Props -Coins or Tokens

Alatheon
Alatheon
edited October 2010 in General Discussion
In my "campaign":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/dragonbone-kingdoms I award players "Action Points":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaign/dragonbone-kingdoms/wikis/action-points for all kinds of things, and I think it would be fun to use some sort of physical coin or chit to represent them.

I know GameMastery makes campaign coins, but those are a little pricey for the number that you get. Does anyone have any suggestions for something that would be distinctive, but not outrageously espensive?

Comments

  • JimTriche
    JimTriche
    Posts: 483
    Yard Sale Color stickers on nickels?
  • Duskreign
    Duskreign
    Posts: 1,085
    The absolute best solution, in my overweight opinion, is gold foil-covered chocolate coins. When they spend the AP, they get to eat the coin. Edible props = win.
  • Curufea
    Curufea
    Posts: 161
    I'm in favour of Smarties, M&Ms or Skittles for these as well. Edible gives the added metagaming dilemma of - "eat or use, eat ... or ... use/// "
    Although sultanas, raisins or nicer kinds of nuts (cashews, pistachio etc) could be used as well.

    The boxed set of the Doctor Who game (DWAITAS) actually comes with a bunch of cardboard tokens to use for this. But if I ever do face to face for it, I'd prefer to use food.
  • RaseCidraen
    RaseCidraen
    Posts: 890
    ...If you get your players in the habit of eating their AP, then you switch to cardboard tokens...

    Well, I think Pavlov can explain the rest...
  • Alatheon
    Alatheon
    Posts: 35
    Knowing my players, they might eat the cardboard too...
  • Duskreign
    Duskreign
    Posts: 1,085
    I also like using food as "minions." It turns out that Kobolds taste of Cheez-it! Go figure!
  • gnunn
    gnunn
    Posts: 423
    I like the "method of building tokens":http://newbiedm.com/2008/11/22/newbiedm-tutorial-counters-tokens-or-pogs/ that Newbie DM uses. In my game, I've used it to create death pogs for tracking where bodies fall, and mount pogs to make it easier for my players to move their minis and mounts together. I think this particular method could also be used to make some pretty kickass action point tokens that would be more special than poker chips or cheetos.

    Now, on the subject of food as enemy stand-ins: I really want to run a session some time in which a party finds itself battling its way across the dinner table of some giant/demigod/really enormous being and must battle actual food items that appear at the scale in which a D&D mini would experience real-world food! This idea started percolating one night when one of my players slammed a jar of parmesan cheese down on the battlemap, declaring "You all die by parmesan!" I just haven't had a chance to work something so bizarre into my story... yet.
  • Alatheon
    Alatheon
    Posts: 35
    Gnunn, thanks for the great link. I will look into it.
    Now that I'm getting back into Warhammer I was starting to think about hand-painting clay poker chips. This looks a lot faster, so I can paint my minis instead.
  • Black_Vulmea
    Black_Vulmea
    Posts: 277
    Gold-foil chocolate coins are good, but for "_Le Ballet de l'Acier_":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaign/le-ballet-de-l-acier, what else could I use but "3 Musketeers":http://www.3musketeers.com/index.shtml bars?!
  • Vandor
    Vandor
    Posts: 31
    huh. We just use glass beads.
  • EverRaven
    EverRaven
    Posts: 6
    My crew used poker chips from an old set. For our 4thEd game - Red is our Action Point, Blue for your Magic Item Usage, White for your Second Wind. But, they were something we had on hand already.

    NewbieDM's POGs are the awesome. I use them religiously for monsters - and you can even use the actual pog over again by simply gluing another picture to it. The same method could easily be used to create tokens for any need.

    Now, that said, if you want to spend a bit of cash (or you might drop the hint to your players - which is what I did) you can also order some really neat things from Pazio and from LITKO games.
    Litko sells an amazingly nice set of condition markers, which my gaming group purchased me months ago. We loved them so much, we delved into the custom tokens as well - and ordered a few sets of those as well. Nothing like hearing your monk call out "DERP ON HIM!" ;)

    You can find the Litko stuff here: http://www.litkoaero.com/page/LAI/CTGY/TS_4E

    Pazio also sells coins and tokens made by GameMastery: http://paizo.com/gameMastery/accessories
    Never used them, but they look amazing....

    Those last two kinda fall out of the "cheap" range you were looking for *blush* But always remind your players that DMs must be sated with cookies and presents on occasion ;)
  • Alatheon
    Alatheon
    Posts: 35
    Raven, I do kind of covet those Game Mastery coins, but there are enough demands on my nerd budget right now that I need something cheaper if I want to do props for action points. I have poker chips, but they need to be free for actual card games -3 Dragon Ante and Infighting come out pretty frequently.

    I was really hoping someone had a good lead on fantasy themed poker chips that weren't too spendy. I have a mental image of chips with an embossed dragon on the face or around the edge -google did not yield any such thing.

    Newbie DM's walkthrough looks promising though, I'm looking into it.
  • EverRaven
    EverRaven
    Posts: 6
    What you might do is buy chips with a clear face - like these: http://www.dirtcheappoker.com/product_info.php?cPath=21&products_id=510
    Then, using Newbie's method, simply place a fantasy themed label. The one's I linked are even intended for that - they take 1 1/4 circles. Easily findable in your local craft store in a circle punch!

    Heck, those suckers are cheap enough I'm thinking of doing it myself now...
  • Mandolyn
    Mandolyn
    Posts: 6
    What we do for the Scion d10 game I'm part of is using Lego Minifigs for the PCs and random whatever-is-in-the-workshop to build the battle area and enemies XD. Maybe edible enemies will actually get us to get the fights done quicker, hehe.
    Minifigs are fun for PCs, though, if not a touch expensive. If you're willing and close to a Legoland, however, they usually let you make three custom ones from a few buckets for nine dollars.
  • Curufea
    Curufea
    Posts: 161
    On a side note - I recently joined a friends Starblazer campaign which uses the FATE system, and I've designed individual fate point counters for each player, based on what their character is. I'm getting them printed on round playing cards by "Artscow":http://www.artscow.com/share/Fate-Points-e9dltvytuecl (1 deck for $20 includes postage). I'm not sure if I will trim them to their counter shapes, or leave them as-is on round cards. I've had Artscow print plenty of cards for me before for various games I've created, but not round cards.

    I await them with baited breath...
  • pharoah4187
    Posts: 2
    I have some poker chips that I picked up cheap at Goodwill for this sort of thing. Before that, I just used cardboard pieces that I made out of old cereal boxes if it was something that was helpful for a mini to stand on (dodge, knight's challenge, keeping who's who on the game board straight if there's an enemy or two that is more important) and those glass decorative stones for aquariums if it's something that can be spent.
  • Everdark
    Everdark
    Posts: 122
    While playing Duskreign's Wyrmshadow game, Sins of The Fathers, we were fighting some goblins and kobolds and I threw a load of Cheez-Its under the minis for the minions, claiming Cheez-Its were the souls of all goblinoids. Devouring souls has never tasted so delicious.
  • Duskreign
    Duskreign
    Posts: 1,085
    lol, yes. That was a great time.
  • mmoritz80
    mmoritz80
    Posts: 3
    A friend of mine made tokens out of wooden disc blanks for our Werewolf: The Forsaken game. I
Sign In or Register to comment.

March 2024
Wrath of the Highborn

Read the feature post on the blog
Return to Obsidian Portal

Howdy, Stranger!

It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!

Discussions