D&D 5E Lost Mine of Phandelver battlemaps

[Shush]

So, I will be running Lost Mine of Phandelver tonight for my longtime group, and i have few questions/concerns regarding it. Possible spoilers for future players, so if you plan to play it any time in the future, please move on, for your own sake.

Questions are directed to people who already played or at least read through some of it, but if you have any insight or opinion on the matter, feel free to pitch in.
Been reading first part of the adventure and preping it ("Goblin Arrows"/Cragmaw Hideout) and maps just seem a bit... cramped, to say. I was planning on using battlemat and miniatures, cause its been our style since we started playing, in mid 90s (AD&D), and i find it to be preferable method with my players and me. No arguments over who can reach what, if fighter can charge to that orc over there, if there is room to flank evil cultist (I know about no flanking, dw) and all such situations. Plus, we do enjoy somewhat tactical combat, most of the times.

Question/concern is: are locations too cramped? How did it go in actual play for you who ran it with grid/battlemap? Is it just me worrying too much, or are some of locations just not suitable for battlemap and miniatures play style?
For all of you who gonna suggest "Theatre of the Mind", just want to stop you right there cause we wont be doing it. I have nothing against it, but i know my group as well as myself, plus we gonna be using english (second language for all of us) because of mixed group composition. I am confident enough to DM like that, already did it with 4E, but TotM requires nuances, and im not certain some of the players are up to the task.

 

[ExploderWizard]

Question/concern is: are locations too cramped? How did it go in actual play for you who ran it with grid/battlemap? Is it just me worrying too much, or are some of locations just not suitable for battlemap and miniatures play style?
For all of you who gonna suggest "Theatre of the Mind", just want to stop you right there cause we wont be doing it. I have nothing against it, but i know my group as well as myself, plus we gonna be using english (second language for all of us) because of mixed group composition. I am confident enough to DM like that, already did it with 4E, but TotM requires nuances, and im not certain some of the players are up to the task.

Not too cramped at all. I enjoy using minis and maps as well and the scale works just fine if you remember one simple thing:

Only use the grid for distance measurement. Do not fool yourself into believing that every little goblin needs his own 5 foot square of personal space.

A character or monster standing across two squares? Who cares? The grid will provide accurate distance measurement and since the rules are designed to handle "Theatre of the mind" play you don't have to worry about futzing about with precise square occupation.

Once you experience the fun of battlemaps without being confined by the grid you won't want to go back.

 

[Mark CMG]

I'm keeping track of which locations I choose to scale up for battlemap usage in the thread linked below and on my blog. I'm avoiding doing complete locations but so far so good. This week will be a test as I setup the under-Manor.

http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?356735-My-D-amp-D-5E-Starter-Set-Quest-and-Campaign

 

[Tormyr]

At my table we have gone gridless and use foot long balsa sticks marked off in 1-inch units. The minis can all bunch up, move accurately in any direction, find range to target and eyeball distance when accuracy is not as important.

 

[Shush]

Not too cramped at all. I enjoy using minis and maps as well and the scale works just fine if you remember one simple thing:

Only use the grid for distance measurement. Do not fool yourself into believing that every little goblin needs his own 5 foot square of personal space.

A character or monster standing across two squares? Who cares? The grid will provide accurate distance measurement and since the rules are designed to handle "Theatre of the mind" play you don't have to worry about futzing about with precise square occupation.

Once you experience the fun of battlemaps without being confined by the grid you won't want to go back.

I have been thinking about it, and it is a possible way to go, in the future. But for now, I will stick to the grid and usual 1 creature=1 square, as well as tactical movement. Reasons are multiple, but mostly cause some of the players in the group are a bit "difficult". So by using grid I do minimize usage of Rule 0, and bickering that comes when those particular players feel they had been denied or in any way damaged by my rulings. Cause always there will be certain cases when "that goblin passed by us, and we were clearly blocking the path" or something.

I'm keeping track of which locations I choose to scale up for battlemap usage in the thread linked below and on my blog. I'm avoiding doing complete locations but so far so good. This week will be a test as I setup the under-Manor.

I actually did check your topic as well as blog post and pics, but didnt give them much thought before (im running today's session few days prior to what was planned, cause of obligations of some of the players). I re-visited topic and blog, and your pics did help, putting stuff into perspective. Yes, it seems bit cramped, but totally doable. After all, those are goblin caves, they arent supposed to be spacious and luxurious

At my table we have gone gridless and use foot long balsa sticks marked off in 1-inch units. The minis can all bunch up, move accurately in any direction, find range to target and eyeball distance when accuracy is not as important.

Thanks for suggestion, I'll take it under consideration, but we arent planning on departing from battlegrid just yet

 

[Daern]

I'd state up front that in 5e movement is less restricted. Moving through spaces is less of a problem. Combatants can circle around each other to give others more room without getting wacked for example...

 

[Mark CMG]

I actually did check your topic as well as blog post and pics, but didnt give them much thought before (im running today's session few days prior to what was planned, cause of obligations of some of the players). I re-visited topic and blog, and your pics did help, putting stuff into perspective. Yes, it seems bit cramped, but totally doable. After all, those are goblin caves, they arent supposed to be spacious and luxurious

Yup. Plus, it's just a hideout, not their main locale.

 

[Shush]

Just wanted to thank everyone for your insight and suggestion, as well as say couple of things about last nights session.
I did end up using grid and map and scale as it is in the adventure, and altho they didnt get very far into Cragmaw Hideout (there was character creation and pizza involved as distraction from actual adventuring), scale worked just fine for now. We will see more from next session(s).

Considering adventure, just wanna say that in my experience, there are adventures that read nice, and adventures that read as well as play/play out nicely. This one, for now, both reads and plays very well. Characters did end up capturing goblin (of course), and did get some information from him. That coupled with mixed usage of pre-gens with their backgrounds and "hooks" and characters reated from scratch with incorporated backgrounds from pre-gens, did leave a very positive impression and left characters curious,with quite few possible leads and locales, as well as story paths to explore. And that is always a good thing, players who want to find out more, play as soon as possible, who wants answers for their and their characters questions, and lots of motivation beyond hitting the next level.

 

[afetbinttuzani]

Cragmaw hideout map

I made up the Cragmaw Hideout map with 2D Cavern tiles by Fat Dragon Games, many of which I modified to better represent the essential encounter elements. Here's what it looks like.


You can see more pics and pick up the modified tiles here:http://fatdragongames.proboards.com/thread/3086/lost-mine-phandelver-basic-builds

Cheers,

Afet

 

[Shush]

Those look nice, and you are getting the gist of goblins hideout, but they are, in the end, modified when you compare to original map. Most corresponding sections are quite larger than ones presented in adventure. And I was mostly wondering about people running adventure using grid/battlemap and maps as given.

That said, for tomorrow's session, ill be either printing sections and putting them together as players explore the Hideout (Mark CMG-style, almost verbatim), or (most likely) replicating hideout with my "awesome" drawing/battlemat skills beforehand, then covering the map with paper and revealing as PCs explore. I might let you guys know how it goes