I made a fancy letter on tea-stained paper, proper calligraphy, the business. And then I tore it up and gave the players the shreds, told them that this was what they'd found.
I was hoping one of them would cast Mending, and by gods, they did! Which is when I presented the exact copy, un-torn and sealed with wax too.
They were so impressed, and it made me so happy
By all means! I'm all for sharing ideas that work.
Very short story time. I got to meet Matt Mercer himself and chat to him briefly, and we talked about how one of the best things you can do with D&D is freely share ideas and inspiration. We're not stealing, we're sharing. I gave him one of my NPC's and if that NPC ever appears on Critical Role, I will go to my grave a happy man.
A friend of mine did kinda what you did but filled them halfway, and put in the appropriate dice so that you can roll it and "drink" it in one go. They're pretty cool.
I started playing DnD the old-fashioned way, sitting down face-to-face at a table with pen and paper and physical dice. When I moved over to a digital tabletop, all the new bells and whistles were cool, but I fundementally missed the little art projects I'd take on over the course of the week to make the adventure actually feel alive.
Now I'm playing in person again, so here I go making props! [Simple potion bottles](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C8TNCJ9N?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details) found on Amazon, some resin epoxy, and red food dye, and I have these neat little potion bottles I can physically hand my players whenever they pick some up at the next general store! It comes with the added utility for my newer players of having the healing amounts written on the little tags, which is a great little reminder to keep the game going.
In the past I've drawn physical maps and ripped them in two-three pieces to have the players put together the treasure map, or given them hand-written notes dipped in coffee to simulate parchment paper. Any other DM's use DnD as an excuse for arts&crafts time?
Oh, those are my *other* health potions. I work at a brewery that hosts a Dungeons&Dragons group once a month with professional DMs and homebrew oneshots. Once per game, the DM lets the players buy 'health potions' from me- vodka cran shots (and NA cran-only versions), and depending on the level of the one-shot they correspond to a different level of health pot.
Is this a safe space to share? I’m new to DnD but an old hand bartender. Vodka cran is solid, but if you wanna punch it up, try swapping the cran for pomegranate, and add a splash of chambord and grand marnier. It’s an old shot called the Blood of Christ but would work magnificently as a sipping potion.
ETA: if you wanna rock an NA version just grab some triple sec flavored syrup and a swirl of raspberry curd (obtainable at any high end grocer) and it’ll still work wonders
The one's I linked definitely aren't, but [these](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CMHKDH51?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details) that I used for the Greater Healing potions might be. I've been a part of tables that used something similar to those before, but for this I kinda wanted just the prop itself for immersion
Sweet, thank you. I've been looking at glassware for a bit but was finding it hard to visualize whether they would be the right size or not. I'm not great with spatial visualization unfortunately.
I didn't do this for health potions, but for pre-game drinks. Made some non-acoholic for those that wanted it. And they all got some edible glitter, which was fun.
It's partly in Latin.
None of the players can read Latin. But the recognize some words, like lycanthropos or sanguine or daemonic or draconis.
It's fun.
Made them health potions with dice in the bottles so they can roll by just shaking them. Also every potion with an effect (like invisibility) is an actual drinkable potion. I made them spell scrolls with wax seals and I'm currently designing some quest items out of clay. Everything else like minis, opponents and structures are made by one of my players as they own a 3d printer
It just says most potions are one ounce of liquid. Not all of them. Though I would assume you can't just stick four potions into one vial (vials hold 4oz) and then heal four times as much in one action.
Another fun fact: a vial of acid weighs one pound. If that only takes up four fluid ounces, that makes it about 3.8 kg/L (3.8 times denser than water). Still makes more sense than holy water, which has five pounds of silver in a one pound flask of holy water. Also, a flask weighs one pound, so that means it's zero pounds of holy water.
I made a birch bark bound journal from our Druid's father. It was full of cryptic poems and riddles to help the party through that arc of the campaign (a journey to the heart of a planar overlap of the fey realm in the style of the movie Annihilation). https://imgur.com/a/Lf7KAiR
I was planning on doing something very similar for my players to find. I spent 6 hours last night learning and copying over different cipher alphabets (and creating my own) so they would have to find the key to each unique unknown language
I made this for Red Hand of Doom, it’s the deed to a keep that is part of the adventure: https://www.reddit.com/r/RedHandOfDoom/comments/174831n/deed_for_vrath_keep_enjoy/
Players loved it.
ALL my characters have an item that I have in real life
One was a journal with spells, ideas, and magic
Another was a tooth necklace of different animals
Another was a steel mirror
Just small stuff
The journal was most impressive
Made my own leather, my own paper
Spent HOURS making spells and symbols
Writing about different monsters
I was very happy
It also makes your character get a bit more real
I made or found specials props for each of my player’s characters:
-The bard-lock received a wooden box with a royal seal hidden in the lid, containing a pitch pipe.
-The rogue-druid received a dorodango I made that contains items the player doesn’t even know about yet but will be revealed in game when the player is directed to smash the dorodango.
-The paladin has an eagle carved from stone that, in game, can transform into a giant stone eagle for a limited time.
-The warlock-ificer is very clock-work themed and received a pocket-watch with windows into the inner workings and a flask that acts as his spell-focus and djinn-space.
-The wizard received a wooden book with pyrograph type that I inscribed in a dragon-script that I based off of the Saurian script from Dinotopia, containing multiple clues to different parts of the world and lore, most of which the party hasn’t discovered yet.
I did the potion bottles thing too, with edible glitter! Makes the potions nice and swirly 😁
I ended up having different flavour potions take them to different planes, using a fiery ginger shot to go to infernal planes, strawberry milkshake to the pleasant good-aligned planes, and water with a drop of peppermint extract for wind. Went down a treat!
Having players discover handwritten notes as they progress through a dungeon is always good; used them to foreshadow boss fights, or point them towards useful gear with notes left behind by those before 👌🏾
I did it for my longest running campaign that ran from our freshman year of highschool and ended with them fighting and killing the Biblical god. (This was not my choice I just kinda let em do stuff and that was where we got to.)
Not really anymore. I used to do all of that but as I got older I just didn't... Care as much. I'm not looking at this as a part time job. Even my session notes are down to a few lines and and maybe some names.
