This seems to have provoked a mass panic amongst D&D players, who need mini's to play, what with the game being specifically designed for them, and measuring all its effects, distance and movement in Squares. I even suggested, during my last ill fated attempt at running D&D that all in character references to distance be made in Squares, and that the Forgotten Realms had adopted it as a standard measuring unit.
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| The minimum number of D&D miniatures required to run a game from level 1 Heroic Tier to Paragon Tier |
There have been frantic blog posts and forum questions, screaming "Where can I get more mini's from?!?!?! I need some more Vampire Mind Flayers and Rogue Beholders to complement my Metallic Blue Dragon Riding Goblin Lord."
Ok, maybe that's not a direct quote. It would be a Chromatic Blue Dragon Riding Goblin Lord. A Metallic Blue one just makes no sense.
Now, back when I last thought about running D&D I got a bit concerned about miniatures. I didn't want to let random packs of eight figures back into my life, as I knew from painful experience that you have to buy at least five boxes before you have the right figures to represent the party and stage a fight that doesn't involve saying "The elf archer, troglodyte and wolf are all zombies, the shambling mound is a wraith and the kobold is the lich necromancer that summoned them".
Then I had a revelation. An epiphany. A moment of clarity.
Why the fuck was I not using a chess set?
The board is the right size, if a bit limited in utility (you enter another 40'x40' room).
The pieces are ingeniously designed to allow the portrayal of the party (white pieces) and any adversaries (black pieces).
When it comes to monsters, the boss is always either the King or Queen. Any expendable cannon fodder are obviously Pawns, and other roles can be represented by the remaining pieces.
- King = Warlord or Paladin
- Queen = Rogue or Wizard or Ranger
- Bishop = Cleric or Wizard or Warlock
- Knight = Fighter or Paladin or Rogue or Warlord or Ranger
- Rook = Barbarian or Fighter
- Pawn = Fighter, Rogue
Why not kill two birds with one stone ;-)
ReplyDeleteI hear what you're saying, and feel bad pointing out that the pieces are all dragons.
ReplyDeleteOtherwise, yeah, exactly what i'm getting at. I think people would be more willing to part with a sizeable chunk of cash if it's for a quality chess set that they can also use with their games.