Your Most Useful and Most Used RPG Products

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Veins of the Earth and Into the Wyrd and Wild. BUT a really unsung hero is "for the queen" which i have players run before campaigns to see if they are really attached to their "queen" or patron, ruler etc. It also helps for world building

That would be a really fun worldbuilding tool. There's also a new simple RPG that I think is being crowdfunded currently about the creation of orcs which I also think would be a great prelude to a lot of games. (As would Microscope, although I understand that to be about more fundamental worldbuilding elements.)

 

[Nebulous]

Before 2020, I would say the Paizo flip mats. I had so many of those and used them often.

 

[aramis erak]

I'm thinking about the RPG products I find myself coming back to time and time again as a gift guide for others.

What RPG products do you find yourself using year after year? Which products provide the biggest impact at your table?

The ones I keep going back to? WFRP 1E. Pendragon 4th (despite having 5th). FFG Star Wars (my most run game). L5R 5th (which is 3rd most run, after AD&D 2e, but I'll never go back to 2e). (4th goes to WEG Star Wars.)

My most used tools?

• Staedler grey-barreled markers - they're water soluble for months after use, and available in X-Fine. And refillable. And available in sets from 4 to 18 colors...
  • refill pots are only reasonable price for the core four.
  • Staedler black barrel are alcohol soluble, but don't use the red or green on vinyl - they stain it. I've erased them from page protectors at ages varying from hours to years after application using isopropyl. They have their own refill pots, too.
• As a set: A double set of Mini-meeples (get two samplers). A set of 8mm wood gaming cubes (get the 50-pack of 5 colors). A triple set of 15mm disks (10 each in 3 colors). I use these instead of minis. I also got a set of 10 white mini-meeples... and my players decorated their meeples to suit. Which is how I wound up with a white mini-meeple in a green bikini - the female player of a female druid had me draw it for her. Vicki - I think of you every time there's an argument over who gets the bikini meeple.
• a good set of plastic playing cards (used for those games needing them - Savage Worlds, Twilight 2000/Dark Conspiracy, Castle Falkenstein, Arabian Sea Tales.)
  • KEM, COPAG, ACE, certain Hoyle and Bycycle decks, even the Nintendo Legend of Zelda cards
• good quality poker chips. (not the $5 interlocking nastiness Bycycle sells as their low end. Those are noisy. The 11.5g at walmart/fred meyers/etc at least don't make the same level of noise.)

 

[thullgrim]

The ones I keep going back to? WFRP 1E. Pendragon 4th (despite having 5th). FFG Star Wars (my most run game). L5R 5th (which is 3rd most run, after AD&D 2e, but I'll never go back to 2e). (4th goes to WEG Star Wars.)

My most used tools?

• Staedler grey-barreled markers - they're water soluble for months after use, and available in X-Fine. And refillable. And available in sets from 4 to 18 colors...
  • refill pots are only reasonable price for the core four.
  • Staedler black barrel are alcohol soluble, but don't use the red or green on vinyl - they stain it. I've erased them from page protectors at ages varying from hours to years after application using isopropyl. They have their own refill pots, too.
• As a set: A double set of Mini-meeples (get two samplers). A set of 8mm wood gaming cubes (get the 50-pack of 5 colors). A triple set of 15mm disks (10 each in 3 colors). I use these instead of minis. I also got a set of 10 white mini-meeples... and my players decorated their meeples to suit. Which is how I wound up with a white mini-meeple in a green bikini - the female player of a female druid had me draw it for her. Vicki - I think of you every time there's an argument over who gets the bikini meeple.
• a good set of plastic playing cards (used for those games needing them - Savage Worlds, Twilight 2000/Dark Conspiracy, Castle Falkenstein, Arabian Sea Tales.)
  • KEM, COPAG, ACE, certain Hoyle and Bycycle decks, even the Nintendo Legend of Zelda cards
• good quality poker chips. (not the $5 interlocking nastiness Bycycle sells as their low end. Those are noisy. The 11.5g at walmart/fred meyers/etc at least don't make the same level of noise.)

Regarding poker chips. I had some custom ones printed at Chip Lab. They are casino quality clay chips and the price wasn’t bad at all.

 

[Wolfram stout]

All good answers so far.
For me this year I have told my wife general office stuff (I don't play online at this point):
1) Notebooks and composition books
2) Nice Pens and Pencils (I like blackwing pencils)
3) Pencil Sharpner
and as I am a low rent type of terrian builder: Jenga Blocks/Dominoes.

I do campaign write-ups more than actually play and love having a dedicated composition book for each campaign.

 

[Committed Hero]

The random encounter terrain travel tables from Barbarian Prince have been with me since 1981. Each result comes with a descriptive entry in the adventure booklet. I've used it often as a basis for many random encounters.

That's a great idea. Also available for free:

Barbarian Prince - Download The Classic Heritage Dwarfstar Boardgames For Free

dwarfstar.brainiac.com

 

[darjr]

I'm thinking about the RPG products I find myself coming back to time and time again as a gift guide for others.

What RPG products do you find yourself using year after year? Which products provide the biggest impact at your table?

Here's my list:

• Pathfinder Flip Mat Basic and Staedtler Lumovision medium black 315-9 wet-erase markers
• Midgard World Book
• Demon Cults and Secret Societies
• Level Up Advanced 5e's Trials and Treasure and Monstrous Menagerie
• Shadowdark Quickstart Rules

Mind me asking why the Shadowdark QuickStart?

 

[Marc Radle]

Mind me asking why the Shadowdark QuickStart?

I’m curious as well …

There are so many different ways to approach a set of quick start rules - what about this stood out to you?

Thanks!

 

[MNblockhead]

One said thing about having to go to fully online play is that all my physical stuff is just stored away and hasn't been used in years.

I could say "Foundry VTT" but that seems to not be in the spirit of the question. I would be like saying "my kitchen/game table" or "my laptop/smart phone". I could go into to most useful community modules for Foundry, across game systems, but also seems to be more appropriate for another thread.

BEFORE I went virtual, I would have said my Paizo combat pad, my Hammerdog Games World's Greatest Screen (mini), and my Chessex battlemap.

EDIT TO ADD:
Alea Tool's Magnetic Status Markers. I have a case with various colors, some with adhesive label put on the edged. Very useful and convenient when playing in person with miniatures.

Also, I created a sister thread specifically for on-line, virtual play: Most Useful and Used Cross-System RPG Product for VIRTUAL Play

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

There are so many different ways to approach a set of quick start rules - what about this stood out to you?

If you haven't seen them, the Shadowdark quickstart rules have at least as much content as a complete BD&D boxed set, for free. You literally don't ever need to buy the full book to play. (The full book adds more monsters, spells, magic items, many more random tables and GM advice.)

It's a huge "I know this will make you want to buy the full game anyway" flex and also a perfect players guide, since it's a much smaller form factor than the full rulebook, which is an A5-sized brick.