From:	Eve Forward <lutra@******.COM>
Subject:	Re: About miniatures
Date:	Sun, 24 Sep 1995 05:40:55 -0700

>>
I have these painted figures on them at hand (on a shelf about a meter
away from where I normally sit), which I occassionally use to mark
positions of people in firefights, but most of the time I just draw a map
on paper, and mark positions with my pencil: the first letter or letters
of the (N)PC's name, or a number for nameless NPCs. Real simple.

<<

Well, except what do you do when they move? Erase and redraw, or make
little arrows until the map looks like a football tactics chart? Also,
how do you indicate which way they are facing? And plus, if aren't
real fond of the minis, you can demonstrate the effect of dragon breath
with a bottle of lighter fluid and a match. :)

>>That is one of the biggest problems with using miniatures -- none of them
ever looks like the one you want, apart maybe from the few "character"
figures Ral Partha has made for SR: Harlequin, Kyle Morgan, Maria
Mercurial, and some more. And I don't really like the looks of them apart
from Maria...
Of course it does get a bit weird (or maybe oddly appropriate :) if the
players are in an ambush by Aztlan soldiers who are represented by a
handful of skeletons...<<

Well, why should it matter? The players don't look like a little "X", or
like dice or risk pieces or Skittles or any of the other things I've seen
double as minis. Besides, do you want a well-detailed, perfect little
icon of your favorite PC (with a lot of time and $$ invested in getting it)
down on the table next to the pizza and Coke cans? Sometimes for a challenge
I'll work on getting a mini that is a near-perfect representation of a PC
(I've made my own out of sculpey before; yes, 25mm and he was excellent until
somone sat on him) but just for a fifteen-minute firefight; who cares? I
have sketches of all of my PC's; that's what I use to say "Here's what I
look like." Easier, more accurate, and safer than a little mini.
JUst say, "These 15 skeletons represent Azzie soldiers." No one
can blame you for not having 15 perfect Azzie soldier minis.

-E