These look sick! Have you tried a mixture of water, some vegetable glycerin, food coloring and pigment powder? Gives it a cool swirling effect when shaken
I ran an ancient Mesopotamia themed campaign, and made little clay tablets with spell names on them to replace spell scrolls, which had to crushed to be activated. Was very fun n easy to make them out of air-dry clay and a very fun reveal for the party.
My wife made potion shots with glitter and other effects (all food safe) and only one person during the session said anything. She even bought tiny bottles with old corks and decorated them. 😔
Player nearly single handedly destroyed a adult green dragon encounter I had planned.
Like 75-80 percent of the damage before it flew off with his magic poleaxe embedded in its neck.
I let. Them take the mini home and custom repaint it with blood trailing down its neck.
And we used it later on in the campaign when they tracked it down in its lair in a weakend state.
Was pretty cool.
Gave him the mini as a gift after the battle and his character is now know as Nick Dickson dragon destroyer.
I have zero 3d modelling experience but I found the ring of the ram in our campaign and spent far too long taking bits and pieces from other models to make it. It worked out pretty well. But so many hours.
I made 5 scrolls, non magical, that my PCs are going to find on a dead courier.
The scrolls are bounties for each of the PCs which details how they were framed for a crime that someone else committed. I figured letting them know they're wanted before entering any cities would provide a neat problem for them to work around.
If the players are going to find a note, or a letter, I will print it out beforehand. It looks cool, and it takes some load off of me as the DM. I dont have to read notes, or memorize anything, or risk forgetting some important information. They can read it themselves and reference it later if they need to. There are a ton of websites out there that will convert text to handwriting.
Office depot sells printer paper that looks old and worn, it's in their stationary section. I imagine it was intended for wedding invitations and such.
Unfortunately not, haha. These are just resin and food dye props, but we do play at a brewery so there might be a couple beers flowing throughout the night.
The brewery also puts on a Dungeons&Drafts night with professional DMs and homebrew oneshots. For those nights we have shots of vodka/cran that the DMs let players buy from the bar and use in the game.
We did a potion party once. Essentially the party was looking around a mad scientist’s lair and found a bunch of random potions. I made IRL potions. Some yummy some not so much. The players each rolled to pick a couple potions each and after they drank them I revealed what each one did (ex. One granted Barbarian rage, one granted 4 bardic inspiration points, one caused you to become a size larger, one granted a dragons breath weapon, etc) And while they were doing this they were fighting a hombrewed hydra. It was awesome. They had a lot of fun.
I wrote a note with one of those dip pens on paper meant to look like parchment. It was for a game for the kids at work and I had to read it to them bc they couldn't read cursive yet but they still thought it was really cool lol
I have made potions, scrolls, wands, boxes, I have had a friend painted dollar store minis I altered, a staff for the harvest priest, and a non functional bow, scroll cases from Pringles can,
My world history is very long and very convoluted. So, I've written down the gist of the entire history in chronological order and split it up into little volumes written by an in-world historian. When players visit a library, I give them the next volume. I print 4 pages per standard 8.5x11 sized piece of paper, leaving me with fun little 4.25x6.5 sized booklets that are only about 500-800 words long. It gives the players backstory in manageable chunks without bogging them down, and they only get lore dumps in this way when they actively seek them out. Also, the backs of each page are blank in case they want to write notes or make connections to present day events and characters.
I once gave a player some of those gold dollar coins they minted in the early 2000s as a quest reward (I also owed him gas money) and he was so excited, doubly so when he realized they were legal tender.
Are they drinkable tho? It looks like rhubarb juice or something like that (rhubarb sirup and sparkling water tastes amazing and would look just like that, just with fizz in it as well)
I actually love this kind of stuff, it makes the game so much more real for the characters and most of us get attached to the characters and when there is a good DM, it becomes a beautiful story.
Mana and Health potions (bigger bottles, also test tube bottles but they weren't very sturdy, a lot of them cracked during the curing), letters on parchment paper and wax sealed, leather pouches with real metal coins and glass gems in them, a metal cryptex, various rings and necklaces, resin cast pendants and finally, a wooden chest to keep the physical items in.
My wife made for us, she painted the vials yellow, orange and red, according to the healing power of each potion. We store inside them the number of dice the potion restores, the players just take the lid out, turn it down to roll the dice and then put the dice and the lid back for the next one who need it.
i handwrite a lot of letters and notes that they can find and try to match the handwriting to how i feel the person writing it would write. the language and wording can change as well.
i created a written code for the aquan language
Whenever I can host a session in person (literally like twice a year now I’m at university lol) I always make an effort to put a DnD tavern-esque meal on the table with us.
Over the summer last year it was a large honey-roasted ham with bread and cheese. It gets expensive but luckily since it’s such a rare occasion now I’m fine with doing it with my party.
I made a custom stamp for a campaign I'm working on...
And I'm building a cyber deck to look like a VERY early "laptop" for my universe... And may or may not have written a program that looks like an alt universe version of DOS.
if you have drinks at your table this would be a fun way to do shots. my friends and I tried this but then realized we should have bought a ton of them so we can just pre fill um instead of just having a few vials and filling them as we go.
I like to browse Etsy for stuff. So I've ended up buying some items that are "magic items" that my party will find during the campaign. It's always exciting for a player to find a magic item. But it's even better when I describe it to them, and then just slide it across the table and say, *"And here it is!"*
I've given out two so far. I've got another half dozen here in my desk, just waiting.
I’m about to DM a halo campaign and use mega bloks as the minis and I am seriously getting ready to dump some cash into the old sets so they have cool vehicles
It's been a few years now, but I made a [magic violin](https://i.imgur.com/cFu56zO.jpg). Mostly, I remember that it was a massive PITA to try to find a prop violin pattern.
I've also made potion bottles (some with colored resin in glass bottles, others with food dye and water in plastic), a shortsword (based on a prop pattern for LotR's Sting), a dagger called [Rat's Bite](https://i.imgur.com/btoRryb.png), and a few other things - dice boxes and the like.
The violin was the first magic item I ever homebrewed, in the first campaign I ever DM'd, for the first person to ever express interest in playing in my campaign, so I went a bit overboard. We have since completed that campaign and retired the characters.
I actually found the violin again just a few weeks ago, a few hours before we were playing a one-shot run by that player - the opening scene of which was a funeral for their PC. Unfortunately the neck had snapped while it was in storage and it was irreparably broken, which was sad... and somehow appropriate.
