Doppel Is A Physical Digital Miniature!

Instead of a giant case of miniatures, you could soon be using a handful of programmable LED minis. These new gadgets, currently on Kickstarter, allow you to display your character's custom image on both sides of a twin-screen standee.

And it's not just visual--these minis also make noises! You can have character specific sound effects from sword clashes to spellcasting.

Designed for a 1-inch grid, these minis represent regular medium-sized creatures. It will set you back about $160 per mini (each with a charging case) on the Kickstarter, although the eventual retail price will apparently be closer to $280.

The Kickstarter cites compatibility with D&D, Star Wars, Fate, Vampire, Numenera, Pathfinder, and Cypher System, although I'm not clear what's required to make an image compatible with a game.

You can find Doppel on Kickstarter here for the next 3 weeks.

 

[WindyWoodworker]

I really like the idea and they look great. I can only hope these find a path to mass production as the price is astronomical per device. I personally think the sound function is a bit gimmicky and would trade it for the ability to show different conditions or effects as an overlay to the image(asleep, unconscious, defeated etc). It would also make a lot more sense to sell these in cases of 24 or more where the whole case can charge them all at once and you've got enough for an entire game night in one place. I really to appreciate bringing the digital into the physical realm as some of us still very much like the tabletop vs VTT these days.

 

[Umbran]

The Kickstarter cites compatibility with D&D, Star Wars, Fate, Vampire, Numenera, Pathfinder, and Cypher System, although I'm not clear what's required to make an image compatible with a game.

I think cites like this are more for people who are not gamers, but want to buy things for their gamer loved-ones. They often have heard their loved-one talk about it, use the game's name, but don't know anything about play. So have the question, even though we know it isn't a meaningful one.

Like, I could easily see my Mom wanting to get me a thing, but not know if it is appropriate for what I'm doing. This would have reassured her.

 

[Wofano Wotanto]

Not interested personally (miniature painting is both hobby and business to me) but it's one step closer to Star Wars and letting the Wookie win.

 

[Reynard]

These have "gimmick" written all over them.

 

[Dausuul]

The idea is good. I'm skeptical of the implementation as shown (and beyond skeptical of the price tag).

Generally one looks at minis from a fairly high angle. They are on a map and you want to view them in the context of that map, which means looking down from above. But the way this gadget is designed (at least in the picture), you'd have to get down to where your eyes are on the level of the table if you want to actually appreciate the digital art. From a more natural angle, the image will look severely compressed on the vertical axis.

A much better design would put the screen horizontal, parallel to the table, so the ideal viewing angle is top-down. It might not have the vertical height or heft of a physical mini, but at least you could clearly see the image you're paying a ridiculous amount of money to display.

 

[WayneLigon]

I didn't think mankind could come up with a stupider idea than NFT's until I saw this.

 

[bmfrosty]

If I were running around playing different characters week to week, I could see it, but as someone running a game, I'd need many of them. Maybe something eink and bluetooth would make sense? I dunno.

 

[Zaukrie]

This is at least the third crowd source attempt at this idea. I helped with some of the ideas on the second, but the price was much lower..... And it still didn't fund.

 

[Zaukrie]

I have a prototype at home, it worked pretty well.... No sound.....