The Raven's Mutterings Wherein Carl Cravens talks about geeky stuff

Tokens on the map, Part 1

I used to like minis a lot.  Back in my early days of D&D, (Basic with Erol Otus cover,  and Advanced), I used minis... I have fond memories of painting Grenadier minis from the official boxed sets while listening to The Go-Gos.  When I started playing Champions, I switched to using cardboard stand-ups... and when the PDF stand-ups came along, I could print as many as I liked, but I found cutting/folding/gluing annoying, and storing them was really a pain.

When 4E came around and I somehow found myself running D&D again for the first time since about 1986, and I needed monsters to put on the map, and with a budget of zero, I figured I'd make do with the stand-ups I already had.  I'd heard other gamers rave about tokens, mostly made from Magic cards (bleh), but I really didn't think I'd like them.  Then Fiery Dragon published a free token set specifically aimed at The Keep on the Shadowfell, and I decided to give them a try because there was a unique token for every monster and variant in the adventure.

Knowing that cardstock counters wouldn't fly (or, specifically, that they would fly right off the table), I glued them to wooden discs and off we went.

Now I'm a Token Convert. I'm about to become a Token Evangelist.

Why I like monster tokens in general:

• Variety: If I don't have a monster I want (unlikely with the Fiery Dragon tokens), I can make a token out of just about any art.
• Portability: They're durable, and store easily. I use a pill bottle to hold all of the tokens I need for a single encounter. I can store hundreds of tokens in one little box.
• Cost: The tokens are so cheap that I can print a bajillion of them.  A one-shot monster token can have new artwork glued over the old.  I've considered double-siding them, but the official D&D cardboard tokens taught me how annoying that can be.
• Clarity: The tokens on the map are clearer than minis or stand-ups.  A little circle on the token gives me a clear place to write a number or initial to track my hordes of minions.  I can place status markers directly on top of the tokens as a clear indicator.

Now if I can just get the players to use tokens instead of minis for their characters.

Next post, why Fiery Dragon tokens are a huge factor in making tokens work, and then why Litko Aero brings an essential dash of spice.