If this doesn't fit here, please remove it immediately. Many of the Greyhawk modules have nifty lil items in them, such as the Soul Gem from The Tower of Inverness. I bought a huge class diamond paperweight and gave it to the group after the managed to get the soul gem. I had a gauntlet (from my old SCA days) that was all that remained of a certain female vampire in a lost cave of something or other Do you folks use props to enhance your games and if so, for which modules or adventures?
I have mostly used paper items, such as scrolls sealed with wax(complete with signet type stamps), maps, and other such things. Once I provided a small spellbook made of parchment pages with calligraphied titles of all the spells it contained.
Other than these unique things, I have always made a point of using as many of the correct miniatures as possible in encounters, sometimes adding scenery that I have made(particularly villages) to enhance the overall experience of gaming.
I ran Ravenloft as an "all-nighter". We started in the afternoon and the PC's got to the castle just as the sun was setting RL (we were playing in a dining room with a nice big picture window). The rest of the night I insisted on no lights in the house, just candles at the game table (long, thin candles with my best candle holders). Reading the dice was hard in the dim light, but after a couple hours it had really set a creepy atmosphere. As we went into sleep deprivation/gaming giddiness we could hear stange noises in the dark corners of the house and saw fleeting shapes when we made forays to the dark bathroom. Some lucky rolls and a little DM manipulation later, and the party was able to slay Strahd just as the sun was coming up outside. Definately one of the most memorable game sessions.
Not props, but it was winter when we did G2 Glacial Rift of the Frost Giants. For the first session, arriving at the rift and the outside parts I turned off the heat and opened the doors (this was in upstate NY, near Lake Ontario) and soon the house was almost as cold as outside, with a nice sound of wind howling. We played in heavy coats, hats, etc. We couldn't finish this in one session, and it was just too uncomfortable to keep doing, so the other sessions we played normal, but by then we were inside the ice caves so I had set the mood.
And I have to agree that the right miniatures are a great aid. The wrong miniatures are sometimes worse than none at all. I subbed some dogs once in place of zombies and it totally killed the suspension of disbelief. Even if you don't have the figures, you can print them out on paper and use them like counters. _________________ My campaigns are multilayered tapestries upon which I texture themes and subject matter which, quite frankly, would simply be too strong for your hobbyist gamer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mp7Ikko8SI
Ditto on the proper minis setting the proper atmosphere. I was running some Dwarf Rogues, and used two plastic WotC Dwarven Artificers for the minis. Of course, these minis look just like the Mario Bros.
It was pretty funny, with the PCs shouting to watch out for the spring attack, keep 'em away from the mushrooms, where's the coins, etc.
But it definitely broke the seriousness of the game at that point.
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