Do you use them? If so do you use all of the rules which apply to them or do you simply use them to help set up fight scenes and say screw all the extras suchs as AoO and such?
And if you don't use them why not?
I personally have not used miniatures myself at all, I just found them to mostly be an unneccesary expense, of course I also thought the same of al non-core books, I was a PHB/DMG/MM1 only kinda guy for years and yet recently I find myself without a gaming group for the first time in a long while and it seems that the longer I go without a group or a game teh more I tend to by in the past 3 months I've bought 6 non-core books and just today I spent $40 on miniatures although I will probably never use them, in my groups we were just very straight forward ie "I attack the one closest to me with my sword" and never much thought of strategizin the fights that much, maybe it because I haven't played that much with 3.x rules although today I heard a hopeful rumor that 4th edition is going back to pen & paper roots without the miniatures involved and hearing such for some reason I still bought the miniatures and yet I'm not sure why...I must have a disease. Dragonemia perhaps and if its fatal I leave all my gaming gear to the GMF for the benefit of all.
Location: In the very bowels of Hell (A.K.A. Chicago)
Posts: 536
Miniatures make things a lot easier. I've got just under a $100 of minis, and two battlemats (vinyl pads you can draw on with wet-erase markers, and they're made up of one-inch squares). They simplify combat a lot. Draw the terrain of the battlemat (one of mine is 4X8 feet, heheheh), place the minis, and you're ready for combat. Only problem is it costs a chunk of cash. Still, it's cheaper than playing say, Warhammer 40K.
According to this test, I am a Lawful Good Gnome Paladin with the following ability scores:
Str. 10
Dex. 15
Con. 16
Int. 15
Wis. 10
Cha. 12
The test said it, not me. :\
that is seriously a huge battlemat, BoD. it even has hexes on the back.
Personally, i used the LotR tradeable minis game, a hex system. But they stopped making them, so now i use a mat like BoD's (but a lot smaller. he actually kinda bought it for me. thx, btw). And since i'm too cheap and poor (spending all my money on splatbooks) to buy minis, i use legos. ghetto, but effective.
__________________ Stay Chivalrous, Chicago
From Macrovore, devourer of all things multicellular
We use mini's as the players are very detailed in their actions. It helps every one's imagination, plus avoid arguments over who was were and when.
Mini's are expensive, so I have used those little tokens you get from third parties a lot. I have a friend it gets pictures off of the Internet and sizes them into little 5x5 or 10x10 tokens also.
Recently, I've started buying those Wizard's minis after getting into the minitures game at a con in Fort Wayne. There great for combat as they add real verisimilitude to the scene. But the little addictive buggers are expensive.
Got a Dracolich in my last box of War of the Dragon Queen - Woot!
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Last edited by Nightcloak; 18th November 2006 at 05:28 AM..
We use mini's as the players are very detailed in their actions. It helps every one's imagination, plus avoid arguments over who was were and when.
Mini's are expensive, so I have used those little tokens you get from third parties a lot. I have a friend it gets pictures off of the Internet and sizes them into little 5x5 or 10x10 tokens also.
Recently, I've started buying those Wizard's minis after getting into the minitures game at a con in Fort Wayne. There great for combat as they add real verisimilitude to the scene. But the little addictive buggers are expensive.
Got a Dracolich in my last box of War of the Gradon Queen - Woot!
I bought a box of the new set and my rare was a Pegasus...I feel jinked.
I bought a box of the new set and my rare was a Pegasus...I feel jinked.
Sometimes you got ask for a stretch of imagination from people. Maybe you could tell them it's a fiendish hippogriff or something. Or at lest a spooky Pegasus
Last Thursday I had to use a winter wolf to represent a dire lion. At least the players stopped crack jokes about the big white wolf after the initial pounce and a player's npc dropped in the first round
Actually, I felt guilty that combat. My rolls were on fire. I made every saving throw the spell casters lobbed at the beast. And almost every attack hit. At least they pulled it together and saved the poor npc from the jaws of death (literally, a bite attack has improved grab)!
Sometimes you got ask for a stretch of imagination from people. Maybe you could tell them it's a fiendish hippogriff or something. Or at lest a spooky Pegasus
Last Thursday I had to use a winter wolf to represent a dire lion. At least the players stopped crack jokes about the big white wolf after the initial pounce and a player's npc dropped in the first round
Actually, I felt guilty that combat. My rolls were on fire. I made every saving throw the spell casters lobbed at the beast. And almost every attack hit. At least they pulled it together and saved the poor npc from the jaws of death (literally, a bite attack has improved grab)!
Guilty? I'd feel down right proud and laugh manically with each successful roll
I use lego people on a whiteboard with x-acto knife lines.
It works for my group
cheers,
--N
I actually had a friend mention to me that he wants to play in a Cyberpunk/Robotech game and wants me to run it. And I immediately thought of using legos for any miniturization needed. I like the idea since you can really personalize your individual piece.
The only minuratures my group uses are the ones from the starting set. And we always have to print out our own grid... so we only use these things for combat. And even then sometimes we decide just not to deal with it.
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