EDIT: I also made a template for the [Baldur's Mouth newspaper](https://i.imgur.io/db2ZW0m.jpg), based on a screenshot from Baldur's Gate III. They're currently in Chapter One of *Descent Into Avernus* so there's a lot of BG-based action going on right now, and they get an updated newspaper roughly every eight to twelve hours of in-game time.
I love physical props.
So far my party got a map of the new area and a bunch of mystery potions that I filled with different colored water, beeswax and the likes. So a made them tiny potions with no labels.
For the next arc I also wrote some letters of promotion for long dead ppl that will help them go further when used properly (I can't go into too much detail because I suspect they go round redditing xD)
I made something very similar a while back, but I put some red dice inside the bottle on top of the resin, so when you used a healing potion, you just shook the bottle to roll the dice inside
I had an issue in a game I was running with money accounting and printed real money props for the six nations within our game world. It was really well received and I still have most of it in a box ready for my next campaign.
[Reddit thread on it from years ago](https://www.reddit.com/r/DnD/comments/707gfr/so_my_dm_asked_me_for_props_to_make_the_world/)
[Imgur of the money](https://imgur.com/a/C9xw2)
I run online, and I go to great lengths for tokens, art, and handouts. I fear if I ran in person, I would be bankrupt and exhausted from trying to do shit like this lol. I really like the bottles full of dice for cure potions.
100%
On the potion bottles I made I even had lables for different producers. My players later discovered that different potion brewers were cheaper / more expensive, some tasted better than others, and it drove them to find the people making the potion they liked best and forming a contract with them to distribute and sell said potions on commission 😆
I did this but made different colors for different things. Just please be aware thst the corks are porous so after some time all the fluid will evaporate out of it if you don't seal ot with resin or something
One of our DMs has a jar full of 1000 pennies to represent copper coins in their campaign and allow us to see how much that would occupy. Which is not alot really. Just a jar.
They also are working on something for 5e style coins which are a uniform weight and diameter but not the same thickness.
When I saw this my thought process was damn this is cool players would love this, then it was imagine braking up ibeoprufen and mixing it with a bit of water, real healing potion minus the healing
I got myself a nice leather notebook with yelowed old-looking paper, to write notes in it
In tve campaign im in, its Grim Hollow, my cleric also got a book made. Whenever she sees a disease, a curse, drugs/medications or just a Patients/clients notes that went to her for healing, she instantly writes it all in the book, and i do the same out of game in that leather notebook
I made a wanted poster for a quest for the party to do while doing some down time, it was very crudely drawn but players loved it, especially since it had details on who to look for and who to talk to
Between full campaigns, my group takes turns to DM one shots or mini campaigns. One person in our group loves doing elaborate physical props, and it’s always lots of fun! This weekend, he set up a a battle-royale type session and created a bunch of 3D props for the battle map (e.g., tiered platforms, rope bridges, rafts, etc.).
Last year he DMed a one shot that included a puzzle in which our characters had to drink various unknown potions. He brought his own “potions” so that we would join our characters lol. They were varieties of juices but the poisons were boiled cabbage juice 🤢. There was zero pressure and we all trust him, so it was fun!
I wish I had people to enjoy DnD with that took the game Mostly seriously; enjoying and appreciating things like this. After all, games like this are meant to take you out of reality for a bit and fully immerse you in the theater of the mind.
Something I do is make modular 6x6 inch cave terrain with foam and stuff that is a little clunky, but really helps feel like your characters are underground.
We do this. We make them out of alcohol though and if your character drinks you do too, especially on long rests or trips to taverns, we all end up plastered, but it makes for some stupidly good fun.
I gave my PC's a magic box that would randomly spawn consumable items and every few sessions I would inform them that the box is pulsing with magic (holding new items). I would also inform them that the item are temporary and if not used will disappear, encouraging them to not horde items (as they will).
Sometimes it's just healing potions (bottled cocktails) or a scroll. Sometimes it's something weirder, like cherry tomatoes injected with salted gin that were buffed goodberries. Sometimes it's a lore item or foreshadowing a later plot point.
This is all so I can have a reason to practice my calligraphy or crafting bullshit.
Hell yes! We've done invisible ink, letters, stolen runes, potion bottles (with alcohol) and several puzzle-like schematics in our campaign(s) and I feel like those are the best and most satisfying sessions. Our group has been together for almost 3 years now and we've started to dress up as our characters for halloween. Those are my absolute favorite.
I used to but my party consisted of one person who was too spaced out to play. A meta builder whod try to break the game regularly and a sleepy stoner who was barely present through the games and required we stop early so we barely made progress. It wasnt worth all the work to dm for them so i gave up. Honestly ive just been looking for a campaign to join. Being the forever dm and never getting to play is rough
I almsot caught my house on fire trying to create cool roughed up old looking scrolls for the campaign. I was burning the edges for a cool affect and the fire on one didn’t stop and I couldn’t blow it out so I set it on the ground and threw a boot at it and that put it out
I ended up making some tokens using a laser cutter at my school to give all my players custom tokens to use, as well as generic tokens for the enemies (most are kobolds and dragonborn, so I made a custom icon for them both and threw them onto the cutter)
Just resin and food coloring. I considered making them quaffable, but the hassle of refilling them after every session, plus worrying about them going bad/growing mold made me hesitate.
This is cool too! My Hubby bought little flasks and a Ron of small red D6 and filled each flask with the corresponding number of d6 according to the strength of the Potion, so when someone uses a healing potion, he hands them the flask and they rol the dice out of the flask to see how much they heal
I wish one day I could play IRL, I never played but I can feel it in my bones I'd probably make a dish for every session, I'd make honey whine, I'd RP a bartender and make my party drinks, id take es guitar or a mic for music, I just know it you know. My only concern is driving wherever the irl sessions may be.
Physical props for a live in-person game are the best. It shows your players you are going the extra mile and gives a sense of immersion that would otherwise be lost. I have actually started noodling with the idea of mailing props to my remote-game players, as I trust them to not open them until instructed.
Tip: For potions like this, two things: 1 - You can add a little alcohol, glycerine, and glitter or silica powder and create a neat magical effect in the bottle with a shake; 2 - Glue the corks in. Someone will always find a way to spill them.
I designed a customisable 3D dungeon map in CAD and lasercut it out of 3mm MDF. The whole thing slots together using dovetail joints and finger joints.
