On the lookout for props from your local area

[Blackhawk]

I'm not sure where to put this. It's about a game, but not about game stuff. It isn't really a trade, just a favor.

Anyway, I'm getting ready to run an RPG campaign set in a variation of our own world. When I ran this kind of thing before, I wrote my content to take advantage of real world locations and items I had from those locations. I'm not talking about anything elaborate or anything with a cost here. I'm talking about bus schedules, fliers or receipts local businesses, subway/train schedules or maps, tickets from busses or subways, keycards from local hotels, that sort of thing. Maps of local attractions. The kind of thing that you can drop on the table as props or as the clue they found rifling through somebody's luggage. You found this receipt! You found this ticket stub! It's the kind of stuff that local people toss out, the stuff that's free at the subway station. Use your imagination!

I'm particularly interested in stuff from major cities - Chicago, NYC, Philly, San Francisco, the Pacific Northwest, or other cities in between. Unique locales would be great, too. Obviously overseas stuff would be great, but I couldn't afford the shipping most likely.

If anyone has this kind of thing lying around and would be willing to stuff a bunch into an envelope and mail it, I would gladly reimburse you for the shipping. Obviously I can't afford to do this for two dozen different people, though.

[hitbyambulance]

i could handle the Seattle area for you - i've got some ideas. (also, this is the ideal situation for mailing stuff via USPS 'media mail')

[wonderpug]

How soon are you hoping to start your campaign? I probably have a bunch of Boston stuff buried, as well as possibly some stuff from some international travels that'd work, but I'd have to do some digging around.

[LawBeefaroni]

I'll see what I can put together. Unfortunately subway/bus tickets are pretty much a thing of the past here but I'm sure there's a lot of other local ephemera to be found.

[hentzau]

I'll see what I can put together. Unfortunately subway/bus tickets are pretty much a thing of the past here but I'm sure there's a lot of other local ephemera to be found.

Let me check and see if I have any Ventra passes around.

Ooh. Should get you an American Science and Surplus catalog. You'd have fun just looking through that one.

[Isgrimnur]

Ooh. Should get you an American Science and Surplus catalog. You'd have fun just looking through that one.

Those are mailed to me.

[hentzau]

Ooh. Should get you an American Science and Surplus catalog. You'd have fun just looking through that one.

Those are mailed to me.

Their store is like a mile from my house. Such a fun place to spend a half an hour going "I have no need for a set of surgical clamps, but..."

[AWS260]

PM me your address. I'm sure I can come up with a few things.

[Daehawk]

I thought people used media mail for everything

[Jaymon]

I have some stuff for you, if you like

gas and restaurant receipts from Washington, Oregon, and Arizona.
Airport parking receipt Portland
fed ex shipping receipt corvalis oregon

And some exotic stuff.
Taj Mahal entry stub
Hotel receipt, gurgaon india
resturaunt reciept, hong kong airport

[Blackhawk]

i could handle the Seattle area for you - i've got some ideas. (also, this is the ideal situation for mailing stuff via USPS 'media mail')

That would be awesome, thank you.

How soon are you hoping to start your campaign? I probably have a bunch of Boston stuff buried, as well as possibly some stuff from some international travels that'd work, but I'd have to do some digging around.

Probably 6-8 weeks, and a few weeks more before I'd actually need most of the props.

Unfortunately subway/bus tickets are pretty much a thing of the past here but I'm sure there's a lot of other local ephemera to be found.

Yeah, I was afraid of that. I've yet to ever ride a subway (or any other form of commuter train.) I've never lived in a place that had either.

Ooh. Should get you an American Science and Surplus catalog. You'd have fun just looking through that one.

Ordereded.

Their store is like a mile from my house. Such a fun place to spend a half an hour going "I have no need for a set of surgical clamps, but..."

You mean miniature clamps, right?

I have some stuff for you, if you like

gas and restaurant receipts from Washington, Oregon, and Arizona.
Airport parking receipt Portland
fed ex shipping receipt corvalis oregon

And some exotic stuff.
Taj Mahal entry stub
Hotel receipt, gurgaon india
resturaunt reciept, hong kong airport

Sure! That would be great.

