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OracleofWuffing
2011-09-23, 10:36 AM
(If this thread's title sounds familiar, that's because its evil twin brother broke out of the abyssal netherbowels last night. It has since been apprehended.)

Verbose Mode:
Player: COUGH COUGH COUGH Hey guys, glad to see most of us are here on time SNIIIIFFFF can I have my dice COUGH COUGH

DM: Um, let me check... Mountain Dew, Mountain Dew... Week old Red Bull... Week old Monster... God knows how old All Sport... Sorry, I must have left your dice in my other bag. Here's my spare d20.

Player: HACK HACK COUGH COUGH SNEEZE COUGH Okay, well, [OracleofWuffing] isn't using his d12, COUGH COUGH COUGH also I need a d6 SNEEZE

DM: Also, since my cardboard tokens got thrown out, you'll be using [OracleofWuffing]'s tokens. You can be this guy.

Player: No wait I COUGH COUGH COUGH I'll be this guy wait no let me see these ACHOO SNIFF COUGH COUGH Yeah I'll be this guy COUGH no I mean this guy SNIFF

DM: Okay, whatever. [OracleofWuffing], did you bring everyone's cards this week?

Player: SNEEZE *blows nose* Oh yeah, you have cards for us! COUGH COUGH Also I need a pencil SNIFF Nevermind [OracleofWuffing] brought a spare I'll just COUGH COUGH take that.

Concise'd
I'm going to give my supplies a scrub down this weekend. Luckilly, my tokens are hand-made glazed ceramic, so I think I'll just soak those in soapy water and air-dry them. I'm guessing I could do the same for the dice, too. The pencil I guess I can just throw out, more where that came from, but I'm at a complete loss in cleaning playing cards.

Anyone have words of wisdom, advice, or celebrity-shaped cookies regarding cleaning their RPG utilities?

Traab
2011-09-23, 11:38 AM
Use a damp cloth, with a bit of some sort of antibacterial component to it to gently wipe them down then dry them off right away. As far away from dripping damp as you can get without it being totally dry. Most cards are waxed now arent they? I know classic playing cards are, so a little dampness isnt a problem, just dry them off after.

Mustard
2011-09-23, 01:30 PM
Is the main concern about residue from the aforementioned coughing? For hard plastics and nonporous materials, mildly soapy water should do. For cards, you don't want to get them wet, but a very, very lightly moistened cloth may work. A little moisture shouldn't hurt, but try on a worthless card first (e.g. instruction card, or worthless common card).

If there is concern is about pathogens, first I'll point out this is not medical advice, and then I'll go on to say that I'd really not be worried. I believe airborne pathogens tend to die (yes, the term "die" doesn't apply to viruses, but you know what I mean) pretty easily if they don't find a new host. If you were a germaphobe, you'd have cleared the room upon even the slightest hint of a cough, probably, so I imagine that's not the highest concern. If you want to ensure pathogen destruction just to be sure, though, why not some sun exposure? UV light destroys a lot of microorganisms. Besides, don't you want to stimulate your immune system to produce antibodies? To reiterate: I'm not a doctor, not even a microbiologist, this isn't medical advice, just my views, etc. (Am I paranoid?)

Medic!
2011-09-23, 02:26 PM
Anti-bacterial wipes are getting pretty popular at most social gatherings now a days and can be picked up fairly inexpensively at most stores. Most of them are gentle enough that as long as you don't buff-and-grind whatever you're wiping down it won't hurt a thing. Just give them a once-over with a wipe so you can see that it got wet then let it air dry (should take all of like 5 seconds to dry) and you're good to go.

Side note: in today's society it wouldn't be considered an insult or taboo or anything like that to keep a container of said wipes at the table even during play. If you don't want to spend a buck or three on them, most wal-marts keep them out near the shopping carts where you walk into the store now so jacking a tub is feasable for the chaotic fellows out there.