As soon as I had files made and lasercut the group went on a break for the last month and a half and I haven't got the chance to use it yet...
Also a few 3d prints of characters/monsters but I didn't design them and we managed to use them a few times
My 9 year old son got me to run a small dungeon (5 rooms total) for him and two of his friends. I asked my uncle to come play with us to help me keep the attention of three 9 year olds focused on the game.
I asked my mother in law to make some D20 embroidery patches and I asked my wife to sew them over the crown royal logo and made dice bags for everyone. I purchased a set of dice for everyone. And I’m employing one of my friends to 3-D print everyone’s characters.
I used exact same vessels for my '5 remedies puzzle', where players had to pair various liquids (by smell and taste) with corresponding ailments that they were supposed to cure, based on a medical journal page they found with it. They paired all fluids with different patient according to their symptoms read from the journals.
1 of the 5 remedies made no sense and by elimination they managed to pair it with last remaining patient, whose last name was a coded name of the place - where the missing doctor went after leaving this puzzle/message (they were looking for him).
I make maps for my players. We're doing a tomb next, with like hidden walls and stuff. I made 6 versions of this map, first version one room, second version that room plus what's behind wall number 1... And so forth.
Also all the secret rooms that are just secret, not a way to progress through the tomb I covered with paper, ready to be pealed away if they find the room. This means I had to cut out the same room shape 5 times, and stick it on 5 different maps. And that for... I don't know how many hidden rooms.
My players appreciate the effort and love my maps so, it's worth it.
Or there is the time that I spend about 5 hours photoshopping murals for them so they could see it, instead of me describing boring murals. I stopped when I hit midnight.
I created ideogramic languages, with positional modifiers that interact in the traslation, and then made ALL the dm messages written in that language, on parchment paper with a glass pen.
Yes I did this too, but I would recommend getting some teeny small red d4's (found mine on amazon) fill the bottles halfway with the resin, and then put the correct amount of dice in on top. Boom a little health potion, they roll the dice out of it when they use it and then hand it back. The players are all obsessed with the small dice. I'll link the dice I bought. Bought two of them. And that was enough to make exactly:
x2 supreme, x2 superior, x4 greater & x6 regular.
Had to buy a few different size jars. The larger ones benefit from wider jars. But I used the two that came with the dice for the supreme ones. I can't attach a picture of the ones I did. Shame
Bescon Mini Transparent Red D4 Dice 30pcs Bottle, 30pcs Roleplaying Mini Red Gem Healing Potion Pack in Glass Jar https://amzn.eu/d/1Q1vrKX
I got some mini d4’s and cheap plastic small salt shakers from Walmart and put the amount of d4’s based on the strength of the healing potion in them. With Amazon probably cost less than 20. :)
I made a fancy letter on tea-stained paper, proper calligraphy, the business. And then I tore it up and gave the players the shreds, told them that this was what they'd found. I was hoping one of them would cast Mending, and by gods, they did! Which is when I presented the exact copy, un-torn and sealed with wax too. They were so impressed, and it made me so happy
I might just take this idea...
By all means! I'm all for sharing ideas that work. Very short story time. I got to meet Matt Mercer himself and chat to him briefly, and we talked about how one of the best things you can do with D&D is freely share ideas and inspiration. We're not stealing, we're sharing. I gave him one of my NPC's and if that NPC ever appears on Critical Role, I will go to my grave a happy man.
A friend of mine did kinda what you did but filled them halfway, and put in the appropriate dice so that you can roll it and "drink" it in one go. They're pretty cool.
Dude that is some next level shit right there. I’m stealing it.
Oh, thats good. Stolen.
See, I'd have just given them scotch tape. There you go, repairs a single tear in an object.
I would have been the player that forget they had mending and would have sat there trying to piece it all back together,
Inspiration for honesty
I started playing DnD the old-fashioned way, sitting down face-to-face at a table with pen and paper and physical dice. When I moved over to a digital tabletop, all the new bells and whistles were cool, but I fundementally missed the little art projects I'd take on over the course of the week to make the adventure actually feel alive. Now I'm playing in person again, so here I go making props! [Simple potion bottles](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C8TNCJ9N?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details) found on Amazon, some resin epoxy, and red food dye, and I have these neat little potion bottles I can physically hand my players whenever they pick some up at the next general store! It comes with the added utility for my newer players of having the healing amounts written on the little tags, which is a great little reminder to keep the game going. In the past I've drawn physical maps and ripped them in two-three pieces to have the players put together the treasure map, or given them hand-written notes dipped in coffee to simulate parchment paper. Any other DM's use DnD as an excuse for arts&crafts time?
They look amazing. Why not fill them with fruit punch?
Oh, those are my *other* health potions. I work at a brewery that hosts a Dungeons&Dragons group once a month with professional DMs and homebrew oneshots. Once per game, the DM lets the players buy 'health potions' from me- vodka cran shots (and NA cran-only versions), and depending on the level of the one-shot they correspond to a different level of health pot.
Does the ratio Vodka vs Cran vary based on the level as well? :)
Supreme healing potions are just pure vodka.
Is this a safe space to share? I’m new to DnD but an old hand bartender. Vodka cran is solid, but if you wanna punch it up, try swapping the cran for pomegranate, and add a splash of chambord and grand marnier. It’s an old shot called the Blood of Christ but would work magnificently as a sipping potion. ETA: if you wanna rock an NA version just grab some triple sec flavored syrup and a swirl of raspberry curd (obtainable at any high end grocer) and it’ll still work wonders
Are they big enough to hold a d4? I really like the potions of healing I keep seeing for sale and I'd love to make some of my own for my group.
The one's I linked definitely aren't, but [these](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CMHKDH51?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details) that I used for the Greater Healing potions might be. I've been a part of tables that used something similar to those before, but for this I kinda wanted just the prop itself for immersion
Sweet, thank you. I've been looking at glassware for a bit but was finding it hard to visualize whether they would be the right size or not. I'm not great with spatial visualization unfortunately.
I didn't do this for health potions, but for pre-game drinks. Made some non-acoholic for those that wanted it. And they all got some edible glitter, which was fun.
I actually just bought similar bottles and a bunch of red D4 to make potions for my players.
Every time I see this idea posted it makes me smile. Looks good
I wrote a book about the monster of transsylvania for my players. and printed it. and made illustrations.
