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Drakeburn
2014-07-20, 01:28 PM
I'm nearly done with my first few encounters for my campaign, but I started to realize some complications to the game.......

First of all, I'm running a homemade D&D 4e campaign. What I realize that I do not have any d&d miniatures for the game.

I was thinking about using the small colored wooden cubes from my old game of RISK, but it might be hard to keep track of which game piece is which.

And I don't want to download anything. I just got my hardware replaced after my old one had problems with the graphics accelerator (I think....).

So, does anybody know any good substitutes what will be good enough for game pieces? Any maybe to make them?

Jormengand
2014-07-20, 01:51 PM
Chess pieces work if desperate. White for heroes and black for their opponents, or vice versa.

Oneris
2014-07-20, 01:51 PM
Find images of the monsters online, print them out on paper in the size appropriate for your board, and glue them to pennies.

Or, try some of these links.

http://www.thefantasytrip.org/pieces.php

http://alumnus.caltech.edu/~leif/FRP/cardboard.html

http://www.mmiparchive.papermakeit.com/Main.html

http://tartex.blogspot.com/2009/04/free-paper-miniatures-flat-figures.html

There's also the OOTS style Monster for All Seasons available if you were a kickstarter backer, and several sites with fanmade OOTS style printable minis.

Lord Torath
2014-07-20, 03:07 PM
www.iheartprintandplay.com Shouldn't require anything more advanced than Windows Photo Viewer and a printer. No need for a powerful graphics card.

Also, lego mini-figs can work in a pinch (and if you have enough of them)

Airk
2014-07-20, 06:44 PM
Lego minifigs are actually BETTER than miniatures if you have enough of them.

If you're on a budget, you can just use pieces of index card, cut into roughly 1" wide strips and folded so they stand up. You can then write a name on them, and presto.

Calen
2014-07-20, 07:07 PM
I will third the lego mini figures. Easy to change around the looks between sessions. A great choice if you have a previous collection. The only downside would be if you want to make monsters that fit in with the other tokens.

Knaight
2014-07-20, 07:48 PM
I really like tokens, personally. Get some poker chips (ideally the heavy clay kind), find decent printable faces of things, put the faces on the poker chips somehow. Presto, done.

ElenionAncalima
2014-07-21, 08:14 AM
I use these (http://www.amazon.com/Toysmith-Guardian-Knights-Action-36-Piece/dp/B000YA7FS6/ref=sr_1_5?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1405948092&sr=1-5&keywords=knights") for pretty much everyone except Player Characters. They are generic enough that they are reuasable, but specific enough to tell apart. Also, black and grey makes it easy to demonstrate different factions.

I also have a few animal figures that my friend got at the flea market for monsters and wildshapers. Still costs money, but its a lot cheaper that the $3 minimum/per figure for most regular miniatures.

Brookshw
2014-07-21, 08:21 AM
Lots of good suggestions so far. I'll add glass beads, you can usually buy bags of mixed color beads for a buck.

Millennium
2014-07-21, 09:30 AM
Pathfinder's paper minis are nice. Even if you don't use the Paizo versions, the template is easy enough to figure out, and then you can just make your own.

Icehouse pieces are also nifty for this. They come in different colors and sizes, you can stack them or nest them, and they look really cool. Most of them are transparent, so you can stick pieces of paper under them if you need further distinguishing (by number, for example). They can get pricey if you want a lot of them, though.

The super-old-school way to do not-minis is to get a thick dowel rod, slice it up into a bunch of pieces, and paint different colors and numbers on them.

Grod_The_Giant
2014-07-21, 10:04 AM
I usually use corrugated carboard-- it's hardier and easier to pick up and move little squares.
A friend of mine has a big bag of plastic bottlecaps in different colors, with numbers written on the top. ("2-6 are orcs, and 1 is the drake")
You can also get a bag of nickles or quarters or something and use a wet erase marker to label (And reuse) them.

oxybe
2014-07-21, 10:41 AM
First off, download the tokentool (http://www.rptools.net/index.php?page=tokentool)application. It's a free java program.

tokentool is ridiculously easy to use.
-Find a picture, either scanned or online (google, an SRD, a database, whatever)
-Click and drag it on the large workspace with the token outline on it. Move it around, zoom & crop to get a good mugshot.
-Save it.

Hooray, a token. Huh? You want multiple kobolds, not just one?

