Herremann the Wise said:
I've just got onto the WOTC website and had a look at what they're planning in terms of miniatures.
They're planning a brand new game called "D&D Miniatures". It's a collectable miniatures game, directly competing with Mage Knight.
Firstly, they are proposing to "magic" style the packs. That means randomly inserting 16 or 8 figures into a pack. In both cases 1 will be a "rare", 5 and 3 respectively will be uncommon with commons making up the rest. All in all, they are planning on 80 miniatures in the set: 27 Rares, 33 Uncommons and 20 commons.
The style of packaging could more accurately be called "Mage Knight" style. Which makes a lot of sense, since like MK the new D&D Miniatures game is a collectable miniatures game.
However, I thought about it a little bit more and have come to the conclusion that it could possibly attract more and more people to the D&D product from your traditional warhammers and Magic etc. - which obviously is a good thing in terms of the general well being of the hobby.
Yep. That's the idea, I think: introduce all those legions of rabid MK players to the D&D world, and the d20 core mechanic. I wonder if there are more MK players than D&D RPG players? It's got to be close. That's a lot--a LOT--of potential D&D customers. And, of course, a lot of potential D&D Miniatures customers.
In reality though for myself and our group, we are most likely to continue using our own painted metal miniatures.
Well of course you will. Why wouldn't you continue to use your own miniatures? They're beautiful. You spent a lot of time and money on them. They're great! WotC isn't like GW; it's not like you're playing "wrong" unless you use Official D&D RPG Miniatures.
In fact, I don't think there *are* official D&D RPG miniatures anymore. WotC got out of the metal mini business last year, and even then, there was no rule saying that your minis had to be WotC minis. Or even a rule that you had to use minis ar all. Incidentally, in 3.5 there's still no rule that says that minis must be used.
Remember that the playing pieces for the D&D Miniatures game are, well, playing pieces for the D&D Miniatures game. They're not miniatures for the D&D RPG. Sure, they can be used in the D&D RPG--the stat cards even have D&D RPG stats on the back side. But the figures--the playing pieces--are components of an entirely seperate game called "D&D Miniatures".
The D&D product does look - and in fact is - a little cheap. Serviceable and very handy but not a patch on what people can paint themselves.
This is unsuprising. A person who spends 6 hours on his personal metal min is certainly going to wind up with a better result than someone mass-painting plastic minis on an assembly line in asia.
We'll most likely get a pack or two but as for trading them, I think it would require an expense beyond what we would be willing to spend.
I think most D&D RPG players will do exactly that.
Still, what are people's thoughts on the miniatures and do you think you would consider using them in your games? Do you still prefer metal miniatures or do you prefer to go without?
Best Regards
Herremann the Wise
I think the minis are terrific, even for use in the D&D RPG. I've always wanted no-hassle minis that I could safely toss in my dice bag. I prefer metal, of course, but I've been painting minis since the early 80s. And, yeah, I'm glad that I can finally stop painting--I just don't have the time anymore.
I'm really looking forward to getting a bucketful of these plastic minis for use in my D&D RPG game. Think about it--you can toss 'em, drop 'em, shove 'em around, pick 'em up with cheeto-encrusted figures, spill Mountain Dew on 'em, whatever. Just run them under soapy water and they're good as new. Easy transport, low price, and you don't have to have a heart attack every time someone bumps the table and knocks over a min. Sign me up!
But I'm more excited about the new D&D Miniatures game itself. Chainmail was fun but too dissimilar from D&D RPG and it demanded a huge time and money investment before you could actually play (cleaning, assembling, painting). With D&D Miniatures, I drop 20 bucks and I can play the game as soon as I open the box. Sounds like a winner.
-z