[Blackhawk]

Thanks, everyone. Last time I used this system I was working in Reno. I still have a bunch of stuff I collected then: room key cards (red, yellow, and blue), players' club cards that were abandoned, evidence bags, evidence stickers, blank police reports, a few stills from black & white security cameras, even a discarded mug shot or two.

Like I said, I'd be happy to pay shipping. Just toss it in via the cheap option and it'll still be here in plenty of time.

[Isgrimnur]

Their store is like a mile from my house. Such a fun place to spend a half an hour going "I have no need for a set of surgical clamps, but..."

You mean miniature clamps, right?

All sorts of clamps.

[MHS]

I'll be traveling to Gallup and Las Cruces NM, and Jackson MS in the next 3 weeks and could pick up maps from the rental car companies, the attraction brochures they keep in hotels and anything else I see that's location specific. Unfortunately, hotel keycards are all generic now. I also have casino player cards from all over the US. PM me your address if any of those would be of interest to you.

[Jeff V]

Let me check and see if I have any Ventra passes around.

You mean something that isn't the app?

You made me look though, but as I suspected, such artifacts have long been used or discarded.

[Default]

I had a Philly parking ticket book around here, not sure if I still do, but I will take a look. I can always send you Tastykakes and Goldenberg's Peanut Chews.

[Blackhawk]

Oops

[Blackhawk]

Just got a package in the mail, which included a visitor's map to the Louvre along with a business card from a hotel in Paris, a couple of pamphlets from Ho Chi Minh city, an airline boarding pass, and an assortment of other bits and pieces. Given that France and southeast Asia are directly involved in the game, those are going to be perfect. There wasn't a single piece that I can't think of a use for.

And I hadn't even considered business cards. It's so obvious, and so easy to work in.

[Jaymon]

restaurant receipt from hong kong airport, and ticket stub from taj mahal are in the mail.

[Drazzil]

Portland OR here. I'll go hunting for you. Tell me what you need and I'll get it.

[Rumpy]

This sounds interesting. Kind of like Clue but on a wider scale? Give a shout if you're ever into doing a Canadian version. I have plenty of stuff I could send from my area such as shattercones from our meteor crater.

[Blackhawk]

restaurant receipt from hong kong airport, and ticket stub from taj mahal are in the mail.

It arrived today, and much like the previous set, some of it was spot-on. Thank you!

This sounds interesting. Kind of like Clue but on a wider scale? Give a shout if you're ever into doing a Canadian version. I have plenty of stuff I could send from my area such as shattercones from our meteor crater.

Well, it's a tabletop pen-and-paper RPG, Torg Eternity. It's an updated version of the West End Games Torg that made waves in the early 90s. Shane Hensley, creator of Savage Worlds, is one of the designers.

The premise is that it takes place on our earth during an invasion by a number of other 'cosms' (worlds), each led by a High Lord. Each one carries its own reality (laws of nature governing technology, social development, magic, and spirituality) with it, and when it invades an area, it's rules as to what is possible take precedence over our own. In a low tech area, for instance, our technology stops working as the materials are considered impossible by that world. Cars rust in days. Buildings crumble in weeks. Local creatures (including people) quickly transform into versions of themselves that fit the new reality.

Much of the US is under the influence of the Living Land, sort of a primitive Lost World replete with dinosaurs, primitive humans, and fanatical reptilian people. Spirituality is through the roof, but tech is incredibly primitive, an social development doesn't go far beyond 'follow the strongest.'

France is the Cyberpapacy, sort of a cross between classic cyberpunk and a fundamentalist theocracy that would give the inquisition a run for its money, controlling the populace through the GodNet while runners fight back in secret and real witches are burned at the stake.

Western Europe was taken over by a classic, good-vs-evil fantasy reality. Magic and spiritual powers work just fine. Tech? Not so much.

India was invaded by Orrorsh, a Victorian horror reality where vampires and werewolves roam the streets while a psuedo-British Empire came across to help us defend ourselves.

