Miniatures, yay or nay?

[Mallus]

Current usage of minis in my group's campaigns.

AD&D - currently 'nay'. No plans to start using them.

Savage Worlds (Slipstream) - currently 'nay'. Will start using them.

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

I don't really care if a game has minis specifically made for it, but I always want to use minis when I play, or at least loose change and grid paper. If we don't, I start to lose track of where things are, or I get a somewhat different picture in my head of where things are than the DM does, and it either leads to a once-per-battle-or-so instance of, "Uh, dude, you can't do that, you aren't even close to that thing and there are like 5 enemies between you and it." or it leads to me prefacing every action with, "Uh, am I close enough to do X...?"

Pretty much this.

Plus, we play at the house of a guy who has hundreds and hundreds of pretty sweet minis, and it'd be rude to just leave them on the shelves.

 

[Oryan77]

In 2e, we didn't use minis. I liked it because it kept the visuals all in my head. But then it limits what you can actually do in combat and everyone is always picturing the scenario different ways so there is a lot of confusion.

I started using minis in 3e. I prefer to use them because it adds a lot to the game and makes combat easier to run. It's cool to see the minis set up on the table, but it tends to pull me out of my head a little bit. It seems to cause me to focus more on what I see on the battlemat rather than picturing the scenario in my head as much as I did in 2e.

 

[adwyn]

I love miniatures, have for deacades, and have used them in a multitude of games, but feel they should only be used when and where they add to the game.

That being said I find that for myself the biggest advantages are not just in combat - if the party splits (which mine often do), placing the miniatures with group A or B helps everyone to keep track and forces one or two to make the decision now, not when one group finds treasure.

Plus, NPCs, familiars, pets, robots, etc are easier to remember (I'm an out of sight out of mind type) when I can see them.

 

[Traveon Wyvernspur]

In 2e, we didn't use minis. I liked it because it kept the visuals all in my head. But then it limits what you can actually do in combat and everyone is always picturing the scenario different ways so there is a lot of confusion.

I started using minis in 3e. I prefer to use them because it adds a lot to the game and makes combat easier to run. It's cool to see the minis set up on the table, but it tends to pull me out of my head a little bit. It seems to cause me to focus more on what I see on the battlemat rather than picturing the scenario in my head as much as I did in 2e.

Same here [MENTION=18701]Oryan77[/MENTION] I started out in 2E, we didn't use minis at all, just some dirty pennies and a piece of scratch paper if we needed something to represent or reference the general layout of things. Didn't use Minis in 3.x either, just kept with the very simple and cinematic.

Upon getting into 4E, that's when I started to play with minis just because it is so required. At first I hated it, felt it didn't allow me to use my imagination enough because I was concentrating on distances and the minis on the board making it feel more like a board game than a game which was done in the imagination.

I've since become used to using the minis and have a collection of around 100 now, I use them all the time in my 4E games and am now part of a pathfinder game in which the GM is using them. They don't bother me as much anymore, but I still think back fondly on the days where we used the dirty pennies...

 

[His Dudeness]

After experimenting a bit I've discovered that It's not the minis I dislike, it's the grid and counting spaces.

 

[Traveon Wyvernspur]

After experimenting a bit I've discovered that It's not the minis I dislike, it's the grid and counting spaces.

Very succinct, exactly what I was trying to get at about what I don't care for either when it comes to keeping up with the Minis. I'd give you XP, but I can't for a few hours.

 

[nai_cha]

I'm a cheap bastard, so nope, not going to spend my disposable income on minis (however, happy to use them if someone else decides to bring their collection over), but I will on tokens. Have managed to run games just fine with ketchup packets, beads, coins, espresso-to-go boxes etc, and the players involved immersed themselves in the game just fine. Although I have considered hunting up my old Polly Pocket collection for minions and such.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

What are your thoughts on miniatures and role-playing games?

Should a new game use miniatures or not?

Please try to stay away from the history lessons of "D&D came from chainmail which was a miniature game" because frankly that's not my question, it's what YOU think of miniatures and role-playing games

I've gamed both with and without minis. I vastly prefer using them, but a RPG probably shouldn't require their use.

 

[Traveon Wyvernspur]

I've gamed both with and without minis. I vastly prefer using them, but a RPG probably shouldn't require their use.

I totally agree, with you [MENTION=19675]Dannyalcatraz[/MENTION] minis should not be required.