Alright, then open your favourite image manipulation software. I enjoy using the completely free GIMP (http://www.gimp.org/downloads/)(the Gnu Image Manipulation Program).

-Open a fresh 8x11.5 sheet
-Do some copy/paste to get multiple tokens
-Use your awesome photoshopping (gimping?) skills to add numbers on the tokens (5 kobolds, each with 1-5 numbered on a corner somewhere)
-Print.

Hooray and huzza! Tokens.

Oh, you don't want them to fly away?

-Go to a craft store
-You should be able to find either double sided tape or a glue stick.
-What you're really looking for though, are 1inch wooden dowels/disks. These should be pretty cheap and plenty. I know I've seen them at Micheals and the dollar store. Alternatively, quarters will work.
-Add tape/glue to one side of disk/coin & apply the cut-out token

Alright. Done.

Cowardly Griffo
2014-07-21, 11:12 AM
A lot of suggestions seem to have missed the
I don't want to download anything.bit.

For what it's worth, my group usually uses dice, since we have so many floating around. It's easy to keep track of which one is which, since you'll always have a number and a color showing up. Even with minis, you can sometimes forget which hobgoblin was hobgoblin number one and which one was number two.

Plus it's kind of funny when everyone gets worried because the GM just busted out a d12. Bigger dice must mean a scarier monster! :smalltongue:

This is obviously a temporary low-tech solution. You can also just go to any local toystore and pick up a bag of army men for pretty cheap. Sharpie them with numbers to keep track of which one's which–under the base if you want to keep the numbers out of sight.

Not super-immersive, but again: cheap and low-tech.

Aedilred
2014-07-21, 01:03 PM
When you say you don't want to download anything, does that mean you don't want to download a program, or you don't want to download even a file? There are a lot of cut-out tokens or stand-ups available (including some in OOTS style, although I don't know if they were Kickstarter only), many of them free.

We haven't really gone wrong with chess pieces. White pieces (or black if you want to be edgy) for the PCs, pawns of the same colour for party-summoned creatures, black pieces for enemy NPCs, pawns for mooks. Unless you have more than one set, very large encounters might be tricky, though.

If you have other board games, then there might be tokens or counters you can use from those. If you have Monopoly, there's even a dog for animal companions :smalltongue:

Really in most encounters you only need to differentiate one or two different hostiles and the rest will be largely identical. Even if fighting a hostile "party" then you could get six or even seven distinct individuals from chess pieces (invert one of the rooks) so marking the rest with generic tokens or the like would be fine.

Failing even that, it's not hard to make your own cardboard cut-outs if you don't mind putting a bit of time in.

iceman10058
2014-07-21, 06:56 PM
i have a giant dry erase board that has a 1 inch square grid on it, then the players just use different color dry erase markers

inexorabletruth
2014-07-21, 08:46 PM
Substitute 1:
Your computer! Cleanup is fast and easy, and you can plug your computer into most TVs these days so the whole group can see where you're dragging and dropping their character avatars. There are a wealth of online tools for dungeon building so maps are a breeze as well, and the effects are as good as your skill with the tools! Considering how easy the tools are to use, it won't take long for you to start cranking beautiful and elaborate encounter maps.

Substitute 2:
Legos. They are so amazing as a substitute that a comic was made (http://www.virtuallycomics.com/cde001/cde001p1.htm) based on this concept.

Substitute 3:
Cardboard, a box knife, scissors, glue stick and a color printer.
Cardboard boxes are easy enough to find. Cut your cardboard into 1" by 1" squares for medium monsters and go to this website (http://monsterfinder.dndrunde.de). Find the monster you want and drop it into your favorite photo editing tool, to make a sheet of 1x1 version of them. Print out your monster sheet, cut along the dotted lines you hopefully created and paste them onto the cardboard cutouts.

Substitute 4:
Wizards miniatures archive (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/fpm/archive) and the Map Folio 3-D or any analogous tools.

Substitute 5 (if you've got the cash):
War Hammer, Hero Quest, or Train Modeling miniatures are all quite good. In many cases, far better than most generic fantasy or D&D themed models.

BWR
2014-07-22, 01:38 AM
The budget version: Dice work wonders. They come numbered and with the different shapes and color they can fill in for quite a lot of things.
Also throwing my support behind Lego and simple paper cut-outs with writing on them.
They don't look nearly as pretty as minis but they get the job done.

