31 Questions For Barking Alien - Phase II - Question 7

Today's question, Question #7 for those playing the home game, comes from friend of the blog Jonathan Linneman of Monstrous Matters. 

It is simple enough to answer but still quite interesting nonetheless (and I hope the answer is interesting to my audience). 

I know you've mentioned that you don't use miniatures much (if at all...?) in your RPGs, but I wonder if you do use other visual or tactile enhancements, and if so, what? Any favorites you've used as a GM or experienced as a player?

In my earliest days in the hobby we used miniatures off and on to visually represent our characters, where they were standing, etc. but we never ever measured distances or used the minis in any 'tactical' fashion. We never quite cared about 'facing' or other wargame aspects of the hobby. Miniatures were fun to get and paint but were never seen as necessary.

This combined with various practical concerns steered us away from using them more and more as time marched on. My friends and I were often playing at school during the lunch period, at camp in the open grass, or on a bus or train heading to or from these locations. Not really conditions conducive to the transportation and use of minis.

Then there was the subject matter - the genres and settings we were playing in. After 1982, D&D was played less and less often by the groups I was part of in favor of Star Trek, Star Wars, Champions, Mekton, Teenagers from Outer Space, Toon, and many other TRPGs that didn't have nearly the miniatures support [at the time] that Fantasy games received. 

As a side note, we did use Japanese Model Kits to represent our Giant Robots in various Mecha games. I was really good at customizing and kitbashing the range of Mobile Suit Gundam kits (called 'Gunpla' today). I once took two customized Hi-Zacks from the Zeta Gundam series, modified and repainted to resemble Warhammer 40K Space Marines, to a NJ Gaming Convention where my buddy and I found some Games Workshop guys from England playing the aforementioned games.

I asked one of them, a bald and tattooed fellow with a heavy liverpool accent, if my friend and I could play and field 'Titans' (the Giant Robots of WH40K). We were kind of teased about the question until I pulled out the models and put them on the table next to some standard minis. The guy lost his sh**, called his mate over and he also lost his sh**. Good times.

A final factor, the nail in the coffin as it were, was that I went to the High School of Art and Design and later college at Pratt Institute and the School of Visual Arts. You know how you have that one person in your gaming group who can draw really well? Every person in my gaming group(s) was that person, including me (if you are flexible on the definition of 'draws really well').

We all drew our characters, the bad guys, this alien or that monster, etc. My friend Nelson had a tendency to draw a half dozen to a dozen Blaster Pistols or Lightsaber handles before deciding which one his character used. The others went to other PCs and NPCs. He and my ol' pal Joe would design starship bridge layouts to figure out what kind of bridge our campaign starship would have. 

So yes, a lot of visuals are used in my games, usually in the form of picutres and illustrations much as you see here on the blog. We've used hand-outs and fold out maps on a number of a occasions. We've had physical props at the table once in a while like toy/model Phasers, Tricorders, Lightsabers, and other such items to immerse everyone in the milieu in question.

I've played WH40K a couple of times, used Heroclix to represent Marvel and DC characters for my pal Dan's rules-free Supers sessions, and pointed to the spot on my Eaglemoss die-cast 'The Orville' where the Krill Destroyer's energy blasts touched the PC ship in a bad way. Generally speaking, I love to supply my players with visual but minis just isn't how I do it. 

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Barking Alien

Happy 100th Birthday to American Television and Film legend Dick Van Dyke! Star of radio, stage, and screens both large and small, winner of numerous Emmys, one Grammy, and one Tony Award, this man is a living icon of the Entertainment Industry. 

A Very Happy Birthday to you good sir!