ninja24 Posted January 31, 2011 Report Share Posted January 31, 2011 Hello everyone! I had some questions I was hoping to get some help with. Some friends and I have just started playing the Fantasy Hero game but are not newbies, we have been playing the Champions version for some time. We wanted this to be an even more in-depth playing experience this time around, and as such we wanted to get more props and things for our board to deepen the experience. Currently we play on one of those giant 1" hex grid mats, and we normally use dry erase markers to draw everything out... however, this is a little on the lame side. We wanted to start using props and more realistic looking items to better the experience. We wanted to buy (or make!) trees and mountains and houses and etc etc etc. On to the question: What experience do you guys have in either purchasing materials or pre-made stuff that would help us out? We recently visited a few hobby shops and just for a bag of trees from the Warhammer set, it was like 35 dollars. I don't think I want to pay that much for just trees. We are open to making our own props but we would need some kind of direction. On a side note, we may also attempt making markers of some kind for things like: summoned minions, weakened defenses, entangled enemies etc. We were thinking of using different colored paper and laminating it so they can have numbers and things drawn on them and placed under the units they effect. Any helpful tips on this front as well if you have them? Perhaps a better way that we didn't think of? Anyway, sorry for the long post. Hopefully you can point us in some kind of direction. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevlyn Posted January 31, 2011 Report Share Posted January 31, 2011 Re: Fantasy game props You might try a hobby store, one that sells train sets may have pre-made terrain. The other thing you can do is visit with some of the warhammer players and see if they might be willing to show you how to make terrain. Trees dont have to be fancy, you can often use pipe cleaners twisted into the shape you desire. Then it can be mounted to a piece of cardboard for the base. From there, at least back when I played warhammer, you can buy flocking and grass to create the leaves and decorate the base for the tree. Just depends on how much time you want to invest in building terrain. It can be a time consuming, but rewarding, effort. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Obvious Posted January 31, 2011 Report Share Posted January 31, 2011 Re: Fantasy game props Go to RPGnow.com and check out their paper terrain. Cheap and good looking. Worldworks Games has some especially good stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mayapuppies Posted January 31, 2011 Report Share Posted January 31, 2011 Re: Fantasy game props Go to RPGnow.com and check out their paper terrain. Cheap and good looking. Worldworks Games has some especially good stuff. Fat Dragon as well Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BarretWallace Posted January 31, 2011 Report Share Posted January 31, 2011 Re: Fantasy game props Have you ever used the Campaign Cartographer suite of programs (www.profantasy.com)? You could use that to make and print battle maps to any scale desired. The Dioramas add-on lets you map out a building (or whatever) and then print a foldable version, and Character Artist can be used to generate markers for monsters, characters, treasure, etc. 'Tis a thought. I have barely scratched the surface of these programs, but enjoy them thoroughly. And of course they cost money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted January 31, 2011 Report Share Posted January 31, 2011 Re: Fantasy game props For temporary stuff, don't overlook LEGO constructions. Really handy if the 3-d aspect is needed, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teh bunneh Posted January 31, 2011 Report Share Posted January 31, 2011 Re: Fantasy game props Warhammer terrain is really expensive (in fact, Warhammer everything is expensive!). Find a hobby shop that sells model trains; you'll find bags of trees that cost way less than the Warhammer stuff. HO scale is pretty close to most miniatures; you can find plenty of houses, buildings, and other types of terrain in that scale (O scale is even closer, if you can find it). If you've got money to burn, Miniature Building Authority makes some fantastic buildings in the proper scale. Pre-assembled and pre-painted, they're rugged and can take a lot of abuse. I've got a ton of buildings, but I'm completely blanking on who makes them... arg. I'll think of it eventually, I'm sure. They're more of a DYI -- less expensive than MBA, but you have to assemble and paint them yourself. They're also very rugged. