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The Dresden Files => DFRPG => Topic started by: Grogtard on June 30, 2010, 12:59:12 AM
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I'm baaack!
Tokens are pretty handy to keep track of Fate Points during a game. I'm a big Savage Worlds fan and one thing that a lot of game masters do is used themed Bennies (much like Fate Points) tokens to add a little extra atmosphere to their games. Just take a gander at this thread over at the PEG Forums.
http://www.peginc.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=27302 (http://www.peginc.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=27302)
For my game I was thinking about getting a bunch of little skulls to use. An army of Bobs! Scary. Anybody else thinking along the same lines or have any other cool ideas to add a little extra atmosphere to their games.
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I bought a sack of Go stones to use personally. I have yet to think of any reason how I can use the black/white stones or make them different, but I like the feeling of being able to pick them up the way you pick up go stones between your index and middle fingers.
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I picked up a bunch of replica medieval coins at a local medieval market back in may - and these are what we use for our fate points...and they actually fit quite nicely in the "fate" point spot on the character sheet :) I'll see if I can't upload a pic of them when I get home.
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I just use Poker Chips from running Deadlands
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I picked up a bunch of replica medieval coins at a local medieval market back in may - and these are what we use for our fate points...and they actually fit quite nicely in the "fate" point spot on the character sheet :) I'll see if I can't upload a pic of them when I get home.
Hmmm. I wonder if anyone sells cheap replica denarii...say, of Augustus or Tiberius...
...no, that would just be evil. 8)
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I remember a Fate thread on rpg.net about running star wars with Fate. One suggestion was to use black and white (or red and blue) fate tokens. The white tokens are normal fate points, dealt with in the normal way. The black tokens were pit in the middle of the table, within easy reach for everybody. These were dark side points, and you could use as many of them as you wanted, absolutly no strings attached ;)
As for what I will use, it's not themed, but I have some really nice, well weighted poker chips. There's something amazingly satisfying about feeling the weight in your hands, clicking the chips together, and throwing them at players.
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Any time a game has some sort of extra point/dice option (Edge in MechWarrior, Drama in 7th Sea, Willpower in White Wolf, etc), the ideas hit the table and we see what we have on hand. Normally we resort to decks of cards, but we try to spice it up a bit more.
When If I get a group together for Dresden, the following thematic options are open to me:
-- Poker Chips (classic, and with the cheap set I have, I could paint some of the random sigils on them)
-- Old Futhark Rune Set (some "vanished" during my last move)
-- Incomplete Tarot Card Deck (don't ask)
-- Beer bottle caps or soda tabs (tell me that it's not fitting for a Dresden game when the guy always drinks Mac's Ale and cans of Coke)
-- Coins from a coin jar (because how many times has he had to scrape the bottom of his pockets for things?)
Given time, I could probably make up a new set of runes/sigils/symbols as token size. I also have a few bags of stones (machined bits and natural chunks of stone), various CCG decks (ranging from Magic: The Gathering to 7th Sea), and I think we have some old Halloween lights floating around.
I've also been kicking around the idea of using chess pieces (pawns, primarily) in various games. Not AS fitting for Dresden, but with enough of the Sidhe, White Council, White Court and general bureaucracy milling around, it may be fitting. That, and it makes a "King of the Moment" scene that much easier to crown.
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From Fire Mountain Gems (makers of jewelry items)
1" Replica Chinese coins. They will be light though, brass plated aluminum
40 of them will cost you about $8 plus shipping.
http://www.firemountaingems.com/details.asp?PN=H203624FN
These are brass so would feel more like real coins even though they are only 3/4".
Also $8 for 40.
http://www.firemountaingems.com/details.asp?PN=H203625FN
Gold plated brass 3/4" Roman replica coins, $5.24 for 50.
http://www.firemountaingems.com/details.asp?PN=H208683FD
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The Game Crafter has metallic painted plastic dubloons (https://www.thegamecrafter.com/dubloon), for the lazy/cheap of us. They've got tokens that fit printed stickers, too.
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I use bullet casings as plot points for Supernatural and Serenity. Not sure what I'm going to do for my dresden game yet... but its coming up so I need to figure it out soon. lol.
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The idea's already been bounced around on the boards. Let's see if I can find that thread....
AH! here it is.
http://www.jimbutcheronline.com/bb/index.php/topic,17533.0.html (http://www.jimbutcheronline.com/bb/index.php/topic,17533.0.html)
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I read the other thread and It seems they are going for poker chips. I like the Denarian spin.
http://www.firemountaingems.com/details.asp?PN=H208726FD
Silver roman coin.
Any other ideas?
