Full Version: Cheap Alternatives For Miniatures
Quite frankly, miniatures are expensive. Anyone have a good alternative in place of miniatures? I've been using dice, but they seem to confuse my players (and me for that matter). Any and all help would be appreciated.
Little squares of paper with names on them.
for PC's, just tell them to bring whatever suits them. Hopefully, your entire group isn't so strange as to all bring pennies.
for npc's, use the dice (not a d6) using the number to differentiate initative order.
Theres a bunch of websites around with mini's that you could prolly print out on some card stock paper (for durabilitity, dont want to have to print them every single week)
for npc's, use the dice (not a d6) using the number to differentiate initative order.
Theres a bunch of websites around with mini's that you could prolly print out on some card stock paper (for durabilitity, dont want to have to print them every single week)
The bits of paper tend to get blow around too much. If you are going to go the bits of paper route, print things for 'triagular standups' (didn't some come with earlier editions of SR, I remember the cardboard standups from SR1 or SR2.)
Another good choice is army men, thuogh you will probably have to buy washers to stick to the bottoms so that they will stand up well.
Another good choice is army men, thuogh you will probably have to buy washers to stick to the bottoms so that they will stand up well.
I was thinking "paper" like cue card paper, rather then looseleaf. I've found it tends to work fairly well. Heavier then normal paper, doesn't fold as much. Cardstock works as well, if you want to make standup pieces and glue pennies to add some weight. Although I'd recommend glueing two pieces together for even more stiffness.
Or there's cardboard.
Or there's cardboard.
Get a Whiteboard and Dry-erase pen 
I know it's a bit of a cash layout, but for 24.95 you can get Steve Jackson's "Cardboard Heroes" If am not mistaken, there are something like 200 or so figures in the set which runs the spectrum from medieval to modern day and even superheroes. A little work to set them up at the outset (you have to cut, fold & tape), but once that's done you have a good supply of figures for NPCs like gangers, sec guards, & cops as well as for the players.
Chess peices?
Painted chess peices?
Peices from Risk, Axis and Allies or other war board games.
Painted chess peices?
Peices from Risk, Axis and Allies or other war board games.
http://www.fierydragon.com/products/prod-cc3.htm should have some useful stuff.
Poker Chips work well, different colors for different NPCs if needed, and they are cheap.
Candy. Then you can eat your kills.
| QUOTE (John Campbell) |
| Candy. Then you can eat your kills. |
and i suppose you id your street sam based on who has the most cavities?
Poker chips. Board game tokens. Sea shells. Rocks. Beads. Bottle caps. Beer bottles. Screws, nuts, bolts, washers.
Depends on how important it is for your tokens to look like characters. For me, it's not at all. Did you collect GI Joe action figures as a kid. (Action figures, dammit, not dolls!) You can even take them apart and switch the body parts around. A little creative painting and voila.
A guy I know made me a 13" figure of my orc merc out of an artist's mannequin and some modelling foam. It was really cool. I always wanted some GM to ask for miniatures so I could use it.
Depends on how important it is for your tokens to look like characters. For me, it's not at all. Did you collect GI Joe action figures as a kid. (Action figures, dammit, not dolls!) You can even take them apart and switch the body parts around. A little creative painting and voila.
A guy I know made me a 13" figure of my orc merc out of an artist's mannequin and some modelling foam. It was really cool. I always wanted some GM to ask for miniatures so I could use it.
A sheet of paper with a map drawn on it, and little X's drawn on it.
Here's a couple of options a little more expensive than those suggested, but still much cheaper than pewter:
Grab one or two of the sparks fonts from S.John Ross these can be printed out to make the standups others have mentioned.
Sparks ($5-$10)
Try the Microtactix line of printouts on rpgnow. They've got several genres of buildings and figures:
Cheepsville USA city dwellers ($5)
A cheap fix for the blowing away problem -- put a penny in the bottom of the tri-fold.
Grab one or two of the sparks fonts from S.John Ross these can be printed out to make the standups others have mentioned.
Sparks ($5-$10)
Try the Microtactix line of printouts on rpgnow. They've got several genres of buildings and figures:
Cheepsville USA city dwellers ($5)
A cheap fix for the blowing away problem -- put a penny in the bottom of the tri-fold.
I thought you could find cheapo miniatures for 1 dollar apiece?
If not, then try those packs of green Army Men. Man I miss playing with those things.
