How important are figurers too your game

[dingle]

I have a friend who makes figures and is hoping to make a living manufacturing them.​

My personal experience in D&D is that I use the nearest figure that fits the template (The cow figure has been used a lot).

I just wondered how many people buy figures and paint them for a specific adventure/campaign and how many just use what they have got and improvise, and how many just use templates.

http://www.dinglesgames.com/

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I don't paint mine, but I've been buying and using minis since my first game session back in 1977. In fact, its the rare game in which I didn't use minis.

I generally try to match my mini to my PC, and have even been inspired to build a PC based on a mini. I don't mod any of mine, though.

 

[rgard]

I don't paint mine, but I've been buying and using minis since my first game session back in 1977. In fact, its the rare game in which I didn't use minis.

I'm with Danny on this one. Started using minis back in 1977. We used Minifigs and Fantastiques then when we played OD&D and later 1E. We used these on a one inch hex field.

I go in spurts when I paint minis. When I was playing and DMing 3.X 3-4 times a week, I painted a boatload of minis. That said, I haven't painted any minis in 1.5 years.

Not sure what to tell your friend. I would think that doing PC type figures would be the best bet. There are already enough mooks to go around with all the D&D plastic figs and leftover Mageknight figs.

Thanks,
Rich

 

[Graybeard]

All the games I play in use minis. We don't try to find an exact match for the PC's or even the NPC's. We use whatever we have. If we have one that is close, we'll use that. Otherwise we use whatever is available.

 

[Theroc]

I There are already enough mooks to go around with all the D&D plastic figs and leftover Mageknight figs.

Someone besides me and my one local friend who knows about Mageknight?! Holy crap!

I too figured I'd simply use Mageknight figures for most of the figures I need, though Drow would be something I couldn't replicate.

I'd have to say, if your friend wants to make a living with mini's, it'd be a bit difficult, as the figures to represent PC's and NPC's are easily improvised when they aren't available, and expensive figures are unlikely to get a great deal of use... at least in my experience with people, granted, my experience isn't very vast...

 

[Vegepygmy]

I have a friend who makes figures and is hoping to make a living manufacturing them.​

I wish your friend luck, but I wouldn't invest any of my money in his venture.​

IME, gamers will use whatever comes closest and if nothing really does, then pretty much anything that's available (such as dice), but only rarely will they spend money on "the perfect miniature."​

 

[rgard]

IME, gamers will use whatever comes closest and if nothing really does, then pretty much anything that's available (such as dice), but only rarely will they spend money on "the perfect miniature."​

I don't know about that. I did spend alot of time looking on line for the perfect miniature to represent my female Wizard/Ur-Priest/MT.

(now before we starting thinking of the creepy guy who always plays a hot elf chick, this is only the second female character I've played in 32 years of playing D&D and have played probably over 100 characters)

I found a Reaper figure that I was going to swap out weapons (slight mod), but when opened the package I found that figure's butt was exposed and that wasn't part of the character concept. So I sold the figure to one of the other players.

It's all a matter of personal taste. Some folks will just use what is at hand, minis-wise. Some folks will search for the perfect figure or find one close enough and modify it.

For the OP's friend, I really don't know how big the market is for minis now. I haven't purchased any in 3 months, though I do check Reaper's site for the new sculpts and I will pick one up at the FLGS if I like it. Maybe a better way to get into the business is to sculpt some figs and send pics of them to some of the miniatures makers and see if they will buy the sculpt. The manufacturing side of making the minis in white metal is an whole other kettle of fish.

Thanks,
Rich

 

[NewJeffCT]

I have a friend who makes figures and is hoping to make a living manufacturing them.​

My personal experience in D&D is that I use the nearest figure that fits the template (The cow figure has been used a lot).

I just wondered how many people buy figures and paint them for a specific adventure/campaign and how many just use what they have got and improvise, and how many just use templates.

http://www.dinglesgames.com/

I like having accurate miniatures, but it's not a show-stopper for me. I had the players in my campaign face off against a half-fiend baddie early in the campaign and bought the D&D half-fiend mini and used it... however, they recently faced another half-fiend in the campaign and it would have been silly for me to use the same mini again, as they'd have initially thought it the same bad guy who got resurrected or something.

 

[Vegepygmy]

I don't know about that. I did spend alot of time looking on line for the perfect miniature to represent my female Wizard/Ur-Priest/MT.

(1) I said, In My Experience. Your Mileage May Vary.
(2) I also said, "only rarely." I, too, have looked for "the perfect miniature" on occasion. But not often enough that I would encourage anyone to build a business on it.

 

[dingle]

(1) I said, In My Experience. Your Mileage May Vary.
(2) I also said, "only rarely." I, too, have looked for "the perfect miniature" on occasion. But not often enough that I would encourage anyone to build a business on it.

Chris (My friend) doesn't need too actually make a living on this as he has other web sites but an extra $300 a month would mean he can pay the mortgage and other bills and even make a bit of extra spending money. Then he could concentrate on D&D miniatures and adventures which has always been his goal (instead of eating away at savings). At the moment the sales are pretty bad. You can check the figures out on Catalog
They are very good but there is not that many at present. His idea is to produce adventures (free?) which includes the miniatures he has created.
Ready painted miniatures could be an option though...