Messageboard Golem
First Post
Over 200 different counters in a variety of sizes.
Individual Counters
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Messageboard Golem
First Post
I ordered some of these counters from their website a month or so ago and decided to share some of my thoughts about them (since no one else has here).
The Purchase - The website seems intuitive enough. I was pleased to see that only a few counters showed up on each page rather than having to wait for some huge page to download. If I had a cable modem though it might get annoying. Too bad there isn’t some way to choose how many to display at a time. The search engine seems to work well. The checkout process was clear to me and I immediately got a confirmation email showing my order. I also got an email when the order shipped. Their tracking feature is almost worthless, since it shows only if something has shipped or not. Perhaps in the future they will get something integrated with UPS. Still, the integrated site was very impressive, especially when so many of the D20 companies have cheesy PayPal button shopping carts or some 3rd-party ecommerce site handling their orders. For reference, I ordered the lesser undead pack, the goblinoid pack, and a few miscellaneous counters that caught my eye.
The Delivery – I wanted to use some of the stuff for a game that weekend, so I anted up for UPS shipping. Like most web purchases that got expensive. Still I was happy to see my order got processed and sent out the same day I ordered it. Had I known they would be that prompt I would have paid for USPS! The counters came in poly bags inside a standard letter package from UPS.
The Counter Packs – The two packs I ordered, the undead and the goblinoid, each had a short adventure in them. As it were I didn’t use them (I already had my low-level mods planned out) but they are interesting to read. The adventures, which are about 6 pages long (2 pages being licensing!) had about 10 rooms in each. The modules seemed to use the encounter rules in the DMG quite well. The maps were NOT done in Campaign Cartographer (which is a big plus for me personally) and seem well done, if a bit TOO clean. The whole map is line art. Both the modules had a nice solid story line and both had ecologically sensible dungeons, making them a plus in my book. Two things I would mention. First, most of the treasure was just listed as a GP value. DMs are instructed to pick their own treasure. I think perhaps this was done for space reasons but I personally would have liked to seen some treasure listed rather than having to (potentially) peruse my DMG looking for what I could give away. Second (speaking of space) was that the mod was printed on a 4” x 6” booklet and inserted in the poly bag. Fortunately, I have good eyesight. The font has to be about a 6 point pitch. Still, it’s readable.
The Actual Counters - The counters were, as advertised, printed directly on to plastic and precut. We used them that weekend and several times since and both my players and myself are very happy with them. The plastic is really durable. I used the same marker I use on my battle mat to mark #s and spell effects on the counters. When I was done it wiped right off. The artwork is interesting and probably ought to be a section in this review all its own. Still, Im not an artist, so I cant say that much about it except that I like the style. Most of the pieces I got are a strange top-down-forward kind of perspective. Basically they look like what miniatures would look like from the same angle. Others are more straight-on while the website shows still more from a more top-down angle. I prefer the weird top-down-forward angle personally and hope they start making them all that way. The art is interesting, and there are lots of little details to look at.
Some other thoughts that just didn’t come out while I was typing include
Other Cons:
Apparently, these counters are only available via their website. Still, I can’t imagine how you could market these individually through retail stores, so I guess I understand.
Other Pros:
I was thrilled I could buy exactly what I wanted and liked. Frankly there were some counters I thought were ugly or wrong. I didn’t buy them.
Totally portable. I actually DM at a friends house, so its nice to be able to carry a bunch of monsters around without requiring a third arm or a strength of 20.
Conclusion: I like these counters and recommend them to any DM who is searching for specific monsters, wants durable counters that are going to last a long time and can be marked on, and who doesn’t want to invest a fortune in miniatures. Since my original order I’ve gone back and order a number of outsiders which, apparently I cant get anywhere else (either as a miniature or from FDP). They’d be better if they were available in retail stores (maybe they are, and we just don’t get them here) and if the art format was a little more uniform (and of course how I want them). I'd rate it 4 out of 5.
"The Halfling"
The Purchase - The website seems intuitive enough. I was pleased to see that only a few counters showed up on each page rather than having to wait for some huge page to download. If I had a cable modem though it might get annoying. Too bad there isn’t some way to choose how many to display at a time. The search engine seems to work well. The checkout process was clear to me and I immediately got a confirmation email showing my order. I also got an email when the order shipped. Their tracking feature is almost worthless, since it shows only if something has shipped or not. Perhaps in the future they will get something integrated with UPS. Still, the integrated site was very impressive, especially when so many of the D20 companies have cheesy PayPal button shopping carts or some 3rd-party ecommerce site handling their orders. For reference, I ordered the lesser undead pack, the goblinoid pack, and a few miscellaneous counters that caught my eye.
