D&D 5E (2014) Theatre of the Mind or Miniatures?

[Celtavian]

We use minis. I only draw out maps for a big fight. I toss minis on the battle map roughly the right distance from the PCs and run the fight if I know the PCs will kill them in a few rounds.

 

[MerricB]

We have, as I said, 7 pcs. They recently claimed an old ruined castle just outside the boundaries of the current kingdom, and are now claiming to be the rulers of the region around it(one PC has taken the title of Baron). They've hired a stonemason and workers, plus a number of guards. Two of those guards (Roger and Ben, I think) have accompanied them on one adventure (just before the PCs multiplied from 4 to 6 - a week later it went up to 7). The wizard PC who is claiming the title of Baron is their actual employer; I let that player run the guards, but I retain the right to voice their opinions, and to refuse to do anything they feel is too dangerous. The cleric of the party has just "sent for an acolyte" from his home temple. The PC background is that he is a "retired high priest" who is "going exploring for lost religious texts" (I let him get away with this because he came into the game at 5th level). He doesn't quite realize it, but I believe that he was "retired" by his temple because he was just a little too heretical for them, and the "acolyte" they will be sending has orders to ensure that any lost religious matter that he finds doesn't fall into the hands of anyone who would misuse it. Again, I will let the cleric's player run the acolyte when he arrives, but I will retain the right to speak and act for him as needed. IF I decide to have the acolyte have any special, hidden abilities, I will keep a separate character sheet for him in my notes for future reference.

That is really, really awesome! Good luck with the campaign!

Cheers!

 

[exile]

I'm struggling to answer this. I have played 5e both with and without minis. I think i prefer 5e without. When playing without minis, 5e feels like a fun storytelling game. When playing with minis, it kind of feels incomplete, inferior to both Pathfinder and 4e.

 

[aramis erak]

Quick question - which I expect to become a lengthy thread - Are you playing D&D 5E mainly with miniatures or without?

Cheers!

You left out an in-between state - I neither use minis nor do I use TOTM for D&D - I use 8mm cubes on a 0.4"=5' grid.

I'm not a fan of minis, but I am a fan of tactical positioning.

Cubes on map gives the benefits of minis, without many of the drawbacks. Including travel mass.

Minis have several drawbacks - good ones are hefty, they're expensive, and using the wrong one often leads to miscommunications about what the threats are.

But they're great for tactical positioning. And the cubes (or cardboard counters, or other non-picture tokens) are just as good as minis are for tactical positioning.

 

[MerricB]

You left out an in-between state - I neither use minis nor do I use TOTM for D&D - I use 8mm cubes on a 0.4"=5' grid.

I'm not a fan of minis, but I am a fan of tactical positioning.

Cubes on map gives the benefits of minis, without many of the drawbacks. Including travel mass.

Minis have several drawbacks - good ones are hefty, they're expensive, and using the wrong one often leads to miscommunications about what the threats are.

But they're great for tactical positioning. And the cubes (or cardboard counters, or other non-picture tokens) are just as good as minis are for tactical positioning.

For all intents and purposes, you're using minis.

 

[aramis erak]

For all intents and purposes, you're using minis.

No, I'm not - they're not nearly as distracting, much easier to reskin, etc.

The distraction factor of minis is why I've tended to avoid them whenever possible - and that's far less an issue with non-visual representations (tokens, pawns, or cubes). It changes the way players perceive the maps, as well. