'Old School' Miniatures for AD&D

Posts: 211 · Posted: Sun Nov 12, 2006 7:50 am

Hi All,

I'm investigating the possibility of producing a range of miniatures for 'old school' D&Ders. It would consist of figures for monsters which have been neglected or poorly-represented by the big miniatures companies, particularly the ones from the 1st Ed Monster Manual.

I would be interested to know what you would like to see made. I'll start you off with my own personal wish-list:

Skeletons (never found any that I really like)
Demons & Devils
Oozes, slimes, jellies, etc.
Wights
Giants

Let me know what you think.

Posts: 1573 · Posted: Sun Nov 12, 2006 8:10 am

Sounds like a good list . . . except for the Oozes, Slimes and Jellies. I've always thought that the reason there aren't many of those minis is that no one wants those minis! Whose was going to spend their hard earned cash on a little lump of lead? Very Happy

Posts: 3187 · Posted: Sun Nov 12, 2006 8:20 am

At this years GenCon I've seen some 'greens' for oozes that looked really cool, also someone has made a Gelationous Cube and has been selling them on Ebay: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=8788232501

ShaneG.

Posts: 196 · Posted: Sun Nov 12, 2006 12:02 pm

Interestingly, one of my regular ebay searches is for oozes, slimes, & jellies! I collect all pre-1985 o,s,&j. Otyughs too. I believe I have every otyugh mini ever produced. Cool

So if you were to make that line, I'd be buying some slimes! Very Happy

As for Demons & Devils, I find Reaper minis makes great ones, near duplicates of 1st edition MM. Their skeletons & giants are great too, IMHO.

Most of the things on my wish list you wouldn't be able to do without WOTC suing you. Here is my wish list for miniatures that should be made as exact replilcas of 1st edition MMs:
Umber Hulk
Hooked Horror
Roper
Otyugh (TSR made a great one back in the day, on the green blister cards, but it was way too small)
Drider
Beholder
Grell
Carrion Crawler
fungul monsters (I know Reaper makes some happy-go-lucky ones, I'm looking for the mean nasty ones like Grenadier put out)

Posts: 211 · Posted: Sun Nov 12, 2006 12:20 pm

Beyondthebreach wrote:

Sounds like a good list . . . except for the Oozes, Slimes and Jellies. I've always thought that the reason there aren't many of those minis is that no one wants those minis! Whose was going to spend their hard earned cash on a little lump of lead? Very Happy

Oh, they won't be lead, they'll be semi-transparent coloured resin. They'll come with a metal flagstone base, and they'll look very cool. I'll post a pic of my Gelatinous cube prototype soon.

Edit: OK, here it is......

[/img]

Posts: 301 · Posted: Sun Nov 12, 2006 1:45 pm

Fantastic!
That is really great!
What about such Gelatinous Cube on a dwarven forge ground, in order to avoid the support ?
That is very interesting, bravo!

Posts: 3187 · Posted: Sun Nov 12, 2006 3:44 pm

Wow, I like that..are they going up for sale.

ShaneG.

Posts: 4716 · Posted: Sun Nov 12, 2006 3:56 pm

I'd say Cube it on a flagstone base. It would lay almost flush with the terrain. No black base. Throw some gold coins inside it, and it would be perfect. I would definitely be interested in one.

Posts: 211 · Posted: Sun Nov 12, 2006 7:16 pm

The black plastic base is seperate, and optional. Yes, I plan to sell these eventually.

Thanks for the suggestions, Gus. I'll certainly be adding a few of those to my list.

Keep 'em coming everyone!

Posts: 2938 · Posted: Sun Nov 12, 2006 8:21 pm

Egg of Coot over on Dragonsfoot has a great gelatinous cube interested parties should check out

http://www.dragonsfoot.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=15751&start=60

and for some other figures see:

http://www.dragonsfoot.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=19769
and
http://www.dragonsfoot.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=19788

Posts: 2338 · Posted: Sun Nov 12, 2006 8:48 pm

I know he had a couple more gelatinous cubes in the works the other day when I was over so if anyone is interested in one you could probably email him and see if he'd cast another one at the same time.

He is also doing a flumph:

http://www.dragonsfoot.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=18668&highlight=mini atures+flumph

and a troll but I can't find the link right now.

Posts: 269 · Posted: Fri Nov 17, 2006 11:19 am

Those are some great looking cubes, I must have one... nice touch with the skeleton Cool

and to think back in the day I used an ice cube. Confused

Q: My MM is out of reach, in the description for the GC does it say they are transparent? or "colored"?

Posts: 211 · Posted: Fri Nov 17, 2006 4:34 pm

The cube will be made in clear, transparent resin. The coloured resin will be used for the grey ooze, green slime, ochre jelly, black pudding etc.

Posts: 128 · Posted: Wed Nov 22, 2006 12:32 am

Definitely giants! They may not be an underrepresented monster, but they're rarely done well. As different species from homo sapiens, giants should look mythic, or at least fairy-tale. Most I've seen just look like humans on a bigger scale, and some are just plain terrible. Tom Meier's 70's work for Ral Partha is IMHO the gold standard: http://www.sodemons.com/rhrp01gallery/rp01057frostgiant.jpg
Now that's a frost giant not just some 52mm viking.

Posts: 827 · Posted: Wed Nov 22, 2006 3:12 am

Definitely giants! They may not be an underrepresented monster, but they're rarely done well.
-hello tiger. yes i agree. have not seen many good giants since the few originals like Meiers.

Posts: 128 · Posted: Wed Nov 22, 2006 4:55 am

-hello tiger. yes i agree. have not seen many good giants since the few originals like Meiers.[/quote]

Glad to meet another fan, Rakeesh! Meier's sculpting has an Arthur-Rackhamesque quality that puts you squarely in a fantasy atmosphere. Unfortunately I don't think he's done any giants since the mid-80s. Tom Loback's giants for Dragontooth were good too, but not as delicately sculpted. I'd be curious to hear what plans if any the OP has for giants.

Posts: 211 · Posted: Wed Nov 22, 2006 7:48 am

Giants, now there's a good idea! Would be cool to base them on the MM artwork.

Posts: 202 · Posted: Wed Nov 22, 2006 8:09 am

I wanna cube!

hmm.. minis i'd like to see... perhaps vrock before 3rd ed made them purple... I mean ewww... why are they purple!?
and a decent representation of an erynis would be nice... you know.. one that didn't look like a devil she harpy.

and yes! beholders! all the subbreeds too! because observers are so ridiculously cute

Posts: 93 · Posted: Tue Dec 05, 2006 12:00 am

Hey all,

My ears were burning, so I thought I'd check in.

I've been working on a number of old school styled sculpts here and there, between some other projects. Unfortunately, time is the one resource I've been very short on. FWIW, the Gelatinous Cube Grodog linked to was actually my first prototype - and I can't help but wince whenever I see it . . . Fortunately, my work has improved . . .

The Egg

Posts: 680 · Posted: Tue Dec 05, 2006 10:58 pm

Hello Egg,

I need to get with you sometime on that little dragon project we discussed on Dragonsfoot a while back. I've got to figure out how to ship it to you at a reasonable cost and have it remain intact going and returning...