Tips and tricks for the frugal gamer?

[Sorcerer Blob]

If you are like me, then you have money that is better spent elsewhere. Gaming stuff is awesome to have and you want, want, want it but it is expensive in most cases. Luckily sites like DriveThruRPG or RPGNow do assist some of us in our quest to acquire product and rock the RPG world. But, those sites don't have everything (here's looking at you WotC and your pdf ban...) and gaming accessories are another issue entirely.

Ebay and Amazon occasionally have good RPG accessory deals, but those are few and far between or you just have to luck into. I found Troll and Toad and they specialize in inexpensive RPG accessories like game mats and minis. If you are a mini-fiend like me, this is perfect. I recently purchased a bunch of old Mage Knight minis and converted their bases to D&D size. It was easy to do and each mini rang up at about $0.15 apiece (last check, they had been raised to $0.20 apiece.)

I've also made my own game mats using construction paper, a printer, and contact paper. Using this I was able to print it onto colored paper and with a little trimming of the margins, tape it together with clear tape, and then finally coat the top-side in contact paper. NOTE: Dry erase is almost impossible to get off of contact paper, wet erase is where it's at!!

I've also started to make my own dungeon terrain using foam board and superglue. I found a great gray stone-like foam board and cut it to the shapes I needed.

What other tips are there for the frugal gamer on the go?

[hangedman1984]

Piracy



...I don't mean computer piracy, i mean getting a boat and sailing the open seas. Raining down cannon fire on merchant ships. And then using your newly acquired booty to make all your rpg purchases.

[Sorcerer Blob]

Piracy



...I don't mean computer piracy, i mean getting a boat and sailing the open seas. Raining down cannon fire on merchant ships. And then using your newly acquired booty to make all your rpg purchases.

Well, when you put it that way... It makes a lot of sense. Off to Somalia!

[sharona]

LEGO-type building bricks can be substituted for mini's. A small pail can contain hundreds of bricks in a variety of shapes and colors, and cost a few bucks new. I've seen them at garage sales for virtually free. Ignore the $$$ that some sets can bring, because those are usually driven by the presence of a few rare bricks. You can also use the bigger bricks to build structures such as obstacles and the layout of an encounter.

As part of session prep I used to pull out the bricks for a specific encounter's monsters and bag them separately. It made the encounter run more smoothly when I'd already pulled out the 15 1x1's that indicated swarming opponents.

I had a package of the overhead-projector-sheets that were designed to be run through a laser printer. I printed various sized grids on them, then flipped them over and wrote on the back with eraseable markers. The grid stayed intact for a surprisingly long time. The one that I laminated grid-side-down onto white card stock lasted until it was lost.

[Saintheart]

For very cheap minis, print a couple of pictures out at the desired size, stick 'em to a piece of cardboard, then stick the cardboard so it stands up on a square piece of cardboard at the square/hex size. Instant figures. Not too fancy, but it is a game of imagination principally.

[LibraryOgre]

If you've got a bit of a collecting bug, go to eBay. Most FLGS have some nice stuff, but it's also not uncommon to see them selling stuff at near full price. You can find some good deals on out-of-print stuff that isn't too rare.

For example, I've been rebuilding my collection of prime 2nd edition Shadowrun supplements this way.

[kyoryu]

If you've got an inkjet printer, you can make *awesome* tokens.

Just pick up some 1" washers from Home Depot ($1 for 8), make some tokens using TokenTool (rpgtools.net), print 'em out with GIMP (free), and paste 'em on the washers.

Easy to do, pretty cheap, and you can make exactly the tokens you need with whatever art you want.

The only bad thing is that, depending on the print quality and how many you print, ink can potentially get spendy.

[DiBastet]

This

http://diegobastet.deviantart.com/ga...18469#/d2euykt

We are blessed with two artists in our group, so one draw the chars in a pose, front and back, in a chibbi cute way and then we paint them on PS (or GIMP, keeping with the theme of frugal), we size them in a program like Inkscape so their bases are D&D sized and arrange them in the right way so we print it on couche paper, cut it, put a transparent kind of tape over it, arrange the figure and put it on a base (we use simple 5 cents erasers...).

It's cute and simple to do. Also it's totally customized. Hah.

