zoroaster100
First Post
After the various hints from WOTC that they are considering charging for virtual "miniatures" for the Digital Initiative virtual game table, my first reaction was to decide that I won't be signing on to pay for a monthly charge if it doesn't give full functionality except at constant additional costs to have the right "miniatures".
After calming down from my initial anger at the disclosure of such plans for charging for virtual miniatures, I came to think what kind of charging scheme might be acceptable to me as a customer:
1) Paying for use of the virtual game table gives you access to virtual miniatures for all basic monsters in the Monster Manual One and to at least two or three miniatures for each gender/race/class combo in the Player's Handbook One.
2) The extra couple of dollars charged for electronic supplement for each new Monster Manual beyond Monster Manual One gives you access to an electronic miniature for each monster in the new manual you have purchased (so you can use all the new monsters you've just added to your campaign in the virtual game table).
3) A couple of extra dollars paid for when purchasing a case of a new set of plastic WOTC miniatures unlocks use for you of a set of identical virtual miniatures for the virtual game table.
4) A couple of extra dollars paid when purchasing a WOTC adventure unlocks for you a set of virtual miniatures for characters and monsters unique to the adventure.
5) Occasional offerings of unique characters and monsters are made available for separate purchase.
6) WOTC allows 3rd party publishers and fans to create their own virtual miniatures that can be easily imported into the virtual game table by monthly subscribers, so that third party publishers that publish their own monster manuals and adventures can also offer virtual miniatures for the monsters and characters in their products.
This would maintain for games on the virtual game table the open ended experience available now for in-person games where one can use art, plastic miniatures and metal miniatures for a virtually limitless flexible D&D experience with WOTC and third party products, for a small additional cost.
Otherwise, if you can only play Orc & Pie type basic adventures on the game table unless you spend an arm and a leg for each additional monster or character you want to use, the virtual game table becomes not worth the trouble.
After calming down from my initial anger at the disclosure of such plans for charging for virtual miniatures, I came to think what kind of charging scheme might be acceptable to me as a customer:
1) Paying for use of the virtual game table gives you access to virtual miniatures for all basic monsters in the Monster Manual One and to at least two or three miniatures for each gender/race/class combo in the Player's Handbook One.
2) The extra couple of dollars charged for electronic supplement for each new Monster Manual beyond Monster Manual One gives you access to an electronic miniature for each monster in the new manual you have purchased (so you can use all the new monsters you've just added to your campaign in the virtual game table).
3) A couple of extra dollars paid for when purchasing a case of a new set of plastic WOTC miniatures unlocks use for you of a set of identical virtual miniatures for the virtual game table.
4) A couple of extra dollars paid when purchasing a WOTC adventure unlocks for you a set of virtual miniatures for characters and monsters unique to the adventure.
5) Occasional offerings of unique characters and monsters are made available for separate purchase.
6) WOTC allows 3rd party publishers and fans to create their own virtual miniatures that can be easily imported into the virtual game table by monthly subscribers, so that third party publishers that publish their own monster manuals and adventures can also offer virtual miniatures for the monsters and characters in their products.
This would maintain for games on the virtual game table the open ended experience available now for in-person games where one can use art, plastic miniatures and metal miniatures for a virtually limitless flexible D&D experience with WOTC and third party products, for a small additional cost.
Otherwise, if you can only play Orc & Pie type basic adventures on the game table unless you spend an arm and a leg for each additional monster or character you want to use, the virtual game table becomes not worth the trouble.