Excession
2014-07-22, 05:52 AM
1 inch, white, glass tiles. Typically used for tiling bathrooms; they come in sheets from DIY shops. Draw or write on them using a permanent marker, which will clean off easily with alcohol. Dry erase markers also work, but they come off when you handle the tiles. Admittedly, a white square with "kobold" written on it does lack a certain something.

DigoDragon
2014-07-22, 06:47 AM
Find images of the monsters online, print them out on paper in the size appropriate for your board, and glue them to pennies.

This is what I do in my modern RPGs. Print colored portraits on 1-inch squares with character names. Or in the case of nameless mooks, I can reuse the same portrait and just number them for easy identification. I definitely recommend gluing them to pennies for weight. Otherwise one good sneeze is like a grenade went off on the map. :smallbiggrin:

If you have a budget, SJGames has "Cardboard Heroes (http://www.sjgames.com/heroes/)", which is basically stand-up paper cutouts preprinted. I still recommend gluing pennies to them, but they are not bad and there are packs for different genres.

sktarq
2014-07-22, 03:38 PM
I can't remember where I found them but I got a hold of a big set of poker chips coated with something that works with dry erase marker. So a pumpkin or grey lady would be a dragon the red would be various minions. And coloured disks that are not white centered dry erase chips are used for the PC's.

SiuiS
2014-07-22, 06:54 PM
I personally am a fan of cardboard/stock board tokens. For reoccurring PCs, and such, you can draw the person and re-use them. For mooks and such, you can create mini whiteboards using white postcard, scotch tape, and dry erase marker (fine tip). Whenever you need tokens, pull out your Altoidstm tin, count out the right number and size of pre-cut strips and fold them in half like a tent. :D

VoxRationis
2014-07-22, 10:44 PM
Legos. They are so amazing as a substitute that a comic was made (http://www.virtuallycomics.com/cde001/cde001p1.htm) based on this concept.


Those are Playmobil, incidentally.
We only have a few miniatures in my gaming group and my encounters often involve lots of near-identical opponents. Therefore, we often have to use some sort of miniature substitue. We often need to use spare dice, but sometimes we need to use random other things. Children's toys often work well.

DigoDragon
2014-07-23, 06:37 AM
pull out your Altoidstm tin

The amusing bit is that I've seen Altoids tins all the time, but it wasn't for another year after my first sighting did I actually see an Altoids.

VoxRationis
2014-07-23, 06:11 PM
That's a real shame. Altoids are amazing. I'll eat them by the bushel if possible.

Socksy
2014-07-24, 01:34 PM
A lot of suggestions seem to have missed thebit.

For what it's worth, my group usually uses dice, since we have so many floating around. It's easy to keep track of which one is which, since you'll always have a number and a color showing up. Even with minis, you can sometimes forget which hobgoblin was hobgoblin number one and which one was number two.

Plus it's kind of funny when everyone gets worried because the GM just busted out a d12. Bigger dice must mean a scarier monster! :smalltongue:

This is obviously a temporary low-tech solution. You can also just go to any local toystore and pick up a bag of army men for pretty cheap. Sharpie them with numbers to keep track of which one's which–under the base if you want to keep the numbers out of sight.

Not super-immersive, but again: cheap and low-tech.

Dice (especially d10s/d%, they have zeroes on them) are also great for flying opponents, use a bunch of dice in different colours or put a bit of paper next to them saying what they are. Change the number on the die depending on how high up the opponent is. So a d10 showing an 8 would mean '8 squares off the ground'.

TheThan
2014-07-24, 02:33 PM
i've used paper cut outs before.
the main problem is that they are flimsy and get blown away via a person's breath.
if you go that route, use thicker, stiffer, heavier paper, some sort of card stock should suffice standard printer paper is not good for paper cut out minis.

Erasmas
2014-07-24, 02:40 PM
Early on, before I acquired a bunch of miniatures, my wife and I bought a bag of clear glass beads (the kind mentioned here already, where you put them in a fish tank or a vase). We then wrote numbers on the bottoms of them in permanent marker (backwards so that they could be read from the top) and then glued little white felt circles over the numbers, so that they could be clearly read and to protect the marker/battle mat.

I actually still use these (though many of the felt backings have come off over the last ten years) on occasion when there is a large number of the same kind of enemy - such as goblins, orcs, kobolds, etc.

