D&D@40 Blog Hop: Day 13

See the little paper people in this pic? Yeah, I still have those...

Day 13: First miniature(s) you used for D&D.

As a kid, we didn't really use minis. One, we were poor, so buying a horde of minis was sorta out of the question. Two, we believed our imaginations were enough. If and when we needed a more visual representation of a battle, we would draw up a quick sketch of the situation.

 

As a matter of fact, I have really only experienced the use of minis for RPGs in the last few years, since I came off my last great roleplaying hiatus. I decided to try minis this time around, just to see what all the hubbub was about.

 

I think minis are fine, and I did appreciate having the visual representation of combat. It puts less strain on the old brain, and it makes combats more interesting from a tactical standpoint. HOWEVER...that ability to make combat more detailed also has the effect of dragging out combat, I've found. Because players suddenly want to analyze the "board" like WWII generals, you know?

 

The reason for me using the pic of D&D Black Box for this post? Because I have a mishmash collection of minis right now, and that collection includes a bunch of paper minis from the old Black Box, along with some more modern paper minis I printed out from The Fantasy Trip website. I also have a small gathering of WotC's plastic minis, as well as some red beads that can serve as a horde of one type of creature as needed. So, my minis are nothing fancy, and I'm fine with that.

 

Oh, I also use "the paper sketch method" these days, and in addition I picked up a small dry erase board to sketch on as well. Those work just fine when I don't feel like bothering with the minis.

 

When I come back to the gaming table in the future, I'll consider using minis again. But I don't think they'll ever trump the use of pure imagination.