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LordGhee Posted February 1, 2011 Report Share Posted February 1, 2011 Re: Fantasy game props last year I ran a Musketeer game which I painted up some figures. I found at Michaels hobby stores sets of stuff from safari ltd toob toys. I use 28m and 25mm figures (old domion, bule moon and foundry). The toobs set where the farm set, the horse set and the tree set. with a box turn into the Inn of the dancing pig http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u42/LordGhee/Musketeer/DSC00784.jpg The Duc du Orleans coach arrives (with bland (unpainted attackers) http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u42/LordGhee/Musketeer/DSC00785.jpg Pothos (the father of the one in the book) sargent of the Musketeers fight the bland villians by picking table up (he under the block which was table fences ect) and throwing it a villians on fence. notice the wenches and the toob dog (trusty the wonderdog) at fence and the dancing pig above door. http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u42/LordGhee/Musketeer/DSC00786.jpg The toob tubes where about ten bucks and now they have double size ones. and for your pulp goodness the toob set Ancient Egypt toob is just great. muu ahaha. google sarfi ltd toobs Lord Ghee Look above the door- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phookz Posted February 2, 2011 Report Share Posted February 2, 2011 Re: Fantasy game props These are all papercraft, so once you have the files you can make as many copies as you like for relatively cheap. Some of the photos I've seen of this are pretty amazing. Note: some of these are sci-fi, not fantasy, but I've included them for completeness. http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php/80874-Cardstock-Papercraft-Scenery-and-Miniatures?highlight=papercraft http://www.worldworksgames.com/store/index.php <-- Impressive stuff! http://www.heroscapers.com/community/showthread.php?t=22469 <-- There are some links in this forum http://www.icebergbouwplaten.nl/links5.html http://www.microtactix.com/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lethosos Posted February 8, 2011 Report Share Posted February 8, 2011 Re: Fantasy game props If you know where to look, Mageknights Dungeons is not a bad choice for a dungeon setting. You'd have to adjust for the plates being at, what, 1.5" square?, but they do have interesting props that go with it as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkdguy Posted February 9, 2011 Report Share Posted February 9, 2011 Re: Fantasy game props Another thing you can do is get a catalogue from those companies that sell knives. They usually have a fantasy sword section. You can show the pictures to the players when their characters find a magic sword. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sketchpad Posted February 9, 2011 Report Share Posted February 9, 2011 Re: Fantasy game props I also would recommend looking at SJGames Cardboard Heroes line ... I think they have some cardboard castles that you can buy As an aside ... I still have a ton of Mage Knight stuff, including the Dungeons packs ... one of these days I may actually use them too ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Midas Posted February 9, 2011 Report Share Posted February 9, 2011 Re: Fantasy game props Also, you just missed the after Christmas sales of "Chrismas Village Decor." I've bought many props at 50%: Trees (pine, of course), roads,RR & street signs. It is rare, but I have seen Easter Village props. If you want to skip the life size rabbits and egg shaped houses, there are still things like fences, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlHazred Posted February 10, 2011 Report Share Posted February 10, 2011 Re: Fantasy game props I recently started trying again to use sound effects in my games. I think it can lead to a more immersive experience, especially if you can use subtle sound cues to build tension or give nonverbal cues to the players. I'm thinking the villain of the piece, who seems perfectly reasonable, should have his own "theme sound" so that I can use that to elicit tension from the characters. Many years ago at GenCon, I picked up the Toxic Bag Productions' The Game Masters Collection set of sound effects clips, along with their Battles CD. I've used them before, so I can speak to the quality of the recordings -- they're great! Clean and crisp, and designed to be loopable. But you don't have to spend any money to get started. The Freesound Project aims to create a database of sounds licensed under the Creative Commons license. They've got over a hundred thousand sound bites in there now, covering a wide range of user-generated clips. Then, all you need is a program to set up your sound environments. I started a thread to cover mine (and, hopefully, other people's) investigations into these resources. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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