If you don't use mini's for NPC's, what do you use?
- Thread starter Oryan77
- Start date
Thornir Alekeg
Albatross!
Oryan77 said:
They are 1" (or larger for larger creatures) cardboard counters that you punch out. For most of the creatures they give you multiple copies of each one, about a dozen I think, maybe more for some creatures. They have several humans as well. Each counter has a blank box on it that you can write a number or letter into to keep track of which one is which (as a general rule I use numbers for fighter types and letters for spellcasters of the same creature type). I don't have the digital collection but I've heard people say that they just put cardstock through their printer and then cut them out. Not sure if on the digital you can mix and match the counters on a page.
[edit] OK, you can print as many as you need with the digital. The digital collection is talked about in this thread:
http://www.enworld.org/forums/showthread.php?t=105061&highlight=digital+counter+collection
Last edited:
Shemeska
Adventurer
I don't use minis at all unless it's a disgustingly complex encounter and line of sight issues come into play. I get more effect out of giving verbal descriptions and letting the combat play out in everyone's head than I do pushing little generic tokens around a battlemat. Just doesn't feel right to me on a style perspective given my way of playing.
dvvega
Explorer
I use beer bottle tops. No I don't drink hundreds of beers and use them 
In fact I bought a bag of cheap tops from the local supermarket here in Sydney and got 100 for a $1.
A marker pen to label them , even painted some of them, and voila! Instant monsters.
Want a larger monster? Just glue the edges of them together in groups and you have larger monsters (or mount them on card).
Inexpensive, do the job, and makes good PC figures stand out.
In fact I bought a bag of cheap tops from the local supermarket here in Sydney and got 100 for a $1.A marker pen to label them , even painted some of them, and voila! Instant monsters.
Want a larger monster? Just glue the edges of them together in groups and you have larger monsters (or mount them on card).
Inexpensive, do the job, and makes good PC figures stand out.
JoeGKushner
Adventurer
Counters are one way to go about this. Fiery Dragon has several packs that I've used in the past.
Another thing is just dice. Unless it's a permanent NPC that's always with the party, "This dice is X." If it is a NPC that's with the party, forget the random factor and just buy a standard miniature. Most shops will still have the older Reaper miniatures that run about $2.99.
Another thing is just dice. Unless it's a permanent NPC that's always with the party, "This dice is X." If it is a NPC that's with the party, forget the random factor and just buy a standard miniature. Most shops will still have the older Reaper miniatures that run about $2.99.
Fiery James
First Post
We used to use candy - smarties, M&Ms, etc. When you'd kill someone, you get to eat them.
Of course, we ended up having players ignore the "big bad" in a combat to clean up all his henchmen (yum!), and then we'd get a TPK.
We've been putting out counters since our first product, NeMoren's Vault, which is now 4 years old! In August 2001, we released Counter Collection I: The Usual Suspects through Sword & Sorcery. This contained an assortment of 3.0-sized counters of the regulars: orcs, goblins, undead, etc.
A second set came out with more characters, monsters, and stuff like that.
We also released a bunch of "Counter Packs" that were built around a theme: Demons & Devils (which tied in to the excellent Green Ronin books), Dungeon Dwellers (which featured the counters needed for Rappan Athuk!) and others like that!
When 3.5 came out, we began releasing our larger collections in metal case packaging, which provided much needed storage and transport capabilities.
The first, which came out in March, was a Summoned Creature collection, featuring the creatures that would be called through a summon creature or summon nature's ally spell.
After that, we put out Counter Collection Gold, which, along with the Summoned Creatures, covered just about every monster in the SRD. This was a limited edition product, and has since sold out at the distribution level, but there are still lots of copies floating around in retail locations.
TODAY, you should be able to find Counter Collection: Undead at your favorite retailer. It features all of the undead from the Monster Manual -- uh, I mean the SRD -- and lots and lots of other undead from other sources, mostly the brain of Claudio Pozas.
All of the counters are printed in full color on durable cardstock. They are sized for the d20 rules, and feature the art of Claudio Pozas, some of which you can see hosted by this very site.
If you're more of a Do It Yourself kinda guy, we also have Counter Collection DIGITAL available at retailers everywhere (and through the online White Wolf store) with 1200 jpeg images that you can manipulate and print out with your own software (I use Photoshop, some people just use Word).
We've also released several of these products as e-Books through DTRPG.
Hope that helps!
- James
Of course, we ended up having players ignore the "big bad" in a combat to clean up all his henchmen (yum!), and then we'd get a TPK.
We've been putting out counters since our first product, NeMoren's Vault, which is now 4 years old! In August 2001, we released Counter Collection I: The Usual Suspects through Sword & Sorcery. This contained an assortment of 3.0-sized counters of the regulars: orcs, goblins, undead, etc.
A second set came out with more characters, monsters, and stuff like that.
We also released a bunch of "Counter Packs" that were built around a theme: Demons & Devils (which tied in to the excellent Green Ronin books), Dungeon Dwellers (which featured the counters needed for Rappan Athuk!) and others like that!
When 3.5 came out, we began releasing our larger collections in metal case packaging, which provided much needed storage and transport capabilities.
The first, which came out in March, was a Summoned Creature collection, featuring the creatures that would be called through a summon creature or summon nature's ally spell.
After that, we put out Counter Collection Gold, which, along with the Summoned Creatures, covered just about every monster in the SRD. This was a limited edition product, and has since sold out at the distribution level, but there are still lots of copies floating around in retail locations.
TODAY, you should be able to find Counter Collection: Undead at your favorite retailer. It features all of the undead from the Monster Manual -- uh, I mean the SRD -- and lots and lots of other undead from other sources, mostly the brain of Claudio Pozas.
All of the counters are printed in full color on durable cardstock. They are sized for the d20 rules, and feature the art of Claudio Pozas, some of which you can see hosted by this very site.
If you're more of a Do It Yourself kinda guy, we also have Counter Collection DIGITAL available at retailers everywhere (and through the online White Wolf store) with 1200 jpeg images that you can manipulate and print out with your own software (I use Photoshop, some people just use Word).
We've also released several of these products as e-Books through DTRPG.
Hope that helps!
- James
Salad Shooter
First Post
Up here at school we've declared the Abyssal Maw mini's to be the generic [insert the creature you are fighting that I don't have a mini for here] creatures. Barring that, we simply use those little glass token things. I still remember my DM a few years back "Uh...anyone have more counters? I don't have enough for the kobold army you're about to fight" ...ouch...
Kid Charlemagne
I am the Very Model of a Modern Moderator
I use miniatures for the big enemies. I use six-sided dice for most grunts, especially when I need to seperate them into groups and track their positions or HP seperately - so I'll have #1-6 in several different colors. For really big groups, or where differentiation is unimportant (for example, orcs who are likely to die from one sword blow, etc), I'll use glass counters of varying shades. For effect, with massive groups (like hordes of zombies), I've used pennies (just grab a handful out of the penny jar and toss them on the battlemat - that always gets the players attention). Heads they're alive, tails they're dead.
While I like the counters in theory, I find that there are two challenges in using them - one, its tough to find the exact one you need if you don't pull them out ahead of time,and two, its tougher to move them around on the battlemat.
While I like the counters in theory, I find that there are two challenges in using them - one, its tough to find the exact one you need if you don't pull them out ahead of time,and two, its tougher to move them around on the battlemat.
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