Hello Everyone,
I am just getting into Pathfinder and I am DMing for my wife and 1st and 2nd grader. What kinds of props do you use to add extra flavor to your games?
I don't have any music, anything well recommended?
For dungeon
For wilderness
For town
I will list some of our props;
Battle Maps, soon to be replaced with Dwarven Forge Dungeon Tiles. I am also working on making some real tile based dungeon tiles but I need to get a wet tile saw first. =)
Glass beads, different colors, to represent money. Great for kids to learn to add and subtract.
Plastic gems.
Pathfinder item cards.
6"x4"x5" wood treasure chest. When they find a chest they get to use open the wooden one and see what is in there.
Red poker chips to represent hit points. I have not decided what to use the other colors for. Suggestions welcome.
Pathfinder Pawns. These are amazing! Right price, right size, great art, easy to store, easy to find.
Pathfinder miniatures for characters.
Condition cards to help keep things straight.
Critical Hit Deck to make them feel extra cool.
Critical Fumble Deck to keep them scared.
Laminated 4"x6" spell cards to represent spell books. (I wish Paizo made these.)
As a family we have fun making crafts and props along with playing the game.
Regards,
Braxon
You've got some good stuff. As far as music goes, I recommend Groveshark. If you get on their and search, you'll find an Ultimate RPG collection that has playlists already set up for a lot of different environments.
Where to begin...
-I use Warhammer miniature terrain, model train trees and bridges.
-I've crafted piles of treasure featuring gold coins, colored gems, and weapons.
-small wooden boxes and chests (dollar store variety)
-Condition cards
-cheep and gaudy rings, bracelets, necklaces, and other jewelry for magic items (the more gaudy the better, usually found at the dollar store)
-Halloween costume weapons such as swords, shields, axes, wands, staves (recently added Thor's hammer to the collection)
-Plastic gemstones
-Maps galore - usually handcrafted, but I'll print them from the computer onto brown packing paper if I'm in a hurry
-Glass gemstones
-Hollow display books with printed spell lists inside to represent found spell books
-Crafted scrolls stored in wooden tubes, held closed with leather straps
-Gamemaster coins
-Sound effects in the background, such as rain, waterfalls, urban markets, dripping water in caves, jungle sounds, night time sounds, etc. There are a lot of free sound effects to be found on the internet.
-Number stands (simple plastic stand with a number on it, which is placed beside opponents when there are hordes of enemies to keep track of)
Anytime I see something that could be used around the game table as a prop, I'll usually acquire it. The pay off is seeing my player's eyes go wide when they see a closed box and they want to know what's inside...
When I wonder if something is valuable as a prop, I always follow this idea:
Optimist: Glass is half full
Pessimist: Glass is half empty
Gamer: Glass has a liquid? I drink it, what happens?
I run games on roll20 (even in person) so the sky's the limit on visual aids and using the dynamic lighting feature for miniatures and maps.