I have a friend who makes figures and is hoping to make a living manufacturing them.
My personal experience in D&D is that I use the nearest figure that fits the template (The cow figure has been used a lot).

I just wondered how many people buy figures and paint them for a specific adventure/campaign, and how many just use what they have got and improvise, also how many just use templates.

dinglesgames.com

I have a friend who makes figures and is hoping to make a living manufacturing them.
My personal experience in D&D is that I use the nearest figure that fits the template (The cow figure has been used a lot).

I just wondered how many people buy figures and paint them for a specific adventure/campaign, and how many just use what they have got and improvise, also how many just use templates.

dinglesgames.com

For the mobs and NPCs, I go with the closest fig I already have to represent the folks and monsters in question.

Greetings Dingle. Happy 4th of July from all of us across the pond.

Important may not exactly drive the type of feedback you're looking for since v.3.5/Pathfinder can very comfortably be played without minis, as previous editions have in the past.

I also play First Edition Dungeons & Dragons, but sometimes uses minis and dungeon tiles representatively, and for marching order, whos in which room etc. (So I guess that counts too.)

I would, however, step forward and say that I have a near-complete collection (of the plastic pre-painted sets from you know who), and the majority (commons and uncommons) are 7-12 minis deep per figure, with the very usefulls such as orcs, troglodytes, gnolls, bugbears, etc. somewhere between 20-50 figures.

Now, it hasn't always been so for me. As I've generally played without minis for much more than 20 years. But in the last six years or so, my mini use has been very much on the rise, due of course, to their availability in plastic and prepainted.

Would your friend be interested in making metal or plastic figures? And would these be pre-painted or unpainted?

On the whole, the "collecting" of minis and the scarcity and cost of these have generally prevented many from being that mainstream. And, the variant creatures put forth for many years seemed to be tied to marketing and product releases, or trapped with the Miniatures Handbook nuances.

In the end, I think you are asking how important they are?

They're not important. But if you were to ask me what is that appetite for affordable minis, that aren't random, that are easily purchased, and follow classic fantasy role play game perameters such as the following: I would buy them all. Because its always been hard to get a complete set of minis for any book, series, or adventure.

And, I never reuse "cows."

When I use minis (and mine I know is an extreme and rare case) I use the exact kind, and exact number. Otherwise, I use photoshop to transfer the standard v.3.5/Pathfinder RPG image into a 1" circle or 2" or 3" etc. I then print high quality circle images and use adhesive circular magnates to create custom tokens with some weight.

And again, as a percentage, I'm about 50-75% with my encounters using minis. But they are not so much important, as they are simply cool to use.

The key to competing, at the very least, making a living, would be to produce minis that are in sync with MM1, MM2, MM3, MM4, Tome of Horrors I, Tome of Horrors II, Tome of Horrors III, Denizens of Avadnu, Pathfinder Bestiary, Creature Collection, Ptolus, etc.

And, are you certain he will be making figures and not tokens... because this might be a good chance to email you with some specific ideas that would likely sell. (I'll send you one, since this response has gotten way long and out of control.)

I'm one of those who never uses minis in play. So I'm not a potential customer.

Are you limiting your minis to 3.5/PF then? 4e seems set up to require people buying lots of minis?

Note that Reaper has experimented with non-random, pre-painted plastic figures. No idea how well those are selling for them, but you might want to look into that.

I buy and paint figures for PCs and for NPCs. Sadly, it's really hard to find a PC figure, so typically we settle for a DDM substitute. For NPCs, I almost always find myself woefully behind on painting the figure because I'm a slow and cautious painter and I have lots of other demands on my time. There are some quality painters out there who take commissions too.

So if something were available pre-painted, for a sum comparable to an unpainted lead mini, I would be willing to splurge for those. I am a consumer of one, so please make of that what you will. :)

I've used figures in every edition of the game since BECMI, since I started in 1980. Still have the first two figures I ever bought, though one appears to have acquired a power mace, and joined the Ordo Malleus.

Most of the time players or DM would provide the more detailed and painted figures for the PCs. You could afford the effort, because they would be present every session. The monsters and NPCs may often be represented by proxies, or abstracted by tokens, dice, M&Ms, whatever. Life's too short to be painting every creature from the adventure (and every creature on the wandering monster tables) to Golden Demon standard.

