Little Fears Game Tools: NEW HAND-ME-DOWNS

[Jason L Blair]

This thread is where people can detail any new hand-me-downs they've come up with.

Please do not just post with a "BOOYAH!" no matter how neat-o someone's hand-me-down may be. I would like this to become a list that GMs can glean cool new toys from.

Many thanks to Comte for the idea.

[Comte]

Good morning everybody I noticed that there hasn't been much activity on this bord lately, so I figured I'd throw up two or three posts about this or that just to keep things moveing. Today as I randomly flipped through the book to see what I needed to write about it fell open at the hand me downs section. This promptly caught my imagination and what resulted was a buntch of stuff. However the only two that got written down are what follows.

Jarold's Key:

Description: It looks to be a heavly ornate wrought iron key. It wieghs about one pound and has Jarold's name carved in along the shaft of it. It ends in the way all thouse cartoon keys end with the two jutting out points.

Background: Jarold's dad was a locksmith, and while they were relativly poor they were happy. Jarold like most little boys his age was plauged by nightmares, many nights he would wake up screaming about the creature that lived in his closet trying to get him. One day Jarold's dad had an idea and he brought home a heavly ornate wroght iron key, he had made for a client who had backed out. He told Jarold that the key was enchanted by an ancient wizard against the monstors. By useing it to lock a door no monstore could get through, that night his father pretended to lock all the dorrs and windows then gave the key to Jarold. That night the monstor came like usual but he couldn't get through despite all of his hammerings and wheedleings. Also Jarold's family couldn't afford a bed for him so there was no worries of intrusion from below. When Jarold got older and his children started to have nightmares the key was passed on to them, and their children and so on untill one tragic day the key was passed to their former child's best freind. The key left the family and circulated through many hands, going where ever it can be of use. Legend has also told of it opening a door into closet land, but only on rare and desperate situations.

Game Use: It can lock any door or window against the forces of closet land. Also if it fits the GM's mood it can open a door into closet land

Old Tin Cans:
These cans are usually found in a pile rangeing from 2-5. They all have holes puntched in the bottoms of them with strings protrudeing from them. On all of the cups the names of thier previouse owners have been scratched in. None of the strings are attached to one another.

History: Over the years the tin can phone has been used by many best freinds as a means of communication to one another, and everyone that's had one would like to pretend that it works just as well, if not better than a real phone. These rudimentary forms of communication have been the saviopr of many children over the years. It opens up a rather intricate comunication network that allows the children to coordinate plans effectivly. They have also been a symbol of freindship. THe combonation of their usefulness and the actual beleife of how well they work have converted them into something truely useful.

Game Use: Anyone with a tin can phone can talk to anyone else with a tin can phone no matter where they are. Great for letting the players easly communicate with one another.

Story Hook: While playing in the woods you find a row of tin cans on a log, through them can be heard a voice talking. If the children are brave they can talk back and the voice is that of a child who is far away, mabey even another state. THey make freind with the child and one day he get's pulled into closet land, with the phone still in his hand. by useing the phones the other children can find and resque him.
Writer's note: I always wanted to have someone to have a tin can phone with.

[Comte]

Hiya everyone, I was watching a movie recently and I got an idea for a handme down.  Not one of thouse happy uber ones but one of thouse neat cursed ones that were eluded to but never mentioned.  I got the idea while watching the movie Storytelling.  Everyone should go out and rent that movie, it's at Blockbuster, comeon support independent film.  Okay okay here is the hand me down.

Evan's Pendent:

Description:  Evan's pendent is a rather simple looking shiney peice of metal on a long chain.  
    Evan lived many centuries ago with a troupe of gypsies that roamed the country side.  When they would come to a town they would stop and entertain the towns folk for a bit and then move on.  Evan who was free of both closets and a bed was still haunted by a paticular breed of monstor that lived deep in the forest.  It was a dark and terrifying beast to evil to be named.  Many dark stories were told about the woods in the surrounding countryside and the combined beleif caused many dark and terrible things to grow.  This was a terrifying place to be for Evan and all the children of the camp.  They knew what was out there and it was slowly driveing them mad.  So a plan was hatched, Evan was quickly becomeing a master hypnotist.  His act had become very popular in the citys they travled to.  So they planed to hypnotise the entire camp and make all the adults beleive that the monstor is real and that the children need protechtion from it.  Strangely enough it worked.  The parents all started keeping watch at night because the woods held strange demons, and the children were able to sleep comfortably and no one was stolen again.

