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Made in ca
Thrall Wizard of Tzeentch







I'm thinking about having custom tokens for my game, what are your thoughts? Would you like custom tokens for a game or would you want to stick to good old fashioned dice markers?
   
Made in us
Confessor Of Sins




WA, USA

Entirely depends on their use and design. Context is the utter master here.

 Ouze wrote:

Afterward, Curran killed a guy in the parking lot with a trident.
 
   
Made in gb
Longtime Dakkanaut






Cheltenham, UK

It's a curious one.

On the one hand, you'd think that a lack of custom markers needed for a game would make it appealing. But it seems that the opposite can be true. Wargamers just seem to love buying stuff for their games - there's a real dopamine hit from pimping out your hobby, it seems. So my conscious and rational brain says "no, custom markers are for dopes". But my irrational lizard brain sees customer markers and goes all dribbly.

R.


   
Made in ca
Thrall Wizard of Tzeentch







 precinctomega wrote:
It's a curious one.

On the one hand, you'd think that a lack of custom markers needed for a game would make it appealing. But it seems that the opposite can be true. Wargamers just seem to love buying stuff for their games - there's a real dopamine hit from pimping out your hobby, it seems. So my conscious and rational brain says "no, custom markers are for dopes". But my irrational lizard brain sees customer markers and goes all dribbly.

R.



The markers wouldn't necessarily required, you could play without them but it would make the game cleaner and a lot nicer.
   
Made in ie
Veteran Wolf Guard Squad Leader





Dublin

Custom tokens look and feel good to use. They're also useful tools for their clarity e.g. a 1 red cross token and 2 blast-shaped markers let players see at a glance "OK that squad has taken a wound and has two suppression counters." As opposed to using dice for such things, which is perfectly adequate, but can be misinterpreted as being a different type of counter.

The only time I find tokens frustrating is where a game doesn't provide enough of them, and you're left short. And of course it's a bad thing when a token serves no use, though I've not encountered that.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2017/03/29 20:05:39


I let the dogs out 
   
Made in ca
Thrall Wizard of Tzeentch







 thegreatchimp wrote:
Custom tokens look and feel good to use. They're also useful tools for their clarity e.g. a red cross wounded token and a 2 blast-shaped supression markers let players see at a glance "OK that squad has taken a wound and has two supression counters." As opposed to using dice for such things.

The only time I find tokens frustrating is where a game doesn't provide enough of them, and you're left short. And of course it's a bad thing when a token serves no use, though I've not encountered that.



I see what you mean, I'll definitely provide enough of them with options to buy them separate for say, a situation where someone loses them.
   
Made in ie
Veteran Wolf Guard Squad Leader





Dublin

Xjax1 wrote:


I see what you mean, I'll definitely provide enough of them with options to buy them separate for say, a situation where someone loses them.
Suppression tokens are a particular curse for this. The designer works out that there's enough, plus some to spare, for say 8 units per side. However they've failed to take into account if players decide to run 13 smaller units, or fight a battle at a higher points cost.

I appreciate that making that amount of tokens add considerable cost to the production of a game though. Perhaps a good solution is making a set of extra tokens available for purchase.

I let the dogs out 
   
Made in ca
Thrall Wizard of Tzeentch







 thegreatchimp wrote:
Xjax1 wrote:


I see what you mean, I'll definitely provide enough of them with options to buy them separate for say, a situation where someone loses them.
Suppression tokens are a particular curse for this. The designer works out that there's enough, plus some to spare, for say 8 units per side. However they've failed to take into account if players decide to run 13 smaller units, or fight a battle at a higher points cost.

I appreciate that making that amount of tokens add considerable cost to the production of a game though. Perhaps a good solution is making a set of extra tokens available for purchase.


will do
   
Made in us
Decrepit Dakkanaut






SoCal, USA!

Custom tokens are clearly preferable. They don't roll or look like some other game component. The trick is refining your game so that you don't need a huge variety of tokens, and then making each of the tokens visually distinctive at a glance.

   
Made in ca
Huge Hierodule






Outflanking

Speaking as a (primarily) X-wing and Armada player, using tokens is a great way to identify the status of ships at a glance (also, someone at FFG has a token fetish). A small marker is much more interesting to look at that dice, and is harder to accidentally bump. However, it can get cluttered quickly. FFG has solved the problem of it being hard to get enough tokens by including more of the necessary tokens with each ship released, to the point where I have a whole toolbox of tokens that I do not expect to use. These are simple cardboard punchouts, with most players picking up cooler looking ones over time. It is also an easy thing to do tournament support for, with most of FFG's support coming in the form of Acrylic tokens and Alt-art cards.

Based off of these two games (and my experience making custom tokens for them), there are three things to help identify the tokens.

1) Symbol
2) Colour
3) Shape

(1) is fairly obvious. Just have each token have a unique pattern, which should be identifiable at a glance. Eybeballs, punctuation, WHMIS symbols, whatever. The goal here is to have something that is readily identifiable, fits with the purpose (for example, a ! symbol or explosion to represent a unit being shot at), and unique (so no using a skull for one effect, and a skull and crossbones for another).

(2) not only does colour further help distinguish tokens from each other, but it also helps with the whole "visual assessment" matter. So, Green/Blue tokens are good, Red is bad. It can also allow you to record multiple status' on one token, simply by having a different colour on the other side (for example, Armada's defence tokens, which are flipped when used). However, it is not essential, as Armada's command tokens are all the same colour.

(3) is probably the most easily overlooked. Having the tokens themselves be different shapes helps identify them quickly, especially if they are all in a pile together. Having all tokens of the same colour differ not only in symbol, but also in shape makes life a whole lot easier.

Q: What do you call a Dinosaur Handpuppet?

A: A Maniraptor 
   
Made in us
Douglas Bader






 curran12 wrote:
Entirely depends on their use and design. Context is the utter master here.


/thread

There is no such thing as a hobby without politics. "Leave politics at the door" is itself a political statement, an endorsement of the status quo and an attempt to silence dissenting voices. 
   
 
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