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The Dresden Files => DFRPG => Topic started by: Mr. Death on January 20, 2014, 03:46:44 PM
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Just out of curiosity, as I just started running a game with live people rather than online, what do you guys use for props? What I mean is, how do you represent fate points? Drawing out maps? Do you use miniatures for the characters?
I've taken to using poker chips for fate points, cards to sort of represent the characters (face up: In character; face down: Out of character), and I've picked up a dry erase board so I can draw out maps and such quickly.
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I come from a D20 background, so any time Ive got a table of meat-sacks with me I like to have something to draw out a map and move around minis/tokens, at least for combat scenes. Regardless of the system, I find it helps keep everyone on the same page. Cants say for DFRPG or Fate specific stuff, Ive never actually played one with live people.
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The white-board is a great idea. I use a white board to list any aspects for the scene: Campaign aspects; scene aspects; etc...
Players are more likely to use them if they remember they're there.
It's also good for scribbling out maps/zones and keeping track of foes and people's positions.
I like props: Newspaper clippings, hand-written notes etc...
I don't use mini's for DFRPG.
I like cards(mini character sheets) for each player with their aspects on them. I place the cards in order of initiative. If you laminate them, you can jot down temporary aspects.
I have beads or pennies for FP's and do the FP 'pool' for NPC's.
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My Fate Kit:
•White Board. I find this indispensable. It lets me track aspects, stress, doodle maps and zones, all in one place. $7 well spent.
•Markers. The white board is hard to use without it.
•6-Sided dice. I've got Fate dice, but before that I found that having sets in as many colors as I could helped keep things moving since everyone could roll at once. At least two colors for attack/defense.
•Bag of pennies. Cheapest counters I could find that my players didn't eat. And I like the whole metaphorical free Will thing being represented by money.
•Notebook and pens.
•If we aren't using digital character sheets (my group all has iPads or tablets), note cards to jot character sheets down on.
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I don't use a lot of stuff, but that whiteboard idea might just be something I'll get! Sounds a lot better than always tearing out new papers out of a legal pad to scrawl a crude map on!
I use coloured glass beads for Fate points, and a different colour to show any sponsor debt - watching that little pile grow really makes a player think about taking that extra - but when it's needed, it's needed... ;)
The only "special" thing I use is that I've made sort of mini-sheets, or memo-papers, for important NPC's. A5 sized, folded in the middle so they can stand like an open book. The "outside" has the characters name, a short description, and any aspects or other stuff the players know about this guy, all in a font readable from across the table; while the "inside" has my notes on him: Important skills, Powers, Aspects, details about how I've played him, etc. This lets me easily remind the players of who the person is, what they know about him, and the description is right there making him easier to visualize.
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We use small glass beads for fate-points.
Since my character is a wizard (she used to be a focused practitioner), who specializes in divination, I as a player also bring a Tarot-deck with me to every game. I don't use it as such, but I have used cards from the Major Arcana to describe the other characters.
For other games we use miniatures and a special laminated piece of cardboord with printed squares/hexes on which we can use dry-markers to draw maps.
For all games we use laminated note-card with the names of the players on to keep track of initiative in combat, and similar cards with numbers on or the text "Big Bad" for the enemies.
Then of course everyone have dice (the GM has spare Fate dice to use), and we use normal paper to write down stuff on. Like how much stress/consequences opponents have taken.
/Ulfgeir
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At my place of employment, we punch 2-3 inch flat circles in parts. For fun, I brought a bunch of them in and stunned everyone. I mean, they're big, they're shiny and they make a sound when they handed out or hit the table. People actually prefer them to the colored glass beads!
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I'm planning on getting a white board, but for now, I make do with flip-chart paper. It's big enough to draw maps and write down aspects and stress tracks, and you can always put up a second one next to it, if one isn't enough. I mark characters with pins I put into place, which is sort of making it a battle map. The added bonus is that the flip-chart paper is checkered, which makes it a bit tidier to use. Also, you can plan out maps on a college block and simply transfer it to the larger scale using the pattern.
I'm sort of dreaming of a white board with a mechanical pencil, so you can plan out things on the computer and plot them out on the board. You could still write on it afterwards, but you wouldn't have to worry about the primary design. Also, you could have lists of characters and simply let the computer write them down. Ah, if only. :D
I'm thinking about getting http://thenoteboard.com/ for when we are not playing at my place. It's a really cool idea. Also: http://www.wipebook.com/
I use Poker chips for Fate points as well. Though I have gad these blue plastic crystals (http://www.trollsdenterrain.com/productinfo.php?product=327) for a very long time, and I just found again, and I sort of want to use them now. Still, the poker chips are better, I think, as they are heavier, and they are easier to throw around at the table. If I got to play a bit more often, I would probably start to create a set of thematic things. Hexbags, Focus items, mystical coins, things like that.
I'm in need of more dice. I'm currently the only one with Fate dice, so the rest of the group uses D6. It's slowing the game down ever so slightly, and since I wanted to have a few of the kickstarter dice, I'm going to get them as soon as money allows.
Also, I have a stack of index cards to write down stuff that isn't important enough to put up for everyone, but still needs to be remembered.
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Here's what I have use as props.
3" x 5" index cards, these are used to write down temporary and/or scene Aspects. Once the Aspect is available in play, the card is folded so it stands up and can be scene. if the Aspect is used up/goes away, the card gets yanked.
For convention play (I regularly run DFRPG at Connecticon and some of the other conventions in the area) I've found it useful to have larger index cards with the characters name and Aspects written and standing up, so that all the players know who all the characters are, as well as everyone having a reminder of what everyone's character Aspects are.
For Fate counters, I have a couple of sets of plastic tokens which have (or had) runes painted on them.
Occasionally I will use a whiteboard to draw out a rough map of an area. However, I often also make use of an iPad and just show people an aerial photo of the area in question, since our game is set in the New Haven area of Connecticut.
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I use one big whiteboard for maps and meaningful scene aspects and a smaller white (pink, really :-*) board for initiative and combat statistics. A bunch of markers ("Where the hell is the black one?!"). Poker chips represent Fate Points.
We play in a big room without a table, lazily laying on a coach and chairs, so I have arranged the aspects of each player on sheets of paper and clipped the sheets on the opposite wall. So I and every willing player can easily take a look at the PC's aspects.
A laptop with external speakers for music background. Sheets of paper for notes. Obsidianportal for long-term notes. Various sites for name generators (I love to generate names). Googlemaps for the street view feature. One of my players uses Google Translate for spellcasting :)