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Most of my minis are metal, so an estimated guess between 2... and 300lb being conservative, I must have painted about a 1/3 of that so far. 1 & 2) Nope, I always prep what I need in advance. If I don't have what I need I try to get/craft it and make it ready, if not I improvise. 3) I try to describe first, then put the terrain/battlemap/tiles on the table or do both at the same time if I have to puzzle them together. 4) The monsters I need are always in a box under the table or behind the DM's Screen so I can grab and place them quickly when I need to. 5) Whenever is possible, back when I started I used paper minis, over the years I've built a nice collection of metal and plastic so that I have most of the basics (goblins, orcs, bandits, etc) and some of the rarer (dragons, demons, aberrations, etc). 6) I try to prep and paint them weeks/months in advance, if I don't manage to do it on time, well tough titties, back when I started I had no painted minis so. 7) I plan for it, but sometimes I forget about it during the game. 8) Some day I hope I can go overboard XD, I love to craft stuff specially terrain and dioramas (I still have a lot to learn and put into practice). 9) Guilty, being "compulsive obsessive" doesn't mix well with this hobby in my experience XD. 10) Guilty, both IRL and Online.
Leave to a cliffhanger before rolling initiative, call a break, then the players return to the table to a full set of miniature and terrain. And also 3d printing and mz450 make having every minis what you see what you get easier.
Love that Miguel (mz450) has free stls of every D&D monster! Except one I needed!! "Werebat" from DOTMM. But been printing his stuff for the last 19 months since I got a 3D printer.
Leaving to a cliffhanger is a cool idea, but it sounds like it would lead to a lot of very short sessions... Guarantee he does not. I play 3.5e and there are 5 monster manuals of monsters I use, aswell as fiend folio, all the monsters from various supplements (expanded psionics and the 'complete' books, as well as several others such as tome of magic and book of nine swords), and several other sources, mostly third party. Also I'd you ever make your own creatures you won't find minis of them.
@@nightfall89z62 I have done a take on cliff hanger before - a 15 minute smoke break - disrupts the flow a bit and I only use that in a sandbox when the party goes off the grid
I wouldn't tolerate for long a group of players that constantly ignores plot Hooks and goes wandering off on random things. I would obviously try having a discussion with them first about the social contract and how when a game master prepared something and delivers a plot hook it's understood that the group is probably going to go do that thing. But at some point if it becomes obvious that the game they want to play it's not the game that I want to run something has to give.
@Homebrew Stew Times like that, I declare a bathroom and drink refill break, giving me time to rifle through boxes. Though usually, I will prepare more of and more varied minis and terrain than I think I am going to use. First, just in case, and second as a misdirection of expectation.
The most important thing when using minis is to have an organized, well sorted, labeled and organized, did I say organized mini collection. If you can't find what you need in under 5 minutes, reorganize.
I put all my minis on display in Billy bookshelves, and then put big labels on each shelf and organized the monsters by type, and humanoids by weapon type.
This video came up while I was literally making terrain for a boss battle: ancient blue dragon in a room whose walls, floor and ceiling are covered in metal plates with runes carved into them. I etched the grid and runes into a piece of foamcore, glued a piece of aluminum foil over it (rubbing the foil into the grooves), the went over the grooves with blue marker and covered the whole thing in clear tape so the marker wouldn't rub off, and so the foil would not be too reflective (we' play by Zoom). Only cost me a few bucks, but I will admit it's been time consuming. Just hope the players appreciate it.
That's cool dude. Things like that are time-consuming but lots of dungeon Master's enjoy doing it. And they also enjoy the look on their players faces when they reveal that awesome set-piece.
I use paper cutouts, I call them Splats, for outdoor terrain. I use circles of paper for rocks, trees, hills and water. It helps a lot to visualize what's going on.
I do a similar thing for rocks trees and stuff. Just a simple Circles of paper. Nothing fancy but it gets the job done and helps the players know where cover can be found during a battle.
@@theDMLair I think it's important to show these simple shortcuts. It takes the stress off the newbie DM...they need all the encouragement we can give them. :-)
I was mid-crafting craze one day and showed my brother some foam rocks I was working on, and he said, "You know what else works as rocks? rocks. There's a whole much outside." It is amazing how deep you can crawl into the rabbit hole and miss the obvious.
@@MonkeyJedi99 lol, yeah. Do you do any traveling for any games, say to conventions or something? If so you could counterpoint with that the foam is lighter and easier to take with you to make sure you have your rocks available when you go to cons instead of having to route around in the dirt or rockbed outside for them at the last moment. Otherwise, yeah, your brother got ya there. XD
Much of this applies to VTT, too. Not having digital tokens ready, assuming that you don't need to describe the beautiful battlemap, not thinking through terrain effects mechanics
I definitely think that a map of an encounter shouldn't be revealed until after you've described it, it's been explored, and until the call for initiative. You can use the time that they're rolling initiative to bring in some terrain, roll out a map, or hastily scribble something on a mat. Minis should be right there and not hiding somewhere. I figure this is more likely for people who are playing at home and don't bother to get stuff ready, whereas if you're playing somewhere, you're going to need to take everything with you. Granted in real life, you're busy and you can't always get stuff together, but if you schedule something for a certain time, you should schedule it with time to get set up.
When I first started playing in 1983, we were kids that couldn't afford the books, let alone the minis. Back then if you could find them they were metal. We just used whatever you could. My friends from back then and I still lovingly refer to those days as the Notebook Edition. In the early 90s, we would use green army men, modified with a soldering iron and Tester's model paint. Due to family life and a career in the military, I took an extended hiatus. I missed it, but my youngest daughter has been playing for almost 10 years (3.5 is her favorite) and I've been back for a little over a year now, and game twice a week with a great group, mostly the kids of my buddies, their friends, and a buddy. The greatest thing is 3 of the players asked me if they could DM a One-Shot or two. We played every other week back then and my answer was Yes, please do. As I said 4 games a week and I don't have to be Forever DM.
You make a lot of valid and interesting points Luke. In the end I guess it all depends on whatever someone likes and is willing to do without it becoming a burden. As someone who took the plunge recently into 3d printing, mini painting and foam building I’m trying to build terrain for my players. That being said, I see it as a part of my hobby and not as a must do. We still use theater of the mind and I try to put care into descriptions of the rooms, because as fun as terrain building might be, it will never fully capture the wonder of imagination. Terrain is meant to enhance and not replace the magic that is bringing a story into life.
Purchased 3D Printer. Printed terrain and minis. We use a variety of methods of portraying encounters though. Smaller ones we'll just use the VTT. Bigger and Boss encounters we tend to use the terrain on the table. And sometimes it's just fun to set up terrain layouts to show off new objects. :-) One thing I did learn was that I don't need to make the terrain exactly match the VTT map. Close enough is good enough, then just make sure that we base the encounter on the terrain and not worry about the VTT map until the encounter is done and we're back to exploring again.
You can get by with a good-sized plain battle mat, basic wet erase markers, and good sized collection of cardboard pogs or stand-up cardboard markers. It's a whole lot easier to transport too
I've actually made a conscious effort to find a balance between having items set up on the table for my players to look at and manipulate without breaking the bank . What that is meant for me is some battle-grids with dry-erase markers of various colors (to draw terrain), some monster tokens with generic icons to represent the monsters on the grid (we use some theater of the Mind for the monsters with their description; the tokens are only used for positioning on the grid during battle), and actual miniatures for the PCs and major NPCs (all other characters are theater of the mind with a description or as a small wooden cube, if they need to be represented on the grid). And that's it! so far, my players seem satisfied and I don't have to dedicate too much space or money toward terrain and miniatures. Thanks for the video!
I've played and run all the different ways: Theater of the Mind, basic graph paper, 1" graph paper with pennies, dry erase board in college where we'd erase and redraw to move, basic roll out mat with minis, amazing terrain without grids and we used measuring sticks for ranges, movement, etc., and I'm sure I missed some. Guess what!? THEY ALL WORK!!! Nice/amazing terrain and miniatures are nice to look at and can help facilitate imagination BUT they're FAR from required.
Absolutely 100% correct here. It's nice to have minis sometimes, but realistically, they're just not necessary. Generally speaking I use miniature representations for the monsters and players, and dry erase graph paper for the terrain.
I took your description of an over the top swamp terrain build as inspiration and a challenge,even posted it on Reddit,thank you for inspiring my current magnum opus
I've recently started playing in person again with some friends and use unpainted minis and predrawn battle maps on gridded flip chart paper. I like using the mini PCs and monsters since I believe it helps get players more connected to the game. But the maps are very, very basic. And they still have fun.
Our DM uses a grid and abstract token to represent scenes. As he says, he doesn't like using "wrong" minis and will newer have minis for each creature in his game world, so he prefers abstractions. We also often use dice and coins to represent some objects or conditions. I like this practice, and if I will ever be DM I think I will stick to it.
If you're going the paper token route, you could go "extra" and print art 'borrowed' from online sources to indicate creatures, characters, and items/structures/runes. You don't even need to print in color. You could print black and white, and then decide if you feel like applying color with crayons, markers or colored pencils.
