I wanted to include this in the part two article, but decided it was a little lengthy, and it could be it's own mid-week mini blog post. So here it is! Thanks for the great comments on my last article. I hope this one is helpful! -DS
When I was playtesting ways to use both tokens and miniatures together at the game table, I was tempted to try and find a way for the tokens to stand up. Every other monster on the map was 3D, so it made sense that the token could at least try to be. I combed through my old board games and found some plastic card stands that worked quite well at keeping the tokens upright. I congratulated myself on my ingenuity and brought them to my game session.
I am a freaking legend.
After playing it in the field, I felt a lot more foolish. I failed to consider the way my basement set-up works: the DM is off to the side while the players surround the table. And unless a player is facing the token head on, the token's upright nature only gets in the way. People got confused as to which monsters were bloodied, and some barely had any idea what they were fighting at all.
I am a freaking idiot.
In addition, if you have a Large or Huge monster token, you need to modify the stand to show how many squares it is occupying at any given time. There are ways to do this, but it's still a lot of work for little real payoff. So overall, making the tokens stand up is way more trouble than it is worth. But if your table is set up so that your Players are all facing the map from one basic angle, it might work for you.
Thanks for reading! Hope it helps.
- DS
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