How have minis impacted your game?

[S'mon]

I do have the problem as GM of minis harming my ability to describe what's going on; though the 3e combat rules themselves are a problem, being so reliant on tactical positioning yet so abstract - eg no facing; I often find it hard to visualise what's happening. As a player though I'm happy to see the battleboard. I think as with much of 3e the minis focus is ostensibly better for players than GMs. I'm trying to cut down on use of minis & board so as to give better descriptions; over-use of minis & board can replace good description.

 

[Keeper of Secrets]

I have to say that using minis is a good impact on my game. I have been using them for a few years (before that it was generic counters or little colored slips of paper, etc.) I have found it cuts down on so much confusion as to where someone is and how far away they are. It eliminates possible problems like 'how close to the edge of the cliff' someone is or being within range or out of range.

 

[Staffan]

I use paper counters, like those from FDP but home-made from pictures I've found online (the WOTC art galleries and various online stores' lists of MtG cards are great for this). I'm also getting FDP's Counter Collection Digital. I print them out on regular paper and glue the paper to a cardboard base, then cut out the actual counters. Works great for me.

 

[Kanegrundar]

I've use some sort of counter whether it be minis or GI Joe figures since the very first day I started playing D&D, so there has been little impact on my 3E games. It's not that I can't describe everything in combat, I just don't see why I should when I can set up the minis, play out combat and then focus on the descriptions of the surroundings and the stories.

 

[Quasqueton]

Some combats lasted for 1,5 to 2 hours because everybody was thinking about ways to don't get hit by AoO's.

This is a fault of the Players and DM, not the minis. If a Player took 10 minutes to decide which spell to cast, you wouldn't blame the wizard class, would you? If a Player took 10 minutes to decide whether to disarm, trip, or grapple an enemy, you wouldn't blame the combat options, would you?

If Players take more than a few seconds to decide how to move on the battlegrid, tell them they are delaying, and move on to the next person. We use minis extinsively, and our combats average about 6 minutes per round (4 Players plus however many NPCs/enemies). A 10-round battle takes about an hour to play out. And most of the time is taken up by me, the DM, because I've got to think for 1-20 NPCs/enemies with various abilities and mentalities.

Quasqueton

 

[Desdichado]

I use something if I have a cool mini for it (D&D or otherwise; I like to throw a lot of strange creatures based on Games Workshop or Privateer Press minis at my players when possible too) but I don't feel obligated to use the "correct" mini. I still use plenty of creatures that aren't really representable by minis I own.

 

[tylerthehobo]

It's funny - the more things change, the more they stay the same. When I started out playing original basic d&d and 1e with my older brother when we were kids, the use of minis made the game almost like a tactical wargame. (The fact that the characters were largely nearly immortally powerful heroes in Greyhawk involved in massive combats added to this.) Then with 2nd edition when I was in High School, the game became more about roleplaying. When I got back into D&D with 3.5, the minis rules scared me a little - I thought we'd lose soooo much time to combat. To be honest, aside from some of the tactical nonsense that comes into play (I won't move there because of AoO, I won't move there because of AoO..."Oh just MOVE already!") my group has found they make the game even better. Combat becomes less a series of random die rolls - "A 15! What does that mean?" And more about actual tactics and combat.

Also, I've probably sunk more money into little pieces of plastic than I have into books...maybe that's not such a good development...

 

[hexgrid]

I'm more into painting pewter to mini's than collecting the plastics, but my miniature collection does influence the encounters I run. I'm prone obsessive purism, and once I decided to switch from counters to minis, always having the appropriate minis for the encounter became a huge priority. (It's not always possible, of course.)

Someone mentioned that this would be restrictive- but for me, restrictions just spur creativity. I never would have statted those half-fiend fire mephit monks if I wasn't determined to include a specific group of miniatures from my collection.

 

[Turjan]

Not at all . I own exactly one mini, and that's the ordinator figure that came with the Morrowind Collector's Edition . In game I use counters, and sometimes one of the players grabs a few plastic figures out of some board games .

 

[diaglo]

i used minis before i ever played D&D.

so for me, minis are a part of D&D. always have been always will be.

however, my hat of the d02 WotC pieces of sh... knows no limits.