So ive looked around the internet and i cant seem to find one that works. i did find one from roll fantasy but its meant to be printed out. i want to be able to write in different languages on this paper and i dont think theres a elvish font out there for windows lol.
If you’re looking to fake a parchment look for regular paper, I usually put some coffee in a shallow baking tray, then soak the paper in the coffee for a few minutes. Crinkling it a bit can be good. Remove the wet paper, it will tear very easily so be careful, and put it on a drying rack, like you’d use for cookies, overnight. I’ll often very gently tear around the edges so it doesn’t have those straight lines paper gets.
“It cannot be seen, cannot be felt, Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt, It lies behind stars and under hills, And empty holes it fills, It comes first and follows after, Ends life, kills laughter.” J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, or There and Back Again
- Aging normal paper with coffee or tea then drying in an oven. Lots of instructions online (for example https://www.curbly.com/how-to-age-paper) Note that this costs the least but takes time and effort.
- Aging normal paper with coffee or tea then drying in an oven. Lots of instructions online (for example https://www.curbly.com/how-to-age-paper) Note that this costs the least but takes time and effort.
All work really well.
Time and effort but sort of fun if you're into crafting or the chemistry. If you got kids of a certain age it's a fun "rainy day" activity.
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Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
Use tan construction paper and crumple it slowly and for a long time. That makes it softer. Then get some water on your hand and sprinkle a few drops on the page to look like stains.
Use tan construction paper and crumple it slowly and for a long time. That makes it softer. Then get some water on your hand and sprinkle a few drops on the page to look like stains.
Yeah, this is my go-to. I've done a heap of variations on coffee-staining, charring/toasting and otherwise discolouring paper; all of them are time-consuming and have potentially catastrophic "breaking points" (coffee-soaked paper becomes irresistible to cockroaches etc. making it very hard to store for later, and can easily tear while being made; toasted paper becomes brittle and crumbles to dust over time.)
That said, crinkling up construction paper results in durable "parchment" that can be rolled, glued to just about anything (so easy scrolls etc.), can be drawn on easily afterwards; and you can even print on it first before crumpling it! In terms of time and effort it's a bit more intensive than the alternatives, but you can do a few sheets at once to speed things up and then weigh a whole pile down at once for flattening to further bring out the texturing (thicker ridges in one sheet can emboss onto the sheet below, meaning you get both raised and debossed texturing!)
As an added bonus: if you know someone who works in an office/school/etc. where they still use the old-school Manila folders, every few months/years some of those generally get thrown out because they're no longer in date and you can save up a stash of them quite easily. Cut in half (with the tabs removed etc.) they give you 2x A4 or letter-sized sheets of paper, they can be printed on without hassle or drawn or even painted on before they're crumpled; and if you want to apply a hot wax seal or something afterwards then they're able to handle that with no issues.
Parchment isn't paper. But if you want the old-timey look of thicker paper I recommend arts and crafts stores. They often have thick off-white paper that can be really useful. As for weathering tips, the ones in this thread are good. If you want to do something more advanced, Adam Savage has an episode of tested where he weather fake money which is quite useful.
So ive looked around the internet and i cant seem to find one that works. i did find one from roll fantasy but its meant to be printed out. i want to be able to write in different languages on this paper and i dont think theres a elvish font out there for windows lol.
Any help is appreciated.
If you’re looking to fake a parchment look for regular paper, I usually put some coffee in a shallow baking tray, then soak the paper in the coffee for a few minutes. Crinkling it a bit can be good. Remove the wet paper, it will tear very easily so be careful, and put it on a drying rack, like you’d use for cookies, overnight.
I’ll often very gently tear around the edges so it doesn’t have those straight lines paper gets.
isn't there that lord of the rings elvish font? Tengwar
https://lotr.fandom.com/wiki/Tengwar
“It cannot be seen, cannot be felt, Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt, It lies behind stars and under hills, And empty holes it fills, It comes first and follows after, Ends life, kills laughter.” J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, or There and Back Again
I have used:
- Downloaded parchment backgrounds (https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/95924/Inked-Adventures-Stock-Art--Parchment-Pages-and-Clawed-Paper?manufacturers_id=3261).
- Buying parchment-patterened paper (https://www.warehousestationery.co.nz/product/W2215915.html, https://www.warehousestationery.co.nz/product/W2215908.html).
- Aging normal paper with coffee or tea then drying in an oven. Lots of instructions online (for example https://www.curbly.com/how-to-age-paper) Note that this costs the least but takes time and effort.
All work really well.
Time and effort but sort of fun if you're into crafting or the chemistry. If you got kids of a certain age it's a fun "rainy day" activity.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
awesome, i appreciate all of you guys helping out.
Very good point. The crafting aspect of making handouts is a lot of fun, even if (like me) you are not much of a crafty person.
Use tan construction paper and crumple it slowly and for a long time. That makes it softer. Then get some water on your hand and sprinkle a few drops on the page to look like stains.
Only spilt the party if you see something shiny.
Ariendela Sneakerson, Half-elf Rogue (8); Harmony Wolfsbane, Tiefling Bard (10); Agnomally, Gnomish Sorcerer (3); Breeze, Tabaxi Monk (8); Grace, Dragonborn Barbarian (7); DM, Homebrew- The Sequestered Lands/Underwater Explorers; Candlekeep
Yeah, this is my go-to. I've done a heap of variations on coffee-staining, charring/toasting and otherwise discolouring paper; all of them are time-consuming and have potentially catastrophic "breaking points" (coffee-soaked paper becomes irresistible to cockroaches etc. making it very hard to store for later, and can easily tear while being made; toasted paper becomes brittle and crumbles to dust over time.)
That said, crinkling up construction paper results in durable "parchment" that can be rolled, glued to just about anything (so easy scrolls etc.), can be drawn on easily afterwards; and you can even print on it first before crumpling it! In terms of time and effort it's a bit more intensive than the alternatives, but you can do a few sheets at once to speed things up and then weigh a whole pile down at once for flattening to further bring out the texturing (thicker ridges in one sheet can emboss onto the sheet below, meaning you get both raised and debossed texturing!)
As an added bonus: if you know someone who works in an office/school/etc. where they still use the old-school Manila folders, every few months/years some of those generally get thrown out because they're no longer in date and you can save up a stash of them quite easily. Cut in half (with the tabs removed etc.) they give you 2x A4 or letter-sized sheets of paper, they can be printed on without hassle or drawn or even painted on before they're crumpled; and if you want to apply a hot wax seal or something afterwards then they're able to handle that with no issues.
Parchment isn't paper. But if you want the old-timey look of thicker paper I recommend arts and crafts stores. They often have thick off-white paper that can be really useful. As for weathering tips, the ones in this thread are good. If you want to do something more advanced, Adam Savage has an episode of tested where he weather fake money which is quite useful.
Best I found was the blank scroll generator on ImgFlip (it's not perfect but does the trick): https://imgflip.com/memegenerator/62657004/Blank-Scroll
I adjust the font settings so it's using Segoe Script and then screenshot it using Greenshot: https://getgreenshot.org/
With that done I can easily share in Roll20 during the campaign
When I was in the theater we used tea to dye paper. It provided a certain rigidity as well and best of all it's cheap.