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GameMastery Guide / Running a Game / How to Run a Game / The Art of GMing / Presentation

Handouts and Props

Source GameMastery Guide pg. 30
Handouts are extremely valuable for two reasons: they give players information about the adventure, and they are tangible, focusing attention on that information in a way that just saying it doesn’t. Whatever information you put on that handout is information that the party is more likely to pay attention to or act on, simply because it’s sitting in front of them. So write or sketch that diary entry, cargo manifest, treasure map, ambassador’s report, or shopping list for the golem artificer. If the players can’t figure out the story hook hidden in it, give them some Knowledge rolls to help them along, but know that every handout you spend time on will almost always pay dividends at the game table.

Fun, authentic-looking handouts are quite easy to make. For an old treasure map, for instance, try dipping white, unruled paper in coffee to make it resemble parchment, then drawing on it when it dries. You can also crumple it up a few times, tear and tatter the edges, and even smear a little dirt or ash on it. Other options include the following:

Rolling up paper to make a scroll (and decorating a cardboard paper towel roll as a scroll case)
Writing “TRAPPED WITH GLYPHS” on the scroll presented above, to punish incautious players
Tearing a handout in half, so the PCs have to find both pieces
Writing in a foreign language or unusual font to represent the need for read magic
Using an image or replica of a real medieval manuscript page (with your text in English on a separate page)
Using real parchment or shell gold to make a fancy proclamation

Props are much the same sort of thing, but taken to broader ideas. Old pennies or just metal slugs can be put into a dice bag and thrown on the table for a solid thud when the party is offered 200 gp for the job. You can show a wand, crystal ball, staff, or dagger when you play the part of certain NPCs; likewise with hats. And best of all are the “real treasure” props. Throw down an old necklace to represent the Medallion of Rozxanatan the God-Smiter; if you have some costume jewelry with glass or paste gemstones, that usually does the trick.

In general, props are worth digging out for artifacts, for special NPC audiences that you know are coming up, and for particular impact with players who might be a bit jaded or easily distracted. One or two props per game sessions is plenty; you don’t need to turn into an amateur magician just to make a point.

Archives of Nethys

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Handouts and Props