Greetings!

When reviewing batches of my miniature collection, such as when selecting new miniatures to paint--such figures often inspire me to create NPC's from them, and then back stories, and then, before you know it, I have new NPC's for my Thandor campaign, either as NPC allies, or very frequently, of course, dark and evil villains! There are also many that inspire me to create interesting neutral NPC's as well.

I also take a look at various monster and animal figures, and come up with cool ideas on the spot, too. This, then, leads to me putting in some proper work to detail such encounters for my campaign.

So, how about yourselves my friends? How have different miniatures inspired characters and adventures in your campaigns?

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

I used to see adds in White Dwarf for Games Workshop miniatures (or Citadel) that inspired me to write up stats for the page of Dwarves, or the monster or whatever. Haven't done that in awhile though.

No. I often just grab whatever minis are at hand to represent whatever we're using. For us, the minis are just markers to show relative positions (and yes, sometimes we use coins or dice for that too).

Apparently I'm an extreme outlier here because in twenty-some years of gaming, I've never used minis, but since I moved to VTT a few years ago, I do take a lot of inspiration from art that I find around the internet, so that's sort of the same thing.

Quote from: ForgottenF on July 08, 2024, 12:04:37 AMApparently I'm an extreme outlier here because in twenty-some years of gaming, I've never used minis, but since I moved to VTT a few years ago, I do take a lot of inspiration from art that I find around the internet, so that's sort of the same thing.

Is it? I get inspired by art quite often when brewing things up for my campaigns, but I don't get the same from minis (which I typically don't bother to paint/pose/mod either). I guess to me they're quite different as I see art as...well, art, while minis are just an accessory/play aid. That doesn't necessarily make you the outlier...it could be me.

While I enjoy the miniatures hobby, I like to keep miniatures out of my pretend elf games. One is about imagination while the other benefits from what you see is what you get. By the same token, RPG combat has not seen a grid in years, only vague diagrams that convey relative position.

Yeah, I've got a pretty massive collection I've painted over the years.  Sometimes I look at it and wonder if I'm a bit crazy.  But yeah, if a have a cool new mini, the PCs are likely to encounter it.

Nope. I have some minis, but ended up never using them.

I did once press gang some minis from a board game for one fight just for fun. But that was it.

Did anyone ever make use of the D&D HeroScape stuff?

I usually go in the other direction. I will create NPCs and enemies for the campaign, then start searching my unpainted collection for likely candidates. With a vision of the character already formed, it makes coming up with a paint scheme effortless.

Maybe in the before times, but even then, my supply of useful fantasy miniatures was low... such that using a generic token was more the practice (along with freehand drawing/sketch on a page).

"Tokens for relative position" was what we did, when we used miniatures at all (for non-40K games, that is).

Today, with the ability of AI to generate character images on the fly (and in consistent art style by "stealing" or whatever you want to call it), the generic token is maybe even more useful.

Quote from: SHARK on July 07, 2024, 09:30:00 PMGreetings!

When reviewing batches of my miniature collection, such as when selecting new miniatures to paint--such figures often inspire me to create NPC's from them, and then back stories, and then, before you know it, I have new NPC's for my Thandor campaign, either as NPC allies, or very frequently, of course, dark and evil villains! There are also many that inspire me to create interesting neutral NPC's as well.

I also take a look at various monster and animal figures, and come up with cool ideas on the spot, too. This, then, leads to me putting in some proper work to detail such encounters for my campaign.

So, how about yourselves my friends? How have different miniatures inspired characters and adventures in your campaigns?

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

I'm right there with you on this one ! I see a good mini and go Ooooooooo yeah there is my next BBG, or important Lt, or key NPC.

The trouble is that my face to face game with my girls Is Traveller and one every 4 adventures Delta Green/CoC, so that limits or focuses what minis I can use or the type of monster it can be.

Quote from: Exploderwizard on July 08, 2024, 07:46:46 AMI usually go in the other direction. I will create NPCs and enemies for the campaign, then start searching my unpainted collection for likely candidates. With a vision of the character already formed, it makes coming up with a paint scheme effortless.

