7. Should we use detailed miniatures in our in-person games?

 

Fig 1. A couple of the miniatures I have painted over the years.

I feel like I have to preface by saying that I really like miniatures. I had (working on changing this to "have") a really strong interest in painting them and getting better at painting for my own sake. I have painted a few shelves worth of miniatures like the ones shown above (Fig. 1), but rarely do I paint miniatures or use actual models of the creatures that grace my games. It's not a cost thing. I have owned a resin 3D printer, which allows me to make any number of detailed models (that cost literal pennies), for pretty much the entire span of my minipainting hobby. I think that if you are a game master who uses miniatures (and doesn't mind adding an additional hobby with a lot of troubleshooting), it is particularly freeing. Being able to print anything you need for games within a few hours without the exorbitant prices for miniatures, or shipping, or leaving your home is excellent.

Fig 2. This model was painted in under an hour

There is definitely a time component, especially with painting, though I can paint a game-ready model really quickly (Fig 2) if I am in the mood (this can be an ordeal when energy levels are low). I don't like that you are suddenly on a ticking clock to get the models you need ready for your next game. That kills a little of the  motivation for me. There are definitely ways to circumvent this. For example, If I were serious about including miniatures in my games, I would forgo most of the painting and go with just the zenithal priming technique, where you get a lot of striking detail visible for little effort (Fig 3). Space is also an issue. Miniatures can often times be very delicate so you can't just throw them in a box where they can be jostled, especially when they are meticulously painted. There are a number of storage solutions for miniatures, but they all take up more space than I have. I would love a dedicated space for the ones I do have that is easy access to when I play and doubles as storage/display. Right now I have to run up and down a couple flights of stairs to get the models I need since I don't have the space to "hide" them from the players.

Fig 3. This effect is obtained by priming the miniature black and spraying from above with white with an airbrush, though a rattle can also does the job. 

I think the big thing for me is I think trying to get, prepare, and paint models of the things in your game can be limiting and fall in the realm of wasted prep. Often you are limited to models that are of the traditional fantasy theme (elves, orcs, goblins, ogres, dragons, etc.) and if your world has something that is very different from that theme, you are out of luck. Even if minis exist of the things you want, you may not have it at the ready and I would not recommend using an ogre mini in place of the dragon you are missing, for example. I would bet the players will remember that encounter as the "ogre fight " due the reinforcing imagery. I think that it may also limit the scope of your encounters to only including creatures you have  miniatures of or can procure. I think this stifles creativity a little when designing encounters. If you make a custom monster whole cloth, there probably isn't a model to match it, so I would think that you would be less likely to have custom monsters in your game.

The model you prepped may not come up at all in your game and if you spent a lot of time procuring or painting that model and you may feel burned as a result. I would rather spend that time producing content that I know for sure will be used in this game or a future one. I find that for me there is a never-ending list of usable things to write for the games I am currently running or material out there that I can mine for ideas.  

Fig 4. The white and black tokens can represent what you need at a moments notice

I treat painting as a separate hobby as often the things I paint are not things I can or want to include in my games. There is something to be said though about the times when what I want to paint aligns with something in my games. For me I consider that "bonus content" for the players rather than feeling like the miniatures are a necessity for play. For the rest of the time I think I get more mileage using various abstract representations of the creatures in my game like these (Fig 4). They can instantly be any creature I want and they are easy to store without worrying about damaging them, and I think they help me be a better game master because I have to really describe what the players are seeing rather than relying on the shorthand of  plopping the appropriate miniature on the table. I also like that I can be a more mobile DM with the abstract miniatures, if I want to run a game outside my home, given their compact storage. I do think you would get a greater emotional response from players if they saw accurate representations of the things they are encountering (dropping a dragon on the table is a huge deal), but I don't know if it is worth the effort.