Playing without minis... an exercise in brainstorming

[DSRilk]

Warning: I go way back to the white box with three little brown books, so some of these opinions may be tainted by nostalgia.

Okay, back when I started playing there were miniatures, but I didn't use them and it never occurred to me that I was missing anything. In a way, it was very freeing. Not to mention the fact that it let me play games in the car and school bus. I ran a game last GenCon that had no battle map or minis for the first time in many, many years and thought it felt much less encumbered than having to figure out exact movements and such. So my question is this: how can we adapt 4e to a non-mini's environment?

When playing without minis, I generally think of the characters as being in zones. Characters that are very near each other are in the same zone. A character can either be engaged in the zone or not. If they are, they're in melee range. If not, they're just outside of melee range.

For those at home that want to try this, it is best if you at least sketch out rough locations on paper - especially if there are lots of creatures (as there are in most 4e encounters). Note that we don't talk about being in "zones" when we play, we talk about whether or not we're near a target (disengaged in the same zone), in melee with it (engaged in the same zone), or far from it (in another zone).

Here are some thoughts on 4e effects that would need to be modified:

Movement

• Speed > 2: move to a zone of your choice (either engaged or disengaged) - draw OAs if you're engaged with one or more enemies in your zone

• Speed < 2: engage or disengage within a zone (a DM may allow you to move from disengaged in one zone to either engaged or disengaged - your choice - in another zone if you perform two movement actions with a speed of 1 or 2

• Move: draws OAs if the character is engaged

• Shift or Teleport: does not draw OAs

AoE

• Close Burst 1: affects all engaged characters

• Close Burst > 1: affects all characters in your zone

• Close Blast 2 or less: affects an engaged target

• Close Blast > 2: affects up to half the engaged targets round up (both allies and enemies). Half the targets you choose must be allies and half enemies when possible. If an odd number are affected, the odd target may be either an ally or enemy as desired by the player

• Ranged Blast 2: affects either all engaged targets or one disengaged target in any zone

• Ranged Blast > 2: affects all targets in a zone of your choice

• Reach: You may attack disengaged targets in your own zone or attack engaged targets while staying disengaged

Forced Movement

• Pull 2 or less: move the target from disengaged to engaged within your zone

• Pull > 2: move the target from another zone to your zone (engaged or disengaged, your option)

• Push 2 or less: move the target from engaged to disengaged within your zone (or from disengaged in your zone to disengaged in another zone)

• Push > 2: move the target into another zone (engaged or disengaged, your option)

• Slide: as either push or pull above

• Not pushing or pulling: sometimes given the lack of a map like this, pushing, pulling and sliding may not be particularly useful where they might otherwise be; because of this a character may add +1 damage instead of pushing, pulling, or sliding (+2 at 10th level, +3 at 20th level)

Thoughts? Other things I missed?

 

[Daniel D. Fox]

I would completely normalize all movement across the grid for PC races, despite armor they wear.

The next thing that needs to be thrown out the door are specific square ranges. I'd simply use the terms Close, Near and Far.

Melee Range is toe-to-toe

Close means you can reach someone on foot in one round.

Near means you can reach someone on foot in two rounds, or one round if you Run as a part of movement.

Far means you can reach someone on foot in three rounds, or one and a half rounds if you Run as a part of movement.

Too Far means you cannot reach someone on foot for four rounds or two rounds if you Run as a part of movement and make initiative. Otherwise, you're going to be outrun if the foe has a higher Athletics.

Extrapolating distances for spells and powers I would work in the same way:
1-6 squares=Close
7-12 squares = Near
13-18 squares = Far
19+ Too Far

Bursts and Blasts would work the same way as above.

Opportunity Attacks only trigger whenever you move out of Melee range.

Push, Pull and Slide works in the same function, using the same methodology. Meaning, someone can be pushed, pulled or slid through the Melee Range, Close and Near ranges. This could mean you can forcibly move someone out of these ranges and inhibit movement. I would also recommend houseruling that whenever someone is moved forcibly into a solid object, he takes 1d6 damage for every two squares of movement. This will still give an edge to forced movement without miniatures to represent players.

The rest? DM fiat for traps, hazards and the like. Have players make constant Dexterity attacks vs. hazards that litter the battlefield. Have players make Athletics attacks vs. difficult terrain.

 

[Kzach]

I think that as long as you and your players are very clear about things and generally have a good rapport, mind-theatre can work just fine. Establish several key concepts so that everyone has the same understanding of them and I don't see much of a problem.

Having said that, I do think you would miss out on a lot of the good points of 4e. Mini's can add a lot of fun to a game and I've never quite understood why people are against them.

 

[Byronic]

CoC uses "Luck" to determine some things (like who the monster wants to grab first). I've always wondered if you can apply something like that to DnD

 

[Charwoman Gene]

mearls had a GREAT post on this but I lack search.