The Delivery – I wanted to use some of the stuff for a game that weekend, so I anted up for UPS shipping. Like most web purchases that got expensive. Still I was happy to see my order got processed and sent out the same day I ordered it. Had I known they would be that prompt I would have paid for USPS! The counters came in poly bags inside a standard letter package from UPS.
The Counter Packs – The two packs I ordered, the undead and the goblinoid, each had a short adventure in them. As it were I didn’t use them (I already had my low-level mods planned out) but they are interesting to read. The adventures, which are about 6 pages long (2 pages being licensing!) had about 10 rooms in each. The modules seemed to use the encounter rules in the DMG quite well. The maps were NOT done in Campaign Cartographer (which is a big plus for me personally) and seem well done, if a bit TOO clean. The whole map is line art. Both the modules had a nice solid story line and both had ecologically sensible dungeons, making them a plus in my book. Two things I would mention. First, most of the treasure was just listed as a GP value. DMs are instructed to pick their own treasure. I think perhaps this was done for space reasons but I personally would have liked to seen some treasure listed rather than having to (potentially) peruse my DMG looking for what I could give away. Second (speaking of space) was that the mod was printed on a 4” x 6” booklet and inserted in the poly bag. Fortunately, I have good eyesight. The font has to be about a 6 point pitch. Still, it’s readable.
The Actual Counters - The counters were, as advertised, printed directly on to plastic and precut. We used them that weekend and several times since and both my players and myself are very happy with them. The plastic is really durable. I used the same marker I use on my battle mat to mark #s and spell effects on the counters. When I was done it wiped right off. The artwork is interesting and probably ought to be a section in this review all its own. Still, Im not an artist, so I cant say that much about it except that I like the style. Most of the pieces I got are a strange top-down-forward kind of perspective. Basically they look like what miniatures would look like from the same angle. Others are more straight-on while the website shows still more from a more top-down angle. I prefer the weird top-down-forward angle personally and hope they start making them all that way. The art is interesting, and there are lots of little details to look at.
Some other thoughts that just didn’t come out while I was typing include
Other Cons:
Apparently, these counters are only available via their website. Still, I can’t imagine how you could market these individually through retail stores, so I guess I understand.
Other Pros:
I was thrilled I could buy exactly what I wanted and liked. Frankly there were some counters I thought were ugly or wrong. I didn’t buy them.
Totally portable. I actually DM at a friends house, so its nice to be able to carry a bunch of monsters around without requiring a third arm or a strength of 20.
Conclusion: I like these counters and recommend them to any DM who is searching for specific monsters, wants durable counters that are going to last a long time and can be marked on, and who doesn’t want to invest a fortune in miniatures. Since my original order I’ve gone back and order a number of outsiders which, apparently I cant get anywhere else (either as a miniature or from FDP). They’d be better if they were available in retail stores (maybe they are, and we just don’t get them here) and if the art format was a little more uniform (and of course how I want them). I'd rate it 4 out of 5.
"The Halfling"
Nail
First Post
Review Edited: Dec 6th, 2002
I've now bought three separate packs from Dragon Scale Counters, so I thought I'd edit the first review, on th' off chance someone's doing research on their products. I've bought one of just about all of the counters they currently have (including, accidentaly, some of their excellent sci-fi counters).
I've raised their score from a 3.3 to a 3.7, which, in ENWorld reviews means a move from "3" to "4".
Ordering:
Each time I ordered many different types of monsters. That's really the strength of this company: You can order as many or as few of each monster as you like. My last order had 32 different types of monsters, ranging in groups of 1 to 7. The "shopping cart" feature worked flawlessly, and was intuitive.
Confirmation email came in under five minutes, and a shipment confirmation came th' next day. (I had picked "cheapest shipping possible", as I am a confirmed cheapskate.) For each of my three orders, I had the silly things in my greedy little paws a mere 3 days after ordering them. And there was never a missing or over-counted peice. Not bad; not bad at all.
What I got:
I've picked up some of the excellent 8" by 10" wet-erase boards, one of practically every monster they've got, and several small hordes of goblins, orcs, zombies, ghouls, etc.
The counters are indeed printed on plastic, and my two-year old kid has proved they are durable. (Though they can be easily slipped into cold-air return ducts....a downside, if I ever saw one. :^) The art does not flake off, as I had feared. It's on there, but good.
The Art:
Decent, if not spectacular. A few of the peices are decidedly bad, like the clay golem and the roper. Some of the coloring is noticably uneven, especially on the large counters, like the gargantuan dragons. And the "view from above" angle is ...umm...<squints>....unclear, sometimes.
All-in-all, I'd rate the art "average", but not "good", and I'd rate the presentation "good" to "average". (I'd wish for better, but consider that I also think at least half of the art-work in the 3e Monster Manual is in the "poor" to "god-awful" catagory. In the MM, the terrible depictions of the ghoul or displacer beast comes to mind. Who hired those guys?)
