Over on Reddit, PMbyday_DMbynight shared some excellent handouts from his latest Dungeons and Dragons campaign:
"During the last session of our D&D, I made handouts for my players. While I handed it to my players, they did not open it right away. They turned it over, checked the seal and held it up like it actually mattered. The whole table was quiet for few seconds. That’s the moment I know physical handouts are essential.
Since last year, I have been making simple “parchment” at home using cheap brown paper, printing on it and aging it a bit. Nothing really fancy or expensive but once you put it in an envelope or add a small prop, it starts feeling like an object from the world!
It is honestly one of the best and easiest upgrades to immersion at the table."
As you would expect, the comments include a lot of very positive player reactions to getting tailored handouts. That jibes with my own experience. I've also seen players totally ignore the clues and information included in prop documents. That can occur even when the participants are experienced investigators. When it does, I normally have them roll a perception or intelligence check for their characters and offer up varying levels of detail depending on their success (or lack thereof).
Is it meta-gaming to expect players to pick up on things? You bet, but it's also fun and immersive. Having the character's abilities as a backup gives them another chance to take advantage of what they've been given.
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