Game Props Part 4: Fantasy Billboards

I've posted about my fantasy billboards I've used in the past.  Here's a post from 2009 and revisited the subject again in 2013.  Well I am doing it again.  This was probably one of my better ideas (although there wasn't a huge selection to chose from) to develop a community billboard the players could use.

We played at my house at the time and I had a section of the wall covered in notices, ads, announcements and sometimes threats.  The players would come in before the game and read through the billboard.  It gave them a focal point right away.  It engaged them into game without even starting.  It was a lot of fun and players really enjoyed it. 

I've google ganked from my own blog to show you some examples of what I used in the past.

First off we have an ad for siege weapons (misspelled, I wish I could say I meant to do that, but...) there were several merchants who would advertise their ware or skills here.

If you look down three pictures (the one with 3 small ads in it) you'll read a lady is asking for people to help find her husband.  None of the players bit on the adventure hook.  A few weeks later this note appeared.  It was interesting to see their reaction.  Just because they did not interact with the event did not mean things stood static. 

 
A weird ditty that might get the adventurers interested, but there is no information on where or who put this up.  However, if the players did show interested they would have had to camp the billboard to see who wrote it.

A simple announcement.  It blended in with the other announcements.  But it was an important plot point during that game session.

A mercenary band looking for work, then the initial note of Linda who wanted someone to help find her husband, but no one came and lastly, a note from a fanatic.  Fanatics posted often. Just like on Google+.

Janon was my rogue reporter.  He posted one-page commentaries of what was going on in City-State.  There would be a new Janon piece every week.  It was a ton of fun creating a fantasy TMZ.

Simple list of wanted people.  Once in a while I might mention a name that they would see on the billboard and they would all scramble to see if it was up there.  Sometimes they forgot that more than one person can have the same name.  It happens.  

There is some work upfront developing a billboard, but after the initial set up you can add a few pieces here and there to keep it fresh.  Just run with any idea you have.  Be weird as you want.  You can lace them with plot hooks, clues and develop storylines.  The effort I put into mine paid off huge and I know a few of the players still yap about it and it's been over 10 years.

Fantasy Billboards Revisited

A while ago I did a post on Fantasy Billboards.  It's a favorite prop of mine for face-to-face games.  It's a good icebreaker, I have it set up so before the game they can pursue the the ads, notes and declarations.  Plus it helped with setting plot hooks and establishing personalities within the city that they haven't met yet.  Almost a minor celebrity status.  Last night Rob and I were talking and he's a much better archivist than I am.  I lost my gaming stuff all the time.  Well not lose I tend to toss it so I can make room for the new stuff.  Anyway I found my folder of billboard material and thought I would share a few of the items.

 

This one is a second part of post.  It was a minor adventure hook that went ignored.  When this posting on the billboard appeared the player took notice.  

Sometimes I liked to put nonsensical stuff up.  But it tempted the players and I had an adventure ready for this one.  If I remember correctly they did get the gold, but the people waiting outside took the magic items they wanted.

Only mages got to do their ads in color.  I guess I figured they would be the ones to do it.  And that symbol in the upper right corner is the symbol of the Guild of Arcane Lore.  I always liked it.

This was another plot hook.  Like most things in life, if you deal with it right away its not a big issue, but if you let it slide for a while it will become a problem. 

I hope you can read this through the falling hearts.

Notice of Impending Assassination

One of the props I like to use in game is a billboard.  I've written about it a couple of times.  I was cleaning up the office and found an old disc.  A group of assassins known as the Death Arrows post Death Certificates on the billboard.  Why would a assassin guild do this?

The first part of the answer is The Death Arrows are civilized and business men.  They believe it's proper to give someone a chance to put their affairs in order.   There is no known case where someone escaped a contract. 

The second part, it allows others to seek compensation for outstanding loans.

And lastly, it gives the target a sporting chance.  Though once their death is proclaimed it's only a matter of time before they assume room temperature, but the Death Arrows prefer to give a fighting man a chance to not go quietly into the ever night. 

Click to make sure its not for you.

Developing the Newb Campaign

Recently I’ve been developing the newb campaign. They are in a frontier village. It was formed because of the large silver mine in the area. Over the past year there has been a large migration of adventurers due to the recent discovery of a massive burial ground (BurrowMaze) and the amount of treasure being found. To the south, there is the outskirt of a now dead kingdom that has been reclaimed by the forest over the years. The border is patrolled by guards regularly. It is illegal to enter this area without a writ, provided by the nobility. They want to settle the area, expand the kingdom, but by the right people. This is where I will be using the Kingmaker adventure path.

There also several small lairs of critters about. The party recently wiped out tribe of goblins. There is another tribe of goblins, much larger and a lair of ogres that will come into play later. And there is an intense little temple adventure of my own making a little farther out. So there is a lot for them to choose from.

In the village there will be some good role-playing opportunities, different guilds and races and other organizations with agendas. It is run by a very tolerant baron. He doesn’t get too worked up as long as no one is murdering people in the streets or setting fires to the businesses. Right now this is what I am focusing on. I have the map and the basic descriptions of buildings, but need to a little more detailing for the NPCs.

I am also going to start using a billboard. This is something I’ve always loved to use and something I wrote about long ago. This is always a fun thing of the players to interact with and an excellent place to plant adventure leads. 

This week I will be giving them their own set of dice.  That is if I get them on time.  I ordered them online and I've been tracking their movement every night. 

Fantasy Billboards in Game

In previous posts I mentioned using a billboard in my game. I did this to give the players a prop to interact with, to make it feel like the world was alive and moving. It provided places for possible adventure if the current story line hit a lull or if they wanted to do something different. I have downloaded samples of some of the billboard content. The content and fonts are very elaborate and very non-fantasy at times, but I wasn't going for realism just another splash of color for my world. I even created a 'journalistic' personality, Janon, who would report on whaatever event struck his fancy. The players enjoyed the updates and to see if they made the billboard news. It also had another effect, when the players trickled into the game they always went to the billboard to look for the new content. This got them into a game state of mind so there was not that long period of yapping about unrelated topics before hand. They got settled in quicker and I could start the game on time. Only two more miracles to go for my sainthood.




These are samples of personal ads. The players posted their own and were surprised by the response they got. It was a very effective method. The billboard always got a lot of traffic being in the middle of the market square.











This is one of Janon's reports. During one of the adventures they had an encounter in a tavern that Janon was in and the players were disappointed they did not get a chance to talk to him. He became an elusive celebrity in a way.







This final example is of a wanted list after a riot. While the players were going about their daily business they might see someone being shackled and dragged through the crowd. I always tried to have one of the posts on the billboard be apart of that session. It helped the players connect the news with the actually going ons.



If you have never used a billboard in your game give it a shot. It is time consuming, but you don't need to make an entirely new billboard each time. I added two or three new posts along with one of Janon's entries. And to keep the old posts interesting I sometimes had an old post that had been on the billboarrd for three or four sessions become relevant. One player would jerk his head up like a deer who just heard the crack of a twig and bolt for the billboard to find the connection.