had one DM at Gen Con use various candies as monsters. When you killed a creature you got to eat the candy. He used small Reese Peanut Butter Cups for Ogres, M&M's for Orcs, and I believe Jelly Beans for Goblins. It was a double reward, you defeat a foe and get a treat too!

 

[jdrakeh]

One of the coolest ideas I ever saw was for a real time world map in a sea-faring AD&D campaign. Our DM took several paper grocery bags, cut them up, and drew the various isles in an archipelago or portions of larger continents on indiviudal pieces of those grocery bags.

As actual play commenced and the PCs sailed to new lands, our DM would hang the individual pieces of the larger map on the wall of the game room as those lands were discovered. Over the course of the campaign, the entire world map was revealed in this manner.

It was really cool

 

[Drkfathr1]

I had one DM at Gen Con use various candies as monsters. When you killed a creature you got to eat the candy. He used small Reese Peanut Butter Cups for Ogres, M&M's for Orcs, and I believe Jelly Beans for Goblins. It was a double reward, you defeat a foe and get a treat too!

See...I'm not eating anything that someone else has had their fingers all over!

 

[Tinker Gnome]

See...I'm not eating anything that someone else has had their fingers all over!

I would not eat anything that has been on our battlemat. It would taste like marker ink.

 

[Calabar]

I had one DM at Gen Con use various candies as monsters. When you killed a creature you got to eat the candy. He used small Reese Peanut Butter Cups for Ogres, M&M's for Orcs, and I believe Jelly Beans for Goblins. It was a double reward, you defeat a foe and get a treat too!

I love that idea. And for the finicky eater wrapped candy such as kisses and the previously mentioned peanut butter cups could be used. I'll have to bring some candy to our next game and see if our GM will go for it for a session. It would make for a fun change of pace.

When I first started playing AD&D, back in '79, we used dominoes for dungeon walls. The sectional dry eraser map pieces we use now are much more efficient, but I do miss the dominoes.

 

[Hussar]

Well, for quick and easy tokens, there's always an ink jet printer and poker chips. Some scissors and glue and you've got 1 inch tokens as fast as you like.

 

[Rechan]

Aquarium Stones. These make great monsters en masse. They're also color coded. I use these for minions all the time.

Large wooden dominos and jenga blocks. The former make great dungeon walls, and the latter are great for minor props (columns, statues, difficult terrain).

[ame=http://www.amazon.com/SVMProducts-Wikki-Stix-Activity-Set/dp/B00000J0H7/ref=pd_bbs_1?ie=UTF8&s=toys-and-games&qid=1237998719&sr=8-1]Wikki Sticks[/ame]. I had a DM use these for non-straight dungeon walls. They worked great, and stuck to the battlemat, so you didn't have them shuffling about.

Now, beyond the actual materials, one of my tricks?

At least once per fight, when a PC drops an enemy to 0, I ask the player to "Describe how you kill this guy." That usually gets everyone paying attention, for the "Yeah!" factor.