For most of the history of online roleplaying, the humble token has looked the same: a flat circle, viewed from directly above, with a character portrait squeezed inside it. It works. Millions of unforgettable adventures have been fought across grids of little colored dots. But let's be honest, it's never looked quite like the miniatures on a physical table.
That's starting to change. A new wave of virtual tabletops is bringing 3D and 2.5D tokens to online maps, swapping flat discs for figures that stand up, cast a sense of presence, and look a lot more like the minis you'd push around a real battle map. If you've ever wished your online game looked as epic as it feels, this is for you.
Let's break down what these tokens actually are and how to get the most out of them.
The terms get used loosely, so let's pin them down.
A flat token is the classic: a 2D image seen top-down, lying flat on the map. Simple, light, universal.
A 2.5D token (sometimes called a "standee" or "paper miniature") is a flat image that stands upright on the map, like a cardboard standee on a tabletop. You see your character from the side, facing across the battlefield, even though it's technically still a 2D picture. It's the digital version of those little fold-up paper minis, and it instantly makes a map feel less like a board game and more like a diorama.
A true 3D token is an actual three-dimensional model, a sculpted figure you can rotate and view from different angles, lit by the scene around it. These are the closest thing to a painted miniature that an online table can offer.
The jump from a flat circle to a standing figure is bigger than it sounds. Suddenly your map has a foreground and a sense of scale. A dragon doesn't just occupy four squares; it looms.
It's fair to ask: does this actually improve the game, or is it just shiny? A bit of both, honestly, and the "shiny" part counts for more than purists admit.
None of this changes the rules or the dice. What it changes is the feeling, and feeling is a huge part of why we play.
Here's the honest part: 3D tokens aren't always the right call, and a good table knows when to reach for them.
They shine in tactical combat and big dramatic encounters, the moments where everyone's leaning in, positioning matters, and you want the scene to feel cinematic. A boss fight rendered with standing figures and a looming villain is genuinely thrilling.
They matter less in roleplay-heavy or theater-of-the-mind scenes, where the action lives in conversation and imagination rather than on a grid. There's no shame in dropping the map entirely for a tense negotiation.
And there's a practical cost: fancier visuals can ask more of slower devices and connections. If a player is gaming on an old laptop or a phone, keep an eye on performance, the best-looking table in the world isn't worth it if someone's game stutters. A good tool lets you mix flat and 3D tokens freely, so you can spend the visual budget where it counts.
A few small habits separate a map that uses 3D tokens from one that truly shines with them:
Flat tokens aren't going anywhere, and they shouldn't. They're fast, universal, and perfectly good for countless games. But 3D and 2.5D tokens have opened a door that's hard to close again, once you've watched your party stand shoulder to shoulder against a towering foe on the screen, the old circles feel a little flatter.
This is one of the most exciting frontiers in online play right now: maps that look as memorable as the stories told across them. If you'd like to try it, Mini Kraken supports 3D and 2.5D tokens right alongside classic flat ones, so you can give your big encounters that diorama feeling and keep things lightweight everywhere else. Set up your next battle map, drop in a few standing figures, and watch the scene come to life.