Slipperychicken
2014-07-24, 11:19 PM
My brother once ripped a small square from a sheet of of paper and scribbled an image of a cow on one side in pencil. In the session, a T-Rex killed the cow, so he flipped the paper over to reveal a dead/mangled version of that very same cow. I only realize upon reflection that the cow's token was beautiful in its simplicity: It was practically free, took less than 2 minutes and no skill to create, and served as a useful visual aid which not only clearly represented a cow, but exceeded the functionality of many tokens and miniatures by conveying the cow's death with the simple action of flipping it over.

One could also put in real effort and improve upon the idea somewhat by taping a penny (or other cheap, thin thing which won't be blown away by wind) to a square of cardboard, and then somehow attach the desired images to each side (or fold them over the cardboard so you can easily replace them): One side indicates the creature living, and another for unconscious or dead (the latter could simply be the former with a diagonal slash or X mark over it). One could also replace the hand-drawn scribbles with printouts of computer-generated images (i.e. MSPaint + downloaded images, which I admit is the digital equivalent of scribbling).

SiuiS
2014-07-25, 12:53 AM
My brother once ripped a small square from a sheet of of paper and scribbled an image of a cow on one side in pencil. In the session, a T-Rex killed the cow, so he flipped the paper over to reveal a dead/mangled version of that very same cow. I only realize upon reflection that the cow's token was beautiful in its simplicity: It was practically free, took less than 2 minutes and no skill to create, and served as a useful visual aid which not only clearly represented a cow, but exceeded the functionality of many tokens and miniatures by conveying the cow's death with the simple action of flipping it over.

One could also put in real effort and improve upon the idea somewhat by taping a penny (or other cheap, thin thing which won't be blown away by wind) to a square of cardboard, and then somehow attach the desired images to each side (or fold them over the cardboard so you can easily replace them): One side indicates the creature living, and another for unconscious or dead (the latter could simply be the former with a diagonal slash or X mark over it). One could also replace the hand-drawn scribbles with printouts of computer-generated images (i.e. MSPaint + downloaded images, which I admit is the digital equivalent of scribbling).

Easy:

Take a strip of card stock, 60mm long. Cut in half. Draw from of living hero on one, back of living hero on other. Reverse. Draw same front/back, but deceased. Use scotch to ape to create durable "hinge" at the head of each piece. Attach one foot to a Penny or similar; attach a tab about the length of a Penny to other foot with additional hinge.

Stand up "mini". Upon death, flip both hinges so the mini retains the same size and shape but now displays other side of paper.

/*\
==*

Where black is card stock, red is the hinge, and Copper is the Penny or washer.

I think I'm gonna try this...

Coidzor
2014-07-25, 12:59 AM
If you drink a lot of different kinds of bottled soda, then you can give each player their own different color of lid and then give entire different colors to various mook types or notable foes their own individual color as well.

This ties in well with the practice of using the various colored rings left behind when the seals on soda bottles are broken to convey status effects or that a creature is flying/burrowing/invisible, I think.

There's also finding tokens online and printing them out and then glueing them to a cheap backing like steel washers or pennies or what have you. One can also use various coinage in a similar way for larger groups of enemies/mooks/summonses.

Green Leviathan
2014-07-25, 09:34 AM
An Aluminum can is just about the right size for a huge creature fyi.

IllogicalBlox
2014-07-25, 02:00 PM
Roll20 has labelable miniatures and virtual maps.

SiuiS
2014-07-25, 08:10 PM
And requires a computer. If I can't run a game out of an altoids tin in the woods. I'm doing somethig wrong.

Coidzor
2014-07-26, 06:07 AM
And requires a computer. If I can't run a game out of an altoids tin in the woods. I'm doing somethig wrong.

Now I'm just trying to remember if you can even fit standard d20s in an altoids tin. Then again, I guess there's always the 3d6 rules variant for when one would otherwise have call for one.

Drakeburn
2014-07-26, 09:47 AM
I'm surprised that nobody mentioned using tiny colored blocks of wood from RISK.
I actually know a colleague who does that as well.

And that was what I was thinking of using. But it might be harder to keep track of (say if the PCs were surrounded, it would be a challenge to tell which monster is which)

Lilapop
2014-07-26, 10:38 AM
While it doesn't help the OP specifically, I added little numbers on the bottom of the bases when I assembled my Warhammer miniatures back in the day. The initial intention was to allow lining them up the same way every time, so I could avoid clipping issues. But it also took care of what others mentioned multiple times: Which orc is #1, which is #2? Well, just lift one up and check the number.

Jay R
2014-07-26, 02:04 PM
My preferred solution is to have one player who loves collecting miniatures.