Many years had past and Evan was now an adult, still a gypsie of course traveling the land and telling his tales.  Then one day while at a small village he saw a young boy who looked very much like himself when he was that age.  Skinny, pale, and that generaly haunted look that comes from being terrified night after night.  He took that little kid aside and told him the story of the pendent.  And how he made all the adults under his comand chase the monstor away.   The little boy was exicited by this and gladly took it from the gypsie and almost right away tried it on his parents.  It worked like a charm, after all the gypsies are supposed to carry powerful magic about them.  But unlike they gypsie children this little boy was greedy.  After his parents scared the monstor away he realized he could get them to do anything.  Soon he only ate cake for every meal, he horded toys with greed, he never let his parents work in the feilds because we wanted to be waited upon by them.  When the winter came and there was no food left to each the boy sent them to rob other people's houses.  Eventualy the parents were caught and put to death, and the boy was sent off to an orphanige where the pendent changed hands and was lost.  Of course it has showed up time and time again, and while it is probley the greatest weapon against closet land that any child could find, it also is also very dangerouse to use.  If you are unable to resist the tempation that is involved in conrolling you parents terrible things can happen.

Game Use:  Fist of all why dose it work so well?  Well when they is a monstor under your bed the first place you go (usually) is your parents or some other trusted adult hopeing they will do something.  Children beleive in thier parents almost more than anything else.  So when a parent fights against a monstor there is no way it can loose because your daddy there and he's the strangest smartest bestest man in the world.  Cause you say so.  
This go wrong when the words absolute power corrupts absolutly, wander through your heads.  Your parents are the key to getting what ever you want.  At the age of this game they controll your life, now imagine being able to control them.  It could lead to some bad sences.  Story ideas could run along the lines of the freind of the PC's found a way to hypnotise his parents with this pendent that he found in the attic.  He convinced his parents to scare the monstor away by hypnotiseing them it was great.  So you guys can come and sleep at my house every night because my parents will say so I controll them.  Then the next few days the freind of the players gets a bit more out of control, whenever he wants something he uses his parents to get it.  Eventuyaly the players see that he's changed, he's become greedy and rude, almost a bully.  Then he actually starts becomeing a bully and begins pushing the other player charecters around saying my dad will beat you up if you don't...well you get the idea.

Ahem other ideas you can use for this is, I've eluded to the pendent causeing greed and glutony.  That was kinda unitentional but it is the way I would act if I had compleat control over my parents.  However there are Kings and minions of Kings holding domain over these two things which means you can get them involved as well.  After all they are all pretty scared of this little trinket, no monstor can stand up to the amount of beleif that a child has vested in it's parents.  So the natual thing to do would be to use the item against the kids.  Which can lead into all sorts of other exciteing things.

[saint ash]

Almost every game has a "magic money bag" so here is one for LF.

The piggy bank looks like an old well loved ( chipped and a bit smudged) ceramic smiling piggy bank. it has a slot on the top and a cork plug on the tummy. He is quite light and doesn't rattle.  He could easily be found at a yard sale or in grabdma's attic. If an adult opens him up the find maybe a bit of lint or a button or two. If a child opens him though they can get out about 3 to 5 dollars in change, mostly pennies nickels and dimes. This will work once a day, though of course the gm can vary it.  If they feed the piggy, ie put money into it, they can with draw more latter, because all kids know that putting  money in the bank makes it grow. They can't get too greedy though, because the piggy will dissapper and find some one else to help. And if they break him they are s.o.l.

I found this one useful for kids who need money for bus fare, pay phones, emergencies, food and the like... enjoy.