The art is sized to represent the relative sizes of the creatures....a nice touch, as it shows that kobolds are, despite their 5 by 5 base, smaller than trolls (also with a 5 by 5 base). Minor quibble: this makes the kobolds difficult to make out.
A Major Quibble:
Many of the giant counters are cut to the wrong size. Many are cut as 5 ft by 10 ft peices, when they should be 5 ft by 5 ft peices. I've emailed the company about this, and they've fixed at least the ogres since my first order. I'm not yet sure that they've fixed the other giants (like the ogre mage or the stone giant). Before ordering these peices, you may want to check via email or customer service (they are prompt and friendly, in my experience).
Usefulness:
Very. They are flat after all, and very light weight. You can draw on them (but only use black erasable marker). Put 'em in little snack baggies, and you've got yerself a portable encounter. They seem especially good for those "large masses of bad-guys" type encounters, where it's our heroes against some slobbering horde. I mean, who wants to carry around that many zombie or orc figurines? Against a single, large (and hopefully memorable) foe, the counters might be less useful. A dragon is oh-so-much-less terrifying when she's flat. Seriously. :^)
Overall:
Over all the product should rate a "4", but only barely. Some of the artwork is not good (IMHO), and the "wrong size cut" problem is annoying, at best. However, the ease of use and durability, combined with the rest of the good artwork, raise it out of the "average" ("3")territory
-Nail
Tips: review the artwork and cut sizes of the peices you're interested in, and don't pay extra for shipping.
I've now bought three separate packs from Dragon Scale Counters, so I thought I'd edit the first review, on th' off chance someone's doing research on their products. I've bought one of just about all of the counters they currently have (including, accidentaly, some of their excellent sci-fi counters).
I've raised their score from a 3.3 to a 3.7, which, in ENWorld reviews means a move from "3" to "4".
Ordering:
Each time I ordered many different types of monsters. That's really the strength of this company: You can order as many or as few of each monster as you like. My last order had 32 different types of monsters, ranging in groups of 1 to 7. The "shopping cart" feature worked flawlessly, and was intuitive.
Confirmation email came in under five minutes, and a shipment confirmation came th' next day. (I had picked "cheapest shipping possible", as I am a confirmed cheapskate.) For each of my three orders, I had the silly things in my greedy little paws a mere 3 days after ordering them. And there was never a missing or over-counted peice. Not bad; not bad at all.
What I got:
I've picked up some of the excellent 8" by 10" wet-erase boards, one of practically every monster they've got, and several small hordes of goblins, orcs, zombies, ghouls, etc.
The counters are indeed printed on plastic, and my two-year old kid has proved they are durable. (Though they can be easily slipped into cold-air return ducts....a downside, if I ever saw one. :^) The art does not flake off, as I had feared. It's on there, but good.
The Art:
Decent, if not spectacular. A few of the peices are decidedly bad, like the clay golem and the roper. Some of the coloring is noticably uneven, especially on the large counters, like the gargantuan dragons. And the "view from above" angle is ...umm...<squints>....unclear, sometimes.
All-in-all, I'd rate the art "average", but not "good", and I'd rate the presentation "good" to "average". (I'd wish for better, but consider that I also think at least half of the art-work in the 3e Monster Manual is in the "poor" to "god-awful" catagory. In the MM, the terrible depictions of the ghoul or displacer beast comes to mind. Who hired those guys?)
The art is sized to represent the relative sizes of the creatures....a nice touch, as it shows that kobolds are, despite their 5 by 5 base, smaller than trolls (also with a 5 by 5 base). Minor quibble: this makes the kobolds difficult to make out.
A Major Quibble:
Many of the giant counters are cut to the wrong size. Many are cut as 5 ft by 10 ft peices, when they should be 5 ft by 5 ft peices. I've emailed the company about this, and they've fixed at least the ogres since my first order. I'm not yet sure that they've fixed the other giants (like the ogre mage or the stone giant). Before ordering these peices, you may want to check via email or customer service (they are prompt and friendly, in my experience).
Usefulness:
Very. They are flat after all, and very light weight. You can draw on them (but only use black erasable marker). Put 'em in little snack baggies, and you've got yerself a portable encounter. They seem especially good for those "large masses of bad-guys" type encounters, where it's our heroes against some slobbering horde. I mean, who wants to carry around that many zombie or orc figurines? Against a single, large (and hopefully memorable) foe, the counters might be less useful. A dragon is oh-so-much-less terrifying when she's flat. Seriously. :^)
Overall:
Over all the product should rate a "4", but only barely. Some of the artwork is not good (IMHO), and the "wrong size cut" problem is annoying, at best. However, the ease of use and durability, combined with the rest of the good artwork, raise it out of the "average" ("3")territory
-Nail
Tips: review the artwork and cut sizes of the peices you're interested in, and don't pay extra for shipping.
