D&D Minis: What's missing most?

[smootrk]

What is ironic, is that when a company who currently has a market share, chooses to ignore (or focus their attention to another aspect of their marketshare), that company inevitably will lose a portion of that marketshare to another company that chooses to focus in on that aspect. Sometimes this is a conscious choice for a variety of reasons, but more often it is ignorance or the belief (erroneous) that once they have a particular niche, that they will be able to keep that niche... but as we know, everything keeps changing; everything keeps moving on in new directions.

I beleive that WOTC will cater to these rpg mini people, but not until they see another company start to strip away parts of their marketshare. So if you are wanting basic critters, start buying the competitors' options. WOTC is smart, and they will notice what is moving on the shelves.

 

[JoeGKushner]

What is ironic, is that when a company who currently has a market share, chooses to ignore (or focus their attention to another aspect of their marketshare), that company inevitably will lose a portion of that marketshare to another company that chooses to focus in on that aspect. Sometimes this is a conscious choice for a variety of reasons, but more often it is ignorance or the belief (erroneous) that once they have a particular niche, that they will be able to keep that niche... but as we know, everything keeps changing; everything keeps moving on in new directions.

I beleive that WOTC will cater to these rpg mini people, but not until they see another company start to strip away parts of their marketshare. So if you are wanting basic critters, start buying the competitors' options. WOTC is smart, and they will notice what is moving on the shelves.

But competitor's products have been out long before D&D minis came along. Reaper, Iron Wind, Magnificent Egoes, Games Workshop, Privateer Press, etc... Very expensive but well sculped in many cases and non-random. Still around.

Prepainted minis have been around for a while too and some companies like Dwarven Forge (orcs, undead, and lizard men), got out of it while others like em4/Crystal Caste, are still around. The big thing stopping them from being big competitor's is probably price. It's about $25 for five figures and five d20 dice.

Talking a palceholder for the figures and we've got Fiery Dragon, etc...

At this point though, I feel I'm talking in circles.

Moderators, can we break this thread off into two different threads? One about WoTC should be non-randomized and one with the original goal of the thread? To talk about miniature and miniature things we'd like to see for the line as is?

 

[DamionW]

I'm sorry if you feel the thread's been derailed, but that is my honest opinion on what is missing from Dungeons and Dragons Miniatures: A basic set of WotC non-random figures to support the RPG. I'll leave it at that.

 

[smootrk]

These other pre-painted mini makers (for instance Crystal Caste/em4) are costly (and pewter). They are not really hitting the mark in what the consumers want (detailed much better in several posts above). BTW, I do not believe that WOTC needs to de-randomize their current offerings; they ought to add product lines that are non-random in a fashion. I still love the collectable ones as well.

I think this is on topic, as it is a factor of what is missing in WOTC's miniature line(s), but I concede if that is not what you want to discuss exactly. However I have listed a few types of creatures that need attention in some of my earlier posts.

 

[WizarDru]

I guess I just don't take it for a given that D&D requires minis to be playable. That seems to be the core argument: that D&D doesn't just encourage miniatures use as it has since time immemorial (when it WAS just a minatures game), but that the game is not playable without them. Hence, if the game requires miniatures, then it is WotC's responsibility to provide them. I don't think the idea reared it's head until D&D minis became so popular. I don't recall people making this complaint when 3.0 came out (though I did hear some claim that minis were required...which was funny, when they used tokens in the 3.0 rulebook). For that matter, if someone was enterprising enough, they could easily just purchase Mageknight figures and switch to 1.5" scale, if they so desired.

I'm not trying to belittle your issue at all. I understand the desire for non-random minis...I just don't think the economics supports it. I don't think you could get agreement as to what would constitute a sure-fire non-random seller, at this point. Skeletons? Orcs? Goblins? How many and who would buy them? Most collectors have more of these particular mins than they need. I can easily field a group of different looking minis from these groups right now. Essentially, you would need to produce a non-random pack with broad appeal for the few people who don't already have them and/or want more of them. I don't think there are enough such people to warrant the risk of a non-random release for WotC. I wouldn't be suprised if they were afraid of another Chainmail (although that product line's downfall was due to other factors).

I still maintain that any creature that is in the MM should have a mini available...yes, even the Digester, the arrowhawk and their ilk. I think that any creature that was in both the AD&D MM and is still in the 3.5 MM should immediately be planned or released. A creature like the Roper, which is in the second adventure path module, should have been made available before now, IMHO.

 

[JoeGKushner]

Have they done any striges yet? That's one monster I've used many times but don't like the Reaper version as they're in a tree and it looks odd to be moving hordes of trees about.

I believe there are Fiery Dragon counters but they're so small that it's hard to move them about.

 

[Warbringer]

D&D doesn't require minis to play, but that said, as the company that makes the game is currently producing minis, complete with stat cards for the D+D game it would be reasonable to expect them to support the core game.

I talked with AC and it is a matter of sustainability. Non-random pachages don't attract the attention of retailers as they get left with the stock that doesn't sell. Random always sells.

But I have an answer: the issue is randomness, the issue is that the chosen figures have a poor crossover into the average D+D world. I don't need a Taer to be common, I do need a Troll; I don't need a half teifling/half dragon rougue, I need a halfling rogue. In this, the selection of figures is geared towards the mini game, we need an edition geared towards the roleplay game. Keep it random, just change the flavor of minis to fit a campaign.

 

[Soul]

CR Based randomized packs for the RPG wouldn't be a bad idea. Like CR 1-3, filled with first/second level archtype pcs, and monsters of those ratings. Then CR 3-6 or something, this can also give PCs character minis that grow with their characters, like the old 3 stage adventure minis made by ral partha, and other companies. They could still come with mini stat cards for easy crossover also.

Back on target, I'd like to see some darkmantles, and stirges. I'd also like to venture back into the previous topic for a minute, I'd really like to see more people doing repackaging, stuff like maybe module based... really popular modules tomb of horrors, return to temple of elemental evil, and the world largest dungeon (though this would likely be a per region based), just bags of plastic minis all geared for those modules. Probably never going to happen, but something that would be neat none the less.

 

[JoeGKushner]

I'd really like to see more people doing repackaging, stuff like maybe module based... really popular modules tomb of horrors, return to temple of elemental evil, and the world largest dungeon (though this would likely be a per region based), just bags of plastic minis all geared for those modules. Probably never going to happen, but something that would be neat none the less.

I'm surprised that Piazo didn't do something that like for Shackled City to be honest. It would've been cool.

 

[Dinkeldog]

How about if someone starts a thread about randomness in the miniatures from this point forward. Then people can talk about what types of creatures they want here, and people that want to discuss randomness can elsewhere without having to read through too many unrelated posts.