DMing on the Cheap

This whole set up cost me less than $20 at Staples, most of that on the poster map. It does help to have a mother who is a triftstore fiend. I've tasked her to keep an eye out for small plastic monsters (she is responsible for all the 3D pieces here except for the rubber insects that came from a dollarstore).

I have never, in 20+ years of gaming, ever used maps or minis. I tried my hand at painting minis a few years ago, and have exactly two that I'm proud of. But it always ended up feeling like such at time and money sink. I did once plan out a mountain-pass ambush on bristol board, but that has been it.

However, my 5th edition group responds well to visual and tactile stimulation, so I am going to try it this way. Took some internet art, scaled it using Excel and saved it as a pdf for printing. Yes, I am aware that I am violating a few copywrites, but its for charity/ personal use and I will not post the pdf sheets online.

One unexpected bonus was that while setting up for this picture, I also wrote the majority of my introductory sewer adventure. I know where the treasure and monsters are going to go and I just need to stat it out. Gotta remember to put in (and maybe print off) a few traps.

Things to Remember
-Foamboard backing is great for lie-down tokens, but terrible for Standees. I actually have proper plastic bases that I want to use, but they were too narrow for the foamboard. The butterfly clips keep the pieces up, but they also crush the foam. At least it didn't cost me anything, I grabbed the foamboard from a work clear-out- the-storeroom-day.

-I do need a better way to make the Standees. I printed them on Staples' cardstock, but they were still too thin for my bases. Need to find a happy medium.

-The players haven't picked character pics yet so I have to find a stand-ins for the first session. I was going to use the LEGO Heroica pieces (top right) but I don't have enough to go around, so I might just use something more basic like standard board game pieces. Next session I'll have Standees for each character.

Appendix N1/2
The four books holding down the four corners are:
Conan, The Sword of Skelos, by Andew Offutt. Bantam Press 1979
Vazkor, Son of Vazkor, by Tanith Lee. Daw 1978
Under The Green Star, by Lin Carter. Daw 1972
Assignment: Moon Girl, Edward S. Aarons. Fawcett Publications 1967