DDM Wacky Ideas Thread

[Dausuul]

Lately WotC seems to have been wrestling a bit with the DDM line... they stopped supporting the skirmish game with the release of 4E, and recently terminated a couple of experiments (visible minis, the Player's Handbook Heroes line) that were presumably supposed to boost sales and did the opposite. Now we have to wait till August for the next set.

While we're waiting, what are your wacky ideas for new things WotC could do with Dungeons and Dragons minis to help revitalize the line?

Here's mine: Make a horse mini (and maybe some griffin minis, pegasus minis, giant lizard minis, etc.) with a circular depression on top, of a size to accommodate the base of a standard Medium-sized mini. That way, mounted PCs could move on and off the horse mini without having to balance them precariously or stuff them in underneath.

 

[darjr]

A set of dungeon dressing. Columns, altars, coffins, traps, tables and chairs. Really.

 

[Herschel]

Yeah, stop shooting themselves in the foot with their marketing plans. Off teh top of my head:

1. Timing and rollout of revised skirmish rules was terrible. The rules were fine, but the execution was awful.

2. Dreamblade fiasco. They decided to offer big cash prizes to get people involved in a new miniatures game with even more esoteric figures and splitting their direct game market in to two too-small markets.

3. Moving to a new packaging format with a low-quality set. Demonweb through Savage Encounters was not a good time for the quality of the line. Especially when...

4.(3a?): For a $15 price point, only getting four figures in the blind portion of the pack felt like a total ripoff.

The last two sets have been much better, quality-wise, but there was a lot of image damage done that needs to be reversed.

 

[Stormonu]

I've been real depressed that the line quality has degraded so much. I like buying minis, but the line has just seemed *blech* for quite some time now.


My own wacky ideas

- Directly usable with heroscape (perhaps streamlining or revising heroscape so the two lines blend easier).
- Comes with a paper sheet describing an encounter with the enclosed minis (which also means no more random minis)
- More figures in a set (say about 80)
- Higher quality sculpts and paints
- More theme packs (sell them as "battle packs" such as hobgoblin army vs. elvin skirmishers, dragonborn crusaders vs. tiefling warlocks, etc.)

 

[Dausuul]

A set of dungeon dressing. Columns, altars, coffins, traps, tables and chairs. Really.

Heck yeah, I'd go for this. Some trestle tables where orcs can sit drinking beer out of human skulls and boasting of their vile deeds; some coffins where all manner of undead can repose awaiting the arrival of the PCs; a bloodstained altar for evil rites; and a big ol' throne for the chief villain.

 

[The Ghost]

More theme packs (sell them as "battle packs" such as hobgoblin army vs. elvin skirmishers, dragonborn crusaders vs. tiefling warlocks, etc.)

This. Or something very similar to this.

In addition, I would like to see greater variance in the race/class/weapon relationship of the minis. As is, there seems to be too much similarity; "Oh look! Another dwarf with an axe. Woo hoo!".

 

[skinnydwarf]

A set of dungeon dressing. Columns, altars, coffins, traps, tables and chairs. Really.

MegaMinis makes a line of "Dungeon Decor" that would fit this niche nicely. I find my old Heroquest (the boardgame) stuff works nicely, too, if you already have it. (I just looked on ebay and Amazon, and boy is it pricey).

Fat Dragon's EZ Dungeons also come with plenty of dungeon dressing- columns (broken and unbroken), traps, tables, a variety of chests and crates, barrels, weapon racks, wells. The very cheap expansions also include lots of cool stuff. Building the sets is half the fun. My girlfriend really enjoys cutting up the printouts, leaving me the fun job of pasting the pieces together.

 

[skinnydwarf]

This. Or something very similar to this.

In addition, I would like to see greater variance in the race/class/weapon relationship of the minis. As is, there seems to be too much similarity; "Oh look! Another dwarf with an axe. Woo hoo!".

How about a dwarf wizard/sorceror? :-D One of my players was a dwarf wizard, and it was tough finding something remotely close.

 

[Longtooth Studios]

I was going to suggest that they sell singles, but it occurs to me that shipping may prove prohibitive, not to mention the destruction of the rarity system they have established after the MTG model. Not sure if this works so well with minis, but it would be asking too much.
BUT this is a wacky Ideas thread after all....

I just don't like having to buy a million minis that I will never use.

 

[Stormonu]

How about a dwarf wizard/sorceror? :-D One of my players was a dwarf wizard, and it was tough finding something remotely close.

Amazingly, I still haven't found a dwarf mini with an Urgosh, and its supposed to be a dwarven weapon.