Full disclosure, I’m not planning to start attending Empire until E1 next year, but I have my overthinking cap on and wanted advice on physreps for bags of herbs in the Apothercary/Physick side of things.
I’m currently thinking that making physreps of bags of herbs which are also large enough to keep the associated card in is a good idea, but does anyone have experience of this and could offer some hard-won advice?
I’m not currently interested in becoming a battle healer (maybe some time in the future?), but I do like making props and phyreps, so the idea of having bags of hebs that I can physically hand over when trading, with the individual card inside, appeals to me.
Am I getting hopelessly carried away and overthinking, or is this a potentially good idea in principle?
As a trader, I can honestly say that physreps exchanging hands while trading is the exception, rather than the rule.
What I would recommend you aim for is to have a few bags of herbs which you produce (but don’t hand over) when trading (and more importantly when using) the herbs, and keep the herb cards separate.
I have cloth bags for each type of herb, which contain the cards with no herbs. Somewhere I have a similar bag with herbs and no card, but I don’t think it has been in my trading box for a while (because the herbs leaked out).
As Wake says above and adding two bits to consider
There’s a not too inconsiderate spread of “huh, hadn’t thought that’d be a thing” allergies in field.
You never know if who you’re trading with may have a reaction to something that you may use a physrep.
A sealed plastic/glass vial with dried plant matter works as well as a a bag without super massive allergy risk…and also handily avoids things leaking all over your satchel
Props are lovely, but in field, I’ve found my smaller ones (unless literally tied to my belt/bag/kit) have had the tendency to walk off when I put them down with a “I will not forget that this is here.”
This has caused me to lose more than a handful of little herb bottles/jars. I (however) also play in the Anvil Hospital space, so presence of unmarked jars/bottles/bandages is not zero
I certainly will be looking to assist in the Anvil Hospital in the future, so it sounds like something more like jars would better for the Physick side of things.
I still like the “idea” of bags of hebs for trading, but that’s definitely some food for thought!
