Up front, I'd like to make a disclaimer.
Dragon Scale Counters offers a discount on a future order for reviewing their product on RPGnet. I think the counters deserve a review independent of that, but I'd rather get any potential conflicts out in the open.
Dragon Scale Counters are an inexpensive alternative to miniatures. The counters are squares or rectangles of plastic, each with a character or creature drawing of some sort. All the counters are designed around the d20 "5 feet per inch" scale, so they're cut accordingly. The drawings themselves are scaled to be accurate for the individual creatures. So a human on a one-inch square takes up the bulk of the counter, but a kobold on the same one-inch square takes up less of the available space.
Most of the available counters are D&D monsters and characters. But there are modern, pulp and science fiction types also. Right now I'm looking at some spellcasters, a PI in a trenchcoat, a few robots, a large basilisk, monks and a street thug with a pistol.
The artwork varies in both source and quality. Some of the images were obviously drawn entirely on a computer, and it looks good. Some artwork was just as obviously drawn by hand and it's not up to the same standards. A lot of the hand-drawn artwork is poor, to put it bluntly. It gets the point across, but it'll never win awards. None of the counters include artist credit, by the way.
I also have some questions about the sensibilities of some of the artwork. In particular, there's an all-blue female android. It's unquestionably mechanical, including the blades built into the arms. But it's obviously female. The oversized breasts even have clearly defined nipples. Who would build something like this, especially when it looks only vaguely human otherwise?
The counters aren't all the same size. They're all about the right size, but just lining them up demonstrates quite well that they aren't cut quite the same. This does not hurt their usefulness, of course. And honestly, I'd prefer it if they were all cut just a bit smaller, say 1/8" smaller in both height and width. Or if they were circles, etc., like the counters found in Dungeon magazine. Either way they wouldn't nudge right up against each other on a map grid.
Are they useful? Oh, yes. They're especially good when you need a horde of something. The cheapest are 25 cents US each. You can get a dozen of them for the price of one metal miniature. You can mix and match, so there's no need to buy five counters you don't need for a price break. On the other hand, if you do want a price break there are some package deals: collections of PCs and NPCs, plants, dragons, etc.
Being made of stiff plastic, the counters are quite durable for normal use. (Being round would help here also, as the corners are quite sharp.) You'd have to gouge it to get the artwork off. And the plastic allows you to use erasable pens. I use water-soluble pens for overhead projectors, and they erase just as well off Dragon Scale Counters as they do a Chessex battlemat.
The service is exceptional. Shipping is 80 cents via USPS, or considerably more for overnight delivery. I used Paypal, and my counters arrived in three days by mail. The counters came in a padded envelope, packed in a Ziploc bag. No scratches, no scuffing, just some nice counters.
All in all, I recommend Dragon Scale Counters without reservation, especially to the GM. Players will probably want something they can customize a bit. But for an army, a crypt full of undead, or a huge dragon that doesn't cost a small fortune, Dragon Scale Counters can't be beaten.
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(Due to spamming, old forum discussions are no linked.)