I couldn't see buying actual miniatures, so I made these little bad boys instead. I used the Fiery Dragon token packs and bought some 1"x1" and 2"x2" acrylic squares from Litko. Two pieces of acrylic, a picture and a bit of super glue gel and you have instant token with the added benefit that you can write on them with erasable markers for status effects.I put a little skull & crossbones on the back so I can flip them over when they die.
The smaller (1"x1") one ran about 30-40 cents each, the larger (2"x2") cost about 50-60 cents each. This starts to pay off when you get to the more unique and larger creatures as some of the huge miniatures can be rather expensive.
Granted, you don't get the 3 dimensional effect of actual minis, but like I said, I'm a cheap ass.
I am using some colored stands to hold up my printed (cardstock) monsters and NPCs.
ReplyDeleteThe stands go for $3.50 for a pack of 10 of various colors (great for keeping track of which is which) or you can get 100 or just one color for just under $30. Link: http://www.boardgamedesign.com/pages/go_shopping/stands.htm
They are a nice middle ground between flat tokens and mini's. Plus since the printed cards slide in and out of the stand they take up very little room if you have to transport and you only need one or two sets of 10.
you may be cheap, but you are wise
ReplyDeletethose tokens are easily replacable
and you have no problems with the
players folding, spindling or mutilating
your creations
i switched to used plastic miniatures
(game rocket dot com)
because i would cringe when my players
did not show the proper respect for my
fragile, hand painted, pewter miniatures -
the cost wasnt as big an issue as
the many hours (slow painter am I)
invested in my miniature works of art.
I'm a mini fan and consider myself kind of a purist about using minis when appropriate with RPGs. Yet ... I see nothing wrong with this what so ever. For one thing even for a mini purist ... your awesome idea would rock for say travel to a con or a much more portable version of the game for a D&D DM who does road trips, etc. with gaming friends. Also its just a hassle sometimes for people if they don't have the proper setup ... having to tote around all the minis (cost aside, which as you point out this method rocks if that is a consideration as well), etc. Really good idea!!!
ReplyDeleteThose are really cool. We've switched over to using tokens for monsters (I still use hand paint minis for each PC in the groups I run) since it's much cheaper and handier to carry around, but only went to far as laminating our tokens. Now you've got me thinking about doing something similar.
ReplyDelete