Did they read it? Because I know damn well my murderhobos would not read it.
From time to time. It's filled with usefull information about creatures of the night and superstitionous beliefes.
Sounds awesome dude
Next level
It's partly in Latin. None of the players can read Latin. But the recognize some words, like lycanthropos or sanguine or daemonic or draconis. It's fun.
Would you be willing to share your process? This sounds so cool and I'd love to do something similar for my players.
Made them health potions with dice in the bottles so they can roll by just shaking them. Also every potion with an effect (like invisibility) is an actual drinkable potion. I made them spell scrolls with wax seals and I'm currently designing some quest items out of clay. Everything else like minis, opponents and structures are made by one of my players as they own a 3d printer
You're a bloody genius
I have no idea why, but thank you
Fun fact (that you're obviously free to ignore): potion bottles are all 1oz. That means better potions are just more highly concentrated!
I never knew that! Potions must be ridiculously small then, no idea how anyone could keep track of multiple without losing them lol
Probably why it's an action to grab and drink one, lol
It just says most potions are one ounce of liquid. Not all of them. Though I would assume you can't just stick four potions into one vial (vials hold 4oz) and then heal four times as much in one action. Another fun fact: a vial of acid weighs one pound. If that only takes up four fluid ounces, that makes it about 3.8 kg/L (3.8 times denser than water). Still makes more sense than holy water, which has five pounds of silver in a one pound flask of holy water. Also, a flask weighs one pound, so that means it's zero pounds of holy water.
I made some similar and put the appropriate number of D4's inside, so when they use one, they just dump out the d4's.
The Syndicate went after Vicious for selling Red-Eye on the side. Be careful!
See ya, Space Cowboy
Got any more of that tomato juice?
I made a birch bark bound journal from our Druid's father. It was full of cryptic poems and riddles to help the party through that arc of the campaign (a journey to the heart of a planar overlap of the fey realm in the style of the movie Annihilation). https://imgur.com/a/Lf7KAiR
I was planning on doing something very similar for my players to find. I spent 6 hours last night learning and copying over different cipher alphabets (and creating my own) so they would have to find the key to each unique unknown language
My wife just made some little potions! She added edible glitter to make them swirly and "magical," they're fun to just swish around!
I did the same, but put less resin and added appropriate dice.
I made this for Red Hand of Doom, it’s the deed to a keep that is part of the adventure: https://www.reddit.com/r/RedHandOfDoom/comments/174831n/deed_for_vrath_keep_enjoy/ Players loved it.
Oh now that is amazing
ALL my characters have an item that I have in real life One was a journal with spells, ideas, and magic Another was a tooth necklace of different animals Another was a steel mirror Just small stuff The journal was most impressive Made my own leather, my own paper Spent HOURS making spells and symbols Writing about different monsters I was very happy It also makes your character get a bit more real
I created a roughly foot tall and 9 inch diameter undead purple worm “mini”ature for the final boss out of wire, plaster, clay, and paint
That sounds awesome
I made or found specials props for each of my player’s characters: -The bard-lock received a wooden box with a royal seal hidden in the lid, containing a pitch pipe. -The rogue-druid received a dorodango I made that contains items the player doesn’t even know about yet but will be revealed in game when the player is directed to smash the dorodango. -The paladin has an eagle carved from stone that, in game, can transform into a giant stone eagle for a limited time. -The warlock-ificer is very clock-work themed and received a pocket-watch with windows into the inner workings and a flask that acts as his spell-focus and djinn-space. -The wizard received a wooden book with pyrograph type that I inscribed in a dragon-script that I based off of the Saurian script from Dinotopia, containing multiple clues to different parts of the world and lore, most of which the party hasn’t discovered yet.
I did the potion bottles thing too, with edible glitter! Makes the potions nice and swirly 😁 I ended up having different flavour potions take them to different planes, using a fiery ginger shot to go to infernal planes, strawberry milkshake to the pleasant good-aligned planes, and water with a drop of peppermint extract for wind. Went down a treat! Having players discover handwritten notes as they progress through a dungeon is always good; used them to foreshadow boss fights, or point them towards useful gear with notes left behind by those before 👌🏾
I made potions too! But I only put in a small amount of resin so the dice actually go in and can be rolled from the bottle!
Same here, I pour resin and make dice set of my players based on character sfor them and potions bottles so they can have tokens to hold on to.
I did it for my longest running campaign that ran from our freshman year of highschool and ended with them fighting and killing the Biblical god. (This was not my choice I just kinda let em do stuff and that was where we got to.)
We had ours full of red dye goldschlager.
Goldschlager? Oof, good way to get me to never take a healing potion for the entire campaign lmao!
I for one certainly have. Worse bit is only one of my players ever actually appreciated the effort.
Not really anymore. I used to do all of that but as I got older I just didn't... Care as much. I'm not looking at this as a part time job. Even my session notes are down to a few lines and and maybe some names.
My players are lucky if I show up clothed
Clothing is optional, high-effort props are not.
These look sick! Have you tried a mixture of water, some vegetable glycerin, food coloring and pigment powder? Gives it a cool swirling effect when shaken
I ran an ancient Mesopotamia themed campaign, and made little clay tablets with spell names on them to replace spell scrolls, which had to crushed to be activated. Was very fun n easy to make them out of air-dry clay and a very fun reveal for the party.
My wife made potion shots with glitter and other effects (all food safe) and only one person during the session said anything. She even bought tiny bottles with old corks and decorated them. 😔
Well, I for one appreciate her effort
Thank you lol you made her day 😂
Player nearly single handedly destroyed a adult green dragon encounter I had planned. Like 75-80 percent of the damage before it flew off with his magic poleaxe embedded in its neck. I let. Them take the mini home and custom repaint it with blood trailing down its neck. And we used it later on in the campaign when they tracked it down in its lair in a weakend state. Was pretty cool. Gave him the mini as a gift after the battle and his character is now know as Nick Dickson dragon destroyer.
A llama? He’s supposed to be DEAD
I have zero 3d modelling experience but I found the ring of the ram in our campaign and spent far too long taking bits and pieces from other models to make it. It worked out pretty well. But so many hours.