If not, then try those packs of green Army Men. Man I miss playing with those things.
| QUOTE (Drac) |
| I thought you could find cheapo miniatures for 1 dollar apiece? If not, then try those packs of green Army Men. Man I miss playing with those things. |
Just be careful that Shadowrun is not forgotten in the midst of your green and tan army man battle.
Flamethrowers? Check. Riflemen? Check. Mortars in support position? Check. Recon jeep? Check. Ass about to be whupped? Double-check.
Actually, that might not be so bad....
One thing I've tried is printing a large floorplan and attaching it to a bulletin board. Use pushpins to represent combatants, grenades, etc. You can use a ruler or string to measure distances if your map is to scale.
Sleeping housecats curled up on the gaming table can make good stand-ins for dragons. Mine usually like more comfy spots like the couch, so I have to wait until they're dead asleep and move them.
can't believe nobody's mentioned lego men 
| QUOTE (RunnerPaul) |
| Sleeping housecats curled up on the gaming table can make good stand-ins for dragons. Mine usually like more comfy spots like the couch, so I have to wait until they're dead asleep and move them. |
My brother's iguana used to join us for shadowrun sessions occasionally. He was there to steal pizza crust rather than be a miniature, but dropping down from seven feet out of the closet onto a pizza plate gave a couple of the players a good startle. I had no idea until then that iguanas liked pizza crust.
My savannah monitor is pretty lazy sometimes, he might be a good dragon miniature. Though, he's over a foot long and growing fast, "miniature" might not be the word for long.
I have turned one of my turtles loose on the game board, after shouting "juggernaut attack!"
My old D&D DM used to use little blue glass beads for whatever enemy we were fighting. As this was usually orks, both me and my wife (who played in the same group) now shout "Help, orks!" whenever we see small blue glass beads.
For "paracritters" and the like, they sell little plastic animals in bags similar to those green army men. We keep a set in our dice bags to use as miniatures. Make sure to get "jungle animals" or "dinosaurs" -- instead of "farm animals." Goats aren't scary unless they have wired reflexes 3 at least.
Play-doh only really works if you are getting attacked by blob-like creatures; and there aren't many of those in SR.
| QUOTE (Feshy) |
| Play-doh only really works if you are getting attacked by blob-like creatures; and there aren't many of those in SR. |
Toxic Nature Spirits, Blood Spirits, a manifested Nomad, some of the species of awakened jellyfish such as the Fideal, or my personal favorite, the Protean.
(The protean is hands down, just about the grossest paracritter in SR, even beating out that awakened flying squirrel that poops on you. Take a colony of human dysentary bacteria, awaken it, and give it engulf and the ability to mimic its victims. Gah!)
| QUOTE (John Campbell) |
| Candy. Then you can eat your kills. |
Dammit, I was about to say M&M chocolates (we did that a few times).
| QUOTE |
(The protean is hands down, just about the grossest paracritter in SR, even beating out that awakened flying squirrel that poops on you. Take a colony of human dysentary bacteria, awaken it, and give it engulf and the ability to mimic its victims. Gah!) |
sweet/ewww!!!
what book is that in?
| QUOTE |
| can't believe nobody's mentioned lego men |
uh, people will get distracted from the game REALLY quickly.
"Hey, I'm gonna build all my drones and vehicles in lego too!"
"We're in a bar? I'm gonna build it in lego!"
| QUOTE (Fix-it) | ||
sweet/ewww!!! what book is that in? |
The Protean? It first appeared in Paranormal Animals of Europe.
(I'm guessing that's the one you're asking about, and not the Bombadier, which was the flying squirrel paracriter I also mentioned up there, which was a PAoNA entry.)
| QUOTE (John Campbell) |
| Candy. Then you can eat your kills. |
We used to use M & Ms for playing risk. Sheds a whole new light (and new taste) on conquering your foe.
I put my maps in clear plastic sleeves and draw PCs and NPCs in Xs and Os with a colored dry erase markers.
| QUOTE |
| Quite frankly, miniatures are expensive. Anyone have a good alternative in place of miniatures? I've been using dice, but they seem to confuse my players (and me for that matter). Any and all help would be appreciated. |
At the moment I have players use D4's to represent thier characters. Easy to remember who's what color, NPC's are represented by glass counter beads. Different colors for Innocent Mundanes, Vamps, Lyc's, Mages, Hostile Mundane, Mage, Vamp, Lyc.
I'm also saving up to buy a used overhead projector
Then there's Steve Jackson "Bag 'o' Zombies" about Ten Bucks.
usually when we need minatures we just look for some small dir regarded items as minatures, may it be cat food or left over chips.
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