A Fistful of Flash Drives, or Props at the Table Options

[Overture]

Hi. I'm Overture, and I'm a prop addict.

I've done some half-assed little wraps of Mountain Dew cans in the labels of a soft drink previously mentioned as a one-off gag. I've made pages supposedly torn out of ancient tomes. I love blurring the line between fantasy and reality in any way I can, and the oohs and aahs I get from my players makes me think they don't mind that much.

Recently, I saw some prop coins for Ye Olde Fantasie Gaminge, which got me thinking: why not try to make some prop nuyen? Not only could this be a neat gimmick, tossing bundles of bills across the table at the end of a run, but this could also lead to some interesting moments where, for example, a Johnson passes them bundles with hundreds on the ends and ones filling the center before making a break for it.

Of course, this has a few problems with it: for one, in the grimdark future as detailed by Catalyst, currency is primarily digital, but tossing someone a handful of flash drives isn't satisfying. I'm pondering something involving credit-card-sized cards of aluminum written on with dry erase markers to represent credsticks or somesuch, but it's not as satisfying (or interesting of a design challenge!) as paper bills.

What does canon have to say about paper currency? Would you enjoy seeing prop bills at the table? What have you done or seen done at the table to add a little kiss of realism?

[CanRay]

Deadlands had great props. Poker Cards and Chips which had practical purposes. I could see my players play with their chips, chewing hard on decisions as they held one in one hand, and another in the other.

I also used a foil of Jiffy-Pop as my first prop.

[Saint Hallow]

This brings to mind that since almost 90% of currency is electronic... then the old ruse/distraction of tossing money into the air around you so the crowd surges in to grab it/distracts a bunch of folks, & allow you to run/escape isn't feasible anymore.

[snowRaven]

This brings to mind that since almost 90% of currency is electronic... then the old ruse/distraction of tossing money into the air around you so the crowd surges in to grab it/distracts a bunch of folks, & allow you to run/escape isn't feasible anymore.

Instead, you toss a handful of certified credsticks into the air...

...each and every one with a small parachute attached, and an RFID broadcasting 'Free money!' (IMG:style_emoticons/default/grinbig.gif)

[CanRay]

I remember a novel that had one of the protagonists thank God that England was too stuffy to get rid of the Pound Notes, and threw a bunch in the air to do that. Wonder if they still have a physical currency?

You don't even need to throw the CredSticks... Just make AROs that look like CredSticks. People walk around in such a drugged AR-Haze anyways that should work well enough for long enough, and is a lot cheaper. Just gotta spam past their firewalls...

[ravensmuse]

Haha, think about all of those rap videos where they fan money out in their hands - and imagine them with credsticks.

That's just too good not to use.

[snowRaven]

You don't even need to throw the CredSticks... Just make AROs that look like CredSticks. People walk around in such a drugged AR-Haze anyways that should work well enough for long enough, and is a lot cheaper. Just gotta spam past their firewalls...

...which is why you want the actual credsticks and parachutes in bright colors, to get people's interest. Of course, there doesn't have to be actual money on the credsticks - if you want to be fancy, spoof them so they appear to have money on them, but otherwise just their existance (and an amount in the ARO perhaps?) will do the trick. They're only a nuyen a piece, so with parachute that should probably be no more than 2 nuyen each.

[Overture]

...so with parachute that should probably be no more than 2 nuyen each.

Assuming your GM will let you buy tiny parachutes. I'm fairly certain I've lost those privileges by now. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif) Still, toy soldiers would have to be like a nuyen a dozen...

[snowRaven]

Assuming your GM will let you buy tiny parachutes. I'm fairly certain I've lost those privileges by now. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif) Still, toy soldiers would have to be like a nuyen a dozen...

Ah, sorry to hear that -- those things can happen, yes.

An alternative is to just get a swath of thin fabric and string, then you can make your own parachutes - or pay some squatters or street kids to do it. Just be sure to NOT tell your GM what you need it for.

[Christian Lafay]

Think magic, and it's counterparts, are well known enough that throwing some fool's ori on the street would work?

[Khyron]

You could throw a fist full of bullets on the table. That'd get their attention. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[Saint Hallow]

I've begun bringing a BB gun to my games to help me get into character. It helps also when describing my "dramatic" shooting stances & actions so I get the "cinematic" dice bonus rule we use. I would bring a NERF gun instead of the BB gun to be safer, but none of the NERF stuff looks cool/authentic enough for SR.

I know SR isn't set-up for battlemaps or miniatures, but I find those help a lot in the game for visual aids & making people feel they are in the "action scene". At least, it does for me.

[CanRay]

I tried cap guns at the game to get people enthused.

Didn't work. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/frown.gif)

[Paul]

To be honest I don't go for props. They tend to be distracting, and rarely love up to my hopes. This isn't to say they're bad-just that I'm not using them on a regular basis.

[Cain]

I love props when I can get them. I ran On The Run three times, and used an actual minidisk as a prop, with the proper writing on it.

My favorite, though, was shamelessly ripped from a James Clavell novel. The team made a deal with a dragon, in exchange for a favor each. The markers were half of a broken lizard tooth. Over a year later, when they were discussing the final adventure of Brainscan, they startede arguing over rather or not they should go into the arcology. They asked the otaku: "What more can you give us?"

The looks on the player's faces was priceless when I dropped a half of a dragon tooth on the table.

[Jareth Valar]

Well, for electronic money, you could always drop a few extra Nuyen yourself and get a copy of the Monopoly game with electronic currency. It can even be used to keep everyone's money on their own cards, adding to it after runs and subtracting from when they drop cred, if you are so inclined. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/cool.gif)

[Tymeaus Jalynsfe...]

Well, for electronic money, you could always drop a few extra Nuyen yourself and get a copy of the Monopoly game with electronic currency. It can even be used to keep everyone's money on their own cards, adding to it after runs and subtracting from when they drop cred, if you are so inclined. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/cool.gif)

Interesting Idea...

[Darkraven]

Well, for electronic money, you could always drop a few extra Nuyen yourself and get a copy of the Monopoly game with electronic currency. It can even be used to keep everyone's money on their own cards, adding to it after runs and subtracting from when they drop cred, if you are so inclined. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/cool.gif)

You need to remember to leave the machine on and not let the batteries go dead for it to remember the proper amounts

[CanRay]

You need to remember to leave the machine on and not let the batteries go dead for it to remember the proper amounts

Funny story, back when Motherboards needed a big battery to remember the CMOS information (Yes, 386/486 days!), we had at my school library where I worked a defective Motherboard that drained the rather expensive batteries in two days. The computers were leased, so the only issue we had was putting in the CMOS information every morning every day until the new battery came in.

Well, we're a bunch of nerds, so we figured out how to jury-rig some AA-Batteries onto the outside, and they lasted for about a month. Much better. We made sure they were hard to get to, however, so that people didn't steal them.

*Sighs* Memories.