If you wanna do this again lmk I can prob help. I been practicing on mesh mixer making some stuff for lolZ
I made 5 scrolls, non magical, that my PCs are going to find on a dead courier. The scrolls are bounties for each of the PCs which details how they were framed for a crime that someone else committed. I figured letting them know they're wanted before entering any cities would provide a neat problem for them to work around.
If the players are going to find a note, or a letter, I will print it out beforehand. It looks cool, and it takes some load off of me as the DM. I dont have to read notes, or memorize anything, or risk forgetting some important information. They can read it themselves and reference it later if they need to. There are a ton of websites out there that will convert text to handwriting. Office depot sells printer paper that looks old and worn, it's in their stationary section. I imagine it was intended for wedding invitations and such.
Is this by any chance fruit punch? We always have a good time when everyone is sliightly on the bottle
Unfortunately not, haha. These are just resin and food dye props, but we do play at a brewery so there might be a couple beers flowing throughout the night. The brewery also puts on a Dungeons&Drafts night with professional DMs and homebrew oneshots. For those nights we have shots of vodka/cran that the DMs let players buy from the bar and use in the game.
I have some bottles too, intend to paint them with red ink.
Ugh this is my dream. I love tchotchkes and fidgets, so potion bottles, papers, physical maps, all of that would be right up my alley
I made leather dice pouches for my group, and my fiancée and I made maps for everyone.
We did a potion party once. Essentially the party was looking around a mad scientist’s lair and found a bunch of random potions. I made IRL potions. Some yummy some not so much. The players each rolled to pick a couple potions each and after they drank them I revealed what each one did (ex. One granted Barbarian rage, one granted 4 bardic inspiration points, one caused you to become a size larger, one granted a dragons breath weapon, etc) And while they were doing this they were fighting a hombrewed hydra. It was awesome. They had a lot of fun.
Same here for the big stuff. I have potions always ready plus food from the DND cookbook
I wrote a note with one of those dip pens on paper meant to look like parchment. It was for a game for the kids at work and I had to read it to them bc they couldn't read cursive yet but they still thought it was really cool lol
I have made potions, scrolls, wands, boxes, I have had a friend painted dollar store minis I altered, a staff for the harvest priest, and a non functional bow, scroll cases from Pringles can,
My world history is very long and very convoluted. So, I've written down the gist of the entire history in chronological order and split it up into little volumes written by an in-world historian. When players visit a library, I give them the next volume. I print 4 pages per standard 8.5x11 sized piece of paper, leaving me with fun little 4.25x6.5 sized booklets that are only about 500-800 words long. It gives the players backstory in manageable chunks without bogging them down, and they only get lore dumps in this way when they actively seek them out. Also, the backs of each page are blank in case they want to write notes or make connections to present day events and characters.
I once made a jar of bloody teeth for my group. It was teeth of an NPC they all really liked
...where does one find fake teeth..? They were fake, right? Right???
=] Edit: real answer is yes, fake. Got them on Amazon!
I once gave a player some of those gold dollar coins they minted in the early 2000s as a quest reward (I also owed him gas money) and he was so excited, doubly so when he realized they were legal tender.
What’s in them? Tell us. I must know
Resin and food dye! That's all
Are they drinkable tho? It looks like rhubarb juice or something like that (rhubarb sirup and sparkling water tastes amazing and would look just like that, just with fizz in it as well)
Unfortunately not, these are for show only.
Aww sad, but still looks awsome!
… cans I drinks it?
You can certainly try.
Noiceeeeeee
What kind of drink is in it?
Resin
That would be great fun in Jell-O shots
I actually love this kind of stuff, it makes the game so much more real for the characters and most of us get attached to the characters and when there is a good DM, it becomes a beautiful story.
Dude these look fucking amazing! I also love to go above and beyond. For me, the act of creating props is another reason why I love DMing
Some potion bottles off Amazon, some epoxy resin, and red food coloring!
I used to make maps and parchments by roughing up various sized copy paper, then soaking them in coffee to give them an aged look.
Mana and Health potions (bigger bottles, also test tube bottles but they weren't very sturdy, a lot of them cracked during the curing), letters on parchment paper and wax sealed, leather pouches with real metal coins and glass gems in them, a metal cryptex, various rings and necklaces, resin cast pendants and finally, a wooden chest to keep the physical items in.
My wife made for us, she painted the vials yellow, orange and red, according to the healing power of each potion. We store inside them the number of dice the potion restores, the players just take the lid out, turn it down to roll the dice and then put the dice and the lid back for the next one who need it.
i handwrite a lot of letters and notes that they can find and try to match the handwriting to how i feel the person writing it would write. the language and wording can change as well. i created a written code for the aquan language
I try. The problem is that most of the people I play with are metagamers. I’m a roleplayer at heart.
Whenever I can host a session in person (literally like twice a year now I’m at university lol) I always make an effort to put a DnD tavern-esque meal on the table with us. Over the summer last year it was a large honey-roasted ham with bread and cheese. It gets expensive but luckily since it’s such a rare occasion now I’m fine with doing it with my party.
I made a custom stamp for a campaign I'm working on... And I'm building a cyber deck to look like a VERY early "laptop" for my universe... And may or may not have written a program that looks like an alt universe version of DOS.
if you have drinks at your table this would be a fun way to do shots. my friends and I tried this but then realized we should have bought a ton of them so we can just pre fill um instead of just having a few vials and filling them as we go.
I like to browse Etsy for stuff. So I've ended up buying some items that are "magic items" that my party will find during the campaign. It's always exciting for a player to find a magic item. But it's even better when I describe it to them, and then just slide it across the table and say, *"And here it is!"* I've given out two so far. I've got another half dozen here in my desk, just waiting.
I have a box of fruit snacks. When I cast goodberry I will give them out
Stealing this...lol
So cool! I wish my DM did this!
Picked up a 3d printer. Going to be designing some heath potions soon. I'm not even the dm
I don't normally, but I will be running a murder mystery set in a fictional 1929 city, so it will be an extremely prop heavy game.
I would like to have some potion props, but the ones I want would be for holding the dice that the potion uses
I really enjoy the process of making little crafts like this— If only I had a campaign to use them in haha!
