Rpg's and miniatures

[Valmyre]

Greetings, Fellow Gamers!

I think it's time I lose my "lurker" tag and chime in with a question for all of you.

I would like to know how often, if at all, you use miniatures in your games and do you, or would you, use scenery as well (buildings,etc)?

Your comments are appreciated.

 

[Crothian]

Welcome and its good to see people delurking!!

We use minatures becasue the guy who hosts has a lot. We don't use scenery mostly becasue I think his kids would break it (he has a 2 year old that really likes to experiment with gravity).

Personally, I perfer counters. They are cheaper, easier to transport, and I don't really care if they get ruined.

 

[alsih2o]

welcome to the boards (well, the posting side) i am building a 3 ships right now, and i only game in irc

 

[boxstop7]

I'll say "welcome" as well, even though I'm still wet behind the ears myself.

In my current campaign, our DM has us use a miniature just for combat. He's got a battlemat and it makes things much, much easier (especially with the 3e rules for AoO and such).

~ Box

 

[Kevin O'Reilly]

We use them all the time.

We use a bunch of mage knight minis (re set on warhammer bases). Probably have around 500 minis. I find that palyers with painted minis are a little more careful

We use Mage Knight castles and keeps, and armor cast for cottages etc.

Of corse this stiff isn't necessary and counters work as well. It really helps clear up issues like AoO, line of sight etc.

 

[0-hr]

I love miniatures and would hate to play without them. I have a pretty good collection and enjoy collecting and painting them. I also have a large collection of rail-road trees and clay rocks, as well as a small pile of misc scenery (Mage Knight tables, various crates, and such). Recently, I've been experimenting with balsa foam wall sections. They work fairly well (and are cheap) but are a little bit light for heavy-use.

Anyway, I think 3rd Ed really demands a tactical display of some sort; so I try to make the most of it.

 

[Deadguy]

Originally posted by Crothian
Personally, I perfer counters. They are cheaper, easier to transport, and I don't really care if they get ruined.

Glad to see soemone else thinks like I do. In fact most of the time I use some cheap wooden chess and draughts pieces both for the PCs and the NPCs. If I need something extra, I'll draw up a paper token. Then I use a big poster frame with a plastic front and a 1 inch grid drawn on the backing paper for the battle area.

Figures and scenery can add to the immersion but only if they exactly match the described situation. All too often I have found players paying more attention to the models than to the DMs descriptions, which causes them anguish and the DM trouble when he has to repeat descriptions. With simple tokens the players know they must pay attention to what I say, and it reminds them that the board is just an abstraction of the game, not the game itself.

By the by, hello Valmyre!

 

[Decado]

We used minis very seldom when we played 1e. Most of the time we used a cork board and some tacks. Then about a year or so ago I got into painting minis and we started playing 3e. I feel using minis in 3e is essential, they make combat so much easier to keep track of. At least for me anyway. I am just now getting into building my own scenery. I used some in my last game, a hill, and the players seemed to like it.

Decado

 

[darkbard]

i think it's virtually impossible to run a 3e combat without some type of visual representation, be that miniatures or a simple drawing on a grid. i've been tempted to "go the path of the miniature" and outfit myself with all sorts of goodies--scenery, buildings, and what--but have been put off by (a) the prohibitive cost and (b) the realization that no matter how much you have, you'll never have precisely everything you need to accurately portray an encounter to the perfectionist's ideal [those aren't sahaugin, they're lizardmen! that tree looks an awful lot like a stone column to me!]

so, for now i resort to chess pieces on an 18" x 24" gridded quilting board (my wife's a quilter, so why not invest in multifunctionality). for underground scenarios, a pack or two of dominoes is great for building walls. turn one on its side to represent a door, etc. still, one day i dream of a huge gaming table filled with cool stuff like monte cook's....

 

[pogre]

Miniatures and scenery plays a huge role in our game. We use lots of mastermaze and I often custom build rooms with Hirst Arts blocks. We have lots of outdoor terrain as well. If it's a special monster for a special occasion I'll get out the #5 wax and sculpt the meanie out of green stuff as well.

I always try to match monsters up, but my players really do not mind proxies - it's more a matter of my taste. Counters feel a bit too much like chits from old Avalon Hill games for my taste - but a lot of people sure like them.