I found some 8.5x11 sheets of one-inch grid paper, and I've been drawing my maps and terrain on that. For larger areas, I can put multiple sheets next to each other, and for dungeons, I can cut out individual pieces and set down one room at a time. It's flat, which is great for storage and transportation, and it probably only weighs a few pounds. Oh, and Luke Hart doesn't suck.
When I use grid and minis for players, I use candy (flavored tootsie rolls right now) for regular monsters and minions. Now I only need "good" minis for PCs and bosses. They are different colored, so I keep track of hp by color of candy, players can say easily point out which orc they attack (I attack the red tootsie roll orc). And as an added bonus, when they kill a monster, they get to literally eat it!
I made pullout shelves for under my table, I make the set ups in the drawers, open sesame, next area. As far as terrain, buy a proxon, paint and $20 sheet of foam and go for it, much cheaper. I only deploy terrain or draw maps (when playin live) for battles so players can use tactics. Theater of the Mind is under-rated, don't use terrain for shopping, tavern scenes without battle, encounterless travel and camping.
My sessions tend to be so beautifully complex, with dungeons and locations and scenes that are so intricate and complex, that it would be impossible to pull off with 3D terrain, and in fact 3D terrain would restrict me from being able to make adventures like the ones I do. If I have to have a map and minis at all, it would have to be a hand-drawn 2D map.
@@jesternario thing is, no. Because it wouldn't work like that for me. I have upwards of 3 or 4 different locations that combats might take place, per session, and wouldn't be able to have that many tileset battle maps pre-setup. Heck, it would be a miracle if I even had enough table space for one! Frankly, theatre of the mind works better for me, and if my players can't play without a grid map and minis, I will hand draw all the maps I need.
Often, I find that at least representing altitudes and some scatter pieces is enough to elevate (pun intended) the encounter above a simple flat map. We have used all sorts of things to represent that verticality, from foam stuff I have crafted, to stacks of books or Lego bricks.
If you’re getting into or are into miniatures and terrain and plan on getting more I would greatly recommend getting a 3D printer. I spent about $200-250 on minis before I bought a 200$ printer and I love it. Saves me money and I can print minis and terrain faster and it would take for them to ship. The only downside is a subtle drop in quality but when paying $2.50 for a reaper bones mini compared to a 20 cent mini i think it’s well worth it.
Love this video. I have a couple hundred bucks worth of Dwarven forge that I use for big battles, but I didn't even paint it so my players have to use the description to picture anything beyond the general layout. I also get a lot of milage from the foam cubes that come in mini cases for cover and debris.
For sure! I've actually been spending more time making maps from scratch from packing materials and crafting supplies, was more customizable than Dwarven forge, as long as you don't mind occasionally spending hours on those maps. Haven't tried actual water for the swamp yet, though...
@@andrewmeigel2088 Plastic wrap (for food storage) is available in a few colors, one of them being blue. Just an idea to represent water, and it being translucent means you can still see a grid under it.
I only play D&D online, and as such my battle terrains are digital. I'll make a map in Google Drawings and share it with my players. That said, I would like the chance to play in person with miniatures. For that I would probably use my old Army Men, and other figurines. I have probably hundreds of individual plastic soldiers that would serve as great TTRPG minis. Some of them include things like mounts, cannons, and walls. One of the sets is strait up pirates vs skeletons. There is nothing wrong with using existing resources for new purposes.
Great tips as usual. I have a wooden box that a gift from my players got for me was packaged in. That is where I place minis and tiles for the session. An awesome gift has given me a box they get uneasy about when it is brought out.
This vid speaks to me, great job! Thinking back before I used virtual tabletop, my games were still great on 2D vinyl maps. I bought a set of 2D dungeon tiles, 2D minis and wet erase markers. I used to print/tape cutouts on my 2D minis for custom monsters. The players still told me that I was an amazing DM and we had a blast! Good narrative/writing is the foundation of D&D.
For all those unpainted Reaper Bones - prime them black with a rattlecan, then get 2-3 brighter colored craft paints like white, grey , light brown, and drybrush them . You can get a huge batch done like this in a couple of hours and they look nice on the table.
I really appreciate the tip for staging before game. I purpose built my game table with a play surface 6 inches lower than the table top it self (i.e. a hole in the middle). I kept the piece of wood I cuu out from the table top and now I can replace it when I have a session with a lot of pre-staged terrain (e.g. a dungeon crawl).
I do love painted minis, and have never though of putting unpainted minis down...but I think that might help me save some time trying to paint everything I need before my games.
I am fortunate in that our group has about 4 decades of minis numbering in the thousands, most of which have been painted over that time period. The bad part is that over the last few years, all of adhesive for the box labels has dried out, and need to be replaced.
I was just commenting this morning on one of Sly Flourish's videos … wooden blocks, jenga, cubes, spools, as abstract as possible, makes for the most effective terrain IMO. No Dwarven Forge plastic is going to look as rich as good flavor text. Set out the blocks to define the spaces as you narrate, paint the picture, and then plop down the monsters.
We got our first miniatures from Dwarven Forge -- they sent us a set for free after a hurricane when we spent 6 weeks without power and tabletop was the only gaming we could do. Now we're hooked!
My low-cost aproach to Terrain and Minis: I bought some generic wooden figures and painted them in simple colors: yellow and green for PCs, blue for allies of the PCs and red for enemies. The PC-figures are all destinct from each other. The allies and enemies are grouped in a way, that you can easily distinguish, who the main villain is and which the minions are and so on. For the terrain I use a battlemap and the wooden pieces of a JENGA-Tower. They are about 1 inch by 3 inch in size. Perfect for buildings, walls, hills and (if you put them upright) pillars and trees, too. As the DM you can still describe the scene and the monsters. I just use them to visualize the positioning in combat. And sometimes I let the players create the room, while I describe the scene. That way they are much more invested in the game. :)
One little secret I use, especially this time of year is, some Christmas wrapping paper has one inch grid squares on the back side to assist with wrapping presents. With a pen or pencil and some markers, you have all you need. I've done it a few times and it works great.
Here's my tip with "not having a mini for the monsters": Use Printable Heroes! I use actual mini's for important characters or "captain" units, while minions that I'll need more than two or four of, I'll print up from the website, cut, and attach to a basic wood base. I can put together a band of goblins led by Hobs and an Ogre or two in about 20 minutes if I'm quick about it.
Yesterday I ran a session after a long hiatus. It was actually the first time I wasn't stressed out and had time to figure out the terrain beforehand. We didn't have the terrain pieces for what I wanted, so I took some time to draw it on my wet erase map. It was so satisfying to roll out the map and the scene just being there! Instead of the haphazard quick drawings I used to do. I also asked one of my players who has a shitton of minis to bring some things (I threw in a couple of diversions of course) and instead of looking for the exact thing I just did a 'vibe check' aka is this the kind of creepy I want them to feel when seeing this monster. And then use description for what it actually looks like. We had a great time! Next session will be the boss battle and I can't wait!
I pretty much start off my preparation for a D&D session with a theater of the mind. Then I try to think about what I could put on the table that would make it a little better and I do that and then think about what I could do to make it a little better until I basically run out of time. Then whatever gets on the table it's on the table and whatever doesn't it's no big deal. I also prepare everything in advance and kind of walk through the dungeon before everybody arrives so I know how long it'll take to set things out and I can actually have chunks of stuff ready to put on the table when the time is right.
This is great. Kinda like a prep priority list. #7 I tried to have all my goblins painted but instead went just the shading portion of a slapchop because I was running out of time. Even a little paint makes them pop.
I believe to have about 3/4 of a pound (not British or American, my bad) of terrain and minis, containers included. About 30% of them are WOTC minis, while the rest are 3D prints because I could not find the right mini, let alone at a feasible price. All of my terrain are home made, though I do not have the space to make the ground and trees. I just have logs that can stand in as trees (easy to store and topple over), a few flat rocks with stairs for height, a line/pile of pebbles to suggest a cobble stone wall (the height is theatre of the mind, and they double as cave walls), some furniture and even a creepy looking tree made from a succulent stem that had delicate, dried out flowers. They hardly got used, but they live rent free on the one shelf I allotted for D&D items. That is the only way I have to prevent overspending and hoarding things. It is not easy, though I like to think it is a good way to teach self-control and consideration for the hobby. Because if I can afford to expand the hobby, I will then allow for it to grow. I like to call it the 'flower pot' lesson. If I cannot fit anything else in it, I either prune it back, or get a bigger pot. But know the bigger the pot, the more work I will need to maintain it.
When i first started i used toothpicks, different colored bottle caps, milk caps, small lids and colored pencils with printed paper that was barely grided. From my experience if your a Dm but you dont know if you want to be one and dont want to buy miniatures until you find out that is fine. As he said just think out the descriptions of items, rooms and creatures, make the lids and caps distinct from one another (i used a dry erase to mark different monsters using the same kind of lid) and most importantly have a group of friends. This is the most important but it almost insures that the people are there to have fun and hang out and not to observe your mini collection. I heavily encourage creativity with this use of terrain and pieces, and if you feel like you never have to buy minis because of this thats ok as well. Its a really good way to test being a dm or to help you become a dm on a low starting budget
For minis I usually use color coded fish bowl rocks. Red for enemies, blue or green for friendlies, yellow for neutrals. I use actual minis for my pc characters so in actual minis I have like maybe a pound or two. In fish bowl beads it's probably more.
