rgrove0172
Mongoose
Ive been away from roleplaying for 15 years or so and recently got involved again witht the discovery of the Conan:RPG. Ive spent the last couple of months purchasing all the books and modules and becoming aquainted with the 3.5 rules (which I was completely inexperienced with)
Im almost finished with the preparations for my groups first session and suddenly it hit me. How am I going to present the tactical action in the game.
In my roleplaying days years ago we scoffed at the idea of miniatures, primarily because as young players with families and mediocre jobs we simply couldnt afford them. We told ourselves that no miniature could do justice to the detail and versatility our minds were capable of. How could you reproduce every character, NPC, monster, animal or whatever in the game in miniature? How about setting? How to represent the continually shifting and expanding world the characters live in with miniatures? It simply wasnt a possibility, so we used dry erase boards or sometimes cardboard counters on drawn maps and the like.
It worked fine, the detail and imagry was kept in our heads where it belonged and the conventional diagrams we used to track movement and such didnt distract from that in any way.
Now it years later. Originally I planned to handle it the same way - until I attended a game convention in Austin Tx. the other day. I was there with a historical miniatures group but popped my head in the Roleplayer's room a few times to check out where the hobby had gone in my absense. I was shocked to see miniatures on every table. Beautifully hand painted, well sculpted figures everywhere you looked, but then I looked closer. These beautiful representations of their characters were wandering across dry-erase matts with scrawled lines for walls and doors. Poker chips or bingo buttons where being used for markers here while on another table the Orcs the characters were facing were Kobold miniatures because there GM didnt have any Orc miniatures. In another game the Ogre they were facing was a spider miniature, again because they didnt have the right figs.
When I asked one of the players if this was annoying he commented - "Sure, but who can afford to have enough of everything you need in a game, you have to improvise - Use your imagination dude!"
So here I am - wondering if miniatures have become so much a cornerstone of the hobby that I should try and incorperate them. But if I do, it seems to me your arent accomplishing much if you have to improvise with 2-D terrain renditions and substitute markers etc. Wouldnt it be just as effective to fabricate some nice maps and neat markers to use and avoid all the hassle? (Not to mention cost and time painting) I mean, if you have to "use your imagination" anyway, why not just use it?
Im almost finished with the preparations for my groups first session and suddenly it hit me. How am I going to present the tactical action in the game.
In my roleplaying days years ago we scoffed at the idea of miniatures, primarily because as young players with families and mediocre jobs we simply couldnt afford them. We told ourselves that no miniature could do justice to the detail and versatility our minds were capable of. How could you reproduce every character, NPC, monster, animal or whatever in the game in miniature? How about setting? How to represent the continually shifting and expanding world the characters live in with miniatures? It simply wasnt a possibility, so we used dry erase boards or sometimes cardboard counters on drawn maps and the like.
It worked fine, the detail and imagry was kept in our heads where it belonged and the conventional diagrams we used to track movement and such didnt distract from that in any way.
Now it years later. Originally I planned to handle it the same way - until I attended a game convention in Austin Tx. the other day. I was there with a historical miniatures group but popped my head in the Roleplayer's room a few times to check out where the hobby had gone in my absense. I was shocked to see miniatures on every table. Beautifully hand painted, well sculpted figures everywhere you looked, but then I looked closer. These beautiful representations of their characters were wandering across dry-erase matts with scrawled lines for walls and doors. Poker chips or bingo buttons where being used for markers here while on another table the Orcs the characters were facing were Kobold miniatures because there GM didnt have any Orc miniatures. In another game the Ogre they were facing was a spider miniature, again because they didnt have the right figs.
When I asked one of the players if this was annoying he commented - "Sure, but who can afford to have enough of everything you need in a game, you have to improvise - Use your imagination dude!"
So here I am - wondering if miniatures have become so much a cornerstone of the hobby that I should try and incorperate them. But if I do, it seems to me your arent accomplishing much if you have to improvise with 2-D terrain renditions and substitute markers etc. Wouldnt it be just as effective to fabricate some nice maps and neat markers to use and avoid all the hassle? (Not to mention cost and time painting) I mean, if you have to "use your imagination" anyway, why not just use it?
I just break out a stack of graph-paper and do the 'telestrator' thing. :lol: Sure, it looks like a football game on crack, but it is cheaper than greedy WotC getting more of my dough.