For those who rag on 4E or 3.5, for pushing the use of figures, and say they can always run the game without them, well, I say good for you.
I feel envious of your experiences, that you obviously never had to witness a player throwing a pissy fit, when you assume his PC is where he last stated, or when you rule he can't see what's happening in four different places at once. You've never had to waste time describing the surroundings AGAIN every time anyone takes an action.

Having said that, it isn't always necessary to draw the encounter every time. Fights in 10' cupboards don't need it, weak vermin that pop out of a chest, and get smashed with one blow don't need it.
Some chase scenes and other abstract situations don't need it.
(Couple of sessions ago, one player wanted to create a diversion, with a lance charge through the enemy camp, while the others snuck through a siege. OK, make 10 attack rolls, any you don't kill get to strike back at you as you go past, plus I'll have twenty javelin shots at you, after which, you rejoin the others. Seemed to work well enough.)

Anything more complicated than that, and especially when the scenery or hazards are 'interesting', or the bosses come out, and PCs lives are actually in danger, the mat, markers and figures come out.

I use Figures in all my games. But I do not buy figures I need to paint, I only buy figures that are prepainted.

I use miniatures all the time. I paint metal ones when I can, but I also have a couple thousand pre-painted plastic miniatures.

To Dingle and the guys at '6d6 Fireball':

Take a look at what else is on the market, and make your own mark.
The industry seriously does NOT need any more variations on 'Wood Elf with Bow' or 'Dwarf in Chainmail with Axe'.
I guess new companies make these things in the belief that they'll be good core sellers, but in a bloated market, you have to beat the market leaders to be noticed. What makes a customer rush out an order for another generic Norse-style dwarf, rather than use one of the 20-100 he already has?

You also have to be compatible with the scale and look of what's already out there. How many companies have made Orcs, all different?

Take a look at the D&D Monster Manuals (and Necromancer's Tome of Horrors, to tap into those those old-school gamer-dollars). Check out some of the adventures out there. Ask yourself 'What are people likely to actually use in thir games?'. Ask yourself 'What's missing?'. What jumps out as neglected concept? What makes you think 'I can't believe no-ones making them?'.

Your Bearded Devils are a great example of something I could see a need for. They're not available anywhere else I'm aware of, except as a rare from the first DDM sets. They're not too high a Challenge Rating (so should see more use than, say, a Pit Fiend). They're a traditional monster that's been in the game since 1st Edition through to 3.5 (can anyone confirm if they're in 4E?), as well as being inspired by myth and folklore from medieval times onward.
You're talking to the whole D&D market, and beyond, to those who play the medieval, horror, and occult genres.

I don't use figures at all, never did.

Slightly longer history of my (dis)use of miniatures:

In conclusion:

I have become a fan of the 3rd Ed. mini-mechanics, but don't collect figures. Players are always welcome to bring whatever they have, and occasionally some do. My own collection only grows when someone else donates their own odds-&-ends.

Sorry for the sobering news, but to make a living I think your friend is on a hard road in a packed market.

FWIW,

Rez

Your Bearded Devils are a great example of something I could see a need for. They're not available anywhere else I'm aware of, except as a rare from the first DDM sets. They're not too high a Challenge Rating (so should see more use than, say, a Pit Fiend). They're a traditional monster that's been in the game since 1st Edition through to 3.5 (can anyone confirm if they're in 4E?), as well as being inspired by myth and folklore from medieval times onward.

I just wondered how many people buy figures and paint them for a specific adventure/campaign, and how many just use what they have got and improvise, also how many just use templates.

At this point, I don't usually pay more than $1 for a small or medium and also most large creatures. I might pay up to about $3 for a huge if I think I might get some use out of it. But again, the cheaper the better. As you can see, I don't buy very many metal miniatures anymore, because for the price of one metal I could get 4 plastic ones. It just doesn't make sense unless the metal one is really cool and needed for a specific character. I am definitely not interested in paying $15 for a single miniature, especially when a toy could be bought that looks just as good and for a lot cheaper (dragons for example).

For myself, I would be interested in cheap plastic, preferably prepainted, small-huge of semi-"common" creatures that are treated as "rare" by sellers like WotC. I mean, I am still looking for a cheap chain devil.

