Will the electronic table top affect miniature sales?

[Jack of Shadows]

I am not a huge fan of DND miniatures due to the random packs. I do use minis in my game frequently to represent the players and opponents. Ideally I would have a troll mini to represent the trolls, orc minis for the orcs, etc.

Does the new electronic tabletop decrease you desire for minis? With this new format it would seem based on the video demonstration that I could electronically place whatever mini I wanted on the battleboard.

[sarcasm] Each DDM mini will have a code on the bottom which will allow you to unlock it for use on the DDI Virtual Tabletop [/sarcasm]

Jack

 

[SavageRobby]

I am not a huge fan of DND miniatures due to the random packs. I do use minis in my game frequently to represent the players and opponents. Ideally I would have a troll mini to represent the trolls, orc minis for the orcs, etc.

Does the new electronic tabletop decrease you desire for minis? With this new format it would seem based on the video demonstration that I could electronically place whatever mini I wanted on the battleboard.

It won't reduce my mini purchasing at all, unless they use the effective set rotation as a reason to start reprinting a ton of the fringe pieces, which I have plenty of already. (But then, I don't play modern D&D anymore, so I buy the figures just to have a large collections of figures for my other games.)

 

[Xyxox]

No. Physical minis will come with serial numbers printed on the cards. Those numbers may be entered into your computer, which will register them online and unlock the corresponding virtual mini's use on the electronic table top.

Nothing else would doom the D&D Insider to ultimte failure from day 1 than that scenario.

Damn, I hope not.

I really doubt anybody who knows anything about marketing would tie a collectible miniatures model to an online services intiative, but then again every marketing person I ever knew were pretty anal about insuring a web site doesn't go down during a major marketing campaign.

Here's another fun question, though, in a similar vein (well, electronic table top minis related): What are your odds that electronic minis will have a degree of customizeability? Will there be tools released to create/import your own models? Will there be a "virtual mini-painting tool" to allow you to change the appearance? Better yet, might they allow for accessorizing with different weapons and such?

That could actually be moderately exciting.

That wold be really cool because it would give me the virtual capability of mirroring what I do today on my miniatures workbench. I do conversions all the time and love to paint my minis, so it'd be cool if I had some freedom to do the same in the virtual tabletop.

 

[broghammerj]

Yup; I was only half-joking about "Virtual Minis".

I don't think physcial DDM sales will be impacted at all, actually; I honestly think many people who buy DDM are "Collectors", as well as "Players."

I agree that collectors won't stop collecting, but there are a certain number of us who may have bought a pack or two to have minis to game with. That need goes away if you decide to use the virtual battlemat which clearly allows you to place monsters. I would assume some fringe mini buyers account for some of the market share.

 

[broghammerj]

Why would it?

People that play online don't use miniatures anyway.

People that play on the tabletop won't be using their computer to do combat (with rare exceptions).

The only effect I can see is from people who decide to use the electronic table top to play online more. Maybe one or two will make expensive set ups to use them on the table top.

I don't play online. I play at a tabletop. I also game with a group that usually has 3 or 4 laptops at the table. I could easily see us using the virtual battlemat and we would be gaming right in front of one another. The demonstration video gives you a great perception of what your character can see based on lighting, where they are on the field, different angles of where your PC is, etc. I could see our miniatures collecting dust on the selves if we decided to run with this system.

 

[WhatGravitas]

I don't think it would impact miniatures sales.

RPG-miniaturers users won't switch, because having miniatures already implies a formed gaming group... these people will not give up their playing group.

Skirmish players... don't get anything with D&D Insider.

RPG players who don't use miniatures... well, they're not going to buy any miniatures as well.

Besides, most people with minis are already well-invested into miniatures as a hobby in its own right - they've got paints, bases, storage... only very few only paint miniatures ONLY for D&D, and not because they've got fun with collecting 'em or showing them off.

Cheers, LT.

 

[Ogrork the Mighty]

I'd offer all the minis electronically for free. If anything, it will spur sales as players are exposed to minis they might not have known existed.

There will definitely be some kind of drop in mini sales; it could be tiny, it could be large. But people who convert to playing exclusively online will likely have no reason to buy minis anymore.