"Impossible Landscapes" is widely considered one of the definitive Delta Green tabletop scenarios. One of the reasons for that is the sheer number of props and handouts, both official and otherwise. Dump Stat Adventures brings us a selection of items from their run.
Perry Daniels has posted a great video on YouTube featuring an in-depth look at creating and weathering prop documents. He starts off with one of the cheap Chinese copies of the grail diary from "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" and proceeds to upgrade the whole thing into something far more impressive. Given the price point, it should come as no surprise that most the of the original inserts are printed on standard printer paper. Mr. Daniels goes through and replaces them with more realistic alternatives. That includes hand-drawing the Petra map, using actual newsprint for the clipped newspaper articles, using real photographs, and then weathering the entire book with an airbrush wash.
There's a lot of information packed into the video. That includes something I've never seen before- recreating the smell of an old book using a spray from a commercial scent library. That's next level.
"In November 1927 several floods ravaged the state of Vermont. Once the waters settled, some strange stories appeared about bodies found floating in some of the rivers after the flooding. The number of stories was such that even the press picked up several of these testimonies. A group of experts from the University of Miskatonic came to the region to study what was true in them, being the present document part of the field notebook of one of the professors."
Artist Ion Ander has an ongoing project illustrating creatures from the Mythos in the form of notebook pages. His entry for the Mi-Go is one of the best takes on the Fungi from Yuggoth I've seen.
Over on Reddit, SkipperShinema has posted a great selection of paper props from the Indiana Jones and the Great Circle video game. You can tell how much the developers loved Indy by the sheer amount of faux ephemera they created for the project.
I absolutely love discovering obscure props created by passionate fans. This thread over on the Replica Prop Forum is a prime example. Like all right-thinking people, Lukeiswho is a huge fan of the Granada Television Sherlock Holmes series starring Jeremy Brett. Over the years he's created an impressive collection of props based on those used in the show, recreating them in excruciating detail. You really need to click through to appreciate the level of dedication on display.
Wax seals are one of the easiest ways to take tabletop RPG props to the next level. Christina Makes Things over on YouTube has posted a great video covering the basic technique and some more advanced procedures. That includes blending colors, highlighting, and the use of wax molds and sticker backings.
"The Haunting" has been the introductory adventure for the Call of Cthulhu TTRPG for decades. Over that time multiple keepers have gone all-in to make it a more immersive experience for players. That includes MrKennyG41, who posted all of the handouts he collected and created to Google Drive.
Sean McLaughlin of base113 games brings us this very cool set of paper props:
"I originally just made the star chart with a couple of notes. Trying to decide which version to go with, I asked around, and it seemed everyone agree that a version with notes was the best way to go. So I decided to expand the notes a bit. Using a floating frame I discovered amongst my various parts and pieces (still a pain to photograph well) I put together a slightly larger display than I first planned."
He's been kind enough to not only detail the creation of the star charts, but provide the source files as well. Just click on the link above.
Michael R. Miranda returns to our pages with this wonderful tableaux of a hobbit's desk, filled with a variety of prop documents and items.
As an aside, I've always wanted to run a hobb...er, halfling-only fantasy RPG campaign. They're well known for being the only race almost totally immune to dark magic and eldritch influences, making them ideal delvers for locations filled with arcane corruption. It would be a cozy mystery version of Call of Cthulhu, with a touch of Indiana Jones.
Pomchop returns to our pages with another collection of excellent handouts. This time it's for "Great Old Ones on the Great White Way" from Chaosium:
I’ve just run ‘Great Old Ones on the Great White Way’ as a one-shot for some theatrical/roleplaying friends. Here are the handouts I made for the game. Unfortunately the investigators didn’t find them all, but they go to the bottom of the mystery with one indefinite insanity and no deaths.
For those of you who don’t know the scenario, it was originally printed in the Chaosium halloween monograph ‘Dead Leaves Fall’ and features a missing actress and a fishy broadway show. I feel to get the most out of the scenario the players should have a knowledge of musical theatre which, thankfully, my group did. It went down well and took 4 1/2 hours to run (with breaks).
He's very kindly made all of them available for free. You'll find a PDF with most of them over here, while the playbill for the show is over here.
