OK, so this is a bit of a ramble. So recently I've been thinking that it might be fun to run a Pathfinder game, except I don't know any gamers near me (aside from one person who brought stuff from me from ebay).  I don't own any miniatures or stuff like Tac Tiles (or whatever they were called).

I also thought that while I'm purchasing new RPG books, is there really any point when I know that realistically, I probably won't end up running or playing in any games for a while, if ever. I don't really like organised play games, I prefer once a week regular games. Reading adventures and rulebooks can be fun, but is it really worth buying the books to read them once?

What would I need in terms of miniatures if I *were* to run a game? Note, I wouldn't want to be a completist- ie. an orc can represent a minotaur or ghoul or any other evil humanoid monster. And how would I acquire a set of Tac Tiles (or something similar; battlemats don't appeal to me). What would the value of such items be? If I did want such items, I'd prefer to trade for them. But would I still ever run a game? I'm not sure it would be worth trying to find such items, if I don't run a game in the future.

astenon wrote:What would I need in terms of miniatures if I *were* to run a game? Note, I wouldn't want to be a completist- ie. an orc can represent a minotaur or ghoul or any other evil humanoid monster.

As far as miniatures go, you can use just about anything you like, from coins, to dice, to cardboard chits.  I read an article about a cheap alternative to miniatures I thought interesting on Dragonsfoot:

http://www.dragonsfoot.org/forums/viewt ... 43&t=46146

Maybe this floats your boat.   Me, I like the real thing.  

There's lots of nice battlemats you can buy, but you can also make a battlemat yourself at a very low cost.

Go to Office Max and buy a sheet of white plastic film, a permanent marker, and a couple of colored erasable markers.  

Cut the plastic to whatever size you want.  I think ours was about 20" by 30" or so and that was more than enough room for us.  Make a grid using a ruler and the permanant marker.  Let the permanent marker dry well.

You're done!

During play, use the erasable markers to make terrain or draw rooms as needed.  Erase and repeat.  

We used a homemade mat like this for a long time before we finally sprang for an actual pre-made battle mat.

JohnGaunt mentioned plexiglass.... but 5 - 12x12 sheets for $50 seems like a lot to me.

Otherwise, I solved several problems with one additional item that no one else above has mentioned.

The rolled vinyl maps tend to bunch up at the rolls, or if it is folded it is even worse.
Dealing with rolls and folds, It is VERY hard to keep miniatures from falling over... they simply wont stand up right many times.
And some mats wont allow some markers to be easily erased and others are really a big mess to clean up... yuck.

I bought a pre-made rolled vinyl mat, then I found a plastic sheet that can be written on with marker and then the marker ink easily removed.
Placed the plastic sheet over the mat, so the squares show through the clear plastic.
I dont have to worry about the mat not lying flat as it is under the plastic sheet.
So the miniatures have no trouble staying upright...
I can also place pre-made maps, or even tiles under the clear plastic sheet to keep them from being marked on, and to help hold the large folding maps flat.

The Plastic sheet (might be plexiglass... I dont know) is something like 30" x 36" and it cost less than $30 and IIRC was just under $25 as I had thought about buying two (for about $50 total) as the two combined would cover the entire half of that table and would be quite a bit larger than the Vinyl Mat.
Turns out one sheet was enough for our gaming use.

Seen below: Plastic sheet on top, a full sized City State of the Invincible Overlord City Map next, with the vinyl mat on the bottom.
At the top of the picture you can tell that the mat is a little longer that direction than the plastic sheet is.

I just buy a big pad of easel grid paper and draw the maps for the encounters beforehand-then just flip pages as the PCs move through different areas.
The maps do take a bit of work, but I enjoy the effort, and I know my players do too.