I was at a Con game and the GM had a big battle with something like 7-8 players at the table (including me and my then 13 year old son) and he was using just a sheet of paper to track where everyone was, and it got to be a mess. Any token is fine, but in this case, I collect miniatures and terrain and when we took a break, sent the kiddo to our hotel room to grab a box or two of miniatures just to know where everyone was. There are times when the GM should at least consider (for large and complicated combats) where everything is on the board. Miniatures are 100% optional, but in this case, it really helped out to figure out where all the characters and the monsters were.
Great suggestions. #1 - I'm just finishing up my first attempt at DMing and ran LMoP. One of the first things I did was go to the back of the Module make a list of the Creatures and grab those from the supply of minis and put them in a separate bag. Sadly, we only got through the first couple of sessions before Covid and had to move to a VTT.
I use a high level room description first, followed by the monsters, and I save the detailed description for after the encounter in most cases - "You open the door to what appears to be a kitchen. A trio of pint-sized creatures with large ears and mottled green skin are standing around a table, all looking at you with a mixture of surprise and annoyance at the their meal being disturbed by your sudden intrusion. They snarl and draw rusty shortswords as they charge. Roll for initiative!" Then when the battle is over - "As the last of the three goblins falls to the ground, you quickly glance about the room looking for any others that might be lying in wait. Seeing none, you start to take in your surroundings...[insert details here]". This allows the players to keep their focus on the details that are important in the moment and gives the players a chance to transition from the strategy mindset back to the exploration mindset - its a kitchen and there's baddies; fight/flight/talk; baddies are dealt with, what do we find in the kitchen? The only exceptions to this are when (A) there are enemies waiting to ambush the party, or (B) there is an important thing in the room that I absolutely want the players to know is there. In the case of the ambush, I just describe the ambush and save the entire room description for after the battle or I describe the entire room first and then the ambush when it happens if the trigger is the party doing something within the room. In the case of the important thing in the room, I mention that as the very first thing they notice, and will mention it again in the post-encounter description so they know its there and they don't forget about it because some players are more interested in their characters surviving and progressing than they are in exploring and roleplaying. These overly cautious players are likely to abandon a quest because they don't want to fight a hellhound just to find out if the McGuffin they are seeking is on the other side of it, but they are plenty willing to find some way to deal with the hellhound (including fighting it) if they KNOW that the McGuffin is there.
While I entirely agree, I have set myself the challenge of having entirely painted and correct figures for my monthly Odessey game. So far I'm on target, and 6 month ahead on painted figures for the plot. To be clear, THE WHOLE POINT was to drive me to paint figures, to say I have many thousands of unpainted figures is probably an understatement, so this was entirely to drive me to do better and paint more. I got good at fast batch painting, 50 odd figures at a time, 2-3 hours total really chews through the backlog, accepting good enough rather then display level pieces every time.
I just started making grids out of Cardboard Boxes. And I only used them for combat, Puzzles or any event that require distance reference because it's hard for me to track the distance of a lot of people at once.
I have 3324 pre painted minis and most of the premium minis including Arveiaturace and the gargantuan Tiamat. I have personally painted around 300 minis (between Warhammer and D&D) and refuse to use unpainted (unless I have a good lore reason “such as stone constructs”). I have no idea how much they weigh. I have relied on theatre of the mind for terrain options. However, I am now in the process of acquiring terrain pieces that I am satisfied with. Currently building a cardboard model of highdark hall from ghastly affair.
I only use dioramas and painted minis for big moment, set-pieces. The rest is dry-erase grids or theater of the mind. It makes those select encounters epic. They know when I bring a cardboard box, they're in for something special.
So what is the best method to learn how to paint minis? I'm not an artist or even good at sketching or painting. Is there a channel or a video series that has good advice to learn how?
I learned from painting events hosted by my local Games Workshop but any series where they talk about dry brushing and inking will give you enough to make some great looking minis without too much effort. After that, I recommend experimenting and finding what is most satisfying to you.
Excellent video and the last point is no doubt the most important. I love my dwarven forge collection, but I can't really recommend it for others simply because of the cost. I'm fortunate enough to have sufficient expendable income to buy a decent collection of pieces, but I played for a long time making poorly drawn maps on a wet erase mat. We still had plenty of fun!
My group uses the back side of Christmas wrapping paper and different colored sharpies. Some even have 1" grids on the back. This is easy and very economical.
hi Luke , i have only 250ish minies ... have descent with all expansions+ 3x dnd board game(ravenloft , asharaladon and mad mage) .. i painted them all , maps i draw on grid.. i love how you always find usefull topics for dms !! love from Serbia
of course i love the soothing drone of your voice. now, regarding minis...i accidentally got a resin printer 10 months ago. game over. it prints minis and scatter around the clock. a never ending supply of whatever you could ever want or need. also, how much xps foam terrain adds up to a single pound? i guess if you actually have one pound of xps foam terrain that could be considered impressive!
Couldn't agree more!! I am running Dungeon of the Mad Mage and have been printing each level of Monsters as I go and painting them. Staying one or 2 levels ahead. Lot's of work but really fun to plop that boss on the table. 23 levels and on level 16 now.
Dang that's dedication. A lot of work now but by the end of that module you're going to have pretty much every miniature for every monster that exists in the game. LOL and painted to boot.
I was way worried about not getting all my miniatures painted before the session. One time, I simply couldn't have them all done. And my players didn't care. They still freaked out over the swarm of zombies. They hissed over the owlbear that stumbled into their camp. Now, I paint them as I can, and drop them in grey and in mounted as needed.
I either use dungeon tiles I used myself (a little foam and paint can go a lot further than dwarven forge, imo), or I use a dry erase mat and a sheet of acrylic glass on top of it. This allows me to either draw my map on the glass, this sparing the mat some wear & tear, or I can put one of the maps on the glass in advance, allowing me to place and use it when it is needed.
I hand draw my maps and use flat cutouts for miniatures. I have not received any complaints from my players. They were just happy to have something to reference and keep track of there movements on my maps
Creative idea specifically calling for naked minis: Underdark scenario. Characters who are in full torch light are painted; figures too far away to fully distinguish are unpainted. Would require having two of the same minis or at least comparable ones, but it would convey visibility without needing rubber bands / status token things.
On the topic of #2 with hiding the board, I remember years ago when my brother was showing me and my dad the game, he would use the DM screen to hide rooms that we never explored. This allowed him to set up rooms in advance with monsters in addition to hiding his notes, die rolls and the like. I'm honestly surprised this isn't something people do as much anymore, which I guess might be a testament to how 5Ehas become more "theatre of the mind" these days.
What do you do if you do not know what terrain you are going to use before the game starts? Most of the time, when I GM, I don't know what will happen in 5 minutes much less 3 hours so I cannot plan ahead.
Thank you for #10, because I was thinking that the whole way through. And it's not just the expense involved. While all those modelled terrain pieces are beautiful, getting them to the table, organizing them so that setup can be done quickly, and/or (gods forbid) transporting them when the game isn't being held in the DM house can all be a tremendous PITA. Just for ease of play, a wipeable playmat, quick simplified drawings, a bagful of generic thugs and a handful of painted minis for the player characters is plenty good enough to run a game. Further, if a DM has, in advance, setup a piece of terrain on the play surface, then covered it up to keep it a surprise, then said DM is now HIGHLY motivated to railroad the players into the combat planned for that terrain. And any combats that might occur before that terrain gets used are now a real problem. (What do you mean you attack the Town Cryer in the Town Square? Why would you do that, instead of just heading out to the obvious wreckage of the evil mages keep that I keep describing as being "just over there?")
Some groups understand that a DM needs to prep the adventure and are more than happy to follow the clues and such to where they are supposed to go. And so setting up ahead of time is just fine and the group is super happy to fight in those premade fight set ups.
I play an ogre in a campaign. The problem is, most of my ogre minis, apart from being kind of generic, are also on the tall orc size (largish Medium creatures, taking up just one square) rather than ogre sized (Large creatures, taking up 4 squares.) Size is important for the character as it limits movement and access, and affects tactics. The solution? I have a small rubber duck that is exactly a Large size. Oddly enough, it helps for roleplay, as he is aware of how scary he can appear, and tries to be as cute and loveable as possible to compensate. When combat gets bad, he still smashes enemies against walls, hammers them into the ground, throws them across the field and into other enemies, and physically picks up fallen allies while healing them. Not sure if the duck helps or hurts the theater of the mind there....
So, I think I have 15-20 lbs of Warhammer 40k and fantasy minis, all in various states of "painted" and "assembled" and some still on the sprue. I will say the necrons make great undead armies and tyranids are awesome for larger (and weirder) creatures. I think the painted part really only matters in tournaments, as there's typically a contest for best painted mini/army (not sure, don't care enough to do those), but I've played games using paint pots for trees, books for elevation and cotton swabs for walls
If I can suggest as well: 3d printer and free STL files of monsters and dungeon tiles is worth it. It takes an upfront cost sure, but what you can get out of it is impressive and in the long term could end up being cheaper.
