Gaming Miniatures and D&D

Seamus8

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Mar 26, 2008
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So I finally broke down and backed the Reaper Miniatures "Bones" plastic Gaming figures line on kickstarter, the temptation for all those figures was just a little bit more than I could bear.

I grew up on small plastic toys like that, whether vikings, soldiers, old western U.S. themed, or medieval. The thing is they advertise them mostly as gaming minis and I don't happen to be a D&D or other P+P role player.

So I'm a bit curious and almost have to ask; How essential and/or common are gaming minis to the average P+P role play experience?

Take a look at the Bones kickstarter
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1513061270/reaper-miniatures-bones-an-evolution-of-gaming-min?ref=category

How much more or less effective would having representative figures be for enhancing the immersion of a role playing game? What always mentally turned me off of trying to join a role playing game was that I could never get over the fact that it seemed to be just people sitting around and talking for the most part with little visual stimulus. I think something like this may help me get into a P+P game more readily than my stereotypical notions of hand drawn paper depictions of encounters, a card set, or a book that needs flipped through. I don't know if something like that is practical though, and would like to ask those more experienced in P+P games.

-Thanks
Seamus
 

Smertnik

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If visual representation makes the game more comfortable for you and you can spare the cash I'd say go for it.
As for myself, my friends and I never used such miniatures in any p&p rpg we played (well, most of us never had any in the first place) but just some random stuff at hand like dices, coins, erasers, etc, whatever fit the squares. If the dm actually describes your enemies the miniatures become a bit redundant, I think. They're probably quite handy for more simple "kick down the door" campaigns, though.
 

Dudeman325

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Jan 31, 2011
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Personally, I find minis (or suitable tokens) to be absolutely necessary for the majority of PnP games I play (mostly DnD and Shadowrun), mostly because combat becomes incredibly boring and/or difficult to understand.

In my games, combat without minis usually ends up with the players lining up opposite the enemies, each player picks an enemy, and the lines smash into each other without any possibility of tactical flexibility. Whenever a complex tactical situation does arise, it usually causes a mass of confusion between the players and DM over just where a PC or NPC is positioned relative to everything else, and turns even a basic maneuver into a mess of hasty notes and scribbles.

Simply having some minis laid out on a grid (squares, hexes, or whatever) makes positioning, distance, and maneuver an incredibly easy thing to keep track of.
 

Seamus8

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Mar 26, 2008
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Thanks for the feedback!

I can't help but agree, especially having seen friends of mine play shadowrun, and the way you describe the layout of the minis makes it seem all the more engaging.
 

DirtyJunkieScum

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Feb 5, 2012
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I like the models for their own sake, but for pnp rpgs I just use sketch maps on squared paper and verbal descriptions.

That said, from what I've heard a lot of the newer games (read DnD 4th ed) are specifically designed with miniature play in mind.

Also...I do have to ask why in the holy hell reaper needs to start a kickstarter for this? It's not like they don't have a ridiculously gigantic range of figures anyway. I'm too lazy to watch the video so could you explain exactly what this project is that they don't do already...oh hang on...they are going to re do their line in plastic rather than metal? Yeah I suppose getting your potential customers to pay for all the new casting equipment up front makes sense from a business POV.
 

Seamus8

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Yep that's basically it.

A few totally new molds, mostly plastic recasts of the metal ones. I was drawn in because I remembered the old days of bags of plastic 'army men' at general stores for $1USD. Time has gone by, and prices have really changed. But I approach senility things like that hold a great deal of nostalgia for me.
 

Pharsalus

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Mini's are cool, but not essential to Tabletop gaming, the very nature of the game means a player can go through many different characters. I just use dice for my combat grid figures. The type of die can symbolize the sort of PC or NPC represented (d4 for a wizard d10 for a fighter etc.). They also help me and more importantly my players track combat damage using the dice numbers as indicators of relative health, giving the players another gauge of their enemies health beyond my description of the action.
 

thedoclc

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Absolutely essential for games which are crunchy in combat, but completely dispensable for games where crunch takes a back seat.

D&D (and Pathfinder) are very high on the crunch side. For those not familiar with the term crunch, crunch refers to how "numbery" and "rulesy" a game is. Crunch is mechanics. Fluff is setting. The stat sheet for a typical D&D character is more full of stats, measurements, and so on than many other games, though they weren't as extreme as some other games.

By comparison, I'd dispense with minis entirely for a game like any of the World of Darkness games, Unknown Armies, or Ars Magica. The style and feel of those games makes any attempt to turn them into a scaled-down wargame very, very boring. Those games aren't trying to be pedantic abstractions of combat, and don't do anything but bog-down if put through the incredibly detailed combat rules of a Dark Heresy or a ShadowRun.

