How to Use these fonts?; As Player (Prop) Handouts

Make a document, and write whatever you want or need the players to discover. This works especially well for plot hooks, resolution details, or for time sensitive material.

Layout your letter/map/deal, make it look good, and then switch the font to your desired culture. Print it out on cool paper, or after you've printed it out, soak your message in coffee or try to make it look "used". Make sure that you print and save a version for yourself, in dang plain English, so that YOU don't have to traslate it later. You're the GM, you don't have time for this sort of thing, right? Use the time that it takes the players to translate your document(s) to prepare for the next scenario, or take the time to play with the non-translator players.

Other Hopefully Useful Tips:

• Make sure that you give each player a cheat-sheet that shows what each letter is, in English, for their home culture. For instance, if Lok is from Galilae, give him a Galilaen cheat sheet. If he knows any other languages well enough, give him one of those, too. Make sure that you end up having each player able to read a couple different languages, so that everyone will have a chance to translate something every once in a while.

• It's also helpful if one character is a linguist-type, like a Harlikain of the Faeyan race. Make sure that you pick a player who likes this sort of thing, and give them a number of cheat sheets, especially of the dead languages. (See below). It's also a lot of fun to exclude a letter here and there from their cheat sheets, to simulate that they are "scholars" but perhaps not experts, of these old languages.

• Use them when the players intercept an important note from the Bell Cultists, rival party, or other enemies. This type of hook is much more fun than simply saying "you intercept this note from the cultists, and it says...."

• Write a letter to one of the PCs from the perspective of a little sister, father, brother, uncle, or old friend. Put it into an envelope, and make it look like it's been through hell. (It probably has.) This type of thing really can help players picture their character, and know a bit more about them. Reveal some long past story, adventure, or family event, so that the player has more to work with. Remember, a character with no history is really, really difficult to play.

• Use Atosian, Yrisis (aka, "Eld"), Vashon, and Asridith for writing on old tablets, dungeon walls, ancient temples, and the like. This is your chance to let the players become archaeologists, and decipher ancient secrets, and many of them really enjoy discovering information in dead languages.

• Like anything else, use sparingly. Don't use this ploy every week at the game table, or you'll lull your players into pure bordem. (Unless of course, they've let you know that they really dig this sort of thing.) Use it every now and then, especially when they really NEED the information. Then, sit back, and enjoy watching them rush to translate the document.

• Coffee works faster than tea to stain paper. Especially the really black stuff. I like to watch the coffee pot at work, and wait for the stuff to get black as Mordain's soul. Then, fill up a cup, put it in the microwave, and boil it down even more. Then, get your paper, lay it in an old cookie sheet, and pour the coffee all over it. Splatter it, soak it, do what it takes to make it look good and old. Lay out the paper on another cookie sheet, and let it dry out.

• Crumple the paper, before soaking it, to give it even more crustiness. You can burn the edges, use wax seals, and do all of the other stuff to make it look cool.

• Laser printers work better than dot-maxtrix ones. Well, that's been my experience anyway. I like how sharp laser printers print, so maybe I'm just biased.

If you like these prop fonts, let me know. Encouragement just feeds the fire, and really like hearing that people actually use this stuff now and then. Drop me a line here.

If you're really cool, send me a document created with some of these fonts and tips, and you'll surprise the heck out of me.

Frequently Asked Questions

How can I use my alphabet typeface in my favorite applications?
The fonts produced by the Alphabet Synthesis Machine (ASM) are TrueType fonts for the Windows PC. If you are a Windows user, look for a directory called "Fonts" in C:\WINNT or C:\WINDOWS, and place the font there. If you are a Mac user of an older OS, you must first convert the font to the Mac TrueType format (see the instructions below); you can then place the font in the "Fonts" folder in your System Folder.

How do I convert my alphabet typeface for a Mac?
Mac users who've upgraded to OSX can use the TTF font format exactly as downloaded. Just drop the font file into the "Library/Fonts" folder. Mac users with older operating systems, however, can use a variety of tools to convert the font into the Mac TrueType format. We recommend Chris Reed's TTConverter utility, which is shareware ($10), or Crossfont by Acute Systems ($45).