I use mini's for my players, but as far as monsters, I print thing and cut them out, then glue it to a 1 inch washer. That way, I have the ones the will most likely encounter ready to go for the adventure, and I slowly grow my collections
The best, i think, is to have a few prepared terrain (mostly boss rooms) and a few "in case" sets. For exemple prepare a few small boxes of different biomes (desert, forest, mountain, underdark and city) and generic encounters your party may have there. Just take the box and lay out the terrain if you think it's needed.
I have too few minis to weigh them. My scale only works in kgs. But I do have a modular 5 headed hydra that has detachable heads. And I'm slowly buildings the collection(loot studios has been a huge help)
Aside from having a 3D printer (or three) to help with getting proper miniatures, I don't worry too much about painting. Or at least the level of detailed paint I put on them. I used to do commission miniature painting, so the last thing I want to do nowadays is spend 5 hours painting a mini I'm most likely going to use once or twice. For everyday minis I keep the paints to a minimum or even just a drybrush to make it look like the mini is made of stone. It shows off the detail and gets the point across. Done and done. However, I do take the time to paint the BBEG or highly significant minis like dragons or the like. So all in all, the more important a mini is, the more paint it gets lol.
I use starbursts for my enemy minis, which the players get when the enemy dies`. I do this largely to condition my players. The individual wrappers are nice because I can write on them (helps keep track of monsters during combat), and if I place candy down, the players immediately know this is an enemy they can fight. This helps reduce murder-hoboing in my experience, as the players quickly realize they won't get treats for killing NPCs.
I use roll20 and If needed, I’ll make a quick 5 minute drawn map. I like simplicity because when you add too many details to a map it curbs players creativity. Narratively, A table could be present outside a tavern in town but if a detailed map doesn’t show one they won’t ask and add that to your game.
I have made almost all my terrain/minis. I started with foam stuff (Thanks to Dr Dungeon Master (UDT Rocks), Black Magic Craft and Bard's Craft), I printed a ton of printableHeroes 2d printed minis and used that for a year or so. Then I got an FDM printer and started printing terrain (Dragonlock, etc), I started printing minis (Meh, quality but still cooler than flat ones). I basically stopped using my printed dungeon tiles after discovering Mystic Realms Quick Dungeon Systems (basically just full room tiles from 4.5" to 7.5" square). They are so fast and easy. During prep, I just throw them down with some passages drop some minis in place and then set them aside. When the party reaches the door, visibility, whatever, I just pull out the pieces and throw them on the table.
The biggest hurdle I ran into when I started running online games was the pure lack of imagination I had when it came to describing a room. I soon found myself saying "there it is, props to the artist." Like most art found on the interwebz, it's just a representation of, not the actual thing.
The most over the top I'd be willing to go would be to turn an old sliding glass door into a table and mount a flat screen TV under it facing up. Then connect a laptop to it and instant fancy map. This would be useful for other things than gaming but is also the limit to over the top I'd go, and only after being financially stable. At the other end of the spectrum, you can alway use Chess or checkers pieces as low budget mini's for basic enemies in a pinch. And nobody who actually enjoys D&D will complain that the kobalds are red chekers and the Dragon in charge is the Queen set on a coaster to get the right map size
I have basically gone fully digital at this point. Haven't played in-person since middle school. Laziness combined with lack of acquaintances to play with makes for a powerful demotivator. Social anxieties don't help either. Although, I also find I didn't enjoy in-person much anyway. Even voice chat ruins my immersion somehow.
While I agree with most, When I am DM’ing I use only painted minis and 98% of the time I use the mini representing the creature. But I don’t have the same level when I am a player. We all have different levels, and at the end of the day having fun is the key.
My game setup is different from my nephew's. He's purchased those fancy tiles that snap together and even those double sided cardboard tiles. He's got a whole shelf full of minis including Tiamat and four other dragons including a bone dragon and a dracolich. MY dragon is a friggen $3 plastic toy from Walmart. I dunno how much money he's spent but I'm almost certain it was well over $3,000 on just terrain and minis alone, not including the books. Though I think he's getting tired of setting everything up. He just got a projector. I myself have bought most of the books but that's where I spent most of my money. I bought a cheap $100 3D printer to make my own minis. I actually made little paper standies that work just fine too. I bought those battle mats that you can draw on but I also made my own printed maps on my canon printer and taped the pieces together. I even can host an adventure out of a binder which holds a printed version of my campaign along with whole maps that fit on standard printer paper along with those plastic page protectors. Sure we don't get to use the minis but I then just use markers and put dots where everything is. Set up is super fast, even if I have to draw the scene. I just get super crafty to try to save a little money. But damn that Tiamat my nephew got is the tits. I don't wanna drop $400 for it though. I may attempt to design and 3d print my own.
In the game I play we only use bottle caps for monster or other object the right size for bigger monster. Minis are cool, but there's a lot of other option that are completely free ahah
For minis, I simply had a bunch of 3d printed letters and numbers that I glued on empty bases. Greek letter for large, symbols for very large. Finding out wich creature you're attacking and keeping track of large number of npc is a breeze. The only actual minis that are used are my PCs
Me, just looking at my salvaged cardboard, decopodge, drywall plaster, and cheap walmart acrylics, knowing i spent like 40 bucks on materials, and while it aint pretty, Karlbog The Dark Flame's dungeon is ready for player use. Seriously though...i have a problem...im running out of places to store my terrain...
I just use roll 20, a map making software and art from dnd beyond. Also add in environmental hazards that the players/enemies can use can be really fun and add some tension to the fight.
Mindseye is perfectly acceptable. I had run an entire D&D game night without putting down a piece of terrain and just had miniatures on the table to represent the locations of the characters. This had all taken place in an aqueduct under a city that I didn't have terrain for. It turned out to be one of the best games I had ran because the players had a ball fighting in waist deep water most of the night.
Sadly I only have about 2-3 lbs of Mini's Luke! I know, I hang my head in shame. But alas I endeavor to increase my collection over the next year as my homebrew campaign gets juicier. And as for terrain, I have some wood floor pieces my nephew created on Glowforge. I'm test driving them for his side business. Right now they are limited but cool, I'm working on a dungeon that I can use them in. Wish me luck. And also, you rock Luke! Keep the content coming.
Not to sound like Grandpa Simpson however, we would always use Legos, Jenga blocks, building blocks, etc. Nothing very fancy or elaborate. I build a little bit right now but, I still use my battle map.
I 3d Print my Mini's so I've used about 50 (low estimate) 1000g bottles and estimate about 250g in waste (through supports and loss) per bottle making it about 37,500 ounces or 82.67 pounds of mini's.
Ha ha! Yea, I went to Dwarven forges to buy one starter set... I bought multiple! I'm so happy about them though! They were fun to paint and can be utilized for every battle scene! Very easy and fun! 5.5 lbs of minis (painted and unpainted)
I upload maps to the fedex printing website. Then I have them printed as black and white Architectural prints. The small size costs $4.50 and the large costs $9. The large nearly covers our entire table. Then I only use the battle board for smaller encounters.
Holy crap. I'm going to have to look into that. It literally send an image file of a map to FedEx or another online printer and get it printed for me. That sounds so nice.
As a DM myself, I do not like wasting my players’ time rifling through boxes of minis (I have at least 20-30 pounds of minis) and shelves of terrain (I have at least 20 pounds of terrain). Not all of my minis and terrain are painted, but I don’t always have time to paint them before a game. Even if they’re not painted, I still use them anyway. Painting minis is very detailed work and it can take hours, and sometimes days, to paint them depending on size and amount of detail (the dragons take the longest). My players love to admire my painted minis (which can be a bit annoying when I’m trying to run a game).
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I've seen the swamp reddit post... They vaped the fog onto the board.
Most of my minis are metal, so an estimated guess between 2... and 300lb being conservative, I must have painted about a 1/3 of that so far.
1 & 2) Nope, I always prep what I need in advance. If I don't have what I need I try to get/craft it and make it ready, if not I improvise.
3) I try to describe first, then put the terrain/battlemap/tiles on the table or do both at the same time if I have to puzzle them together.
4) The monsters I need are always in a box under the table or behind the DM's Screen so I can grab and place them quickly when I need to.
5) Whenever is possible, back when I started I used paper minis, over the years I've built a nice collection of metal and plastic so that I have most of the basics (goblins, orcs, bandits, etc) and some of the rarer (dragons, demons, aberrations, etc).
6) I try to prep and paint them weeks/months in advance, if I don't manage to do it on time, well tough titties, back when I started I had no painted minis so.
7) I plan for it, but sometimes I forget about it during the game.
8) Some day I hope I can go overboard XD, I love to craft stuff specially terrain and dioramas (I still have a lot to learn and put into practice).
9) Guilty, being "compulsive obsessive" doesn't mix well with this hobby in my experience XD.
10) Guilty, both IRL and Online.
Leave to a cliffhanger before rolling initiative, call a break, then the players return to the table to a full set of miniature and terrain. And also 3d printing and mz450 make having every minis what you see what you get easier.
