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So, I'm a DM and in need of minis, I've priced plastic ones and they cost a lot so i saw some paper ones and thought cool. but after a few seconds i figured out that paper don't stand on its edge very well so, does any one know of a stand that i could slip a piece of paper into? preferable with varying sizes.

I have never tried this,(I normally rp online or with my imagination so no need of small plastic peices or cut outs) so I don't know if it would work or not. But have you tried paper clips. I don't mean the wire ones but something more like the black bent metal ones. Like this http://www.escrappers.com/images/paperclip2.jpg

I know they stand if you flip them over and the metal wire can come out. Also they are cheap at walmart where I live.

That's them! Thanks, Spork.

I forget where I saw it but another great alternative to minis, if they are readily available: legos.

I tried stand up paper minis, but wasn't a big fan. I've had a lot of luck with printing my own counters, though. The ink costs can add up over time, but they look nice and I give the token to the player that kills it. I got composition notebooks for everyone and a glue stick, so they each keep notes for every session and combat. Monsters get pasted in after being killed.

RPTools is where you'll find the token editor I use. After googling an image and cutting it down in there, I paste it into an open office document with the stat blocks for the encounter. Size it as 1" for a small/medium creature 2" for large and etc. You can get a 1" circular hole punch from hobby lobby for like $6, or just cut em out with scissors for bigger ones (they make a 2" hole punch that works for large size creatures as well)

If you use slightly thicker than normal paper (not quite cover stock thickness) they don't move around a lot on the battle mat.

Here's an example of a finished encounter



...That was way more than you wanted/needed to know, but I hope it helped!

In my group, when minis HAVE been used, we usually don't sweat matching the monsters verbatum.

As long as it was distinguishable as the monster type and was the appropriate size for the battlemap, that was usually good enough (so, an orc wouldn't represent a dragon, but one dragon might represent another color dragon or similarly huge epic monster in a pinch).