Counter Collection Digital - Making Counters

[Mr. Draco]

Pretty much all of them, I believe - that's why it's such a good deal.

Even the ones published after the CCD? For instance, does it have the counters from Counter Collection: Undead?

 

[Barendd Nobeard]

The latest version has every counter they have made through June 2005, I believe. If you already have CCD, you can buy the "silver" add-on to get stuff they have added.

Somehow, I suspect that next year, we'll get the "through June 2006" add-on. Here's hoping, anyway!

 

[Mr. Draco]

Very cool!

I'm going to have to pick this one up, but maybe after they incorporate the Ptolus counters in it.

 

[catsclaw227]

I actually use Adobe Illustrator for mine, since every counter remains a separate object in the file. I give each of them a 1 pt stroke, and then apply the Round Corners filter to everything, at a radius of about 6". This means that even Colossal creatures turn into circles. Don't ask me why, but I like the circles as opposed to the square--less lining them up exactly on the grid I guess. Then I print them out on cardstock (65 lb or 110 lb--146 or 200 gsm).

This is awesome. The moment I read this I opened up Corel Draw and created macros that perform this same action (basically) for each size 1" thru 4" (Med-Gar). Now I can drag like 15 different 1" counters, select them all, run the Corel Macro and done! I have 15 1" circular counters! If anyone else has Corel Draw and wants the macros, just let me know.

I use my 1", 2", and 3" hole punches for Small/Medium, Large and Huge creatures, and a expandable circle cutter for Gargantuan, Colossal and bigger, and cut them out. It really helped that the local crafting store puts a 40-50% off one item coupon in their flyer every week--made the punches much cheaper to buy.

I have these for 1" and now I think I'll get some 2" and 3" ones too.

Even better, I've recently discovered, is wooden craft shapes. I picked up 50ish 1" wooden circles (about 1/8" thick") for about $3. (something like these: Ihttp://www.craftparts.com/mall/Geometrics1.asp, but cheaper locally). I discovered them after I decided there was no easy way to cut 1" circles out of foamcore. I'll probably slowly replace my foamcore circles w/wooden ones over the next few months--I really like the weight it adds. They're also thinner than the foam core, so they take up less room when stored.

This is a great idea. What do you use as an adhesive? How accurate are the sizes of the circles? Maybe I'll coat them with some artist's fixative as FD suggested earlier.

 

[bigdamnnerd]

This is awesome. The moment I read this I opened up Corel Draw and created macros that perform this same action (basically) for each size 1" thru 4" (Med-Gar). Now I can drag like 15 different 1" counters, select them all, run the Corel Macro and done! I have 15 1" circular counters! If anyone else has Corel Draw and wants the macros, just let me know.

I have these for 1" and now I think I'll get some 2" and 3" ones too.

This is a great idea. What do you use as an adhesive? How accurate are the sizes of the circles? Maybe I'll coat them with some artist's fixative as FD suggested earlier.

I just use poster putty ( http://www.cleansweepsupply.com/pages/skugroup31609.html )--it's reusable, and does the job just fine. I've found I sometimes need two globs of it rather than just one in the middle for Large and larger creatures, but other than that, it works perfectly.

The circle sizes are pretty dang accurate. I just wish there were punches larger than 3" (the end of the Age of Worms adventure path has a *lot* of big critters). Getting the center of the circle cutter lined up exactly with the middle of the counter is more of an art form than a science, even with a aiming mark.

About the punches: my guess is that they're made for scrapbookers who just want circles of paper and don't care what's on them. I've been using them "upside down", with the hole facing upwards so I can see what I'm punching. The 1" works just fine, but the 2" and larger needed to be pushed down at sort of an angle rather than straight downwards. But that only took a bit of trial and error to find out.

 

[catsclaw227]

Well, I've made quite a few now. I paint the disks white first, then I cut the circles 3/4 in for small with a hole punch, 1in for Medium with another 1" punch, and then L,H I use the 2" and 3" disks and use a Fiskars Circle cutter and Circle guide. They're pretty accurate, and they look great.

I can pretty much take any image and make these counters of of it.

Currently I am using a gluestick for the adhesive and it works great. I paint the edges of the PC or key NPC disks either red or black, and then add a coat of gloss and I have some awesome counters.

It really is fast and easy.

 

[Barendd Nobeard]

The latest version has every counter they have made through June 2005, I believe. If you already have CCD, you can buy the "silver" add-on to get stuff they have added.

Somehow, I suspect that next year, we'll get the "through June 2006" add-on. Here's hoping, anyway!

Just FYI, I spoke to one of the Fiery Dragon guys at GenCon last weekend and he did say that they are planning another upgrade option for CCD next year, so you can wait and get everything released in the last year added to your digitial collection.

 

[catsclaw227]

Yes, I am looking forward to the upgrade as well. I am also waiting for them to get the CCD 2.0 SIlver up at dtrpg.com so I can download it.

In the meantime I designed some overlay templates I can use to cut and save the inidividual counters independantly, especially the XRP ones.