Miniatures usage in RPGs Options

[Ampere]

How many folks here use Minis while playing an RPG? Shadowrun or anything else really...but primarilly SR.

There used to be minis for SR. They were allright, but I'd love to see either the old ones re-released or maybe even make up some new sculpts for the game.

I don't use the minis so much for measuring the movement and all that (I don't want my SR games to become D&D or worse, a Minis Wargame), I use it for a general tactical overview, the bad guys are HERE, the exits HERE, etc.

Anyhow, I love minis in my RPGs, and would love to see IWM put the SR minis back out or new sculpts made. What do you guys think?

[Kagetenshi]

I've never found minis very useful in Shadowrun, but that may come from being a big Rigger player—it makes a two-dimensional view of the battlefield much less useful. I'm hoping to eventually code up a Kaidecahedron-based battlemap program for Shadowrun, but it may not happen for some time.

~J

[the_dunner]

[Caine Hazen]

I've been using Copplestone and Foundry figs as well for Srun. The scale is a bit more... I don't know, but I'm sick of those little 25s. The last set done for 3rd ed that Ral/IWM produced was not too bad. Also I use lots of heroclix figures that are popped off of bases and repainted. I'll have to post up some pics at some point.

I wish they would get some new sculpts or something though. Its hard to do orks, trolls and dwarves.

[Kyoto Kid]

...my only (and best) 3d figure I ever had for SR was for KK. The actual figure was a female bushido (Ral Partha I think) that a friend of mine detailed according to the picture I gave him. He even painted the rising sun tattoo around her right eye. Though I still have several of the SR figures, never really used them much as none of them fit the characters I had. For the most part when a big fight occurred we just broke out the Steve Jackson "Modern" Cardboard Heroes (unless I was playing KK).

[Ampere]

The infinity figs , well...some of them work pretty nicely.

[Kyoto Kid]

...now as to D&D, things are quite different as most figs are tailored to a fantasy setting. and most groups I play in are really into miniatures as well.

There I have several gems (all painted and detailed by the same friend wh did the figure of KK)

...Meg: Assimar Palidin of Horus Re/Hunter of the Dead with her Unicorn, Percy. Percy is actually a tad smarter than Meg and the two frequently get into debates with one another on religious and philosophical matters.

...the Illuskan fighter/monk, Brennah. For her I actually have two figures, one where she's armed with her twin rapiers (dressed ala Gabrielle from Xena), and the other in her exotic dance garb - long story.

I need to find a new figure for Brennah though as she has just acquired the Blade of First Light. She is of the Sun Soul order (Forgotten Realms, the only D&D setting I actually like because of all the history and background) which follows the ways of the Morning Lord, Lathander. Morning Light is one of the relics of her patron. This will be a very interesting figure when finished, as First Light is a bastard sword that is wielded like a short sword so she can use it and her flame tongue (also a short sword) in two handed fighting. Undead beware!

...Kimiko Akata: Samurai of the Crane Clan in clan colours complete with War Banner. She was originally created under the 3ed Rokkugan supplement but when that group broke up I basically made her come from a “mystical land to the east� for adventuring in Realms.

[bofh]

We've been using dice to indicate where we are in the mines these past couple of weeks. I'm tempted to break out my minis for next weeks game although dice seem to work fine in a pinch.

Carl

[Ampere]

Honestly, I think my minis usage started when a PC decided to use invisibility in one of my games, and I needed to know whether he'd be involved in any accidental collisions/ crossfires, etc. Not to mention that I love minis anyhow. Not that I'm biased or anything. ;)

I've used dice on several occasions to much the same effect (though minis are arguably nicer).

[Caine Hazen]

This of course all begs the question, do you use terrain with this? How far do you go with it? I know modern/future set terrain is a bit rarer than fantasy stuff (this coming from the guy with a bad Master Maze habit), but it is out there. WHat do you use?

[Fortune]

[the_dunner]

[Kagetenshi]

[Ampere]

I usually drag along a dry erase board and draw on the scenery.

[Caine Hazen]

[Kyoto Kid]

...I have the luxury of playing under a D&D GM who has a vast collection, I mean literally armies of figures (same fellow who painted mine) . You want big spiders, he has big spiders, wolves & worgs, he has wolves & worgs. Blue Dragon, red Dragon, wyrmling, young, adult? No problem. Orcs by the legion (well looks like it). All nicely detailed for Forgotten Realms.

[edrift101]

Anyone have access to a scan of the old cardboard minis? I think these were originally released with 1st or 2nd edition. Can't find them anywhere...

Currently, I'm using a piece of corkboard and multicolored pins to represent different characters, etc... This works pretty well.

[eidolon]

What about when it comes to the rules? To me, I despise a rules system that flat requires the use of minis to play (see: D&D 3.x).

I much prefer the type of approach Savage Worlds takes, which is to slip in references and scales that you could use, if you want to use minis to represent the game, but none of the system is actually based on the minis themselves.

That's if there are going to be rules for it at all. I'm also a fan of just using dice/minis to indicate general positions, but relying on the GM to make calls of exactly what can and can't happen.

edit: I'm aware that you can play 3.x D&D without minis, but they are written so deeply into the system so as to make it next to impossible, or at the very least to make not using them a pain in the ass.

[tisoz]

[Kyoto Kid]

...my FLGS still can still get the Steve Jackson Cardboard Heroes. There are two different sets, fantasy & modern. I think they retail for 24 - 25$. Not bad for NPC figs or if the players don't have any of their own.

[edrift101]

Thanks Kyoto Kid! I'll look into those.

If nothing else, I could always just make my own, but I'd rather just buy them at this point.

[Wounded Ronin]

I was always cynical about spending money on actual miniatures. I think it goes back to the days when a friend of mine introduced me to Wh40K and I balked at the price of the minis.

Personally, I think it's extremely helpful to have the degree of precision and tactics which miniatures allow, but I don't feel the need to spend money on these things. A big sheet of graph paper and some paper tokens or pennies should be just fine. Maybe also a laptop with a simple C program set up to crunch the Pythagorean Theorem for us really fast.

[Moon-Hawk]

[Wounded Ronin]

[Kyoto Kid]