FabulousFizban
2014-07-26, 02:45 PM
I use candy, starbursts specifically since they are almost exactly 1"/1". I realized it was way better to reward my players for killing enemies with candy than to have pricey cool looking miniatures. I've done both, and my players prefer the candy.

I may be creating a Pavlovian response towards fighting stuff, but I also create a Pavlovian response towards coming back week after week - go to Fizban's game, get a treat. good dog :D

EDIT: starbursts allow you to differentiate monsters as well, since you can use different colors, or just write numbers on the wrappers.

EDIT2: for player minis: What I've done in the past is buy those round warhammer mini bases, just the bases, and then had players print out pictures of their PC and glue it onto the base. Works really well, and allows your players to have their characters look like whatever they want (you can only really fit the face on the base, but no one has ever seemed bothered by that). People like it because they don't have to go, "well, this piece sort of looks like what I had in mind." They can get exactly what they want

SiuiS
2014-07-27, 12:42 AM
Now I'm just trying to remember if you can even fit standard d20s in an altoids tin. Then again, I guess there's always the 3d6 rules variant for when one would otherwise have call for one.

Scientific testing shows the d20 does indeed fit (snugly) but I could see it being a problem in the "can't have a d20 in the box with any other thing" fashion.

Means if I end up making a game kit I'll have to do creepy scrolls or something instead of, like, books.
Man, that might be hard. Huh. Solves my "what dimensions are the inside of the altoids tin in millimeters i I can put a book in diagonally...


I'm surprised that nobody mentioned using tiny colored blocks of wood from RISK.
I actually know a colleague who does that as well.

And that was what I was thinking of using. But it might be harder to keep track of (say if the PCs were surrounded, it would be a challenge to tell which monster is which)

I have never actually seen the little wooden blocks for Risk. I've never seen an intact copy of risk.

Coidzor
2014-07-27, 04:46 AM
I'm surprised that nobody mentioned using tiny colored blocks of wood from RISK.
I actually know a colleague who does that as well.

And that was what I was thinking of using. But it might be harder to keep track of (say if the PCs were surrounded, it would be a challenge to tell which monster is which)

I don't even remember those. My game of risk had dice and little plastic cannons, men, and, IIRC, horses.

Aedilred
2014-07-27, 05:59 AM
I think Risk has been through numerous iterations. My version had the men, cavalry and cannon too, but I have seen older versions with plastic cones, and I imagine when it came out in the 50s it had wooden blocks or the like; maybe some versions still do.

DigoDragon
2014-07-27, 11:14 AM
My preferred solution is to have one player who loves collecting miniatures.

I was that player for my group once... except I was usually the DM, but still worked out. Even had a player at one time who painted model cars as a hobby so he'd custom some of my stock to make them unique. Only hand fantasy miniatures though, so for more modern campaigns we'd go with the cardstock and pennies.

Jay R
2014-07-27, 04:08 PM
Checkers for random minions. Chessmen for specific NPCs.

Brogen
2014-07-27, 11:51 PM
I use a whiteboard in the middle of the table. I draw the terrain on the map, and the players are marked on the board with the letter of their character's first name (or first 2 letters if multiple characters have the same first initial). I then mark enemies down with a similar initial system--Orcs are O, a Death Knight gets a D or K depending on other labels out there. It works pretty well; I just wipe out the initial when the enemy dies. You can even use facing by denoting which side of the initial is the front.

Someone earlier mentioned a whiteboard with a grid, which would probably help if you enforce a square/hex system (I don't know how exactly 4E does this).

Diachronos
2014-07-28, 11:33 AM
If you end up using something other than an actual miniature, you might want to consider having some kind of "direction marker" on it so that you can keep track of which direction people are facing. Usually it doesn't matter, but for the rare cases where it does, like against creatures with Gaze attacks, it really matters.

Erasmas
2014-07-28, 02:30 PM
Several people mentioned putting numbers on the bottom of various markers/miniatures to differentiate between ones that were the same. One of the things that I do (I use minis) it to paint a small dot of color onto the top of the base near the rim of identical figures. That way, without even having to disturb them from the board, we can all tell them apart - One dot is #1, two dots is #2, etc.

This also keeps from having "unsightly" numbers glaring back at you... if you are into immersion of the battle through the visual depiction of it on the tabletop, that is.

Anderlith
2014-07-28, 07:24 PM
I like to use those colored glass beads that people use to put in fishtanks or decorative items.