D&D Minis: What's missing most?

[JoeGKushner]

Hydra? That would be awesome.

Animated Balista in War Drums? That's a big thumbs up.

Huge elementals? I can see the need for them, but wonder if it'd be in their best interest as so many other huge figures need t obe made.

I wouldn't mind seeing some other types of terrain though like large wall sections that could be snapped together or something similiar to the old towers that came out for Mage Knight all those many moons ago.

 

[thalmin]

I am looking forward to a hippogrif, birds of any sort, familiars, and more mounted figs.

As much as I like wolves, I am not looking forward to any more of them (except maybe wolf-riders.)

 

[Green Knight]

Am I the only one here that's wanted a Digester since D&D Minis first came out?

 

[Psychic Warrior]

Now if he could just pick up off the shelf a product made by WotC such as: "DnD RPG 1 inch props: Adventuring Party 1" which has a non random wizard figure, fighter figure, rogue figure and cleric figure, they might not be the exact image his players have for their characters, but it's a start. If right next to it he saw: "Orc war party" with 4 standardized orc figures and a orc war chief figure, he could just take the battlemat from the back of the DMG and just start playing the RPG rather than trying to get both into the hobby of DMing a role-playing game AND collecting miniatures. That could only help DnD RPG sales, I can't imagine a way it could go so horribly wrong as to not be worth it for WotC. As it stands right now, new role-players have to dump money into two hobbies at once and try and distinguish between two rulesets that are unrelated and without an experienced DM to walk them through the process, it could turn them off from DnD as a whole.

I think you mean this
4 PCs and 12 monsters (including a Black Dragon) and.......is there an echo in here?

 

[Psychic Warrior]

Am I the only one here that's wanted a Digester since D&D Minis first came out?

Yeah, pretty much!

Seriously I can think of a lot of critters I would rather see before a digester. Many from other WotC monster book even.

 

[Green Knight]

Yeah, pretty much!

Seriously I can think of a lot of critters I would rather see before a digester. Many from other WotC monster book even.

I'll have you know that one of the first 3E games I ever played involved a Digester. Yeah, they're stupid, but they're fun, too!

 

[Zaukrie]

Joe, as for castles:

Scale isn't exactly the same, and it is hexed based, but heroscape has a bridge set that is nice, and is coming out with a castle set either later this year or early next. My kids and I use the 3D stuff from that for trees, bridges, etc, and I can't wait for the castle stuff.

As for missing minis: rust monster would be nice.

As for the non-random discussion, I do think WotC should look at how to have 1 or 2 non-random packs (I'm aware of the basic game, and own it) that are aimed at beginning DMs. In general, I think they need to do a lot more to support beginning DMs and players, not just on the minis front! I don't think the DDM line should go non-random, as that would greatly reduce the choice of minis, and other than mayb 10-20 of the already produced monsters, it is not too hard to get what you want on-line somehwere, assuming it has been produced already (or, if you are lucky, at a FLGS).

 

[DamionW]

Look, Wizards have said they are investigating other ways of making adventures (with minis, etc.) You might get what you want in the future, but I don't think not having the right mini is going to deter people from D&D, when it hasn't stopped them in the previous 30+ years.

Cheers!

I don't think the current format will necessarily stop people from playing the RPG. I feel it shows a basic lack of utility and support for it. I myself only recently made the jump to 3.5 DnD. I had a lot of experience with 2e and played 3.0 several times with my friends without minis. When I moved to a new town and found most people here played 3.5, I bought a core set of 3.5 books. I saw the mini rules and they made sense, but I had no minis at all to start with. I wanted to DM a basic adventure and have a small set of minis for players to choose from if they didn't have their own and I picked up the DnD mini basic pack and 2 boosters or so. The variety of utterly useless figures I pulled out astounded me. I couldn't believe for all of the collectability that was supposed to be inherent in the system, how little help the 3 packages of minis I bought gave me as a basic DM. How am I supposed to provide 4-6 players with a reasonable representation of their party and a normal set of foes to fight?

Sure I could proxie out the Dekanter goblin as an orc even though it has a huge rhino horn. I could use my big gorilla looking Taer figure as a ogre or something else. I have like 3 dwarven warrior looking figures, but not even one human/elf wizard/cleric type. My FLGS doesn't have singles sales, so I would have to go online for that market. If I knew about the secondary market, sure I could go online and surf and surf to get what I want. Or there is the option of the Basic Game and throwing out the board and directions and all of the rest of the game and paying all that money just for the minis inside the box.

My question is: Why the roadblock for a basic DM? Isn't our job hard enough? Don't we have enough to do without surfing and collecting and sifting through stat cards and all of the other pain in the butt? Why should it be so hard to just get a simple package with a low detail set of PC figures and another simple package with some low detail plastic CR1-3 figures like orcs or zombies or goblins or wolves, or something. Where is the support for the already embattled DM? You gave him the flimsy battlemat in the back of the DMG. Why not a flimsy package of basic adventurers and basic villains you can get off of the shelf? Would the collectibility and the skirmishing rules be absolutely destroyed to add a simple RPG prop cheap plastic product line?

 

[JoeGKushner]

My question is: Why the roadblock for a basic DM?

This is only something that bothers people if they want official, fully painted minis.

We have fully painted minis from Crystal Caste or their other name, em4. They have undead, orcs, adventurers and other packs.

There are also counters, both stand up from Steve Jackson Games and P.I.G. and others, as well as flat from Fiery Dragon. These are generally in full color.

This doesn't count just using pennies, game counters or pieces of cut up paper in the appropriate shape.

Isn't our job hard enough? Don't we have enough to do without surfing and collecting and sifting through stat cards and all of the other pain in the butt? Why should it be so hard to just get a simple package with a low detail set of PC figures and another simple package with some low detail plastic CR1-3 figures like orcs or zombies or goblins or wolves, or something. Where is the support for the already embattled DM? You gave him the flimsy battlemat in the back of the DMG. Why not a flimsy package of basic adventurers and basic villains you can get off of the shelf? Would the collectibility and the skirmishing rules be absolutely destroyed to add a simple RPG prop cheap plastic product line?

Because you're not the market WoTC is targeting. You're (RPG player) a secondary market. The primary market is the people collecting them for collecting sake. When that changes, perhaps their market goals will change.

 

[DamionW]

This is only something that bothers people if they want official, fully painted minis.

...<snip>...

Because you're not the market WoTC is targeting. You're (RPG player) a secondary market. The primary market is the people collecting them for collecting sake. When that changes, perhaps their market goals will change.

If we're not intended to use their brand miniatures in conjunction with the RPG, why is the RPG rules system formatted to use the 1inch-to-5foot conversion, references are made to squares, and a battlemat included with the core rules? We all know that the RPG intends the use of miniatures. Yes, with research you can uncover crystal castle and other brands of miniatures, but we're just putting our heads in the sand.

WotC made a conscious choice to make the minis collectible such that if you start playing the RPG with 3.5 rules, you're encouraged to buy their minis. When you do buy their minis, they want you to convert into the format of their primary market, and become a collector. They want you to support them by becomming addicted to their "plastic crack". I feel there should be some format of customer support instead; meeting the basic needs of the RPG. You want me to use your brand instead of crystal keep's brand? Fine. Stop trying to make me into a collector de facto. Just provide a product to meet my basic needs.