What weird props do you use?

[CarlZog]

At GenCon last week, I played in a Pulp Cthulhu game in which a dying NPC handed the group a a page torn out of an Edgar Allen Poe book. The DM handed us the real page, smeared red (the blood of the dying NPC) and burnt around the edges (NPC died in an exlposion).

When the group tracked down the book in the research library where the NPC had been working, the DM handed us the real book, minus the torn out page. The inside back cover had the envelope for the library withdrawal card, but behind that was a false backing page pasted on. On the advice of the psychic in the party, I took the book and ripped out the false backing page. Behind it, was the secret map to Atlantis -- another brilliant looking prop, which we laid out on the table and began to decipher.

The DM was running the game several times at the con, and told us later that he had bought copies of the book for $4 from the bargain tables at Borders or B&N. He made a separate set of props for each game he was running, so that every set of players could have the experience of shredding the book to find the hidden map.

It was brilliant, and must have been quite a bit of work, considering how realistic the map and the damaged torn page looked.

Carl

 

[demiurge1138]

I once used one of those plastic hangers that socks are sold on as an NPC's sigil.

One of my players made a giant Monopoly card to represent the "undo any event once" card he drew from a Deck of Many Things.

Demiurge out.

 

[Zander]

why would someone want to count the number of arguments you are having over your knitting?

I don't know. I'm a gamer but not a knitter.

They are useful for gaming but they haven't helped me to sort out this conundrum:

The ranger took a bow, shot an arrow and hit the bulls-eye.
The bard shot an arrow, hit the bulls-eye and took a bow.
The ranger took a bow
The bard, a bow
How?

 

[Bront]

I've used

-Tin Foil
-Sun Glasses
-Circular Whistles (The little kids whirly whistles)
-Parisols
-A salt shaker
-A wig
-numerous hats
-buttons

that's all I can think of off the top of my head, but it's amazing what you can use to accentuate your RP experience.

 

[Zappo]

I wrote a small program which displayed one randomly shifting color on the screen, and connected it to a big TV. I turned off the lights, making the TV the only source of light and bathing the room in shifting color. The party was talking to Demogorgon, and I intended to have the archfiend change personality following the color on the screen, according to a scheme I memorized. Ideally, the players should have caught on and use that as help in deciding when and how to talk to the monster.

The whole thing was for nothing as the laptop had a bug in its display driver and showed only white.

 

[fenrat]

Props

- I'ce used many propes to make cool maps - blood, maps that are burnt, covered in dirt, really worn out (crumpled and put in dryer), water logged (smeared), torn to shreds, etc.

- I've had a NPC hand out wine glasses and opened a real bottle of red wine and poured the PCs glasses, to toast the start of an adventure .... only to find that all who drank were under a geas spell.

- I've used real daggers made by a blacksmith at a Ren Faire.

- I've acquired a set of handwritten fonts to make letters and notes look real.

- I used photoshop to turn scans of maps into charcoal drawings, or watercolor, or pastels, or paint, etc.

- I've done something as simple as stand up on a chair when the party was talking to a giant.

- I've handed out fake jewelry boguth for pennies at a yard sale

- I've chaged the temperature in the room when the situation called for warmner or cooler temps.

- I've given the party scrolls sealed with wax ... and when they got all excited over it and opened it quickly, they revealed the rune under the was that was explosive runes or a sepia snake sigil.

 

[DrNilesCrane]

Tons of letters, maps, etc. (using handwritten style fonts and Photoshop, have burned edges and such as well). I try to include at least one physical item for the players to inspect / touch per adventure.

NPC Cards with pictures and physical descriptions for all "named" NPCs that I stand on the table, one side with their name and the other without (turn it around when the party learns it).

Have used a severed hand (plastic) in serveral campaigns.

Made an urn with (fake) ash and a clue inside: the party had to convince the widow of a merchant to break open the urn to get the clue. [Too messy to do again!]

Hide a map on the backsie of a label of wine and attached it to a prop bottle.

 

[scourger]

Great ideas here.

I've used coins form foreign countries under PCs minis to represent light sources.

 

[Yig]

We also use the "pizza doodads" (which I tend to call "Barbie tables") to represent flying (if the mini is atop it) or invisibility (if the mini is underneath it).

Friend of mine painted a few of them and we uses them as tables

 

[francisca]

Last time some players got blinded, I went into my office/RPG hellhole and brought out the 30th Anniversary bags from GC04, and put them over the player's heads. Instant "Bag of Blindness".