[Sorcerer Blob]

This

http://diegobastet.deviantart.com/ga...18469#/d2euykt

We are blessed with two artists in our group, so one draw the chars in a pose, front and back, in a chibbi cute way and then we paint them on PS (or GIMP, keeping with the theme of frugal), we size them in a program like Inkscape so their bases are D&D sized and arrange them in the right way so we print it on couche paper, cut it, put a transparent kind of tape over it, arrange the figure and put it on a base (we use simple 5 cents erasers...).

It's cute and simple to do. Also it's totally customized. Hah.

That's really cool. I like physical minis myself, but tokens and paper art are great in a bind. I could see doing what you suggested for something between actual, permanent mini and just papercraft.

[erikun]

The Extremely rules lite systems thread has a number of free RPGs as well, for anyone interested in a new system but not in spending money doing so.

[Knaight]

Pretty much any type of grid can be printed, including hexagonal stuff. I personally use the Incompetech site, as it allows highly customized grids, and saves you from buying expensive "battle mats". I also usually use free systems, mostly because a lot of them are actually really good. Using pencils instead of ink where possible makes everything cheaper, and as far as "miniatures" go, for masses you can pretty much abuse garage sales to get games that have a lot of them. If you get, for instance, a game of Risk for a few dollars, you have hundreds of varying minis.

[valadil]

Play a system that isn't published by WotC. Be creative.

RPGs are among the cheaper hobbies available. Back in middle school, a single copy of the MERP core book was all it took to keep my whole lunch table entertained. As long as you're not playing a game that expects you to collect books, or if you just ignore everything outside of core, you can get a ton of mileage gaming for cheap.

If you don't care to stay up to date on the rules, you can score a ton of books during edition wars. When 3.5 came out, 3rd ed splatbooks were crazy cheap.

[Bobby Archer]

I too, have very little money to spend on gaming supplies. What's saved me a number of times is having friends who have a much larger gaming budget than me. I have one friend who makes it a point (or crusade) to get a copy of every Exalted book in both dead tree and e-book form, so she doesn't mind at all when I borrow her books. Just remember to repay the kindness in some way. I'm constantly borrowing books, but I'm also the one who updates the wiki for the Exalted chron we're in.

Another neat idea I've seen that skates around buying an expensive gaming mat is drawing a hex (or square) grid on the underside of a glass coffee table. A friend of mine did this and wound up with one of the best, easiest to clean gaming tables I've ever seen. And since she had the table to start with, it cost her almost nothing.

[Coidzor]

I recently purchased a bunch of old Mage Knight minis and converted their bases to D&D size. It was easy to do and each mini rang up at about $0.15 apiece (last check, they had been raised to $0.20 apiece.)

Oh? How'd you go about doing that?

[Sorcerer Blob]

Oh? How'd you go about doing that?

Ha, it was really simple, I snapped them off (carefully!) from their MK bases and super-glued them to either 1"x1" bases or 1.75"x1.75" ones (depending on size.)

Check out this thread for some picture examples of my conversions. The MK minis are about the same size, so it all looks just fine standing next to each other. (I'm all about consistency!)

[Jude_H]

My main group is all about being cheapskates. I think we have maybe 3 sets of dice shared between 4-7 people.

It doesn't hurt that some really fun games are free:
OSRIC, Dungeon World, old school hack and Warrior Rogue and Mage for D&D-types. And Pathfinder, for crunchier games.
Diaspora and Eclipse Phase for scifi.
Mini six and Spirit of the Century for action games (both are flexible enough to model many specific genres).
Then just some fun stuff like 44 for Invasion of the Body Snatchers or Pokethulu for, well, pokethulu.

[valadil]

Ha, it was really simple, I snapped them off (carefully!) from their MK bases and super-glued them to either 1"x1" bases or 1.75"x1.75" ones (depending on size.)

I went even frugaler. I snapped off the lower half of the base, pulled out the stat card, and shaped what was left with a dremel. No need to buy bases (so long ad you own a dremel).

[nihil8r]

If you are like me, then you have money that is better spent elsewhere.

what could you possibly be spending money on instead of games?

[Sorcerer Blob]

what could you possibly be spending money on instead of games?

Fantastic point, but I do have a life outside of gaming, and bills, and stuff like that. I know that I'm not the only one here. So if I can save a few bucks here and there on gaming stuff, I'll gladly take it!