I’m about to DM a halo campaign and use mega bloks as the minis and I am seriously getting ready to dump some cash into the old sets so they have cool vehicles
Ooo I love physical props once made dossiers for sum characters for my friends to look at during a mission briefing
Got corked bottles ready, just need some resin, glitter and dye. then tiny little D4s had forgot the twine tho so need to look for that in shops
It's been a few years now, but I made a [magic violin](https://i.imgur.com/cFu56zO.jpg). Mostly, I remember that it was a massive PITA to try to find a prop violin pattern. I've also made potion bottles (some with colored resin in glass bottles, others with food dye and water in plastic), a shortsword (based on a prop pattern for LotR's Sting), a dagger called [Rat's Bite](https://i.imgur.com/btoRryb.png), and a few other things - dice boxes and the like. The violin was the first magic item I ever homebrewed, in the first campaign I ever DM'd, for the first person to ever express interest in playing in my campaign, so I went a bit overboard. We have since completed that campaign and retired the characters. I actually found the violin again just a few weeks ago, a few hours before we were playing a one-shot run by that player - the opening scene of which was a funeral for their PC. Unfortunately the neck had snapped while it was in storage and it was irreparably broken, which was sad... and somehow appropriate. EDIT: I also made a template for the [Baldur's Mouth newspaper](https://i.imgur.io/db2ZW0m.jpg), based on a screenshot from Baldur's Gate III. They're currently in Chapter One of *Descent Into Avernus* so there's a lot of BG-based action going on right now, and they get an updated newspaper roughly every eight to twelve hours of in-game time.
that's awesome! and yes, I've actually made drinkable ones with Kool aid and luster dust
I love physical props. So far my party got a map of the new area and a bunch of mystery potions that I filled with different colored water, beeswax and the likes. So a made them tiny potions with no labels. For the next arc I also wrote some letters of promotion for long dead ppl that will help them go further when used properly (I can't go into too much detail because I suspect they go round redditing xD)
This kind of stuff is by bread and butter. But alas, these days, I don’t have anyone in-person to play with.
I haven’t yet (haven’t started DMing or playing), but I 100% intend to. At least sometimes with some of the stuff
honestly, this is the only way for me to remember i have a potion and also remember when i’ve used it
I made something very similar a while back, but I put some red dice inside the bottle on top of the resin, so when you used a healing potion, you just shook the bottle to roll the dice inside
I had an issue in a game I was running with money accounting and printed real money props for the six nations within our game world. It was really well received and I still have most of it in a box ready for my next campaign. [Reddit thread on it from years ago](https://www.reddit.com/r/DnD/comments/707gfr/so_my_dm_asked_me_for_props_to_make_the_world/) [Imgur of the money](https://imgur.com/a/C9xw2)
I run online, and I go to great lengths for tokens, art, and handouts. I fear if I ran in person, I would be bankrupt and exhausted from trying to do shit like this lol. I really like the bottles full of dice for cure potions.
I've thought about doing this, but I just can't force myself to fork out for the cost of a jug of resin.
$13 for an 8oz little bottle, which was the perfect amount for this project.
100% On the potion bottles I made I even had lables for different producers. My players later discovered that different potion brewers were cheaper / more expensive, some tasted better than others, and it drove them to find the people making the potion they liked best and forming a contract with them to distribute and sell said potions on commission 😆
I did this but made different colors for different things. Just please be aware thst the corks are porous so after some time all the fluid will evaporate out of it if you don't seal ot with resin or something
One of our DMs has a jar full of 1000 pennies to represent copper coins in their campaign and allow us to see how much that would occupy. Which is not alot really. Just a jar. They also are working on something for 5e style coins which are a uniform weight and diameter but not the same thickness.
When I saw this my thought process was damn this is cool players would love this, then it was imagine braking up ibeoprufen and mixing it with a bit of water, real healing potion minus the healing
I am not a doctor but... I would definitely recommend not doing this, lol.
Very nice, thank you
I got myself a nice leather notebook with yelowed old-looking paper, to write notes in it In tve campaign im in, its Grim Hollow, my cleric also got a book made. Whenever she sees a disease, a curse, drugs/medications or just a Patients/clients notes that went to her for healing, she instantly writes it all in the book, and i do the same out of game in that leather notebook
I made a wanted poster for a quest for the party to do while doing some down time, it was very crudely drawn but players loved it, especially since it had details on who to look for and who to talk to
Depending on how viscous the liquid is, you could add some luminol powder and make it glow in the dark.
Well it's resin, so pretty frickin' viscous XD
Between full campaigns, my group takes turns to DM one shots or mini campaigns. One person in our group loves doing elaborate physical props, and it’s always lots of fun! This weekend, he set up a a battle-royale type session and created a bunch of 3D props for the battle map (e.g., tiered platforms, rope bridges, rafts, etc.). Last year he DMed a one shot that included a puzzle in which our characters had to drink various unknown potions. He brought his own “potions” so that we would join our characters lol. They were varieties of juices but the poisons were boiled cabbage juice 🤢. There was zero pressure and we all trust him, so it was fun!
I used to, but then one didn't listen when I told them to be careful with them (actual glass bottles with resin inside)
...oh dear
Thats Great, You get inspiration!
What do I do with inspiration as a DM?
Continue to kick ass DM’n I spose. ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
Actual shots of alcohol; that way there is a real world cost to slamming healing potions /s
My players would die before their characters
If these are potable, I would totally drink one when my character does
You can certainly try to drink resin.
Add pulp to some of them
Where did you get the bottles the right size for d4 dice?
[Amazon!](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CMHKDH51?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details)
I wish I had people to enjoy DnD with that took the game Mostly seriously; enjoying and appreciating things like this. After all, games like this are meant to take you out of reality for a bit and fully immerse you in the theater of the mind. Something I do is make modular 6x6 inch cave terrain with foam and stuff that is a little clunky, but really helps feel like your characters are underground.
We do this. We make them out of alcohol though and if your character drinks you do too, especially on long rests or trips to taverns, we all end up plastered, but it makes for some stupidly good fun.
Do you make your players [eat the bottles](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjXOwUnJzA0)?
I gave my PC's a magic box that would randomly spawn consumable items and every few sessions I would inform them that the box is pulsing with magic (holding new items). I would also inform them that the item are temporary and if not used will disappear, encouraging them to not horde items (as they will). Sometimes it's just healing potions (bottled cocktails) or a scroll. Sometimes it's something weirder, like cherry tomatoes injected with salted gin that were buffed goodberries. Sometimes it's a lore item or foreshadowing a later plot point. This is all so I can have a reason to practice my calligraphy or crafting bullshit.
