Paper Lanterns

Details

  • Paper Lanterns are about the size of a sports drink bottle.

  • Light them up with your cell phone or other small LED light.

  • Art is dramatically revealed when the light is on.

  • Use the provided content, or customize to make them your own.

  • Very easily made from a single sheet of plain paper.

  • Optionally, allow them to fold flat, so you can keep several at hand.

Dice are pictured to show scale and are not included.

"Light turns the ordinary into the magical.” –- Acclaimed photographer Trent Parke

Voice actors are amazing, but funny voices only go so far. RPG books are full of amazing fantasy art, but there is so much of it. How can art grab attention to get your players into the mood for tonight's adventure setting?

Paper Lanterns are easy-to-make artwork displays that glow. Powered by your cell phone camera light (or other LED light), they can dominate a dim room and be plainly visible in a normal room. Like staring into a fire, looking at illuminated art can be especially immersive because it makes the rest of the world fade away.

Paper Lanterns can reveal their secret art in a dramatic moment, like flipping a switch. You don't even need to touch anything, just say the magic words: "OK Google, turn on the torch" or "Hey Siri, turn on the torch."

Materials

How to Make

Paper crafting difficulty: Easy.

  1. Pay what you want for the templates at DMsGuild.com. You will also gain access to a folder of Google Drawings that you can copy and edit.

  2. Select parchment, light-colored, or plain paper.

  3. Print at home. Make as many as you like.

  4. Follow instructions to cut, fold, and glue. Or, flip through this visual guide:

Game Night Advantages

  • Help set the mood for creepy, wild, or wonder-filled adventures.

  • Focus player attention very strongly in a way that few other effects can match.

  • Reveal dramatic turns of events by making hidden art shine through on command.

  • Fold-flat design allows the DM to have several of these props ready to use based on the choices that players make.

Light creates the mood
"Turn on the torch" for stories
Creepy, wild, or fey