Love that Miguel (mz450) has free stls of every D&D monster! Except one I needed!! "Werebat" from DOTMM. But been printing his stuff for the last 19 months since I got a 3D printer.
Exactly what I was thinking
Leaving to a cliffhanger is a cool idea, but it sounds like it would lead to a lot of very short sessions...
Guarantee he does not. I play 3.5e and there are 5 monster manuals of monsters I use, aswell as fiend folio, all the monsters from various supplements (expanded psionics and the 'complete' books, as well as several others such as tome of magic and book of nine swords), and several other sources, mostly third party. Also I'd you ever make your own creatures you won't find minis of them.
So the Matt Mercer approach then?
@@nightfall89z62 I have done a take on cliff hanger before - a 15 minute smoke break - disrupts the flow a bit and I only use that in a sandbox when the party goes off the grid
#1 Is very important. Nothing kills tension like 14 minutes of rifling around in a mini box.
I wouldn't tolerate for long a group of players that constantly ignores plot Hooks and goes wandering off on random things. I would obviously try having a discussion with them first about the social contract and how when a game master prepared something and delivers a plot hook it's understood that the group is probably going to go do that thing. But at some point if it becomes obvious that the game they want to play it's not the game that I want to run something has to give.
@Homebrew Stew Times like that, I declare a bathroom and drink refill break, giving me time to rifle through boxes.
Though usually, I will prepare more of and more varied minis and terrain than I think I am going to use. First, just in case, and second as a misdirection of expectation.
The most important thing when using minis is to have an organized, well sorted, labeled and organized, did I say organized mini collection.
If you can't find what you need in under 5 minutes, reorganize.
Another great thing the DM-screen is for is having minis at the ready, hiding behind the screen.
I put all my minis on display in Billy bookshelves, and then put big labels on each shelf and organized the monsters by type, and humanoids by weapon type.
This video came up while I was literally making terrain for a boss battle: ancient blue dragon in a room whose walls, floor and ceiling are covered in metal plates with runes carved into them. I etched the grid and runes into a piece of foamcore, glued a piece of aluminum foil over it (rubbing the foil into the grooves), the went over the grooves with blue marker and covered the whole thing in clear tape so the marker wouldn't rub off, and so the foil would not be too reflective (we' play by Zoom). Only cost me a few bucks, but I will admit it's been time consuming. Just hope the players appreciate it.
That's cool dude. Things like that are time-consuming but lots of dungeon Master's enjoy doing it. And they also enjoy the look on their players faces when they reveal that awesome set-piece.
That sounds dope.
If a dm did this for our group I think we would all agree that all drinks and snacks for the night be considered paid by us.
Did they?
@@mighty_polar_bear3786 Not yet; session cut short just before they got there.
I use paper cutouts, I call them Splats, for outdoor terrain. I use circles of paper for rocks, trees, hills and water. It helps a lot to visualize what's going on.
I do a similar thing for rocks trees and stuff. Just a simple Circles of paper. Nothing fancy but it gets the job done and helps the players know where cover can be found during a battle.
@@theDMLair I think it's important to show these simple shortcuts. It takes the stress off the newbie DM...they need all the encouragement we can give them. :-)
I was mid-crafting craze one day and showed my brother some foam rocks I was working on, and he said, "You know what else works as rocks? rocks. There's a whole much outside."
It is amazing how deep you can crawl into the rabbit hole and miss the obvious.
@@MonkeyJedi99 lol, yeah. Do you do any traveling for any games, say to conventions or something? If so you could counterpoint with that the foam is lighter and easier to take with you to make sure you have your rocks available when you go to cons instead of having to route around in the dirt or rockbed outside for them at the last moment. Otherwise, yeah, your brother got ya there. XD
Much of this applies to VTT, too. Not having digital tokens ready, assuming that you don't need to describe the beautiful battlemap, not thinking through terrain effects mechanics
I definitely think that a map of an encounter shouldn't be revealed until after you've described it, it's been explored, and until the call for initiative. You can use the time that they're rolling initiative to bring in some terrain, roll out a map, or hastily scribble something on a mat. Minis should be right there and not hiding somewhere. I figure this is more likely for people who are playing at home and don't bother to get stuff ready, whereas if you're playing somewhere, you're going to need to take everything with you. Granted in real life, you're busy and you can't always get stuff together, but if you schedule something for a certain time, you should schedule it with time to get set up.
When I first started playing in 1983, we were kids that couldn't afford the books, let alone the minis. Back then if you could find them they were metal. We just used whatever you could. My friends from back then and I still lovingly refer to those days as the Notebook Edition. In the early 90s, we would use green army men, modified with a soldering iron and Tester's model paint. Due to family life and a career in the military, I took an extended hiatus. I missed it, but my youngest daughter has been playing for almost 10 years (3.5 is her favorite) and I've been back for a little over a year now, and game twice a week with a great group, mostly the kids of my buddies, their friends, and a buddy. The greatest thing is 3 of the players asked me if they could DM a One-Shot or two. We played every other week back then and my answer was Yes, please do. As I said 4 games a week and I don't have to be Forever DM.
You make a lot of valid and interesting points Luke. In the end I guess it all depends on whatever someone likes and is willing to do without it becoming a burden. As someone who took the plunge recently into 3d printing, mini painting and foam building I’m trying to build terrain for my players. That being said, I see it as a part of my hobby and not as a must do. We still use theater of the mind and I try to put care into descriptions of the rooms, because as fun as terrain building might be, it will never fully capture the wonder of imagination. Terrain is meant to enhance and not replace the magic that is bringing a story into life.
Now *that* was a smooth transition to the sponsorship
Craziest slick smooth the salesman am I not?
Purchased 3D Printer. Printed terrain and minis. We use a variety of methods of portraying encounters though. Smaller ones we'll just use the VTT. Bigger and Boss encounters we tend to use the terrain on the table. And sometimes it's just fun to set up terrain layouts to show off new objects. :-)
One thing I did learn was that I don't need to make the terrain exactly match the VTT map. Close enough is good enough, then just make sure that we base the encounter on the terrain and not worry about the VTT map until the encounter is done and we're back to exploring again.
You can get by with a good-sized plain battle mat, basic wet erase markers, and good sized collection of cardboard pogs or stand-up cardboard markers. It's a whole lot easier to transport too
I've actually made a conscious effort to find a balance between having items set up on the table for my players to look at and manipulate without breaking the bank . What that is meant for me is some battle-grids with dry-erase markers of various colors (to draw terrain), some monster tokens with generic icons to represent the monsters on the grid (we use some theater of the Mind for the monsters with their description; the tokens are only used for positioning on the grid during battle), and actual miniatures for the PCs and major NPCs (all other characters are theater of the mind with a description or as a small wooden cube, if they need to be represented on the grid). And that's it! so far, my players seem satisfied and I don't have to dedicate too much space or money toward terrain and miniatures. Thanks for the video!
I've played and run all the different ways: Theater of the Mind, basic graph paper, 1" graph paper with pennies, dry erase board in college where we'd erase and redraw to move, basic roll out mat with minis, amazing terrain without grids and we used measuring sticks for ranges, movement, etc., and I'm sure I missed some. Guess what!? THEY ALL WORK!!! Nice/amazing terrain and miniatures are nice to look at and can help facilitate imagination BUT they're FAR from required.
Absolutely 100% correct here. It's nice to have minis sometimes, but realistically, they're just not necessary. Generally speaking I use miniature representations for the monsters and players, and dry erase graph paper for the terrain.
I took your description of an over the top swamp terrain build as inspiration and a challenge,even posted it on Reddit,thank you for inspiring my current magnum opus
I've recently started playing in person again with some friends and use unpainted minis and predrawn battle maps on gridded flip chart paper. I like using the mini PCs and monsters since I believe it helps get players more connected to the game. But the maps are very, very basic. And they still have fun.
Our DM uses a grid and abstract token to represent scenes. As he says, he doesn't like using "wrong" minis and will newer have minis for each creature in his game world, so he prefers abstractions. We also often use dice and coins to represent some objects or conditions. I like this practice, and if I will ever be DM I think I will stick to it.
Save your bottle caps! My favourite are those weird metal caps on the top of champagne corks
If you're going the paper token route, you could go "extra" and print art 'borrowed' from online sources to indicate creatures, characters, and items/structures/runes.
You don't even need to print in color. You could print black and white, and then decide if you feel like applying color with crayons, markers or colored pencils.
I use graphing paper and my smash bros amiibos, it works lol
This is such a comforting video. We don’t have to be perfect. Phew.
I found some 8.5x11 sheets of one-inch grid paper, and I've been drawing my maps and terrain on that. For larger areas, I can put multiple sheets next to each other, and for dungeons, I can cut out individual pieces and set down one room at a time. It's flat, which is great for storage and transportation, and it probably only weighs a few pounds.
Oh, and Luke Hart doesn't suck.
When I use grid and minis for players, I use candy (flavored tootsie rolls right now) for regular monsters and minions. Now I only need "good" minis for PCs and bosses. They are different colored, so I keep track of hp by color of candy, players can say easily point out which orc they attack (I attack the red tootsie roll orc). And as an added bonus, when they kill a monster, they get to literally eat it!
