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Though I am no great cartographer, I love making and using props for table top and internet games. It doesn't matter how gifted a storyteller you are as a GM, no amount of wordsmithing a description will be as powerful as giving the players something tactile that they can hold and examine. Letters, memos, and notes are probably the easiest things to make for this. They help breakdown the wall between the player and the character because the player is physically interacting with the same things their character are. Here are a couple of my favorites from games I've run on here. While not as powerful as handing a player a printout across the table, they work well online too because the little details they contain give the sense that the world the note is coming from really exists even if you as the GM haven't written down novels worth of world building.   Cover sheets for folders accomplish the same thing. Especially when doing a game where the characters are a part of the government, military, or a corporation of some sort because it's a subtle reminder of the bureaucratic minutia attached to even the baddest of bad asses. The best part is that you can just staple them to an envelope or folder and use them again and again. Or, for the most realistic usage, drop them in a powerpoint to brief the characters with.  From time to time I would also create fake newscasts. Obviously these aren't really suited for a table, but they are easy to throw together and give the players a sense that there is more to the world then what they've seen in the game.  Lastly, something that's had great success for me both online and around the table is creating awards for the players. I've run a lot of military themed games so it was easy to rip off a military style medal system to reward the players for in character action. Just print theme off, glue them to some card stock, and award them at the end of a campaign arc. I like these a lot, and made a whole mess of individual ribbons that I could jam together into a rack via gimp or PS. 
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Jan 17, 2015 04:08
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| # ¿ May 17, 2024 02:06 |
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