...and when I mean likewise I mean other introductory goodies etc.

If that GM were in my neck of the woods I would definitely try to get in on that game! To answer the question though-no GM has ever done that for anybody I know of, pretty impressive.

Handy Haversack wrote:

Wow, no. Explaining not to get attached to a lvl. 1 PC is about as nice as I get.

Yeah... Wasn't there a thread here a few weeks back where the general statistics seemed to be that 2/3 of level 1 characters die before they make it to level 2, with an even higher death rate for players who are new to a campaign and haven't adjusted to the GM's style yet?  This GM is clearly not expecting things to be that deadly!

Hiya.

  *raises hand* I have on occasion...

  Not very common, sure, but still. I've bought the entire group an rpg system (re: core book(s))...and I have 6 players overall (typically 5 make it). Expensive, sure, but with POD nowadays, not too bad. I've done this with Dominion Rules, Dark Dungeons, and Star Frontiers (the Alpha Dawn and Knight Hawks books).

  I've bought/painted minis for the groups characters too...but only once I think...back when mini's were made of lead and cost about $2 each. Custom GM screen's are common, and custom character sheets I can do up as well (ex-graphic designer and artist...well, I guess you're never an "ex" artist...). Oh and dice. I bought specific dice for players before (full sets to extra-full-sets...like the ones for DCC with the d3, d5, d16, etc).

  Yeah. I spend *waaaay* too much money on a game sometime. But the end result...I get great enjoyment doing it and seeing the looks of appreciation on my players faces. Totally worth it.

^_^

Paul L. Ming

Yeah, most I've ever done for my players is print the character sheet for em........props to your guy, but I would say it has less to do with GMing and more to do with just being extraordinarily creative and generous.  I would like to start a better collection of minis, our characters and npcs are always represented by initials marked on a white board.... But then agian, we've had so many player deaths me and my gm have been tempted to start a "In memoriam" thread on this forum!

nDervish wrote:

Handy Haversack wrote:

Wow, no. Explaining not to get attached to a lvl. 1 PC is about as nice as I get.

Yeah... Wasn't there a thread here a few weeks back where the general statistics seemed to be that 2/3 of level 1 characters die before they make it to level 2, with an even higher death rate for players who are new to a campaign and haven't adjusted to the GM's style yet?  This GM is clearly not expecting things to be that deadly!

I find that players that become attached to their characters make smarter/safer decisions in game.  That way I don't have to worry about balancing much. 

Also, more deaths=more painted minis...win/win.

mabon5127 wrote:

Anyway I was wondering if any GMs did likewise with those in their groups beginning a new campaign or at a convention? 

Wow.  Well, while I have certainly in the past created custom minis for good friends and such, I don't think i've ever quite customized anything else quite like that!

However, if you are of the sort of person that likes to do that sort of thing, props and little touches in a game can be a lot of fun, and really enhance the experience.

I have always loved Call of Cthulhu, and most of the recent campaigns i've done have been with various small props here and there.  We have a old antique index card file box I had found, for each item, mystical whosit, strange book, or unknown artifact the party came across, I would hand them a card with a photo of the item, and an applicably-generic description of what it looked like or what it appeared to be.  The player carrying the card was the one carrying the item.  The items would sometimes get left behind if a player was unable to show up, or sometimes I'd take the card back and replace it with an updated version once they had found out some more aspcts of the items.

And, of course, if they felt like just keeping them in the safe deposit box they ended up getting, it'd quitely go back in the wooden file box until needed again.

But sometimes it doesn't always have to be props.  In my CoC campaigns, I'd also have the players come up with, in addition to their characters, three people, places or things in their character's lives that were important to them somehow.  I'd use those to weave into the campaign as it went along, to help make the experience feel more like an organic world, where things were happening to people not just because of randomness, but because of reasons.  One of the character's ex-wife had remarried to one of the key Bad Guys in the campign, altho of course, they didn't know that he was so at the beginning of the campaign.  Often I'd try and tie locations, people or events together with other character's plot points, so there'd be a better sense of comraderie and less suspecion of disbelief when these random strangers met up with each other.

I also like to sit down with each player alone and do a little one-on-one session, kind of introducing their character to some weird mystery that was what set them off on exploring the eldritch horrors.  This of course obviously works better if you have some extra spare time, and a smaller, stable cadre of gamers to work with, but little things like that can provide so many avenues for good gaming down the road.