Eastern Asia is a near-future, high-tech world where massive corporations compete with the Yakuza in a gritty setting of street-level violence coupled with corporate conspiracies while an (apparently) bio-engineered infectious disease is spread by a creature that seems to be a cross between a zombie and an Asian vampire.

The Middle East is the Nile Empire, a world where the pulp serials of the 30s-50s come to life. Pharoah Mobius leads shock troops that echo the Third Reich while heroic adventurers, mad scientists, and superheroes without real super powers fight back. Here is Indiana Jones and The Mummy mixed with The Rocketeer and The Phantom against a semi-WWII backdrop.

Russia saw the invasions happening elsewhere and decided to respond with force, launching a nuke at the invaders' bridge when it landed in Moscow. The effect was wildly multiplied and turned much of Russia into a wasteland. Now it is a cross between Mad Max and the cybernetic demons that were behind the original invasion. The whole thing looks like a dark version of a late 80s metal album cover.

The players are the rare few that have a special tie to their own reality. Instead of being forcibly transformed when crossing the boundary between cosms, they are able to hold on to what they are, and, by extension, are able to make their gear and abilities function. That means that a typical party might include a former school teacher from Cincinnati turned freedom fighter, a career soldier whose unit got wiped out in the invasion, an Indy-style pulp adventurer, a primitive from the Living Land, and a cybernetically enhanced witch on the run from the Cyberpapacy. An adventure might start off in our world, say in Arizona, as they investigate a rumor of two factions working together. A clue (perhaps a map o the Louvre?) leads them to Paris, in the Cyberpapacy where they track down their target. She tells them (after some amount of effort) that she was hired to steal a famous piece from the Louvre, which she delivered to her contact in Tokyo. The get there deal with some local problem to gain an ally in the Yakuza to protect them from a powerful corporation that's trying to kill them while they search for their target - only to find him murdered. On his person they find a receipt from New Delhi and a ticket to the Taj Mahal, leading them into the heart of Orrorsh where they board a train in New Delhi only to find that the corporation from Tokyo has hired local assassins...

That's just off the top of my head, but you get the idea. Every session or two would likely have a very different experience, from real-world investigation and action in our world to high-tech intrigue and paranoia in France to violent action in the criminal underworld in Tokyo to horror in India. The hints from Arizona, the map of the Louvre, the receipt from New Delhi, and the Taj Mahal ticket are all from this thread. And since it is a tabletop RPG, you write your own content. There is nowhere in the world that isn't available.

[AWS260]

So Sub-Saharan Africa and Australia are the last bastions of modern human civilization? I'm here for it.

[Blackhawk]

In the latest updates (they show how the war progresses as time passes), the Cyberpapacy has progressed out of France and set down a second invasion in South America, so yeah. Pretty much.

In fact, here is a google map showing the invasion areas. The ziggurat icons represent the bridges where the initial invasion took place, and the reality started spreading fro there into triangular areas prepared in advance to contain it.

[Rumpy]

That's just off the top of my head, but you get the idea. Every session or two would likely have a very different experience, from real-world investigation and action in our world to high-tech intrigue and paranoia in France to violent action in the criminal underworld in Tokyo to horror in India. The hints from Arizona, the map of the Louvre, the receipt from New Delhi, and the Taj Mahal ticket are all from this thread. And since it is a tabletop RPG, you write your own content. There is nowhere in the world that isn't available.

Ok, that sounds fascinating. I'm not into tabletop rpgs, but if I were this would probably be right up my alley.

[Blackhawk]

It's great to be able to switch genres whenever things start to get stale while still keeping the same characters, and to be able to mix genres (like taking an M-16 up against a troll, or a tank against a dinosaur, or a cybernetically enhanced street samurai up against a militia group in rural America.)

And while it is our world it all takes place on, it isn't quite "our" world. It is our world, but with a slight edge toward action, where heroes can still shine. It's the world where films like Mission: Impossible, Die Hard, the Bourne films, or National Treasure could take place.