I made pullout shelves for under my table, I make the set ups in the drawers, open sesame, next area. As far as terrain, buy a proxon, paint and $20 sheet of foam and go for it, much cheaper. I only deploy terrain or draw maps (when playin live) for battles so players can use tactics. Theater of the Mind is under-rated, don't use terrain for shopping, tavern scenes without battle, encounterless travel and camping.
#4 is soooo key! I learned the hard way. Best advice. Describe everything "before" plopping the minis down.
My sessions tend to be so beautifully complex, with dungeons and locations and scenes that are so intricate and complex, that it would be impossible to pull off with 3D terrain, and in fact 3D terrain would restrict me from being able to make adventures like the ones I do. If I have to have a map and minis at all, it would have to be a hand-drawn 2D map.
Have you considered just using tiles for the major plot points? Most sessions have 3-4 areas that are the major scenes of that session.
@@jesternario thing is, no. Because it wouldn't work like that for me. I have upwards of 3 or 4 different locations that combats might take place, per session, and wouldn't be able to have that many tileset battle maps pre-setup. Heck, it would be a miracle if I even had enough table space for one! Frankly, theatre of the mind works better for me, and if my players can't play without a grid map and minis, I will hand draw all the maps I need.
Often, I find that at least representing altitudes and some scatter pieces is enough to elevate (pun intended) the encounter above a simple flat map.
We have used all sorts of things to represent that verticality, from foam stuff I have crafted, to stacks of books or Lego bricks.
If you’re getting into or are into miniatures and terrain and plan on getting more I would greatly recommend getting a 3D printer. I spent about $200-250 on minis before I bought a 200$ printer and I love it. Saves me money and I can print minis and terrain faster and it would take for them to ship. The only downside is a subtle drop in quality but when paying $2.50 for a reaper bones mini compared to a 20 cent mini i think it’s well worth it.
Love this video. I have a couple hundred bucks worth of Dwarven forge that I use for big battles, but I didn't even paint it so my players have to use the description to picture anything beyond the general layout. I also get a lot of milage from the foam cubes that come in mini cases for cover and debris.
Awesome. That Dwarven Forge looks so nice. :-)
For sure! I've actually been spending more time making maps from scratch from packing materials and crafting supplies, was more customizable than Dwarven forge, as long as you don't mind occasionally spending hours on those maps. Haven't tried actual water for the swamp yet, though...
@@andrewmeigel2088 Plastic wrap (for food storage) is available in a few colors, one of them being blue. Just an idea to represent water, and it being translucent means you can still see a grid under it.
Nice, I will definitely give that a try!
I only play D&D online, and as such my battle terrains are digital. I'll make a map in Google Drawings and share it with my players. That said, I would like the chance to play in person with miniatures. For that I would probably use my old Army Men, and other figurines. I have probably hundreds of individual plastic soldiers that would serve as great TTRPG minis. Some of them include things like mounts, cannons, and walls. One of the sets is strait up pirates vs skeletons. There is nothing wrong with using existing resources for new purposes.
Great tips as usual. I have a wooden box that a gift from my players got for me was packaged in. That is where I place minis and tiles for the session. An awesome gift has given me a box they get uneasy about when it is brought out.
This vid speaks to me, great job! Thinking back before I used virtual tabletop, my games were still great on 2D vinyl maps. I bought a set of 2D dungeon tiles, 2D minis and wet erase markers. I used to print/tape cutouts on my 2D minis for custom monsters. The players still told me that I was an amazing DM and we had a blast! Good narrative/writing is the foundation of D&D.
For all those unpainted Reaper Bones - prime them black with a rattlecan, then get 2-3 brighter colored craft paints like white, grey , light brown, and drybrush them . You can get a huge batch done like this in a couple of hours and they look nice on the table.
I love crafting terrain and I always try to think of the playability of that terrain.
My method is the KISS method.
Yep, simple and multi-purpose is the way to go for most crafted terrain.
I really appreciate the tip for staging before game. I purpose built my game table with a play surface 6 inches lower than the table top it self (i.e. a hole in the middle). I kept the piece of wood I cuu out from the table top and now I can replace it when I have a session with a lot of pre-staged terrain (e.g. a dungeon crawl).
I do love painted minis, and have never though of putting unpainted minis down...but I think that might help me save some time trying to paint everything I need before my games.
I am fortunate in that our group has about 4 decades of minis numbering in the thousands, most of which have been painted over that time period.
The bad part is that over the last few years, all of adhesive for the box labels has dried out, and need to be replaced.
I was just commenting this morning on one of Sly Flourish's videos … wooden blocks, jenga, cubes, spools, as abstract as possible, makes for the most effective terrain IMO. No Dwarven Forge plastic is going to look as rich as good flavor text. Set out the blocks to define the spaces as you narrate, paint the picture, and then plop down the monsters.
We got our first miniatures from Dwarven Forge -- they sent us a set for free after a hurricane when we spent 6 weeks without power and tabletop was the only gaming we could do. Now we're hooked!
My low-cost aproach to Terrain and Minis:
I bought some generic wooden figures and painted them in simple colors: yellow and green for PCs, blue for allies of the PCs and red for enemies. The PC-figures are all destinct from each other. The allies and enemies are grouped in a way, that you can easily distinguish, who the main villain is and which the minions are and so on.
For the terrain I use a battlemap and the wooden pieces of a JENGA-Tower. They are about 1 inch by 3 inch in size. Perfect for buildings, walls, hills and (if you put them upright) pillars and trees, too.
As the DM you can still describe the scene and the monsters. I just use them to visualize the positioning in combat. And sometimes I let the players create the room, while I describe the scene. That way they are much more invested in the game. :)
One little secret I use, especially this time of year is, some Christmas wrapping paper has one inch grid squares on the back side to assist with wrapping presents. With a pen or pencil and some markers, you have all you need. I've done it a few times and it works great.
Where's the link to the gridpaper?
Whoops forgot to add it. It is now in the description down below. Thank you for reminding me to do my job. :-)
Here's my tip with "not having a mini for the monsters": Use Printable Heroes! I use actual mini's for important characters or "captain" units, while minions that I'll need more than two or four of, I'll print up from the website, cut, and attach to a basic wood base. I can put together a band of goblins led by Hobs and an Ogre or two in about 20 minutes if I'm quick about it.
Yesterday I ran a session after a long hiatus. It was actually the first time I wasn't stressed out and had time to figure out the terrain beforehand. We didn't have the terrain pieces for what I wanted, so I took some time to draw it on my wet erase map. It was so satisfying to roll out the map and the scene just being there! Instead of the haphazard quick drawings I used to do.
I also asked one of my players who has a shitton of minis to bring some things (I threw in a couple of diversions of course) and instead of looking for the exact thing I just did a 'vibe check' aka is this the kind of creepy I want them to feel when seeing this monster. And then use description for what it actually looks like. We had a great time! Next session will be the boss battle and I can't wait!
I pretty much start off my preparation for a D&D session with a theater of the mind. Then I try to think about what I could put on the table that would make it a little better and I do that and then think about what I could do to make it a little better until I basically run out of time. Then whatever gets on the table it's on the table and whatever doesn't it's no big deal. I also prepare everything in advance and kind of walk through the dungeon before everybody arrives so I know how long it'll take to set things out and I can actually have chunks of stuff ready to put on the table when the time is right.
This is great. Kinda like a prep priority list. #7 I tried to have all my goblins painted but instead went just the shading portion of a slapchop because I was running out of time. Even a little paint makes them pop.
I believe to have about 3/4 of a pound (not British or American, my bad) of terrain and minis, containers included.
About 30% of them are WOTC minis, while the rest are 3D prints because I could not find the right mini, let alone at a feasible price.
All of my terrain are home made, though I do not have the space to make the ground and trees. I just have logs that can stand in as trees (easy to store and topple over), a few flat rocks with stairs for height, a line/pile of pebbles to suggest a cobble stone wall (the height is theatre of the mind, and they double as cave walls), some furniture and even a creepy looking tree made from a succulent stem that had delicate, dried out flowers.
They hardly got used, but they live rent free on the one shelf I allotted for D&D items.
That is the only way I have to prevent overspending and hoarding things.
It is not easy, though I like to think it is a good way to teach self-control and consideration for the hobby. Because if I can afford to expand the hobby, I will then allow for it to grow.
I like to call it the 'flower pot' lesson. If I cannot fit anything else in it, I either prune it back, or get a bigger pot. But know the bigger the pot, the more work I will need to maintain it.
When i first started i used toothpicks, different colored bottle caps, milk caps, small lids and colored pencils with printed paper that was barely grided.
From my experience if your a Dm but you dont know if you want to be one and dont want to buy miniatures until you find out that is fine. As he said just think out the descriptions of items, rooms and creatures, make the lids and caps distinct from one another (i used a dry erase to mark different monsters using the same kind of lid) and most importantly have a group of friends. This is the most important but it almost insures that the people are there to have fun and hang out and not to observe your mini collection.
