WOTC Business Strategy and miniatures

[Eridanis]

If I pick up a new monster book (such as the Penumbra Fantasy Bestiary), there will be no miniatures available for those creatures. (Or even if there were, can you imagine how expensive it would be?!?)

To be fair, Fantasy Bestiary does have an ad for minis they're making for a small number of included monsters. But point taken.

 

[rushlight]

The problem I have with miniatures in general is that you can never have *all* the monsters.

As a DM, I like to try out new monsters on my players each time we play. If I pick up a new monster book (such as the Penumbra Fantasy Bestiary), there will be no miniatures available for those creatures. (Or even if there were, can you imagine how expensive it would be?!?)

So, instead, we use dice or a different miniature or counter to represent that creature.

Oh waa. I regularly use unpainted minis of whatever when I run my game. Players tend to get a single mini that does a good job of representing them, and I use the Creature Collections, or old broken Warhammer figures. I have 2 broken minotaur minis that I've used for nearly every Large monster in the game. Also, I just have empty slotta bases (those round bases for WH minis) that I use for groups of chumps. Slap a designation (A1, A2, A3, B1, etc...) on them and they work fine.

People go on and on about minis. You'll spend more on pencils than you can on minis and things like them. Graph paper and scissors = just fine. Draw yourself a picture and glue it to a penny, and voila! A personalized mini. Buy a large (say 2 feet by 3 feet) tablet of 1" graph paper (at the local Office Despot) for something like 10 bucks. With an average of 5 people, that's 2 bucks each. If you can afford a PHB (new or old) or snacks for a game session then you're set to deal with minis. And WOTC doesn't get a dime from you.

Or, just don't use minis at all and keep everything in your head, it's just as easy.

 

[Mark]

*Sell miniatures to everyone (except pogre who loves to paint)

Me, too, pogre. But as a time consideration, I will undoubtedly start a collection of commons (humanoids, goblinoids, etc.) if they can be had cheaply enough.

 

[herald]

I have to wonder, with all the free counters that have been given out with Dragon Magazine, (And Dungeon), does't anyone use these. I mean, coun'd most people mass produce those easily for figs?

 

[mmu1]

Or you can go to Games Workshop's WH 40k forums (http://www.games-workshop.com/community/40kforum.htm) and listen to people whine about *trial* rules changes. That they don't even need to use.

Given that, in the GW universe, rule changes virtually always mean the players end up having to spend more money on miniatures to play in official games and stay competitive, I have no problem with people complaining about them whatsoever.

As for people complaining about WotC trying to change the focus of the game, even if you don't have to use the new material or paraphenalia... Given that WotC does not, as far as I can tell, produce an infinite amount of gaming products, if they devote a large amount of resources to the production and support of something you don't enjoy, then it probably means fewer products and less support in areas you do enjoy. (Like, say, a decent line of non-random metal minis - not that Chainmail ever was that great, but instead of trying to improve it, they dumped it.) What's there to be happy about? (Well, aside from Reaper doing great and cranking out new minis like crazy, and Confrontation finally hitting US retail stores...)

Not that the subject hasn't been beaten to death, but in principle, nothing wrong with saying this crappy new miniature line is a bad idea.

 

[Drawmack]

What about the fact that the 3.5 dmg comes with pages of counters, dungeon tiles, terrain tiles, treasure chest tiles, and a fold out map like the one that came with the adventure game?

 

[DaveMage]

To be fair, Fantasy Bestiary does have an ad for minis they're making for a small number of included monsters. But point taken.

Oh, don't get me wrong, I don't hold it against any company that doesn't have miniatures, and I'd *love* to be able to have a miniature for every monster out there, but it's just not practical (or affordable) - that's the problem I have with the use of miniatures.

Now if I win the lottery...

 

[nsruf]

I don't see the minis as a big deal either. I can do combat without battlemat and still use AoO rules and stuff, and if I want to use a map, I have lots of ragtag counters (prominently featuring the cut-out-yourself cardboard standups from my 13 year old MERP boxed set) and unpainted minis (I don't have the time or skill to paint them). I'll probably pick up some WotC minis just for fun but I won't go into collecting or trading them.

So as a customer, I don't feel cheated. Whether this is such a clever business strategy remains to be seen. I wouldn't be surprised if it went the way of chainmail, given that hardly anyone seems to be excited by the idea.

 

[MerricB]

Thanks for the response rushlight.

People who do not play with miniatures have a right to be upset about miniatures now being an essential part of the game.

Excuse me? Essential part of the game? Since when?

T'Ed Stark recently:
"Still, if you feel you absolutely don't want to play the game using minis (and I've been in plenty of games like that myself), what in 3.5 makes that impossible, or even more difficult than 3.0?"

http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=59106

Cheers!

 

[Numion]

Excuse me? Essential part of the game? Since when?

T'Ed Stark recently:
"Still, if you feel you absolutely don't want to play the game using minis (and I've been in plenty of games like that myself), what in 3.5 makes that impossible, or even more difficult than 3.0?"

If you have to "absolutely don't want to play the game using minis" in order to not use them, they do seem a bit essential. Depending on what essential means to you, of course.

Besides, whatever T'Ed Stark said doesn't make it true

Me, I was hoping that 3.5e had progressed to metric system. Instead it regressed into squaric system