When your adventurers push beyond Heroes of the Borderlands and start carving their names into legend, the props that helped launch their journey don't have to return to the bookshelf to collect dust. As a collector of trinkets to hand out in my games (I have a literal tackle box full of them), the treasures in D&D's largest starter set ever are perfect props to bring an extra bit of magic to your games.

With a little creative spin, you can involve them in your campaign in new, fun ways and surprise your players all over again—and in this article, we'll present some ideas on how!

• Gold and Gem Tokens: More Than Currency
• Equipment Cards as Excellent Reminders
• Spell Cards: Keep the Magic Alive
• Hit Point and Power Tokens: The Stuff of Heroism
• From Minions to Military Maps

Gold and Gem Tokens: More Than Currency

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In some campaigns, characters who progress into higher levels may be tossing around kingdoms' worth of wealth or buying mythical magic items for cartloads of gold. But those 75 Gold Piece Tokens and six Gem Tokens from the Heroes of the Borderlands box set can still be worth their weight in gold!

• Renown. If a character or your party is participating with a faction, the Gold Piece Tokens could come to represent their renown with the organization, allowing them to track their standing. This is even better when it's just as easy to gain renown as it is to lose it; players won't love having to hand back their hard-fought social gains.
• Soul Coins. Are the characters heading down to Avernus? The Gold Piece Tokens work perfectly as Soul Coins in case they want to engage in the economy of the Nine Hells.
• Collectibles. The Gem Tokens are ideal for serving as any type of abstract collectible. Maybe they're keys to a Crystal Greatwyrm's vault, or fragments of a shattered relic that characters must reassemble to seal (or open) a planar rift.
• Battlefield Markers. Running a large-scale, Risk-style battle? The Gold Piece Tokens could be used to represent troops and battalions, while the Gem Tokens could mark out crucial commanders.
• Higher Denominations. Once your party progresses from penny pinching to delving into dragon's hoards, you can step up the denomination of the coins from 1 GP and 5 GP to 10/50/250, 100/500/2,500, or even 1,000/5,000/2,5000 GP. Of course, this raises the question, "What if my level 20 Wizard wants to buy a Draft Horse?" But, in the campaigns I run at least, that sort of minutiae is usually ironed out at higher levels.

Equipment Cards as Excellent Reminders

In the new Player's Handbook, each piece of adventuring gear received a mechanical function. In addition, every weapon has a special ability, called a mastery property, attached to it. While these additions have expanded what you can do in the game, they can also be difficult to remember—and the equipment cards from Heroes of the Borderlands are here to help!

• Mechanical Function. It's always useful to know that the length of Rope in your pack can restrain an unwilling creature, but only if it's already Grappled, Incapacitated, or Restrained. Or, that you can pick a lock with your Thieves' Tools by succeeding in a DC 15 ability check.
• Mastery Property. It's also important to remember that a strike with your Longsword can inflict damage as well as throw your opponent off balance, leaving them swinging clumsily on their next attack against you. Thanks to the reference cards, you'll always have your weapon's mastery property within reach.
• Store Inventory. You can even mix the magic item and adventuring equipment cards together to create an impromptu shop's inventory. Laying them out in front of your players gives them the fun of browsing shelves and arguing over what to buy.

Spell Cards: Keep the Magic Alive

By level 10, the cantrip, level 1, and level 2 spells on the cards included in the box set might seem quaint. But, even when characters are throwing around Teleport and Disintegrate, these cards can be delightful (or dangerous) surprises:

• Spell Scrolls. When a treasure hoard contains a level 1 or 2 Spell Scroll, you can shuffle the deck and let the player whose character discovered the scroll draw from the top. Perfect for parties with Wizards, who can study the scrolls to add them to their spellbook, or other casters to use as a one-time resource.
• Spellbook Pages. When a Wizard character uncovers another Wizard's spellbook, you can hand them a stack of spell cards to represent the actual pages.
• Charms. These temporary boons, often granted by supernatural patrons or magical creatures, can mirror the effects of a spell or Potion. Passing a player the matching spell card is a quick, visual way for them to track what the charm does.
• Wild Magic Traps. If your party is running into a chaotic surge of magic, you could shuffle the offensive spell cards into a deck and draw one whenever a wild magic effect is triggered. For higher-level play, simply scale the spell's damage or save DC to keep the effect dangerous.

Hit Point and Power Tokens: The Stuff of Heroism

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While the box set has enough Hit Point Tokens for level 1–3 characters, once they have leveled up beyond level 3, you might not have enough to go around. But, just because a dragon's Breath Weapon is dealing 40 damage, doesn't mean these tokens have to lose their efficacy:

• Hit Dice or Other Healing. You may have more Hit Points than you can count with tokens, but you'll likely only ever have a maximum of 20 Hit Point Dice per character! These props are perfect to represent remaining Hit Dice for players to cash in after Short Rests, helping them track their pool of healing. This is a similar situation to help track the Paladin's Lay on Hands feature.
• Exhaustion. If you're running an encounter that deals with Exhaustion, like if an enemy has the Sickening Radiance spell or your party is traversing the tundra, giving each player six Hit Point Tokens and taking them away when their character gains 1 Exhaustion level can be a foreboding way to keep track of their dwindling strength.
• Heroic Inspiration. The Power Token will never go out of style, as Heroic Inspiration is important throughout the game. Handing these to players when they roleplay well or take the hard path feels more momentous (and is easier to remember) than simply stating, "You gain Heroic Inspiration!"

From Minions to Military Maps

While characters may have moved on from their adventures in the Borderlands, the deeds they accomplished can echo throughout the campaign:

• Minions. If a character manages to befriend or earn the loyalty of a companion—whether that's an Owlbear cub raised to adulthood or a steadfast Guard who survived the Borderlands alongside them—you can keep their presence tangible and make them easier to run by giving the player their monster card. This makes their companion easy to run in combat—plus, you'll have the matching token for your battlemap.
• Animate Dead. Speaking of minions, if your character has a fascination with raising Undead with Animate Dead, the Skeleton and Zombie monster cards and tokens will become your best friend when you summon your shambling army!
• NPC Connections. Maybe a character forged a lasting bond with an NPC during the events of Heroes of the Borderlands. Handing the player that NPC's card is a simple way to make the connection feel real. It's also a storytelling hook—at any time, that NPC might be just a Sending away, ready to offer aid, secrets, or complications. Old friends and rivals have a way of returning when you least expect it.
• A Keep to Call Home. After completing additional adventures, the heroes could be gifted the Keep on the Borderlands or conquer a castle of their own. With the poster maps at your disposal, the keep gets transformed into a home base that the players can run as a Bastion. And when threats inevitably rise, you can use the maps to stage an invasion, turning the familiar halls of the keep into a battlefield!

A Toolkit That Levels with You

Heroes of the Borderlands was designed to get dice rolling fast, but it doesn't lose its value when your adventures take you beyond the story provided. With a little imagination, the components in D&D's largest starter set ever can evolve into physical props and story seeds for campaigns of any level.

Soon, you too will have a box of trinkets and treasures to hand out to players!

Mike Bernier is the founder of Arcane Eye, a site focused on providing useful tips and tricks to all those involved in the world of D&D. Outside of writing for Arcane Eye, Mike spends most of his time playing games, hiking with his partner, and tending the veritable jungle of houseplants that have invaded his house.