Prints Charming

A while ago I wrote about the reasons you should make maps as player handouts. Here are some suggestions for using authentic-looking materials:

You might be familiar with the process of "tea aging": Take your printed paper and soak it for some time (the duration being, basically, "until it looks right") in a container. A 9" x 13" glass dish is perfect. Use strong tea, and remember that the document will lighten as it dries. You don't want to put a water-soluble printout into a tea bath, of course, but you can dye the paper first, iron it flat, and then print on it.

Or, if you're lazy like me, visit your local office supply store and look at both the interesting paper and the decorative designs that people get for certificates, signs, and awful Christmas letters. Imagine if your group arrives for the game session and sees a "wanted" poster with their faces on it! Craft stores sometimes also sell interesting things, like printable fabric panels (intended for things like printing photographs to sew onto fabric art), that can be wonderful for this.

It is possible to print on papyrus! I've done it. There are three critical things to remember: First, pick out the lightest and most uniform-looking pieces from your package of papyrus sheets (which you can get on Amazon). That will help minimize ink spread, or at least make it uniform. Second, get your papyrus as flat as humanly possible. I sprayed mine with a bit of water and put it under a stack of books for a week. Papyrus has a tendency to curl; you have to be very careful to prevent that. And third, only use an ink-jet printer for this. You absolutely do not want your papyrus sheet to catch fire inside a laser printer – at the very least it will cost you your printer, and possibly your house. I cannot emphasize this enough. The fuser is hot! Use the printer settings for heavy cardstock and go for it. You might need to experiment to get everything right, but papyrus usually sells in multi-packs! You don't need to stick with Egyptian themes, either – other ancient societies used papyrus, and in fantasy, the field is wide open.

And once you have your prop printed, there are other things you might want to do to it . . .

-- Jean Mcguire