Do you use miniatures?

Camazotz · Post by **Camazotz** » Fri Nov 06, 2009 5:07 am

I picked "sometimes" because until around 2003 I never, ever used minis. My 3.5 days forced me in to their use (that and a group that was big on minis) and I've been unable to escape them since. I have some players with whom I can escape the curse of the minis (I find minis always stifle creativity and slow things down) and in the main C&C group I could occasionally get a combat to slip by without everyone resorting to minis.
_________________
My web page: Http://www.angelfire.com/rpg2/ancientworlds

Zodiac Gods Publishing:
http://www.lulu.com/camazotz

Home of Keepers of Lingusia, a homebrew old-school setting for use with C&C

AJCarrington · Post by **AJCarrington** » Fri Nov 06, 2009 2:00 pm

Almost always use minis or tokens of some kind. I find that having a mini of my character helps me "visualize" events and happenings - even if we're not using a game map...
AJC

Sir Osis of Liver · Post by **Sir Osis of Liver** » Fri Nov 06, 2009 2:03 pm

While I never used minis in games I played back in my younger days, I've come to favor them. Part of that was the necessity of them imposed by 3.x, but now that I'm painting them, I like having that out on the table. More fodder for the imagination.

TheMetal1 · Post by **TheMetal1** » Sat Nov 07, 2009 7:31 pm

CKDad wrote:
I picked "sometimes", but I don't actually use miniatures. Instead I use counters from Cry Havoc! and the other games in that line. Like Omote, I generally only use them for complicated or very large battles - say, assaulting a castle, or in a place with staggered elevations.

When I first read this, I thought, "The Cry Havoc! book by Monte Cook has counters in it?" I've got the book so I went searching in and while I didn't find miniature counters, I found terrain counters, which I thought was a pretty good and quick way to set up a battlefield map or something. Then I figured this might not be what your talking about and googled Cry Havoc - which of course led me to the minis. Anyway, at least now I have new terrain counters.

Oh yeah, and I'm a fan of minis/counters. Didn't use 'em back in the days of BECMI or AD&D 1E. Other than have them sit on table in front of us or use them maybe for marching orders. If I would have known about miniature wargaming back then...
_________________
R is among the most menacing of sounds. Thats why they call it murder, not muckduck. DWIGHT SHRUTE, The Office

Vetterix · Post by **Vetterix** » Sat Nov 07, 2009 9:03 pm

I think of using miniatures as a basic part of the game, both for nostalgic and practical reasons. I find using miniatures requires everyone to consider, and to commit, their position/location for encounters. A player or monster might more easily be out of an area effect if their location is a fuzzy virtual one only verbally described.

Tadhg · Post by **Tadhg** » Sun Nov 08, 2009 1:45 am

We use them a little more than "sometimes" - as apropos to the situation. And my nephews and I like collecting them. And it's fun to drop one of the more intimidating monsters onto the battle mat for effect from time to time.

_________________
Count Rhuveinus - Lejendary Keeper of Castle Franqueforte

"Enjoy a 'world' where the fantastic is fact and magic really works!" ~ Gary Gygax

"By the pricking of my thumbs, Something wicked this way comes:" - Macbeth

Sir Osis of Liver · Post by **Sir Osis of Liver** » Sun Nov 08, 2009 2:11 am

Rhuvein wrote:
And it's fun to drop one of the more intimidating monsters onto the battle mat for effect from time to time.

I keep my demon lords on hand for just that purpose.
"Hi. My name is Demogorgon. Ready to die? No? Oh well. Too bad."

Tadhg · Post by **Tadhg** » Sun Nov 08, 2009 2:16 am

Sir Osis of Liver wrote:
I keep my demon lords on hand for just that purpose.
"Hi. My name is Demogorgon. Ready to die? No? Oh well. Too bad."

Haha. For me, it's mostly a scare . . and then the party runs like HELL ~ or runs from hell, as it were depending on the monster!!
_________________
Count Rhuveinus - Lejendary Keeper of Castle Franqueforte

"Enjoy a 'world' where the fantastic is fact and magic really works!" ~ Gary Gygax

"By the pricking of my thumbs, Something wicked this way comes:" - Macbeth

concobar · Post by **concobar** » Sun Nov 08, 2009 5:01 pm

I always use minis.

Then again it is pretty much a necessity to use minis and a battle mat/boards when running 4e.
_________________

Matthew · Post by **Matthew** » Sun Nov 08, 2009 5:33 pm

Not usually, but I sometimes like to if there is the option. Tokens are more usual than miniatures.
_________________
It is a joyful thing indeed to hold intimate converse with a man after ones own heart, chatting without reserve about things of interest or the fleeting topics of the world; but such, alas, are few and far between.

