Rpg's and miniatures

[shadow]

I almost always play with miniatures. You don't need a large collection, but it's important IMHO to have something to represent your character in combat. Without them, you have to run combat verbally. This is a really big pain since it inevitably leads to arguments (Hey, how'd he get an AoO on me, I wasn't that close to him!) If you're short on budget, coins, dice, and other tokens work just as well.

 

[Ravellion]

I used to be in the "All I need is verbal" crowd. Now I'm a convert.

That goes for me as well... I went from simple drawing on blank paper with coins or dice as characters and monsters, to counters on gridded paper, to miniatures on a dry-erase battlemat. I couldn't go back to verbal without going back to 2e.

Rav

 

[Roland Delacroix]

Our DM tried to surround a fighter PC with low level gnolls and had the last gnoll cross so he received an AoO. The fighter, with greater cleave, cut down every gnoll around her. This bad tactic might have been an oversite, but on the fighters previous round, she cleaved all of the gnolls surrounding her. Silly DM, it ended up being a very easy fight. Tony, don't kill my PC ofr this

We were using minis. Minis rock!!

Hey, Intelligence 8 Gnolls are NOT tactical genious's. Don't worry, i'll play the smart bad guys to their utmost capabilities. BTW i'm getting sick of your cleric getting stoned at the end of the session. And did you know a relatively low-level evil cleric can Lesser Planar Ally in a monster with DR 10/+3, constant haste, evasion, regeneration 2, SR 20, Elec Resist 15, Acid Resist 15, True Strike 1/day, 12 attacks/round, and the spellcasting ability of a Sorcerer11/Cleric5? Oh, and i'll be much more prepared for next game.......

I like the mini's. They let me glance over the DM screen and take in the whole battle in seconds. I can quickly decide the NPC's tactics and keep combat fast and lively. I also enjoy painting them, badly, but still fun. With counters I can't keep track of who is who, was that red glob a Kobold or the Necromancer?

The next best thing to mini's are Fiery Dragon's Counter Collections. I've been trying to get mini's for all the monsters in my RttToEE game, but some things you can't find. They have counters for all the odd monsters, Oozes, Thoqquas, Azers, Treants, etc as well as counters for the more common stuff like Dragons, Kobolds, Orcs, etc. The counters are the perfect size for a mat. Very helpfull.

EDIT: spelling errors

 

[Zaruthustran]

I use minis. They rule. But alas, they take forever to paint, they're often not accurate, and they break/wear down too easily.

My #1 complaint is that while the "ranger with bow" min that took me 4 hours to paint looks amazing, it's totally wrong when my character is using a sword. Or when I decide to ditch my leather armor in favor of chainmail. Or when I'm mounted.

What I want is something as easy to use, durable, and customizable as LEGO minifigs. But, of course, less "toy"-like and more "cool adventurer"-like.

LEGO minis have infinitely customizable bodies, heads, hats, gloves, capes, weps, shields, etc. Alas, they are just too dang cute.

-z

 

[Turjan]

I don't use minis, I use counters. The FDP ones do nicely for me . With the money that I save this way I can buy other cool gaming stuff .

 

[Mistwell]

Thanks to all those who responded.

We have never really used minis in our games over the years except for a few occasions. It was proposed to me by someone that the majority of gamers (60% or so) use minis in their games. That seemed kinda high to me, but then I can only draw from our own experience.

I would also think that of those who do use minis or whatever - only a small percentage would use buildings,etc. - that they would draw outlines or use battlemats.

60% seems high? Funny, for 3rd Edition, I think it is drastically low. I'm betting it is closer to 80% of d&D 3rd edition players use some sort of visual representation for combat, whether it be minis, counters, candy, coins, cork boards and pins, drawing on a battle mat, whatever. Too many rules depend on a visual representation, and I cannot imagine a 3rd edition fighter getting all they could out of their feats, or anyone with sneak attack, without the use of a visual representation during combat in this version of the game.

 

[BigFreekinGoblinoid]

I don't use minis, I use counters. The FDP ones do nicely for me . With the money that I save this way I can buy other cool gaming stuff .

Just dont leave your counters in small plastic bags on your front seat when you get pulled over for speeding. I think I was pretty close to getting arrested for possesion of LSD.

 

[Drakmar]

well.. make your own minatures. that works.

 

[Droogie]

LEGO minis have infinitely customizable bodies, heads, hats, gloves, capes, weps, shields, etc. Alas, they are just too dang cute.

-z

Don't knock the legos. We used'em for years!

I still have a shoebox of lego castle minifigs and accessories- as well as extra stuff I bought at sites like Bricklink. The Harry Potter sets have some nice rat and owl familiars.

I'm too embarrassed to spring the lego on my new gaming group, so I've bought a copy of Campaign Cartographer 2 with the Character Artist add-on, and set to work to making my own counters. It was expensive, but not as expensive or as time-consuming as minis. Nice thing is, the program works alot like lego in that you pick your pieces, choose colors, build your character or monster, then print them out on some cardstock. It even came with some pre-fab monsters that you can print out as-is, or use the pieces to build new monsters.

I'm over-simplifying, of course; the program has a bit of a learning curve. But I've gotten good enough that I can basically make any monster I want (well done and poorly done) and just print out what I need.

 

[Droogie]

BTW, for those who don't want to be bothered with minis OR counters might want to try this:

Buy a package of plastic page protectors. Slip a few sheets of graph paper in them. Get a package of fine or medium-point dry-erase markers of various colors. Give each PC a different color. Instant dry-erase board with grid! 1 square = 5'.

Kinda dry on the visuals, but this game is all about imagination anyway.