Doppel Is A Physical Digital Miniature!

Instead of a giant case of miniatures, you could soon be using a handful of programmable LED minis. These new gadgets, currently on Kickstarter, allow you to display your character's custom image on both sides of a twin-screen standee.

And it's not just visual--these minis also make noises! You can have character specific sound effects from sword clashes to spellcasting.

Designed for a 1-inch grid, these minis represent regular medium-sized creatures. It will set you back about $160 per mini (each with a charging case) on the Kickstarter, although the eventual retail price will apparently be closer to $280.

The Kickstarter cites compatibility with D&D, Star Wars, Fate, Vampire, Numenera, Pathfinder, and Cypher System, although I'm not clear what's required to make an image compatible with a game.

You can find Doppel on Kickstarter here for the next 3 weeks.

 

[MarkB]

I think it could be cool for a player to have on the tabletop beside them. At a much lower price. Kinda like fancy dice or whatnot. Because they could really personalize their character.

Just have them put the image on their smartphone and prop that up in front of them. Keeps them from browsing it during gameplay too.

 

[MGibster]

1. it's an illumination display - if the sun's on it, fuggedaboud readin' it.

Gamers in the sun? Can you imagine that?

 

[Warpiglet-7]

I am biased since I do a lot with miniatures…this would be out of place with my figures.

i think for me it is in person with figures or if it’s digital it’s VTT and digital

 

[Jahydin]

Seems it must be either hyperbolic negativity or we must "champion" a product that isn't to our tastes. There's no middle ground? We can't just say, "Eh, not for me." and leave it at that?

I love fandom sometimes.

The statements being posted are hardly hyperbolic. In fact, I've noticed many are really going out of there way to be as polite as possible voicing their criticisms.

How boring would this site be if everyone just posted with, "Not for me", instead of describing why?

 

[aramis erak]

Gamers in the sun? Can you imagine that?

Yep. I've often done so... not occasionally indoors.

 

[aramis erak]

Okay.

Why would you get excited over a product you don't care for? Who's asking you to?

Seems it must be either hyperbolic negativity or we must "champion" a product that isn't to our tastes. There's no middle ground? We can't just say, "Eh, not for me." and leave it at that?

I love fandom sometimes.

In my case, its frustration at severely sub-optimal choices in design, leading to excessive costs and hence pricing.

Its a product I've often wanted, and am not suited to do. But they've gone with feature creep... and putting the smarts in the piece rather than in a controller unit.

 

[MNblockhead]

I think this would work much better as a pog-style token. Would be easier to see from overhead and the full space of the top could be used to display the artwork. A thicker pog would look less out of place than a 2D-digital standee.

But whether a standee or a token, the price would have to come down a lot. It just isn't that much work to print on cardstock and cutout a some 2D standees and buy some cheap Litko slotted bases.

 

[Sorcerers Apprentice]

Sorry to say it, but these look like ass. Not even remotely an alternative to miniatures, even unpainted ones. I'd rather use flat cardboard tokens than put this big chunk on my table. (Unless I was using it as some pice of sci-fi scenery, it could work well for that)

Now, if they make the display 3 dimensional and the whole thing much smaller, and cheap, we're talking! Though I suspect we'll have ubiquitous AR glasses before tiny 3d displays are invented.

 

[comrade raoul]

Wow, the negativity of this hobby is already in force here. Sigh. It's like some of us are competing on how cleverly we can put something down.

It's okay to not like this idea, to decide it isn't for you. But "gimmick" or "worse than NFTs"? Come on.

Personally, this isn't for me. The price point is impractical for my needs, and I don't care for the look of the product on the table (at least, according to the marketing images). But the basic idea is neat . . . good luck to Doppel, I hope they find their market for their product.

They are trying to solve a classic problem with using miniatures with D&D (or other RPGs) . . . no matter how large your miniature collection is, you never have the right one for every encounter you want to run.

When the technology gets to the point where the "miniature" is a clear, flat acrylic standee (similar in size to a Paizo stand-up pawn) and can project any image you download via an app . . . or better yet, a fully 3D holographic projection rising from a flat puck (miniature base) . . . I might be interested, if my gaming group in the old folks home isn't too technology phobic!

At this risk of piling on, this raises a more general point that I don't think gets made enough: dismissing criticism like this as (objectionable) "negativity" or (as I've seen elsewhere) "commerce-shaming" is a way of siding with business interests against consumers. It undercuts our collective ability to preserve a hobby culture that rewards excellence over cynical cash-grabs, and that minimizes financial barriers to entry. One might, conceivably, want a hobby in which selling gimmicky, overpriced tchotchkes is frowned upon.

Whose side are you on? The consumer's, or the profiteer's?

 

[MNblockhead]

At this risk of piling on, this raises a more general point that I don't think gets made enough: dismissing criticism like this as (objectionable) "negativity" or (as I've seen elsewhere) "commerce-shaming" is a way of siding with business interests against consumers. It undercuts our collective ability to preserve a hobby culture that rewards excellence over cynical cash-grabs, and that minimizes financial barriers to entry. One might, conceivably, want a hobby in which selling gimmicky, overpriced tchotchkes is frowned upon.

Whose side are you on? The consumer's, or the profiteer's?

I'm on the side of everyone enjoying their hobby however they like. This particular product isn't for me, but I have a soft spot for inventors and entrepreneurs making the effort and putting themselves out there to bring a passion project to life. While I'm not going to buy these, I'm glad that others will because if this is at all profitable it makes it more likely that the product will be improved upon and that other inventors will try other approaches. If we end up with more affordable and better sized versions of this that can fit more electronics in the base and have the display being almost fully art, sized to look more in-line with other miniatures, I would be a lot more interested in this.