DDM Wacky Ideas Thread

[Kirnon_Bhale]

I think that WotC have started down the right line with D&D Heroscape - non-randomised miniatures. What they need to do now is take it a step further and combine both hobbies into one pack. Make the minis usable in both games - provide stat cards for both so if you go and buy a heroscape booster you are also buying a D&D booster. The cross marketing etc. is great and they lower their costs too.

 

[Stormonu]

I think that WotC have started down the right line with D&D Heroscape - non-randomised miniatures. What they need to do now is take it a step further and combine both hobbies into one pack. Make the minis usable in both games - provide stat cards for both so if you go and buy a heroscape booster you are also buying a D&D booster. The cross marketing etc. is great and they lower their costs too.

I always wondered why that had never been done, like, a month after heroscape came out - back when heroscape was really popular. The popularity of heroscape seems to have diminished mightily nowadays.

 

[Skallgrim]

What I'd like to see (and apologizies to those who have a huge DDM collection) is for WOTC to produce commonly used, bulk monsters as cardstock tokens (using the same production as Dungeon Tiles) and sell nicer miniatures of special monsters as prepainted plastics.

Two of the biggest problems from a purchaser standpoint are randomness and commonality. If you need something fairly generic, but it is randomized (and maybe even uncommon or rare), are you going to buy tons of minis just to get it? Counters would ensure that you could get your basic troops fairly easily. Now, say you have kobolds, but you need 12 of them. Are you going to buy enough packs to get 12 kobolds, or are you going to use "counts-as" minis. With cardstock counters, you could easily supply the needed numbers at a reasonable cost.

The counters could be bundled as a counter set for each adventure with all of the cardstock counters needed (and maybe even full color poster maps for ALL of the encounters). That would be sold separately from the adventure itself, so those with plenty of minis or some other mapping system wouldn't pay more for it, and so those who didn't want the adventure, but could use full color battle maps and counters could snag it too. You could also create counter bundles around monster types, or heroic/paragon/epic tiers, or MM1, MM2, etc.

The plastic miniatures should be almost entirely non-random (though you could have say, Troll King, Ice Troll, Shadow Troll, Blade Troll in one box), and would be more expensive than the older DDM packs, but they would be higher quality, and you would KNOW what you were getting, and get a choice about it. You might even market them as Blisters to retail stores, but sell them individually on your company web site (with an appropriate markup for handling).

I just think separating their products into two brackets (the less expensive and less impressive counters, where you buy a lot of stuff even if you don't need it and the more expensive, but less (or entirely non-) random miniatures, which are of a higher quality) would serve them well, as well as the consumer.

 

[Stormonu]

What I'd like to see (and apologizies to those who have a huge DDM collection) is for WOTC to produce commonly used, bulk monsters as cardstock tokens (using the same production as Dungeon Tiles) and sell nicer miniatures of special monsters as prepainted plastics.

<snip>

The counters could be bundled as a counter set for each adventure with all of the cardstock counters needed (and maybe even full color poster maps for ALL of the encounters). That would be sold separately from the adventure itself, so those with plenty of minis or some other mapping system wouldn't pay more for it, and so those who didn't want the adventure, but could use full color battle maps and counters could snag it too. You could also create counter bundles around monster types, or heroic/paragon/epic tiers, or MM1, MM2, etc.

<snip>

I just think separating their products into two brackets (the less expensive and less impressive counters, where you buy a lot of stuff even if you don't need it and the more expensive, but less (or entirely non-) random miniatures, which are of a higher quality) would serve them well, as well as the consumer.

I think you would be pleased to know it looks like WotC is already planning part of this with the tokens in Monster Vault. Note it also comes with an adventure...

 

[deadsmurf]

I would love to see packs of common(ish) humanoid foes -
Gnolls
Goblins (especially the new greenskinned look)
Orcs
Kobolds
Ogres
Trolls
Archons
Drow
Skeletons
Zombies
Wraiths
etc
.

People actually like Green Skinned Goblins? Ugh
Goblins should be yellow/brownish


Also for the people talking about Genasi, there is a third one, for a Fire Genasi back from the Giants of Legend set.

 

[mac1504]

The concept behind the upcoming Beholder pack is sound - they are just using the wrong monster. Imagine if it was 4 dragons - either 4 different colours or 4 dragons of the same colour but at different stages of growth (ie small, medium, large, huge). Who wouldn't pay $30 for that?!

Also for the Pc figures I was surprised I never saw them do something that Ral Partha (iirc) did back in the 80's - the 'three stage' PC miniature. Basically it was a similarly dressed & armed 3 pack of miniatures based around a single class. For example I had the Ranger pack - the 'stage 1' ranger wore leather armour had a simple sword and small shield with a short bow tied to his back. The stage 2 one had studded leather armour a more elaborate sword, bigger shield and a longbow and quiver - this was to represent him gaining better equipment as he adventured. The 3rd stage had him with a 2-handed sword, fancy cloak and chain armour. I always loved these things but sadly only have the ranger set now. I've used them many times over the years to represent both PCs and NPCs.

I've always been a fan of this idea (and Ral Partha's execution of it), and I think it dovetails perfectly with the three tiers of 4e.

 

[JoeGKushner]

1. Quality control. This isn't necessarily getting the best paint job or necessarily the best sculpt but making sure that figures are of at least a similiar quality to each other and that SCALE is enforced from head to toe. No one wonders if that's a fat crouching human instead of a dwarf, the goblin's head isn't bigger than another goblins' body, etc...

2. Tied into existing product/product as it comes out. PHB3 just came out at least one freak race. WoTC has been slipping the minotaurs into the DM's packs for a while but those crystal suckers? Not a one there. Same problem with the Dragonborn. No one knew those were going to be in the PHB? It literarlly took like a year to get 2 non-random figures, and one of them an extremely niche?

3. Reoffering the popular figs as collectors sets: Some of the older sets had draconians, demons, devils, etc... that are still popular and could easily be put into themed packs like the beholder pack coming out. There's a huge library of figures and not using that is baffling.

4. Legends pack. Drizzt was one of the most expensive figures for its time. Taking characters out of the new york times best sellers list and making figures out of them as opposed to generic figures? Go specific and if the sculpts are good enough, people will want to use them for their own characters anyway.

5. If using visible figures, let the retailers tell you which ones they want as opposed to suffering a random order. I don't have a ton of gaming stores around me, but they all discounted the grey dappled pony, I mean unicorn. It'll be a great way to insure that whoever screws up the visibles the first time isn't the same person making the selections the next time.

6. Stop explaining why things can't be done. Stop talking about lead time. Stop talking about bad sculpts. Stop talking about the steps in the process. This is WoTC, not Bob's Friendly Figures. Some of the figures from the Heroscape line are of much more intricate detail and use and were cheaper. Just stop. If it's a question that keeps coming up the head of the department needs to find out WHY is can't be done.

7. Dungeon boardgame. Why WoTC hasn't done this old boardgame with prepainted plastics, or even plastics that aren't painted, is beyond me. For god's sake, there was an old version of Dungeon with Ral Partha figures in it. This should be a no-brainer, especially if they're willing to go the $60+ route as they are with the Ravenloft game.

I'm sure there are some other things I'm missing but those are the things I'd focus on as head of the line.

 

[darjr]

OK here is a really wacky idea.

Custom mini's.

An app where I could design my mini and it's paint and get it 3d printed and painted or even 3d printed in color.

It doesn't even have to be completely custom.

 

[pawsplay]

Yet apparently even when they offered you this you still didn't purchase them.

Oh, is that what those were? I thought those were Solar Exalted Mongrelmen battle packs.