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I use these http://www.save-on-crafts.com/cobaltgems.html (http://www.save-on-crafts.com/cobaltgems.html)
They are cheap, easy to get hold of and they look nice when used as fate points or, when I first bought them, as life tokens in Magic:The Gathering (three different colours to represent 1, 5 and 20 life).
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A company called Dragonfire Laser Crafts does lots of custom etching/engraving/woodburning and they love doing work for gaming stuff. The guy who owns the company is a being Living Arcanis/Chronicles of Shattered Empires nut and did a ton of stuff for that campaign. www.dragonfirelaser.com is the website, could probably get a set of tokens cheaply.
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I use these http://www.save-on-crafts.com/cobaltgems.html (http://www.save-on-crafts.com/cobaltgems.html)
They are cheap, easy to get hold of and they look nice when used as fate points or, when I first bought them, as life tokens in Magic:The Gathering (three different colours to represent 1, 5 and 20 life).
Walmart sells those pretty cheapy.
Litko Aerosystems has some interesting tokens in plastic (skulls and the like).
http://www.litkoaero.com/
For my own game I cast a set of Futhark Runes out of plaster for my Scion of Thor character, total time was just a few hours. Cost me about $1.00 in plaster and paint as well as a couple or three hours of time, about half of which was spent watching TV while I base coated everything. Unfortunately I don't have a decent camera, so all I have is a few webcam pics of one next to my Ipod Shuffle for size comparison and a shot of the set.
(http://offramp.endofinternet.net/Pic1.jpg)
(http://offramp.endofinternet.net/Pic2.jpg)
(http://offramp.endofinternet.net/Pic3.jpg)
(http://offramp.endofinternet.net/Pic4.jpg)
I tried something new with these (using Play-Doh right out of the can for molds), it worked well; each piece is slightly concave and is irregular enough that they look hand carved instead of the uniform manufactured look I'd have gotten if I'd used a rubber mold.
For those of you looking for an easier project, stop by Walmart. You can pick up a pound of Sculpey for about $6 and a couple tubes of acrylic paint for $1 each. Sculpey is modeling clay that you work just like any other clay until you dry it in the oven for a bit. I used Sculpey to make the master blank rune for my plaster castings.
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Very cool CableRouter, very very cool.
And yeah, I bought them from a £1 shop (a shop where almost everything is just £1, I don't know what Americans would call them) and there was about 50 in the tub. You can get them at pretty much any place where they sell cheap items. You can also get them in pet stores that sell fish because they are sometimes used to line the bottom of tanks. Either way they're pretty handy and it's nice to have a shiny pile of fate in front of you :)
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Very cool CableRouter, very very cool.
Thanks, I'm thinking about doing some for other players.
Iching would be interesting, but 64 is a pretty big set, might be useful for a GM bag of tokens for an entire group though. I could always do two sets of 8, one draw from each set would give one of the standard 64 symbols. Egyptian hieroglyphics would be good as well.
Anyone have any other good ideas for a set of symbols on fate tokens?
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Thanks, I'm thinking about doing some for other players.
Iching would be interesting, but 64 is a pretty big set, might be useful for a GM bag of tokens for an entire group though. I could always do two sets of 8, one draw from each set would give one of the standard 64 symbols. Egyptian hieroglyphics would be good as well.
Anyone have any other good ideas for a set of symbols on fate tokens?
Most of the symbols I've been considering would really be more thematic in nature based upon the character. You've done a good job with the rune for your Scion of Thor, and I-ching would be an interesting way to go as well.
I was considering tossing some kanji (Chinese characters) onto stones, using characters fitting to the elements or themes of the characters/game. The idea of having some small Ofuda scrolls seemed to be amusing for an ectomancer/exorcist.
Ogham "runes" wouldn't be a bad idea either, as they are relatively simple to write.
The symbols in the margins of the books would be fitting, as well as trees, snowflakes, flames, fangs, swords, crosses, paws, claw marks, the sun and moon. . .
Plenty of symbols are "fitting" for the Dresdenverse. I think it just really depends on how much work and effort you want to put into it.
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I'm not a fan of the books, but how about the elemental ambigrams from... Angels&Demons? Davinci Code? I can't remember which of them they were from and I don't care enough to look. I did find a picture though.
(http://imgur.com/VK1P7.jpg)
They might be a little complicated, but they look pretty cool and, of course, you can turn the tokens upside down and still be able to read them :)
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The symbols in the margins of the books would be fitting, as well as trees, snowflakes, flames, fangs, swords, crosses, paws, claw marks, the sun and moon. . .
Debating on creating mine from the books.... Not sure how much time Id have to do the project though.
How sturdy is the play-dough after drying? Will it hold up to a 4ft drop?