As an aside, I am a huge fan of paper minis for games which use minis. I paint my own armies and minis for games, but damn it all, sometimes I just don't want to spend a long time working on a one-off NPC or a PC for a short game.

Incidentally, tooting my own horn here: How To Make Extremely Practical Paper Minis [http://paizo.com/forums/dmtz5sl8?How-to-make-extremely-practical-paper-minis#1]
 

DirtyJunkieScum

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Seamus8 said:
Yep that's basically it.

A few totally new molds, mostly plastic recasts of the metal ones. I was drawn in because I remembered the old days of bags of plastic 'army men' at general stores for $1USD. Time has gone by, and prices have really changed. But I approach senility things like that hold a great deal of nostalgia for me.
Right. Ok, yeah from the POV of a small business like Reaper I can see the attraction of using kickstarter for this, they can make their customers their investors so instead of having to get the money from their annual profits or get a loan they can get it up front and test the market. Other miniatures companies have gone from metal to resin or plastic and brought the cost right down so I suppose that's what they're trying to do here, increase sales and profits by switching over to a cheaper material.

For one I'm pleased to hear of this. I like Reaper minis but even though they are cheaper than GW they will still pretty much break the bank in getting all the ones I like.
 

scotth266

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Jan 10, 2009
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Honestly, you can spend a few bucks on some wooden dowels and paint to save yourself the money while simultaneously giving you the advantage of minis (this is what I did for my own 4E campaign, and it worked wonderfully). Pre-made miniatures are for people with spare pocket change.
 

Artemis923

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I use my Warhammer minis for DnD.

I wouldnt waste extra cash when you can just use dice for characters...
 

DoPo

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Jan 30, 2012
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thedoclc said:
Absolutely essential for games which are crunchy in combat, but completely dispensable for games where crunch takes a back seat.

D&D (and Pathfinder) are very high on the crunch side. For those not familiar with the term crunch, crunch refers to how "numbery" and "rulesy" a game is. Crunch is mechanics. Fluff is setting. The stat sheet for a typical D&D character is more full of stats, measurements, and so on than many other games, though they weren't as extreme as some other games.

By comparison, I'd dispense with minis entirely for a game like any of the World of Darkness games, Unknown Armies, or Ars Magica. The style and feel of those games makes any attempt to turn them into a scaled-down wargame very, very boring. Those games aren't trying to be pedantic abstractions of combat, and don't do anything but bog-down if put through the incredibly detailed combat rules of a Dark Heresy or a ShadowRun.
Mostly this. For me minis don't really increase immersion, they are just aid for fights. Even then they aren't needed - I've been in D&D fights without any visual props whatsoever and it worked, other groups enjoy using as many minis as possible, others still use minis as guidelines (for example, they have a bunch of skeleton figures that represent "generic mook" in a fight - kobolds, goblins, whatever they don't have a figure for) and so on. I myself am perfectly happy with using tokens or even random bits and pieces lying around (coins, pebbles, erasers and a piece of paper are just great) but only if the scene demands it (positions are important/the terrain is funny - that sort of thing) otherwise a theatre of the mind style works just as good.
 

Starik20X6

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nikki191 said:
my old shadowrun group used to use lego :)
LEGO have got this down-pat now. [http://heroica.lego.com/en-gb/default.aspx?icmp=COUKFR15Heroica] I'm surprised I haven't heard of more people using these as miniatures for other non-LEGO games.

I work at a old-school games shop, and we don't really stock D&D miniatures anymore. We've occasionally got some Pathfinder stuff, and the odd 'D&D Collectors Box' set, but that aside the only miniatures now are Warhammer.
 

Metaphysic

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Jul 1, 2011
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I typically use gameboard pieces for PCs (usually from the game Sorry) because they're simple and colorful, and use dice for enemies. I hate the way most minis look, especially the humanoid ones, so I avoid them when I can.
 

thedoclc

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I'd already contributed my two cents, but recently I've found that running a laptop to a big screen and sound system and using a virtual tabletop program works out -REALLY- well as well as obviates the need to purchase any minis at all. I've been running everything using two laptops - one for the GM, one for the players - on Roll20. That's been working like a dream. Everyone can share a couch, I never am short of a mini or map I want to do, and I don't have to clutter my table with excess stuff.

It also is a "free" solution, in that we already own the laptops and TV anyway for other purposes, and Roll20 offers free accounts, though I tossed them some mone seeing hos much use I'm getting from their service.

Link: Roll20 [http://roll20.net]