Traab
2011-09-23, 04:15 PM
Anti-bacterial wipes are getting pretty popular at most social gatherings now a days and can be picked up fairly inexpensively at most stores. Most of them are gentle enough that as long as you don't buff-and-grind whatever you're wiping down it won't hurt a thing. Just give them a once-over with a wipe so you can see that it got wet then let it air dry (should take all of like 5 seconds to dry) and you're good to go.

Side note: in today's society it wouldn't be considered an insult or taboo or anything like that to keep a container of said wipes at the table even during play. If you don't want to spend a buck or three on them, most wal-marts keep them out near the shopping carts where you walk into the store now so jacking a tub is feasable for the chaotic fellows out there.

To expand upon that, best way to get them is to knock down the greeter, then gank the tub of wipes while everyone is focused on him. :smallcool:

dsmiles
2011-09-23, 07:28 PM
Kill it with FIRE!!!!

(or get new stuff)

Glimbur
2011-09-24, 08:26 AM
Playing cards are generally cheap. Consider making a gift of the infected set to the person who coughed on them and get a new deck. The problem is if someone is sick every week...

I thought this thread would be about getting marker off of battle mats. One trick to use there is to color on the old mark with the same marker and wipe it off quickly. The marker has to have the right solvent to remove the ink because that's how the ink is delivered in the first place.

OracleofWuffing
2011-09-24, 11:52 AM
Er, just to clarify, the cards in question are D&D 4e Fortune Cards, so they're significantly more pricey than a 51 card set. I just kind of figured there were other game systems that used cards and general cleaning tips are usually system-agnostic, hence posting here and not there. :smallsmile: For that reason, it's perfectly fine to post tips for other unmentioned RPG supplies.

My budget is like, three USD, whatever's in the couch, and whatever cleaning supplies I have on-hand, so while I would enjoy a good old-fashioned bonfire, I doubt I'll ever get that many cards for free again. I'll be leaving shortly to check what price I can get on magical cleaning wipes. (By the way, I am totally calling Username/Post Combo on Medic!)

I know, generally speaking, that we've all pretty much been exposed to whatever contagions that player had just by virtue of being within table reach of the infected player, but I think it's still kind of the courteous thing to do to clean everything even if most of it's not going to be contagious now.

A thought came to mind on perhaps chilling things in the freezer for a bit (which, like every other action, is just a primitive form of burning them), but I wasn't certain if that'd just preserve any lingering microorganisms or kill them. That said, yeah, cleaning wipes sounds like the best bet.

Medic!
2011-09-24, 06:48 PM
For the shameless man on a budget (I can sympathize there, ramen noodles for life), another alternative is swinging by the local ER on a Friday evening (aim for close to 7:30/8:00 pm, look for lots of cars) and you can slip in while it's busy post-shift-change and gank a little squeezy bottle of hand disinfectant off the registration desks without getting too much flak for it.

I'm still a huge fan of the wipes, it's what we use to wipe down our ambulance cot after every patient, quick, easy, inexpensive and effective :D

EDIT: I also wouldn't worry too much about puting anything in your freezer or going to great lengths to kill organisms, most viruses are dead within an hour of being exposed to the air.

OracleofWuffing
2011-09-24, 07:16 PM
Yeah, I was able to track down some wipes locally. 15 wipes for $1.25, but they're a decent size for the stuff I'm cleaning. Now I'm just procrastinating doing the actual cleaning. :smalltongue:

Melayl
2011-09-24, 07:50 PM
Regular old rubbing alcohol will kill most pathogens very well -- it is still used as a surgical scrub periodically. They've gone away from using it all the time as a surgical scrub simply because of the danger of the fumes. You can generally pick up a bottle fore less than 99 cents in just about every grocery or drug store. Use a normal washcloth or cotton ball and scrub things down with it. The 4E cards might be a bit tough, since I don't know how absorbant they are, but a brief rub with a dampened cloth should be ok.