I heavily encourage creativity with this use of terrain and pieces, and if you feel like you never have to buy minis because of this thats ok as well. Its a really good way to test being a dm or to help you become a dm on a low starting budget
For minis I usually use color coded fish bowl rocks. Red for enemies, blue or green for friendlies, yellow for neutrals. I use actual minis for my pc characters so in actual minis I have like maybe a pound or two. In fish bowl beads it's probably more.
I was at a Con game and the GM had a big battle with something like 7-8 players at the table (including me and my then 13 year old son) and he was using just a sheet of paper to track where everyone was, and it got to be a mess. Any token is fine, but in this case, I collect miniatures and terrain and when we took a break, sent the kiddo to our hotel room to grab a box or two of miniatures just to know where everyone was. There are times when the GM should at least consider (for large and complicated combats) where everything is on the board. Miniatures are 100% optional, but in this case, it really helped out to figure out where all the characters and the monsters were.
Great suggestions.
#1 - I'm just finishing up my first attempt at DMing and ran LMoP.
One of the first things I did was go to the back of the Module make a list of the Creatures and grab those from the supply of minis and put them in a separate bag.
Sadly, we only got through the first couple of sessions before Covid and had to move to a VTT.
I use a high level room description first, followed by the monsters, and I save the detailed description for after the encounter in most cases - "You open the door to what appears to be a kitchen. A trio of pint-sized creatures with large ears and mottled green skin are standing around a table, all looking at you with a mixture of surprise and annoyance at the their meal being disturbed by your sudden intrusion. They snarl and draw rusty shortswords as they charge. Roll for initiative!"
Then when the battle is over - "As the last of the three goblins falls to the ground, you quickly glance about the room looking for any others that might be lying in wait. Seeing none, you start to take in your surroundings...[insert details here]". This allows the players to keep their focus on the details that are important in the moment and gives the players a chance to transition from the strategy mindset back to the exploration mindset - its a kitchen and there's baddies; fight/flight/talk; baddies are dealt with, what do we find in the kitchen?
The only exceptions to this are when (A) there are enemies waiting to ambush the party, or (B) there is an important thing in the room that I absolutely want the players to know is there. In the case of the ambush, I just describe the ambush and save the entire room description for after the battle or I describe the entire room first and then the ambush when it happens if the trigger is the party doing something within the room. In the case of the important thing in the room, I mention that as the very first thing they notice, and will mention it again in the post-encounter description so they know its there and they don't forget about it because some players are more interested in their characters surviving and progressing than they are in exploring and roleplaying. These overly cautious players are likely to abandon a quest because they don't want to fight a hellhound just to find out if the McGuffin they are seeking is on the other side of it, but they are plenty willing to find some way to deal with the hellhound (including fighting it) if they KNOW that the McGuffin is there.
While I entirely agree, I have set myself the challenge of having entirely painted and correct figures for my monthly Odessey game. So far I'm on target, and 6 month ahead on painted figures for the plot.
To be clear, THE WHOLE POINT was to drive me to paint figures, to say I have many thousands of unpainted figures is probably an understatement, so this was entirely to drive me to do better and paint more. I got good at fast batch painting, 50 odd figures at a time, 2-3 hours total really chews through the backlog, accepting good enough rather then display level pieces every time.
I just started making grids out of Cardboard Boxes. And I only used them for combat, Puzzles or any event that require distance reference because it's hard for me to track the distance of a lot of people at once.
I have 3324 pre painted minis and most of the premium minis including Arveiaturace and the gargantuan Tiamat. I have personally painted around 300 minis (between Warhammer and D&D) and refuse to use unpainted (unless I have a good lore reason “such as stone constructs”). I have no idea how much they weigh. I have relied on theatre of the mind for terrain options. However, I am now in the process of acquiring terrain pieces that I am satisfied with. Currently building a cardboard model of highdark hall from ghastly affair.
I just got started using terrain for our DND games. This video helped a lot for sure!
I only use dioramas and painted minis for big moment, set-pieces. The rest is dry-erase grids or theater of the mind. It makes those select encounters epic.
They know when I bring a cardboard box, they're in for something special.
So what is the best method to learn how to paint minis? I'm not an artist or even good at sketching or painting. Is there a channel or a video series that has good advice to learn how?
I learned from painting events hosted by my local Games Workshop but any series where they talk about dry brushing and inking will give you enough to make some great looking minis without too much effort. After that, I recommend experimenting and finding what is most satisfying to you.
I have Minis from multiple kickstarters I haven't opened yet. I have boxes upon boxes, but I love them.
Excellent video and the last point is no doubt the most important. I love my dwarven forge collection, but I can't really recommend it for others simply because of the cost. I'm fortunate enough to have sufficient expendable income to buy a decent collection of pieces, but I played for a long time making poorly drawn maps on a wet erase mat. We still had plenty of fun!
My group uses the back side of Christmas wrapping paper and different colored sharpies. Some even have 1" grids on the back. This is easy and very economical.
I have two mint condition copies of the AD&D "Strongholds" boxes, the terrain in those still unpushed out...
hi Luke , i have only 250ish minies ... have descent with all expansions+ 3x dnd board game(ravenloft , asharaladon and mad mage) .. i painted them all , maps i draw on grid.. i love how you always find usefull topics for dms !! love from Serbia
of course i love the soothing drone of your voice. now, regarding minis...i accidentally got a resin printer 10 months ago. game over. it prints minis and scatter around the clock. a never ending supply of whatever you could ever want or need. also, how much xps foam terrain adds up to a single pound? i guess if you actually have one pound of xps foam terrain that could be considered impressive!
I'm planning on having almost every enemy miniature when I start running again.
3d printers are a wonderful thing :P
Couldn't agree more!! I am running Dungeon of the Mad Mage and have been printing each level of Monsters as I go and painting them. Staying one or 2 levels ahead. Lot's of work but really fun to plop that boss on the table. 23 levels and on level 16 now.
Dang that's dedication. A lot of work now but by the end of that module you're going to have pretty much every miniature for every monster that exists in the game. LOL and painted to boot.
Pathfinder Pawns are also an alternative. I can usually find something similar to represent what they are fighting.
I was way worried about not getting all my miniatures painted before the session. One time, I simply couldn't have them all done. And my players didn't care. They still freaked out over the swarm of zombies. They hissed over the owlbear that stumbled into their camp.
Now, I paint them as I can, and drop them in grey and in mounted as needed.
They can see the boards so work on the other senses. What do they smell, hear or feel?
I made area where nothing happens.
I either use dungeon tiles I used myself (a little foam and paint can go a lot further than dwarven forge, imo), or I use a dry erase mat and a sheet of acrylic glass on top of it. This allows me to either draw my map on the glass, this sparing the mat some wear & tear, or I can put one of the maps on the glass in advance, allowing me to place and use it when it is needed.
I hand draw my maps and use flat cutouts for miniatures. I have not received any complaints from my players. They were just happy to have something to reference and keep track of there movements on my maps
Creative idea specifically calling for naked minis: Underdark scenario. Characters who are in full torch light are painted; figures too far away to fully distinguish are unpainted. Would require having two of the same minis or at least comparable ones, but it would convey visibility without needing rubber bands / status token things.
On the topic of #2 with hiding the board, I remember years ago when my brother was showing me and my dad the game, he would use the DM screen to hide rooms that we never explored. This allowed him to set up rooms in advance with monsters in addition to hiding his notes, die rolls and the like. I'm honestly surprised this isn't something people do as much anymore, which I guess might be a testament to how 5Ehas become more "theatre of the mind" these days.
What do you do if you do not know what terrain you are going to use before the game starts? Most of the time, when I GM, I don't know what will happen in 5 minutes much less 3 hours so I cannot plan ahead.
Thank you for #10, because I was thinking that the whole way through. And it's not just the expense involved. While all those modelled terrain pieces are beautiful, getting them to the table, organizing them so that setup can be done quickly, and/or (gods forbid) transporting them when the game isn't being held in the DM house can all be a tremendous PITA. Just for ease of play, a wipeable playmat, quick simplified drawings, a bagful of generic thugs and a handful of painted minis for the player characters is plenty good enough to run a game.
Further, if a DM has, in advance, setup a piece of terrain on the play surface, then covered it up to keep it a surprise, then said DM is now HIGHLY motivated to railroad the players into the combat planned for that terrain. And any combats that might occur before that terrain gets used are now a real problem. (What do you mean you attack the Town Cryer in the Town Square? Why would you do that, instead of just heading out to the obvious wreckage of the evil mages keep that I keep describing as being "just over there?")
Some groups understand that a DM needs to prep the adventure and are more than happy to follow the clues and such to where they are supposed to go. And so setting up ahead of time is just fine and the group is super happy to fight in those premade fight set ups.
I play an ogre in a campaign. The problem is, most of my ogre minis, apart from being kind of generic, are also on the tall orc size (largish Medium creatures, taking up just one square) rather than ogre sized (Large creatures, taking up 4 squares.) Size is important for the character as it limits movement and access, and affects tactics.
The solution? I have a small rubber duck that is exactly a Large size.
Oddly enough, it helps for roleplay, as he is aware of how scary he can appear, and tries to be as cute and loveable as possible to compensate.