Sorry I'm unable to help; I'm very anti-dolls when it comes to gaming. Once in a blue moon I'll draw out a huge battlemat if I have players who own large collections and insist on using them, but overall I prefer to do without.

I always use them, even if I don't have minis. If I don't have minis I use coins or monopoly pieces or pieces of paper with who or what they are written on them. Combats are much more precise using minis instead of keeping the battlefield in the DM's head.

I'm very anti-dolls when it comes to gaming.

I always use minis, and I will go through a box of hundreds if it means I have the correct one, but I will not go out and purchase one for more than a certain price unless the fight will be very important and/or entertaining. As an example I wanted a mini of the worm thing in AoW from "The Champion's Belt" chapter, but it was more than I wanted to pay to have one custom-made. I however did get a mini made of Kyuss, even though it cost me about 70 buck with shipping added in.
I also got purchased a mind-flayer, but the figure+shipping was less than 10 bucks so that was not too bad.
I think there is money to be made, but I would not quit my day-job to do it.

I used to never use mini's whatsoever, but after finding an old box of the 3.0 beginner's game with paper tokens I became more interested in using somekind of counters. When the D&D miniatures line started I picked up a bunch and instantly got hooked... but not on the mini's game itself. I was hooked on using mats and figures from that point forward.

I mainly only use miniatures during battles though. I leave the much larger sections of roleplay and stealth devoid of miniatures still. Its much more exciting to not use mini's during those events.

Action Figures.

I'm an odd one. For my regular games I don't ever touch minis, and scowl in scorn at the idea of them. Then again, every D&D Day like clockwork, I go out and drop 40-80 bucks on new minis. Have a huge case of them--even more with 4e out there, since I need at least 3-5 of each (8 if they're minions).

I try to get the perfect minis for each monster, often modding and repainting miniatures to make them perfect.

I'm all for prepainted plastic minis though, I almost never go for the metal ones (Nualia and the Pathfinder Goblins are noted exceptions).

Until 3E, we never used figures for our games. For various reasons, when we hit 3E we changed on that view. It's been helpful to actually see where we're all standing, what we're facing, and so on. Typically we use prepainted minis, but our GM, loving and talented soul that she is, has been making minis of our characters for various campaigns. I have my monk from a couple campaigns back and she recently completed the Gatherer of Souls for the current campaign (along with the rest of the party). I've enjoyed the addition of figures to the game.

I actually prefer counters/tokens, w/ nice art (thank you Fiery Dragon Productions!) to miniatures. So no real interest in minis.

I like the idea of mini's, but my group generally just uses counters or dice when we need to lay something out. None of us have the enthusiasm to keep up a large collection of figures, so even in the rare campaign where we try to use miniatures we always end up just making do with what we have.

The group I'm playing with for 4E use miniatures for all the player characters and have little monster tokens they can cut out. That actually works really well and helps keep set-up time down while also minimising storage. But still managing to keep some flavour by having the goblins actually look like goblins, albeit 2d papery ones.

Kirth Gersen wrote:

I'm very anti-dolls when it comes to gaming.

Action Figures.

I do love to use metal minis on my games (when I used to run games anyhow...) and I always try o use the most appropiate mini for the monster, no pineapples or turkeys!

I do love to use metal minis on my games (when I used to run games anyhow...) and I always try o use the most appropiate mini for the monster, no pineapples or turkeys!

I am pretty uncompromising on my decision not to use miniatures in my D&D games. That said, I will still buy an occasional mini if it looks cool enough. I'll paint them and put them on display; I just don't use them in my games.

I have two major issues when it comes to miniatures at this point:
1)functionality
2)cost

At this point, I don't usually pay more than $1 for a small or medium and also most large creatures. I might pay up to about $3 for a huge if I think I might get some use out of it. But again, the cheaper the better. As you can see, I don't buy very many metal miniatures anymore, because for the price of one metal I could get 4 plastic ones. It just doesn't make sense unless the metal one is really cool and needed for a specific character. I am definitely not interested in paying $15 for a single miniature, especially when a toy could be bought that looks just as good and for a lot cheaper (dragons for example).

