DDM Wacky Ideas Thread

[Holy Bovine]

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.

 

[darjr]

I need a beholder, in fact I need one this weekend. I needed one two Sundays ago.

I need one as part of a mercenary group of cultists.

 

[Dausuul]

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?!

Now that is a brilliant idea. I already have dragons spanning the size range from Large to Colossal, but I'd still jump on this if the sculpts looked good.

 

[Stormonu]

For battle packs, I'd enjoy seeing things like this, where you get some racial variety with the packs.

Kruthik assault: kruthik hive mother, kruthik juggernaut, kruthik warriors, kruthik brood, kruthik possessed (a humanoid with a kruthik attached at the neck), steel predator

Eye of Gruumsh: orc warlord, orc shaman, orc warriors, orc beserkers, half-orc assassin

Red Hand of Doom: Red dragon, wyrmlord hobgoblin, wyrmlord goblin, Red Hand Hobgoblins, Red Hand goblins, various spawn of tiamat

Children of the Night: master vampire (Strahd?), vampire minions, bat & rat swarm, strahd zombies

Worshippers of the Moon: werewolfs, wererats, longtooth shifters, razorclaw shifters, swiftwing shifters

Army of the Forged: warforged juggernaut, warforged warriors, warforged scouts

Legion of the Damned: various demons and cultists

Hellfire Club: various devils and cultists, hellhounds

The Lolth-loved: drow priestess/matron, drow wizard, drow warriors, draegloth, avatar of lolth, driders, wingless wonder

Gnoll Pack Hunters: avatar of Yeenoghu, gnoll packmaster, gnoll ravagers, gnoll archers, gnoll warriors

Harbingers of Madness: various tiefling warlocks, tiefling swordmage, foulspawn

Lords of Madness: Aboleth, scum, kuo-toa, illithid

Primordial Hazards: hydra, medusa, harpies, titans, archons, elementals

Wizard's Creations: Golems, homunculus, shield guardian, skeletons & zombies

 

[jdrakeh]

They had to balance players of all ages of collection. And keep it at an attractive price point. Where are these other mfg's sets of PCs that are "better" in the pre-painted line at a decent price point?

Way to take what I said entirely out of context and argue against points I never made. What I did say was that all other manufacturers had a better selection of minis (not necessarily a better selection of pre-painted minis) and that some of these minis were pre-painted, not that all manufacturers had a better selection of pre-painted minis. Two totally different things. Here are some links, though, for your edification. . .

Unpainted metal blister/army packs suitable for use as monsters, NPCs, or PCs.

Unpainted metal singles and blisters suitable for use as monsters, NPCs, or PCs.

More unpainted metal blisters/army packs suitable for use as monsters, NPCs, or PCs.

Pre-painted plastic singles and blister packs suited for PCs, NPCs, and monsters.

Between those four links alone, you have hundreds of more options to choose from than you did in the DDM character packs — and there are dozens of other manufacturers whose catalogs I could have raided for links. Don't pee on my leg and tell me that it's raining.

 

[Jeff Wilder]

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

I'd buy this in a heartbeat. Probably in multiples. So would a huge percentage of other DMs. So why hasn't WotC made it?

There's got to be a reason we're overlooking. Economy of scale? Maybe "DMs" isn't a big enough market, even when most will buy the packs in multiples?

BTW, the Dungeon Decor mentioned above is nice, but way too expensive. ($3 for a single crate?) It's probably too nice, in fact, thus the expense. It's also unpainted. I hate, hate, hate painting minis. I'm no good at it, and I'm a perfectionist, which combine to create a huge, frustrating time-sink.

 

[Herschel]

What I did say was that all other manufacturers had a better selection of minis (not necessarily a better selection of pre-painted minis) and that some of these minis were pre-painted, not that all manufacturers had a better selection of pre-painted minis. Two totally different things. Here are some links, though, for your edification. . .
Pre-painted plastic singles and blister packs suited for PCs, NPCs, and monsters.

Between those four links alone, you have hundreds of more options to choose from than you did in the DDM character packs — and there are dozens of other manufacturers whose catalogs I could have raided for links. Don't pee on my leg and tell me that it's raining.

The thread is about DDM, PRE-PAINTED PLASTIC minis. Try to keep up and compare apples-to-apples. The Reaper plastics look like garbage, have odd-sized bases (which may or may not affect some of them) and aren't any cheaper than DDM. Those goblins are more AND terrible. The Red Dragon is cheaper, but looks like a roadkilled skunk's backside.

Refer to Merric's law of minis. If you don't want random, you pay more/mini and in this case get that crap. I love Reaper's metal minis for when I paint, but their plastic is crap outside of two of the fighters and the illithid. They're also generally more expensive and take the time to paint to be as dynamic. Time is worth money, further inflating the cost.

 

[Insight]

Thanks Kelvor. Saved me the time. Bother are uncommons too, not even rares.

However, we're still Genasi- and Deva-impaired.

We're also Minitaur impaired. There are plenty of minotaurs (large size), but the only medium sized minitaur I've seen looks like he's relieving himself and I just don't want to use that as my PC.

 

[Herschel]

Yeah, as much as I dislike Minotaur PCs in theory, for those that like them I'd definitely like to see more. There's also the Young minotaur from Archfiends(?) with a sword that looks really good, but that's still only two.

 

[Stormonu]

I'd buy this in a heartbeat. Probably in multiples. So would a huge percentage of other DMs. So why hasn't WotC made it?

There's got to be a reason we're overlooking. Economy of scale? Maybe "DMs" isn't a big enough market, even when most will buy the packs in multiples?

BTW, the Dungeon Decor mentioned above is nice, but way too expensive. ($3 for a single crate?) It's probably too nice, in fact, thus the expense. It's also unpainted. I hate, hate, hate painting minis. I'm no good at it, and I'm a perfectionist, which combine to create a huge, frustrating time-sink.

I'm not waiting for WotC to make this stuff; there's plenty out now (and prepainted too). I have two sets from mageknight of chairs, tables, columns, dungeon features and even traps I sometimes use in my game (one is a big hand coming out of the ground, which our warlock found useful for one of his powers). Also, dwarven forge has some pre-painted dungeon decor (they also had, at one time, a set of treasure items, but I don't see that they are selling it at the moment)
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rsX4KrmmFY"]dwarven forge[/ame]