Yoshida Kenko (1283-1350)

clavis123 · Post by **clavis123** » Sun Nov 08, 2009 7:37 pm

I don't use miniatures when I CK or DM. I think they work against immersion and role-playing by drawing players' eyes away from each other and the gamemaster. I also think the "god's-eye view" provided by miniatures encourages cool, rational thinking rather than the rush of fear more appropriate for a combat scene. Additionally, I feel that miniatures lead to unrealistically tactical decisions, since in an actual melee you would never have the benefit of knowing exactly where friends or foes are. (I also put a time limit on player decisions while in combat to help players act more like they are actually in a dangerous situation.) When I need to diagram relative positions, or illustrate a difficult to imagine scene I use a stand-up easel and sketch out the scene on paper.

Joe · Post by **Joe** » Fri Dec 11, 2009 12:07 am

I marked always.

I began using minis a couple years ago. I must admit I was compensating for all those years I grew up too poor to buy a module much less miniature figures.

I have found that they are a crutch!

Now if I try to abstract a fight with a narrative the players seem paralyzed, confused, and unable to use their imagination to detail the fight for them.

No matter how many times I ask them to not count square they still count squares.

They are a definate crutch for a lazy GM. All I need do now is go thru the minis, not actually keep track.

I enjoy using them as visual aids, but I hate that they become a crutch to the imagination.

I think I am going to limit their use to dungeon crawls only and narrate other fights.

I really wish I could just go back to a game of imagination but I am afraid I might actually have to pay attention as Gm and the players will have to use their imagination for details.

Paying attention, using imagination?

Sorry there is no room for that in todays rpg's!

Next thing you know you'll want me using math or expanding my vocabulary! Pfft!
Do they make the game easier to keep track of? YES

Do they add to the imagination? NO
_________________
'Nosce te Ipsum' -Delphic Maxim

'Follow your bliss.' -Joseph Campbell

Jackal · Post by **Jackal** » Sat Dec 12, 2009 9:26 pm

I picked never but I will, on occasion, use a white board to mark locations for larger battles. I'm just not a fan of the time and expense it takes to add miniatures to my game when I can get the same results with good description and a cheap white board.
_________________
Baron Greymoor
Troll Lord Games
Castles & Crusades Society

dungeonfish · Post by **dungeonfish** » Thu Dec 31, 2009 12:31 pm

When I was a kid I used to think "Why don't they just make prepainted, plastic miniatures for this game?" Poof, twenty years later...

So, always for me.

J-Fro · Post by **J-Fro** » Mon Jan 04, 2010 2:22 pm

I chose always. I play with my 5 kids and developing a character is not only about rolling the character, but also using a web based character application to make a visual of the character to go on the character sheet and then creating a paper miniature of the character to scale, so humans are larger then elves are larger then dwarves are larger then halflings. My kids seem to absolutley enjoy this aspect of it, so even if the younger ones don't quite understand the mechanics, and that their character is more then just the sum of a paper miniature or picture on their character sheet, they can easily visualize that their character is a barbarian carrying a warhammer, a shield, with a sword on his back, or they have a pixie who is smaller then the rest of the group and is hovering because she can fly. I also use a battlemat to "map" out the dungeon

jaguar451 · Post by **jaguar451** » Mon Jan 04, 2010 9:26 pm

J-Fro wrote:
I chose always. I play with my 5 kids and developing a character is not only about rolling the character, but also using a web based character application to make a visual of the character to go on the character sheet and then creating a paper miniature of the character to scale, so humans are larger then elves are larger then dwarves are larger then halflings. My kids seem to absolutley enjoy this aspect of it, so even if the younger ones don't quite understand the mechanics, and that their character is more then just the sum of a paper miniature or picture on their character sheet, they can easily visualize that their character is a barbarian carrying a warhammer, a shield, with a sword on his back, or they have a pixie who is smaller then the rest of the group and is hovering because she can fly. I also use a battlemat to "map" out the dungeon

What tools do you use for all that?

(And the monster counters, etc?)

J-Fro · Post by **J-Fro** » Tue Jan 05, 2010 12:33 am

I use this tutorial how to make paper minis.....was that created by you?? I found the original, lost it then found it in this how to section.

J-Fro · Post by **J-Fro** » Tue Jan 05, 2010 1:21 am

My bad the author is laminterious.

Anyway I use this tutorial, 'How to create paper minis". supplies include: matte photo paper or card stock, exacto knife, and a glue stick. Instead of a triagular mini, I glue the front to the back and fold the bottom out instead of in. I then glue the bottom tabs to another piece of card stock\photo paper, let it dry and then cut it out. the extra layer card stock\photo paper makes a very sturdy base IMHO. As far as creatures are concerned I have pretty extensive collection of purchased paper minis, these aren't neccessarily to scale. I use the battlemat 1"=5' to convert the miniature to its proper height in millimeters.