"Brave-as-a-noun" went completely old school to produce props for a new Call of Cthulhu campaign. He used an actual vintage typewriter to produce teaser messages that he then mailed to his players. That's insanely cool.
In many ways, "Day of the Beast" from Chaosium is the little brother of "Masks of Nyarlathotep". Both were originally published back in 1984 ("Day of the Beast" as "The Fungi from Yuggoth") and involved a globe spanning fight against creatures of the Mythos. In the case of "Beast" that was the Mi-Go, as the original title gave away.
Over on Reddit, Pomchop put together a plethora of handouts for their running of the adventure. Even better, they've made all of that impressive prep work available for free. Yet another example of the awesomeness of the "Call of Cthulhu" community.
Over on Reddit, MrKennyG41 posted an inspirational gallery of the props and handouts he created for "A Star On the Shore". This is just a small sampling.
Oh, how I love prop layouts. SR Sellens posted these shots of the physical and paper props he created for a railway-themed scenario called "Lost and Found". If you like what you see you can find the complete adventure over in the Miskatonic Repository.
Over on Reddit, UrsusRex01 has done two great things. The first is posting this tableau of all the handouts they made for the "Ladybug, Ladybug, Fly Away Home" scenario for Call of Cthulhu. The second is making every single one of these handouts available for download, absolutely free. Just click over here.
A tantalizing selection of prop documents and photographs for LongshotRage's next Call of Cthulhu tabletop game. He's running a homebrew scenario focused on the Black Pharaoh, Nephren-Ka.
Over on Reddit, mrwhite_20 posted this gorgeous tableau shot of the upgraded prop set they created for the Call of Cthulhu scenario "Blackwater Creek", one of the two included with the Keeper's Screen.
Even better than the glorious prop pr0n, they've generously made the source files available over on their website. Click through on the link and you'll also find upgraded props for a number of other scenarios.
Schroetelein brings us another impressive set of props. This time it's for a running of "Crimson Letters".
Update: Many of the Egyptian handouts were created using Juan Carlos Porcel's resources over at his Elder Props website. They're available in both deluxe and pay what you want versions. You'll find a slew of other cool prop resources as well.
Over on Reddit, Mazayiz has posted some shots of the props they put together to run "Edge of Darkness" from the Call of Cthulhu Starter Set. It's a great scenario that already comes with a selection of handouts, but they took it to the next level with custom documents, ephemera, and curios.
"Going to run edge of darkness for some new players this upcoming weekend. This being a text heavy scenario, I cut down some of writing in the handouts and wanted to add a few physical props like the sarcophagus, key, boxes, “powders”, lighter and candle.
There are also a few extra handouts, mainly the “sheaf of yellowed papers” from the farmhouse which instead of being read out by the keeper can now be read by the PCs. Also on the backside of Sigil is a 16th century German version text of the De Vermiis Mysteris. Although it was supposed to be in Latin, the paper is torn to show as if Marion Allen torn out the original manuscript page and added some handwritten notes. Also I took the Latin chant handouts for the ritual and added Marion Allen’s handwriting to show the changes he made from a summoning ritual to a banishment ritual. I also wanted to spruce up the translation of the sarcophagus and have made it so that if professor Rice helps to decipher the Egyptian writing, it appears as if he made a charcoal rubbing on one side of the paper of the hieroglyphics and wrote the translation on the other side.
Overall a fun experience to make."
Even better, all of the bespoke paper props are available for download over on Google Drive. Kudos to Mazayiz for their generosity. If you've been thinking about introducing a group to Call of Cthulhu, or tabletop games in general, these props will guarantee it's a memorable experience.
What happens when a progressive rock group embraces the King in Yellow? Shadoko42 on Reddit brings us the answer with this selection of custom props for his Call of Cthulhu campaign.
As a long-time rock DJ I absolutely love this stuff. There's a huge overlap between the history of rock and roll and the occult that can serve as very fertile ground for the Mythos. Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin has made no secret of his fascination with Alistair Crowley. That includes his purchase of Boleskin House, one of The Beast's former residences. David Bowie was a serious believer in magic in addition to his fondness for science fiction, making him a particularly appropriate inspiration.
