Re: What play aids do you use?

I switched from counters to the Martian Metals 15mm TFT figures that came out in the late 70s. I've supplemented their figures with other manufactures' figures over the years but have stuck with the 15mm size.

I craft terrain pieces myself. The FB group 'The Tabletop Crafters Guild' is a good resource for sharing tips and inspirational photos. The main hosts there also have YouTube videos to step you through their builds. They mostly seem to use 28-30mm figures but the ideas are the same for any size.

Rich

On Thursday, May 3, 2018, 4:32:44 PM EDT, Rick <rick_ww@lightspeed.ca> wrote:

Hi everyone, David.

I’ve really embraced the cardboard counter thing. I have a whole variety of

Dragons. Their sizes are:

1/2, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9, 10, 12, 14, 19, 24, and 30 hexes. (Many people have

complimented me on my ink work for those counters.)

I’ve made flat counters for terrain, dungeon dressing, treasure, and lots and

lots of monsters. I’ve probably drawn 150 to 200 hymenopterans, many of

new types. I have maybe 5 varieties of man eating plants.

Lately I’ve been putting a bunch of work into multi-hex terrain counters

because with some good ones, I can build big, complex, areas of terrain fast.

Previously I’ve used generic counters. “Today, those counters are trees and

THESE strips of cardboard are the sides of buildings.” Lately I am making the

counters nicer, which represent particular types of terrain. “These counters

will ALWAYS represent brambles, and those ones - a bolder field”.

These counters are not professional quality, but they are good enough for my

modest needs.

One thing I’ve pushed on the SJG forum is having more variety of counters in

their supplements and games. Does death test really need more giants, wolves

bears, gargoyles? I’ve already got ALL of those in basic Melee and Wizard. If

DT gave me 2 Low Renders, 2 Termagants, a Phalanx & a Gantua, I might have

been tempted to buy 4 copies so I could get a decent size hive of bugs.

Warm regards, Rick.

On May 3, 2018, at 12:47 PM, DAVID O MILLER <davidomiller@verizon.net> wrote:

Thanks Rick!

I know people here are open to new things. After all we’re all gamers who really like this 30 year old game!

However, since the future of the list came up it’s got me thinking. I think the biggest barrier to me is trying to describe what a piece of terrain, or a game setup, or miniature looks like, with out posting a picture of it. It handicaps this aspect of this list, that’s all. Which means all we can really talk about are tweaks to the rules, new spells, new talents. I find that limits what this list can achieve. Most of the discussions really seem to run together here, they’re so similar.

And I’ve had this discussion in the past so I know this will never change. This list will never accept photos being posted, for a variety of reasons. Which is why I lurk here more than post. I still find what most members talk about to be of some interest. And I still hold TFT close to heart. However, most discussions get a bit too number crunchy for me. You guys really like minutia when it comes to rules. I guess I’m more of a casual gamer that likes to wow people with cool looking terrain and miniatures.

And because of this I hate to think that we’ve scared off the more creative, dungeon “craft", TFT players. That would be a shame.

So, any other members of this list have a creative flair when it comes to playing TFT? Do you play it with miniatures, stone floor printouts, model furniture, etc, similar to other "Role Playing Board Games” such as HeroQuest, Descent, and others?

David

__________________________________________

David O. Miller

Miller Design/Illustration

www.davidomiller.com

On May 3, 2018, at 3:26 PM, Rick <rick_ww@lightspeed.ca> wrote:

Hi David,

This list has also had some adventures posted to it and for a

while I was posting new monsters. If people were to have long

discussions on miniatures or lego TFT, I certainly would not

object, (tho I have little to say on the subject). Someone a while

ago, had fairly long write ups on things that happened in his

campaign some years ago.

I don’t think that there was any rule about what should be posted

on this site. Rather, some stuff was of interest to people, (e.g. new

rules, new spells, new talents), and that sort of post generated the

most responses. Posts that get active responses are more likely to

generate more posts on similar subjects.

Warm regards, Rick.

On May 3, 2018, at 10:08 AM, DAVID O MILLER <davidomiller@verizon.net> wrote:

Heartily agree with Ed here!

However, IMHO, the one downside of this list has always been the fact that it’s only purpose for the past 20 years or so seems to be to discuss rules tweaks and add-ons. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, it just seems to be very limiting. There’s a bigger, creative world of TFT out there than tweaking rues and playing using cardboard counters and un-imaginative paper hex sheets.

For example, how many of you use miniatures in your games? Which ones? Does anyone use any type of creative terrain in their games? Where did you get that terrain? Have you ever built a hex based dungeon? These are things that, due to the limitation of this list, sadly never get discussed. Or is it simply a "show me" thing vs a "tell me” thing that stands in the way of this type of discussion?

So, am I alone in this regard? Or does this list, by the nature of the way it’s set up, discourage the creative gamer that may be lurking here along with me?

Sigh, or perhaps I am the odd man out here and actually joining or migrating to SJ forums would be a better fit for me.

David

__________________________________________

David O. Miller

Miller Design/Illustration