Analyzing Counters

[RVA_Grandpa]

Snidley is a NPC in our campaign and only the GM knows his stats. I made that counter because I didn't see an adequate counter for him in the mix.

Yes he's a bad guy. He is the steward of the Ogre Lord that rules the largest town in the area. We, the PCs, think he is the actual brains of the operation and possibly a wizard. We have met him twice and haven't tried to test his strength yet, but one day soon we will.

Luckily for Nell there are no railroads on the isle of Bridonia, but there is a monthly sacrifice to the Ogre Lord's appetite for human flesh.

[ParadoxGames]

Originally Posted by Tom H.

I have been sorting and looking more closely at the counters that come with Melee and Wizard.

(I'm trying to avoid looking at the Death Test ones until I use them.)

1. Is there any logic to how the identifying letters got assigned to the figure artwork?

As far as I can tell, it seems to be very randomly and unevenly distributed.

2. Do you like to choose your counters based more on the letter or the artwork?

Also, currently, it seems to me that the figure art doesn't always best represent the equipment options in the rules or how I would accessorize. I'm still playing and considering though.
3. Any thoughts or preferences?
(All that said, I do appreciate the creative license and variety expressed by Liz Danforth.)

4. Do you have any favorite figures that you must disclose? ;-)

1) The letters are pretty random. Sometimes a creature matches the letter of the creature type. Maybe it's just a coincidence. Letter are just for our counter ID'ing

2) I choose counters to try to match the character and equipmnent. I'm not always lucky. My wife will name characters, even animals, based on the counter letter.

3) I love Liz Danforth's art. I also love counters and made many, many of my own counters, not just for creatures, but for HP, XP, gold, weapons, lesser wishes, and other stuff. All my counters are in Pocket Box scale.

4) I like Melee Counter K; I named him "Kloak" for my adventures!

[Helborn]

If I'm not mistaken, some of the best OTFT counters were done by Norman Royal. I can't find anything about him. Does anyone have any info or a correction? The counters with Master of the Amulets were my favorites.

[raniE]

I love that the giant snake counters in Melee are lettered S, P, Q, R. Someone thinks the romans were snakes (unless it is an absolute coincidence of course).

[hcobb]

Originally Posted by raniE

I love that the giant snake counters in Melee are lettered S, P, Q, R. Someone thinks the romans were snakes (unless it is an absolute coincidence of course).

Ergo my next Goblin Sorceress with the Staff to Snake spell must be called Angitia.

[Armin]

Originally Posted by raniE

I love that the giant snake counters in Melee are lettered S, P, Q, R. Someone thinks the romans were snakes (unless it is an absolute coincidence of course).

Since the alphabet runs PQRS, I'm guessing the coincidence is in history.

[FireHorse]

Originally Posted by Armin

Since the alphabet runs PQRS, I'm guessing the coincidence is in history.

The 'Roman Serpents Theory' sounded quite intriguing, for a moment there. I was thinking, "I wonder, why serpents? Is that a slander on Rome? Or a compliment? Is it a meta-reference to something from Roman history? What does it MEAN?"

And then you had to go spoil it all, with your crazy 'Alphabetical Order Theory'. Occam's Razor ruins the party yet again. ;)

[raniE]

Originally Posted by Armin

Since the alphabet runs PQRS, I'm guessing the coincidence is in history.

Yeah, entirely possible that it is a coincidence of course. But the giant counters run A, C, the bears are B, D, E, U, the gargoyles are G, J, P, Z and the Wolves F, H, I, L, R, W. So none of the other creature sets have counters running in full alphabetical order. Hm,, could there be possible hidden references or easter eggs in the other nonhuman sets?

[tomc]

Originally Posted by raniE

Hm,, could there be possible hidden references or easter eggs in the other nonhuman sets?

If not, I'm sure we can make some. Humans are crazy good at finding patterns. Whether they exist or not. :)

[Anaraxes]

Originally Posted by Armin

Since the alphabet runs PQRS, I'm guessing the coincidence is in history.

Given that "snake" starts with 's', and that letter looks like a snake, it's plausible that the artist picked that counter to be one of the snakes. Then just dropped them all next door.