'Realia' in Dungeons & Dragons

          Realia (vis a vis education) is defined by Wikipedia as: objects from real life used in classroom instruction.  So, my classroom lies outside of 'real life'.  Be that as it may, we shall apply the term to Dungeons and Dragons and see what happens.

First, here are some no-quotation-marks-necessary real life objects that my groups and I have brought to the table to spice up our game sessions:

Jones Soda limited edition Dungeons and Dragons line.  Here is a Wired.com post from when they became available. They key bottle is the red one on the left.  A potion of healing, of course.

Stumbled upon this actual flavored rum in a liquor store while on the way to a session of a campaign I called Dragon's Eye.  It included a powerful dragon deity and characters who had various associations to it.  Only players 21 and over can drink it...no problem for elves.

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 This is an ordinary envelope getting a coffee bath.  On the right you see it drying.  Crumpling up paper and letting it soak in the dark liquid gives it the appearance of old parchment or old paper.  But then we are moving into the territory of "real".  Also, you can singe the edges of the paper with a lighter or candle for added effect.

Next, here are some "real" objects I have used:

This is a real toy.  It is an egg that when submerged in water for a while morphs into a slimy toy in some other shape.  It was symbolic of a 'dragon stone' the players found. (I have used this multiple times.)  I colored it to match a campaign detail.  We have never gotten to the submersion/transformation...

These are some terrain tiles, maps, and accessories I have made using various jury-rigged color printing and arts and crafts.

These are goggles I made to use as a character prop one of the last times I played a PC and was not dungeon mastering.  They are made from toy binoculars.  They are wearable, but one cannot see anything through them.

What do you use at your table or bring to your game?


Comment below!


-DM Josh