That said, I'd spend ridiculous amounts on gaming stuff if I could as it is easily my favorite hobby. I'd also play every day if I had the time, but alas, it was not meant to be!

[Seb Wiers]

I went even frugaler. I snapped off the lower half of the base, pulled out the stat card, and shaped what was left with a dremel. No need to buy bases (so long ad you own a dremel).

A razor saw (or even just a serrated cooking knife) would probably do the trick easily enough. Or a pair of snips, or some sturdy scissors.

[Gamer Girl]

Bag 'o' Plastic Minis--You can find them at any dollar store, big box store and most yard sale/flea market type places. They come in lots of different types, from dinosaurs to jungle animals and everything in between. There are even fantasy type ones. But don't over look the cowboy bag, as it has horses, fences, and even a rattlesnake. You will find lots of swings in quality, but most are more then good enough.

For slightly higher quality, any educational nature type store has minis too, but they will cost a bit more(but look for sales).


The Craft Store--Most arts and craft stores are loaded with good game stuff.

First they have tons of miniature stuff, from animals to buckets to bookshelves with tiny paper books. Next they have lots of cheap ways for you to make your own stuff, such as clay and paint. You will find all sorts of graph paper and other lines paper. Plus knives and glue and so forth.

[turkishproverb]

Tips offhand.

1. OGL content is your friend. See: any of the d20's, d6,
2. Free download suppliments/trials are your friend
3. Army men (the kind you find bags of in $1 stores) make good miniatures
4. One book is enough for everyone.
5. This webpage has links to free adventures.
6. Make people bring some food when you guys game, it'll make up for book costs by giving you a free (or reduced price) meal. IE have them bring some sodas and chips or pizza or something once in a while.

[Katana_Geldar]

See if you can find a teacher's supply shop near you. Those shops are heaven for gamers as you can get cheap dice and counters as well as other nice shiny things.

[turkishproverb]

Cheap dice aren't too hard (sets shouldn't cost more than $5 unless you get fancy). Counters your right on though. Bed Bath and beyond and Hobby lobby are good for those too. Just get those little glass blobs that come in 100 packs for weddings. It's like $5.

[MachineWraith]

My friends and I all pitched in a few bucks ($1-2 each) and we bought a 6'x3' section of dry-erase board. We just lay it down and draw the walls and terrain on. It's not the prettiest, but seeing as how we're all either in college or enlisted in the military, none of us have much money, so it works.

[MostlyHarmless]

I have found the Heroscapers site full of great tips and some really good step by step tutorials of how to make stuff.

It's still a work in progress but I got me some of those wedding cake pillars from the craft store in order to cut them, nick them and paint them to look like setting of a ruined temple.

[Sorcerer Blob]

I have found the Heroscapers site full of great tips and some really good step by step tutorials of how to make stuff.

It's still a work in progress but I got me some of those wedding cake pillars from the craft store in order to cut them, nick them and paint them to look like setting of a ruined temple.

I both thank you and hate you for this link :-P I just spent three hours perusing those forums, they are fantastic!

Thanks!

[Ertwin]

My friend recently printed of some landscape tiles, and glued them to some old game boards for rigidity.

Also Potluck for game nights works wonders on the budget.

[Undercroft]

I use tokens from a Ludo game for as my minis, with my player's using some little gemstones for their pieces. The board I use is actually one of those white surfacing boards with a grid gouged on in pen.

For books what i tend to do is download a pdf of a book to see if it's worth buying. Then if i like it enough i'll buy it, otherwise i'll just delete it. Saved me a bunch since I can tell if i'm likely to use a specific book or not (and led me to buy libris mortis, ECS, BoVD and Tome of Magic to add to my core books)
One book is usually enough for everyone to use (though levelup can be a little chaotic :P). I'd like to upgrade my old PHB to the 3.5 version but OGL and SRD stuff means it isn't really necassary.

Dice for me isn't much of an issue. I walk instead of take the bus sometimes and use the money saved to get dice. Currently I've got 3 sets (with a 4th awol somewhere).

lastly the food thing isn't too bad for me. Only got a small group of players and i'm trying to teach one of them to cook (cos she's cute) so I end up cooking for the group.