Turn of a Friendly Die: WISH 17: Props
How do you use props in your game? Give three examples, and discuss why you use them. What do they bring to the game? Are there any downsides to using them? For those who do convention games, are there differences between the props you use in campaigns and the props you use for con rounds?
The only props I’ve made real use of are maps, both A3 hand-drawn ones for face-to-face games, and electronic ones (drawn using Campaign Cartographer) for my on-line games.
This is an example, the city of Filgeth, used on my Dreamlyrics game, KLR.
I’ve also drawn quick tactical maps of interiors of buildings to help with fight scenes from time to time.
I find maps useful in visualising the setting of the game. I know one group that believes you shouldn’t try to map the city in a city-based game, on the grounds that it limits things; I find the opposite is true; having a map defined seems to generate ideas. The biggest downside is simply that they take a lot of time to prepare – someone commented about my A3 city map (which goes down to individual building level) “This is the work of someone with too much time on their hands!”.
I haven’t made great use of props other than maps. I’ve never used minatures in games I’ve GMed, although I’ve played in many with minatures, including loads of resin castings of furniture.
That infamous tape of Ümläüt doesn’t count – although it was inspired by a game, it’s never been used within the game itself.