Despite what I said above, I do fall in this camp too. There are set specific NPCs BBGs etc that I know I want to eventually pull into the games - a bit sidekick supporting (but VERY interesting) character from Black List that will be important to the traveller adventures down the road, a critical Delta Green Lore important NPC Monster from the DG's 1990s source book that is going to be a hoot using to mess with the DG team, a monster from a CoC intro adventure that screams 'make me a recurrent monster', or most recently a cursed/vampiric husband and his dead wife's vengeful spirit for the October one off set in Gaslight England  - that I spend MONTHS looking for the perfect mini for them.

So, with me playing both sides of the cam, you can say .... yes I love minis ....

 

No. I don't have any minis (I know - blasphemy!), but my little dog (14#) has been digging holes, and man, they're fucking awesome. Her little ass gets almost totally buried in a couple of them holes. She'll hit another world before long. I get a lot of inspiration in nature - I'm in the sticks.

Absolutely! I have minis that inspire NPCs, monsters, entire encounters or adventures. I also get inspired by monsters in various games or books, NPCs I've created, and then kitbash and paint minis to represent them. I'll hear a song or piece of music that gives me an idea or sets a tone that might give me ideas or evoke a color palette for a mini. For me there is a very productive interplay between the visual, tactile, audio, and verbal media - each inspiring or embellishing the other.

I have one mini - old Ral Partha figure called the "Dwarf with No Name" - holding a crossbow, wearing a serape and cowboy hat, smoking a cigar. He inspired an entire campaign mixing western tropes and aesthetics into a fantasy world set in a region of mountains and high desert.

Quote from: Festus on July 09, 2024, 12:49:24 AMAbsolutely! I have minis that inspire NPCs, monsters, entire encounters or adventures. I also get inspired by monsters in various games or books, NPCs I've created, and then kitbash and paint minis to represent them. I'll hear a song or piece of music that gives me an idea or sets a tone that might give me ideas or evoke a color palette for a mini. For me there is a very productive interplay between the visual, tactile, audio, and verbal media - each inspiring or embellishing the other.

I have one mini - old Ral Partha figure called the "Dwarf with No Name" - holding a crossbow, wearing a serape and cowboy hat, smoking a cigar. He inspired an entire campaign mixing western tropes and aesthetics into a fantasy world set in a region of mountains and high desert.

The Dwarf with No Name.  I like it.

Quote from: Lurker on July 08, 2024, 07:25:42 PM

Quote from: SHARK on July 07, 2024, 09:30:00 PMGreetings!

When reviewing batches of my miniature collection, such as when selecting new miniatures to paint--such figures often inspire me to create NPC's from them, and then back stories, and then, before you know it, I have new NPC's for my Thandor campaign, either as NPC allies, or very frequently, of course, dark and evil villains! There are also many that inspire me to create interesting neutral NPC's as well.

I also take a look at various monster and animal figures, and come up with cool ideas on the spot, too. This, then, leads to me putting in some proper work to detail such encounters for my campaign.

So, how about yourselves my friends? How have different miniatures inspired characters and adventures in your campaigns?

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

I'm right there with you on this one ! I see a good mini and go Ooooooooo yeah there is my next BBG, or important Lt, or key NPC.

The trouble is that my face to face game with my girls Is Traveller and one every 4 adventures Delta Green/CoC, so that limits or focuses what minis I can use or the type of monster it can be.

Quote from: Exploderwizard on July 08, 2024, 07:46:46 AMI usually go in the other direction. I will create NPCs and enemies for the campaign, then start searching my unpainted collection for likely candidates. With a vision of the character already formed, it makes coming up with a paint scheme effortless.

Despite what I said above, I do fall in this camp too. There are set specific NPCs BBGs etc that I know I want to eventually pull into the games - a bit sidekick supporting (but VERY interesting) character from Black List that will be important to the traveller adventures down the road, a critical Delta Green Lore important NPC Monster from the DG's 1990s source book that is going to be a hoot using to mess with the DG team, a monster from a CoC intro adventure that screams 'make me a recurrent monster', or most recently a cursed/vampiric husband and his dead wife's vengeful spirit for the October one off set in Gaslight England  - that I spend MONTHS looking for the perfect mini for them.

So, with me playing both sides of the cam, you can say .... yes I love minis ....

 

Greetings!

*Laughing* Nice, my friend! Yeah, I always get lots of ideas and inspiration from my collection of miniatures!

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK