How to quickly age paper for larp scrolls, books and other uses.

Aaaah yes, there is a damn big larp game in 2 weeks and everyone is busy with careful and meticulous preparations for it, wanting to look their best...naaah who am I kidding? The vast majority of players, heh even GM and organisers sometimes, won't lift a finger until the very last moment.

So imagine now that you are in such a situation, and you discover that you will have to make some scrolls or maps or notes or books or whatever. Point is - you need paper. Alas, its the 11th hour and the clock is ticking! You look around the house and sure enough, you got some paper...size A4 for your printer, which is pristine white and too modern for the job. Apart from that, no paints, and certainly no 3-4 days to leave it out in the sun.


Fortunately, there is a solution to this problem and it lies in the kitchen.

Go make yourself a nice cup of instant coffee. I used nescafe but thats details.

Here is a sheet of A4 paper, cut in half. This will be our test subject.

Now soak it with instant coffee completely, then leave it to dry somewhere outside in the sun.

Next step...get back inside and finish drinking your coffee. You got 20-30 minutes to wait, or even less, considering the current heat wave. After that, go out and pick your freshly aged paper.

 Here you can see it compared to a fresh pearly white A4 sheet. Now, its useable for larp purposes.

Allright! Now lets try the art of diplomacy with that orc warlord over there...

Any volunteers for messenger duty? 

Anyone? Anyone?!?