Firefly LARP Paper Props

It's certainly not Mythos related, but this Flickr collection of "Firefly" paper props for the Dropzone 2010 event has to be one of the best immersion aids for a live action game I've ever seen. There are already a plethora of outstanding licensed props available for "Firefly" and "Serenity", but this event has gone a step further with an array of custom-themed items. There's a little of everything in there- bottle labels, identification cards, and even an in-game newspaper.

Cultist's Amulet

Andres Feliciano brings us this cultist's amulet cast from solid silver. The piece was aged using an egg solution, then burnished with a jewelry cloth.

Arkham Death Certificate

Here's a vintage-style death certificate from Lovecraft's Arkham. Opening the PDF with Adobe Acrobat Reader or a forms compatible viewer will allow you to fill in the blank fields with typewritten text using an embedded Freeware font.

This is the first time I've used form fields in a printable prop, so it would be helpful if you could leave a comment mentioning any problems. I also opted to use a light dotted outline to mark where the paper should be trimmed instead of using crop marks. If you find the marks easier to use I can make sure they're included in future projects.

You can download the PDF over here. Here's the JPG version:



Here's the original document the prop is based on:

Cthulhu Fhtagn! Maurer Edition

Tim Lonegan sent over a link to this well done Cthulhu idol by artist Nathan Maurer. Browse around his site and you'll find a variety of occult-related items, including a Necronomicon medallion featuring two versions of the Elder Sign.

Expedition Gear

My thanks to Surreality Watch for the very nice writeup about the Miskatonic expedition shirts.

Map Brushes

Jon Decker was kind enough to send over an updated link for his map brushes I posted about last year. You can find the brush set, and some great examples of what you can do with them, over here. While you're at his site be sure to check out this take on incorporating the events of "At the Mountains of Madness" into current exploration efforts.

Making A Magic Potion

I wish I could think of a better title for this than "Making a Magic Potion", since there's blessedly little potion swilling in "Call of Cthulhu". Putting that aside, this is a quick and easy technique for creating a swirling, iridescent liquid that looks great as a potion, bound spirit, or fuel inside the reaction chamber of some infernal mechanism. Just shaking the bottle produces a wonderful pearlescent turbulence, and the effect is considerably enhanced if you can illuminate the liquid.

You'll need a bottle or container of some kind, regular kitchen food coloring, water, and the magic ingredient- mica powder. Have you ever seen an iridescent paint job on a car? Where the color shifts as it drives past you? That's the same effect produced by mica powder.



For this project I'm using "Pearl Ex Powdered Pigment", a very fine grained mica powder available at your local craft store. A single small jar runs $3-$4, but you can pick up a twelve pack for around $1 a jar if you take advantage of the ubiquitous 40% off coupons offered by craft retailers. If you don't happen to have a craft store nearby you can order the powders through Amazon. You'll only need a small amount, so a single jar should be good for a number of bottles.

Here's what the gold powder looks like inside the jar:



Fill your bottle with water and add a few drops of food coloring. You won't need much, since the mica powder will add more color to the liquid.



Then use a coffee stirrer or straw to scoop up a small amount of the powder and dump it into the bottle. Put on the cap, either a screw top or cork depending on what kind of container you're using, and give it a shake. Tada! You're done.



Turbulence in the water causes the mica fragments to swirl around. As they spin light is reflected from the short and long faces of the particles, producing two bands of color as the phase of the wavelength is alternately reinforced and damped.

Here's a bottle without any food coloring, just mica. The red and gold coloring is produced solely by light reflected from the powdered pigment.



Here's a short video clip demonstrating the swirling effect in motion:



Sadly, the iridescence will slowly disappear as the mica particles settle to the bottom of the container under the pull of gravity. You can delay that by using a more viscous fluid like glycerin or mineral oil instead of water, or by providing an outside source of energy.

Ideally, you could mimic the technique used in some novelty lights with a glass container filled with mica impregnated fluid suspended over an incandescent lamp. The direct illumination will produce a more intense swirling effect because more light is being reflected, and the heat from the lamp will set up eddy currents that keep the particles suspended. My sensitivity to legal liability compels me to remind you that such a project could easily set your home on fire and cause a massive explosion if you're not careful, so use your head and assume I'm a bloodthirsty maniac hell-bent on leading you into misfortune.