When combat gets bad, he still smashes enemies against walls, hammers them into the ground, throws them across the field and into other enemies, and physically picks up fallen allies while healing them. Not sure if the duck helps or hurts the theater of the mind there....
So, I think I have 15-20 lbs of Warhammer 40k and fantasy minis, all in various states of "painted" and "assembled" and some still on the sprue. I will say the necrons make great undead armies and tyranids are awesome for larger (and weirder) creatures. I think the painted part really only matters in tournaments, as there's typically a contest for best painted mini/army (not sure, don't care enough to do those), but I've played games using paint pots for trees, books for elevation and cotton swabs for walls
If I can suggest as well: 3d printer and free STL files of monsters and dungeon tiles is worth it. It takes an upfront cost sure, but what you can get out of it is impressive and in the long term could end up being cheaper.
I use mini's for my players, but as far as monsters, I print thing and cut them out, then glue it to a 1 inch washer. That way, I have the ones the will most likely encounter ready to go for the adventure, and I slowly grow my collections
The best, i think, is to have a few prepared terrain (mostly boss rooms) and a few "in case" sets.
For exemple prepare a few small boxes of different biomes (desert, forest, mountain, underdark and city) and generic encounters your party may have there. Just take the box and lay out the terrain if you think it's needed.
I have too few minis to weigh them.
My scale only works in kgs.
But I do have a modular 5 headed hydra that has detachable heads.
And I'm slowly buildings the collection(loot studios has been a huge help)
Aside from having a 3D printer (or three) to help with getting proper miniatures, I don't worry too much about painting. Or at least the level of detailed paint I put on them. I used to do commission miniature painting, so the last thing I want to do nowadays is spend 5 hours painting a mini I'm most likely going to use once or twice. For everyday minis I keep the paints to a minimum or even just a drybrush to make it look like the mini is made of stone. It shows off the detail and gets the point across. Done and done. However, I do take the time to paint the BBEG or highly significant minis like dragons or the like. So all in all, the more important a mini is, the more paint it gets lol.
I use starbursts for my enemy minis, which the players get when the enemy dies`. I do this largely to condition my players. The individual wrappers are nice because I can write on them (helps keep track of monsters during combat), and if I place candy down, the players immediately know this is an enemy they can fight. This helps reduce murder-hoboing in my experience, as the players quickly realize they won't get treats for killing NPCs.
I use roll20 and If needed, I’ll make a quick 5 minute drawn map. I like simplicity because when you add too many details to a map it curbs players creativity. Narratively, A table could be present outside a tavern in town but if a detailed map doesn’t show one they won’t ask and add that to your game.
Those BECMI boxes in the back *chef's kiss*
I have made almost all my terrain/minis. I started with foam stuff (Thanks to Dr Dungeon Master (UDT Rocks), Black Magic Craft and Bard's Craft), I printed a ton of printableHeroes 2d printed minis and used that for a year or so. Then I got an FDM printer and started printing terrain (Dragonlock, etc), I started printing minis (Meh, quality but still cooler than flat ones). I basically stopped using my printed dungeon tiles after discovering Mystic Realms Quick Dungeon Systems (basically just full room tiles from 4.5" to 7.5" square). They are so fast and easy. During prep, I just throw them down with some passages drop some minis in place and then set them aside. When the party reaches the door, visibility, whatever, I just pull out the pieces and throw them on the table.
The biggest hurdle I ran into when I started running online games was the pure lack of imagination I had when it came to describing a room. I soon found myself saying "there it is, props to the artist." Like most art found on the interwebz, it's just a representation of, not the actual thing.
Does anyone have advicenon setting up when you're not hosting the game? (Im running the game at a school for students)
The most over the top I'd be willing to go would be to turn an old sliding glass door into a table and mount a flat screen TV under it facing up. Then connect a laptop to it and instant fancy map.
This would be useful for other things than gaming but is also the limit to over the top I'd go, and only after being financially stable.
At the other end of the spectrum, you can alway use Chess or checkers pieces as low budget mini's for basic enemies in a pinch. And nobody who actually enjoys D&D will complain that the kobalds are red chekers and the Dragon in charge is the Queen set on a coaster to get the right map size
I have basically gone fully digital at this point. Haven't played in-person since middle school. Laziness combined with lack of acquaintances to play with makes for a powerful demotivator. Social anxieties don't help either.
Although, I also find I didn't enjoy in-person much anyway. Even voice chat ruins my immersion somehow.
While I agree with most, When I am DM’ing I use only painted minis and 98% of the time I use the mini representing the creature. But I don’t have the same level when I am a player. We all have different levels, and at the end of the day having fun is the key.
My game setup is different from my nephew's. He's purchased those fancy tiles that snap together and even those double sided cardboard tiles. He's got a whole shelf full of minis including Tiamat and four other dragons including a bone dragon and a dracolich. MY dragon is a friggen $3 plastic toy from Walmart. I dunno how much money he's spent but I'm almost certain it was well over $3,000 on just terrain and minis alone, not including the books. Though I think he's getting tired of setting everything up. He just got a projector.
I myself have bought most of the books but that's where I spent most of my money. I bought a cheap $100 3D printer to make my own minis. I actually made little paper standies that work just fine too. I bought those battle mats that you can draw on but I also made my own printed maps on my canon printer and taped the pieces together.
I even can host an adventure out of a binder which holds a printed version of my campaign along with whole maps that fit on standard printer paper along with those plastic page protectors. Sure we don't get to use the minis but I then just use markers and put dots where everything is. Set up is super fast, even if I have to draw the scene. I just get super crafty to try to save a little money. But damn that Tiamat my nephew got is the tits. I don't wanna drop $400 for it though. I may attempt to design and 3d print my own.
No terrain yet, but my friends 3D printer is constantly pumping out minis! We like doing paint nights separate from game nights too
In the game I play we only use bottle caps for monster or other object the right size for bigger monster. Minis are cool, but there's a lot of other option that are completely free ahah
For minis, I simply had a bunch of 3d printed letters and numbers that I glued on empty bases. Greek letter for large, symbols for very large. Finding out wich creature you're attacking and keeping track of large number of npc is a breeze.
The only actual minis that are used are my PCs
Me, just looking at my salvaged cardboard, decopodge, drywall plaster, and cheap walmart acrylics, knowing i spent like 40 bucks on materials, and while it aint pretty, Karlbog The Dark Flame's dungeon is ready for player use.
Seriously though...i have a problem...im running out of places to store my terrain...
I just use roll 20, a map making software and art from dnd beyond. Also add in environmental hazards that the players/enemies can use can be really fun and add some tension to the fight.
My idea for the swamp is to have a dry ice fog, with Nitrous Oxide floating above. It could prove hilarious at the table. Thoughts?
Mindseye is perfectly acceptable. I had run an entire D&D game night without putting down a piece of terrain and just had miniatures on the table to represent the locations of the characters. This had all taken place in an aqueduct under a city that I didn't have terrain for. It turned out to be one of the best games I had ran because the players had a ball fighting in waist deep water most of the night.
Sadly I only have about 2-3 lbs of Mini's Luke! I know, I hang my head in shame. But alas I endeavor to increase my collection over the next year as my homebrew campaign gets juicier. And as for terrain, I have some wood floor pieces my nephew created on Glowforge. I'm test driving them for his side business. Right now they are limited but cool, I'm working on a dungeon that I can use them in. Wish me luck. And also, you rock Luke! Keep the content coming.
It takes time just keep working at it. :-) and thank you so much!
Not to sound like Grandpa Simpson however, we would always use Legos, Jenga blocks, building blocks, etc. Nothing very fancy or elaborate. I build a little bit right now but, I still use my battle map.
I 3d Print my Mini's so I've used about 50 (low estimate) 1000g bottles and estimate about 250g in waste (through supports and loss) per bottle making it about 37,500 ounces or 82.67 pounds of mini's.
I personally use a whiteboard map and cardboard cut-out minis with their initiative number on them, in my games.
I don't have a scale big enough to weigh my minis. Plus, I have Hirst's Arts molds. They produce very heavy terrain.
Ha ha! Yea, I went to Dwarven forges to buy one starter set... I bought multiple! I'm so happy about them though! They were fun to paint and can be utilized for every battle scene! Very easy and fun! 5.5 lbs of minis (painted and unpainted)
Great video as usual. I have built my own terrain for over a year and hopefully after Christmas I will be making my own minis.
I upload maps to the fedex printing website. Then I have them printed as black and white Architectural prints. The small size costs $4.50 and the large costs $9. The large nearly covers our entire table. Then I only use the battle board for smaller encounters.
Holy crap. I'm going to have to look into that. It literally send an image file of a map to FedEx or another online printer and get it printed for me. That sounds so nice.
As a DM myself, I do not like wasting my players’ time rifling through boxes of minis (I have at least 20-30 pounds of minis) and shelves of terrain (I have at least 20 pounds of terrain). Not all of my minis and terrain are painted, but I don’t always have time to paint them before a game. Even if they’re not painted, I still use them anyway. Painting minis is very detailed work and it can take hours, and sometimes days, to paint them depending on size and amount of detail (the dragons take the longest). My players love to admire my painted minis (which can be a bit annoying when I’m trying to run a game).