Sometimes a Nonstandard Mini Will Do

Last night’s 3.5 LG dungeon went well, and stayed pretty serious until we entered the room of the cube. The DM said he needed a huge 3×3 mini. Since the game is run at my house, all the players looked at my wife and I. I know I have some that size… Somewhere. Having a 5 year old child in the house makes tracking the bigger mini’s difficult to dare I say impossible. Having a five year old in the house also means we have plenty of nonstandard minis around to use instead. Yup his toys are open game on game night. Quick thinking by the wife, and she runs off and returns with B.O.B. from our son’s infinitely huge McDonald’s Happy Meal collection.

Marketing has us wanting to buy a 3×3 gelatinous cube mini to correctly represent the monster in the room, but anything will do in a pinch, from 3×3 cut piece of scrap paper with the words describing the beast written in pencil, to random toys or trinkets of similar size found within reach of the game table.

Here is quick list of what we commonly use:

• Heroesscape toys
• Toy soldiers
• Candy (Star burst and Hersey Kisses)
• Scrap paper cutouts
• Poker chips
• Modeling clay
• Cell phones
• Small jewelry boxes
• Coins
• Dice (eight henchmen, use eight die eights)

Honestly players will believe anything you say. You say the paper clip is a naga, and they are like, ok, let’s fight the naga. The monster manuals out there have all the cool pictures of what the monsters look like in the game and you can page through to naga and show them an image, after that most players will reference back to that image not the paper clip. Though last night B.O.B. did leave a lasting impression.

Possibly Related Posts:

• King humor
• The Kings Crew
• The King’s Crib
• The Villain’s Escape Kit
• Fun stuff in the new PF Advanced Player’s Guide