The TimHow many people use props? How sophisticated are they? How many do you use?
My answers:
I use ’em far less than I’d like to but I use them.
Mostly mine are cheap blank books or stolen computer paper hastily bound. They generally just have text and weird clippings from magazines and other sources.
I have at least one of these sorta clue bundles per campaign. Generally I make it and then shred it to make one prop into many.
Chance Lauziere-PetersonI once used a child’s writting pad for a one shot, The idea was that a young girl wrote about what she heard and was told over a few months in her father’s creepy mansion. Her father was a Mechanomancer and her Uncle, well he was just crazy and lived in the attic.. But ANYWAY, the hand out was yellowed paper, written in blocky red crayon. The PC who found it said it really pulled him into the scene and creeped him out a little..
Feels nice when something works out the way you plan.
DionThe last prop I used was for a convention game–it was essentially an envelope that was mentioned in a character’s back story (empty because we couldn’t put the in-game contents in there without breaking Australian laws and so forth)
Hopefully it helped to get the player into character–but props come third in my mind after soundtrack and lighting…
John TynesIf you have use for prop documents of the 1920s/30s, check out this amazing collection of original PDFs and fonts. It’s intended for Cthulhu use, but a lot of them are useful for any real-world game that needs some moldering old clues.
DionWell, we were running a convention game based around the Myths Over Miami article. All the characters were homeless children.
One of the characters was carrying an envelope which she didn’t know what was in it–same as one of the girls that James Palmer wrote about in the “Real Life Horror Stories” side bar in “Garden Full of Weeds”–an scenario in “Weep”
So, we used an empty envelope, because any picture we put in their would be against Australian law because (whilst not depicting sexual activity) would be a minor being shown to be degraded and so forth.
(Personally, I try to keep an eye on the Office of Film and Literature Classifications when I’m writing a game for public consumption)
Of course, laws weren’t our only concern, (other concerns being such as whether we were treating the subject matter with the seriousness it deserved) but it was a factor in some of our decisions.
Fredrik SomervilleFor the most part I use paper-handouts, usually paper that I’ve treated to look old, dirty, ragged or whatever I need.
At one time I even wrote a whole diary (that was for Castle Falkenstein).
But, when I -really- want to do something flashy I tend to create jewelry.
I fancy myself a rather good miniature painter, specially when it comes to metal and gems, so I buy some kind of cheap plastic or metal jewelry, and then paint it up like it’s a real valuable.
It was a real treat one tine I handed them a brooch, and they found the secret compartment with the hidden notes! ^_^
Not often I do that, though. Only for special occations, or if I’m bored…
DionAnother prop I remember using was food.
Telling a player that someone’s offering their character food is very different to offering a hungry player food in character.
Hopefully the players reacted on more of a gut instinct than thinking what was best in terms of their character’s survival.
MoltenPlasticA month ago i found a smashed car radio in the street…its beautiful but completely useless…unless you roleplay
Its going to become a prop very soon…as some sort of “thing”
Maybe the battery that keeps earth revolving …or an ancient god summoned by bums in alleyways…a transdimensional device (banal)…or a physical manifestation of a PC’s guilt…or maybe a tiny spaceship (remember that twilight zone episode??) searching for intelligent life but finding only humanity…or maybe “that thing that men are not prepared to comprehend”…or just a wrecked car radio to smash on enemies heads..
My props always tend to be surreal and degenerate,mostly because my roleplaying is surreal and degenerate
But i also use the same old cigarettes,matches,toy guns (luckily in italy we can bring toy firearms to live games as well since police arent that “gun happy”…except during the G8 of course..)”wierd” photographs and capes…(actually nobody knows what to do with these capes since we don’t play vampire or fantasy anymore…but my players bring them all the same…to hide hash)
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