For myself, I would be interested in cheap plastic, preferably prepainted, small-huge of semi-"common" creatures that are treated as "rare" by sellers like WotC. I mean, I am still looking for a cheap chain devil.

I don't really use minis much at all. Mostly for an understanding of size scale.

Mainly I use miniatures so that they understand exactly how far they would fit into the creature's mouth :)

I mean, I am still looking for a cheap chain devil.

pres man wrote:

I mean, I am still looking for a cheap chain devil.

How does THIS work for ya?

I just use the pre-painted plastic minis.

I've got an order of Against the Giants and Dangerous Delves pending shipment from Amazon presently.

I know it's cheaper to buy them loose than in random or semi-random packages, but I like to play the lottery with random packages.

I should be ordering a gorgon that my players are likely to encounter soon, but I haven't done that. Part of the reason for that is because I have almost the complete set of Unhallowed minis from buying random boxes (I bought 29 random boxes of Unhallowed) and I just feel funny buying miniatures from that set loose. I'm still missing five, one of which is the gorgon, and the others of which I don't care about that much.

Anyway, I do regularly use minis in my game of the pre-painted plastic variety. When I first started DMing, I bought a handful of loose minis at a game store near where I was going to college that included two werewolves and one werebear. In the earliest sessions, every monster the party encountered looked like a werewolf or a werebear and we used the paper grid from my brother's 3e starter set, just using whatever I could find to put on the grid to give the outline of the environment. (This was usually pencils, so my players have memories of going through caves made of pencils and fighting kobolds that looked a lot like werewolves.) When I heard about Unhallowed set, and saw that it had Strahd as a mini, I just had to have him though. And I've bought multiples of every random set since Unhallowed.

I wasn't planning to keep buying the D&D minis when they went to the new format with less minis per box but when I saw the unicorn and hippogriff, I wanted them so I bought them, and I'm awaiting my third Dangerous Delves package to arrive. (Since I ordered online, even the visible mini will be random but I won't complain if I get another unicorn or hippogriff.)

I have plans to try running a Ravenloft/Masque of the Red Death game without the battle grid, but I'm also intimidated at the prospect. I'm hoping that my players are familiar enough with the grid combat rules that they'll be able to keep them in mind now even without the grid when battle does come up. I think the grid itself distracts from the RP though. The players see the grid and are ready to get the combat rolling.

The most I've ever paid for a single mini is in the neighborhood of $7, for an Astral Deva (pre-painted plastic). When it was announced that 4e was changing angels to look less traditional, I bought two Astral Devas and a few other angelic-looking minis on Ebay just to make sure I can represent 3.x angels when they come up.

I'd like to try painting miniatures but I'm also intimidating by the amount of time it would take and I'm worried that I'd mess up. One of my players paints miniatures and has shown me some of the ones he has painted. I'm also a bit concerned about the initial investment in paints and supplies being a waste of money if I do decide painting the minis isn't something I want to do.

Gene wrote:

pres man wrote:

I mean, I am still looking for a cheap chain devil.

How does THIS work for ya?

Thanks, but it is too large (works for a large sized creature though). I've already got that guy, hoping it would work. What I will probably end up going with is this guy.

Thanks for the heroclix link, I may actually pick it up and use it instead. Do you know how well they compare size-wise to D&D mini scale?

pres man wrote:

Gene wrote:

pres man wrote:

I mean, I am still looking for a cheap chain devil.

How does THIS work for ya?

Thanks, but it is too large (works for a large sized creature though). I've already got that guy, hoping it would work. What I will probably end up going with is this guy.

Gah, I was wondering about how big that mini was (I was thinking on picking one up - glad I didn't, thanks).

Thanks for the heroclix link, I may actually pick it up and use it instead. Do you know how well they compare size-wise to D&D mini scale?

The mini is ok, but the base is a little big (about 1.5" diameter). If you don't mind rebasing them (or having an oversized base) most HeroClix work great.

I have a friend who makes figures and is hoping to make a living manufacturing them.
My personal experience in D&D is that I use the nearest figure that fits the template (The cow figure has been used a lot).

I just wondered how many people buy figures and paint them for a specific adventure/campaign, and how many just use what they have got and improvise, also how many just use templates.

dinglesgames.com