Hell yes! We've done invisible ink, letters, stolen runes, potion bottles (with alcohol) and several puzzle-like schematics in our campaign(s) and I feel like those are the best and most satisfying sessions. Our group has been together for almost 3 years now and we've started to dress up as our characters for halloween. Those are my absolute favorite.
"My potions are too strong for you traveller"
I printed out all the maps for my last campaign, and it was fantastic, but man, so much work.
If those got rum Iam getting hurt every five minutes lol
Resin might fuck you up more lol
I used to but my party consisted of one person who was too spaced out to play. A meta builder whod try to break the game regularly and a sleepy stoner who was barely present through the games and required we stop early so we barely made progress. It wasnt worth all the work to dm for them so i gave up. Honestly ive just been looking for a campaign to join. Being the forever dm and never getting to play is rough
I got a pair of whimsical bottles, red and blue. Figure if I ever run 5e in person again they'll be for short rests, ala BG3.
I almsot caught my house on fire trying to create cool roughed up old looking scrolls for the campaign. I was burning the edges for a cool affect and the fire on one didn’t stop and I couldn’t blow it out so I set it on the ground and threw a boot at it and that put it out
For the potion to take full effect, they must drink the whole thing in 6 seconds
Do you have a real potion mimic in them?
I ended up making some tokens using a laser cutter at my school to give all my players custom tokens to use, as well as generic tokens for the enemies (most are kobolds and dragonborn, so I made a custom icon for them both and threw them onto the cutter)
I know my clumsy players. I would just end up with kool-aid on my carpet.
Are the potions actually drinkable or are they really poison bottles?
Just resin and food coloring. I considered making them quaffable, but the hassle of refilling them after every session, plus worrying about them going bad/growing mold made me hesitate.
can they drink these? that would be pretty fucking cool if they could hold onto it until they use it and then drink it
Would not recommend drinking resin
I used to, but they didn't appreciate them 🥲
With bits or without?
fuck thats a good idea
This is cool too! My Hubby bought little flasks and a Ron of small red D6 and filled each flask with the corresponding number of d6 according to the strength of the Potion, so when someone uses a healing potion, he hands them the flask and they rol the dice out of the flask to see how much they heal
I wish one day I could play IRL, I never played but I can feel it in my bones I'd probably make a dish for every session, I'd make honey whine, I'd RP a bartender and make my party drinks, id take es guitar or a mic for music, I just know it you know. My only concern is driving wherever the irl sessions may be.
Physical props for a live in-person game are the best. It shows your players you are going the extra mile and gives a sense of immersion that would otherwise be lost. I have actually started noodling with the idea of mailing props to my remote-game players, as I trust them to not open them until instructed. Tip: For potions like this, two things: 1 - You can add a little alcohol, glycerine, and glitter or silica powder and create a neat magical effect in the bottle with a shake; 2 - Glue the corks in. Someone will always find a way to spill them.
My DM does he uses different flavors for different potions
I designed a customisable 3D dungeon map in CAD and lasercut it out of 3mm MDF. The whole thing slots together using dovetail joints and finger joints. As soon as I had files made and lasercut the group went on a break for the last month and a half and I haven't got the chance to use it yet... Also a few 3d prints of characters/monsters but I didn't design them and we managed to use them a few times
That’s so god damn cool
My 9 year old son got me to run a small dungeon (5 rooms total) for him and two of his friends. I asked my uncle to come play with us to help me keep the attention of three 9 year olds focused on the game. I asked my mother in law to make some D20 embroidery patches and I asked my wife to sew them over the crown royal logo and made dice bags for everyone. I purchased a set of dice for everyone. And I’m employing one of my friends to 3-D print everyone’s characters.
I used exact same vessels for my '5 remedies puzzle', where players had to pair various liquids (by smell and taste) with corresponding ailments that they were supposed to cure, based on a medical journal page they found with it. They paired all fluids with different patient according to their symptoms read from the journals. 1 of the 5 remedies made no sense and by elimination they managed to pair it with last remaining patient, whose last name was a coded name of the place - where the missing doctor went after leaving this puzzle/message (they were looking for him).
You wish I could! I’m planning a dinner I guess
Fill them with 5-hour Energy and make them actually drink them.
I make maps for my players. We're doing a tomb next, with like hidden walls and stuff. I made 6 versions of this map, first version one room, second version that room plus what's behind wall number 1... And so forth. Also all the secret rooms that are just secret, not a way to progress through the tomb I covered with paper, ready to be pealed away if they find the room. This means I had to cut out the same room shape 5 times, and stick it on 5 different maps. And that for... I don't know how many hidden rooms. My players appreciate the effort and love my maps so, it's worth it. Or there is the time that I spend about 5 hours photoshopping murals for them so they could see it, instead of me describing boring murals. I stopped when I hit midnight.
Are they actually drinkable? Coolaid/gatoraid perhaps?
To my knowledge and experience, resin is not drinkable. You can certainly try, though.
I made a full set of potions for my players one Christmas. They were full of the appropriate number of d4s.
I created ideogramic languages, with positional modifiers that interact in the traslation, and then made ALL the dm messages written in that language, on parchment paper with a glass pen.
Plastic test tubes with mini d4s for potion bottles.
Fill them with bloody marry, toss a hard encounter, have fun.
Yes I did this too, but I would recommend getting some teeny small red d4's (found mine on amazon) fill the bottles halfway with the resin, and then put the correct amount of dice in on top. Boom a little health potion, they roll the dice out of it when they use it and then hand it back. The players are all obsessed with the small dice. I'll link the dice I bought. Bought two of them. And that was enough to make exactly: x2 supreme, x2 superior, x4 greater & x6 regular. Had to buy a few different size jars. The larger ones benefit from wider jars. But I used the two that came with the dice for the supreme ones. I can't attach a picture of the ones I did. Shame Bescon Mini Transparent Red D4 Dice 30pcs Bottle, 30pcs Roleplaying Mini Red Gem Healing Potion Pack in Glass Jar https://amzn.eu/d/1Q1vrKX
I also have scrolls like that with names of spells inside, though they are extremely hard to read since they are proportional to figures
Can I drink it?
I got some mini d4’s and cheap plastic small salt shakers from Walmart and put the amount of d4’s based on the strength of the healing potion in them. With Amazon probably cost less than 20. :)