As tonight I practiced with sealing wax, to give our campaign documents a bit of extra oomph (royal pardons just look better with sealing wax and the Royal Seal), I got to thinking:  what are the best props you've used in a game?  I know a lot of us have burnt/browned documents, or put them in tea to "age" them, but what else have you used to bring a bit of fun and liveliness into your games?

I, for one, will be excited to use my Campaign Coins for the first time!  My theory is when the players actually have to count out their money, they won't be so free with throwing every innkeep and beggar a gold coin...

I've never really used props... beside maps... but this site makes me want to:

Propping Up the Mythos

We were lousy with matchbook covers.

I like to take kinda cool ideas for puzzle objects--like the pipe stem in National Treasure, and make sorty crappy, overly obvious copies out of paper towel rolls or egg cartons or what have you. Sometimes I'll build a scenario from some curious oddity from the flea market.

Stuart, what in the hell is that avatar of yours?

Great site, man.  I so want to make a bottled Deep One of my very own.

Quote from: Zachary The FirstStuart, what in the hell is that avatar of yours?

A friend of mine.  And Ookie.

:haw:

Quote from: Zachary The FirstMy theory is when the players actually have to count out their money, they won't be so free with throwing every innkeep and beggar a gold coin...

What will you do if they score 50 000 gold pieces?

I once bought a bunch of chocolate gold-wrapped coins and used them to represent treasure. A bit overbudget, but fun for the game.

Quote from: droogWhat will you do if they score 50 000 gold pieces?

IOUs and bank drafts.

ENWorld also makes a paper fantasy currency we're considering.

On the miniatures end of the props spectrum, we have a few sets of those great Haba architectural blocks sets (like the Japanese pagoda, the Mayan temple, the North African casbah, etc.).  I'm thinking of setting up a great minis maze for my kids.

!i!

My biz partner Chris was GMing for us.  After finding a key, we encountered a big, scary padlock on the door to an ancient laboratory, and he clunked an actual big padlock from a bag next to him onto the table in front of us.

He then said: "Okay. Solve it if you want.  Distance, touch, how you relate to it in this room will be reflected in game."  We all immediately ran over to the corner of the room to confer and began one of my favorite gaming memories, including one guy continually holding his breath while handling the thing and another person who crouched in the corner with a cloak over his head.

There was a needle trap in the primary lock; the key fit a hidden locking mechanism it took us about twenty minutes to find.  Not a great every week thing, but awesome as a one-timer.

Quote from: StuartI've never really used props... beside maps... but this site makes me want to:

Propping Up the Mythos

Seriously. That site is really cool and perfect for my nWoD game in addition to any CoC.

-=Grim=-

I haven't made any props for my games in a long while. I do remember a couple that were really great to use when I did. One was a mini spell book I made from a small hardback address book I picked up from a dollar store. I did up the cover to look like an old tome, and had about 1 spell per page (this was back in the days of 2nd ed.)

Recently, I picked up a bunch of chinese luck coins from the Oriental Trading company to use in my Steampunk Musha game. They are pretty nice, add a good feel to the game, but I'm going to end up needing more.

I make a lot of visual aids through Pete Spahn and my Small Niche Games. I have done 2 sets of fantasy money. A kingdom edition that has more royal looking money, and a dwarven set. I liked the EN World set they put out, but they didn't "feel" like actual money. So, the ones i did I tried to make feel like that. A couple of local groups use them for their fantasy games and like them. I plan to make an asian set for myself and will probably put them out.

I'm also working on some fantasy menu items, I'm liking these a lot and think they will be great.

You can check out our Fantastical Currencies here: http://www.rpgnow.com/index.php?manufacturers_id=464

We also have our first set of Character Cards out, which we are currently using as Npc's in a fantasy game I'm playing in.

At the least, these might give you ideas for your own props.