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Debating on creating mine from the books.... Not sure how much time Id have to do the project though.
How sturdy is the play-dough after drying? Will it hold up to a 4ft drop?
I actually didn't use play-dough. I actually picked up a form of sculpey from a craft store and made some smaller (bit bigger than my thumbnail and around half as thick as a finger) futhark runes out of it. They've withstood many moves and some general weekly/bi-weekly "practice" over the course of six or so years, so I'd think they are pretty durable. I gifted that set to a student I was mentoring, and he's still using them without issues last I heard.
So. . .yeah, pretty durable. I don't think the kids play stuff is going to cut it, though.
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Debating on creating mine from the books.... Not sure how much time Id have to do the project though.
How sturdy is the play-dough after drying? Will it hold up to a 4ft drop?
I only used Play-Doh as a mold for casting in plaster (which I normally use for Hirst Arts dungeon stuff http://www.hirstarts.com/ (http://www.hirstarts.com/)). The plaster I use is Hydrostone, it's a mix of Plaster of Paris and Portland Cement, which gives it a hard surface and a compressive strength greater than Quickcrete. The cement also gives it a fair amount of water resistance once dry so it won't soak up paint like a sponge. I buy the stuff in 50 pound bags from a local casting supply place for about 50 cents a pound.
Regular Plaster of Paris would also work, it's pretty tough once completely dry and small pieces like fate chips should easily survive drops from table height. The really good thing about plaster is how cheap it is, I cast a complete set of 24 runes and a couple of blank spares for lost pieces for roughly $1, including paint.
If you want simple, use Sculpey clay. You work it like Play-Doh and dry it in the oven, it's got a bit of give to it so it should hold up well to drops. I just went in the kitchen (the floor is fake wood tile over concrete) and did a test with a piece about 2" x 1" x 1/3" I had from an earlier project; 5 drops from 6' and then I bounced it off the ceiling onto the floor, not a chip or crack.
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If you're feeling cruel, make your Fate points M&Ms or jelly beans. And enforce the "If you eat your fate point, it's gone forever!" rule.
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If you're feeling cruel, make your Fate points M&Ms or jelly beans. And enforce the "If you eat your fate point, it's gone forever!" rule.
You monster! How could you be so cruel! :-p
Honestly, in a pinch, sure, but implementing some of the ideas my friends and I have used in the past with a "pool" of points/chips/dice and having the bowl of M&Ms in the center to be the pool. . .yeah, that's all kinds of cruel, and that doesn't include what happens in game ^_~
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If Evil Hat is considering making and marketing these things, I vote for the pentagram design from the Character sheet. $10 seems about right, but I'd pay up to $15 for a pack of 40 poker-chip-ish tokens with that design.
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If Evil Hat is considering making and marketing these things, I vote for the pentagram design from the Character sheet. $10 seems about right, but I'd pay up to $15 for a pack of 40 poker-chip-ish tokens with that design.
For about 40-50 chips, Id spend about 15 bucks...
I'd like to see a couple of different sets....
1 of all the magical symbols in the RPG books
another of just pentagrams on one side and Denarii on the other....
Winter Symbol and a Summer symbol...
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For about 40-50 chips, Id spend about 15 bucks...
Someone on the forums tracked down a site that does custom poker chips, the costs for a full design on the chip was about about $25 for 40 chips
with a 500 chip minimum. For about 25 cents you could expect maybe a peel off label on the back of a walmart plastic poker chip (the kind that are
about $2.99 for a set of a hundred). ;D
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Someone on the forums tracked down a site that does custom poker chips, the costs for a full design on the chip was about about $25 for 40 chips
with a 500 chip minimum. For about 25 cents you could expect maybe a peel off label on the back of a walmart plastic poker chip (the kind that are
about $2.99 for a set of a hundred). ;D
true, but I was not looking for a high quality poker chip... just some thing relatively cool looking but not too expensive.
Also for those poker chips you need 11 people to go in on it with you....
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huh I got an idea... anyone know where I can find that pentacle on the character sheet minus the (current fate points) text? There are some symbols under the writing I'd like to snag.
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huh I got an idea... anyone know where I can find that pentacle on the character sheet minus the (current fate points) text? There are some symbols under the writing I'd like to snag.
Those are simply characters from the Zhayad font.
Just do a google search for zhayad ttf, and you should find a download somewhere.
Which doesn't help you in determining which symbols they are exactly... but since nobody knows it doesn't really matter, does it? *g*
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I wonder if there are words buried in the 'current fate point' circle, or if there are some hidden in the symbols down the side of the page. The few pages I've checked are just P Q R S T etc but it wouldn't surprise me if they'd hidden an easter egg or two.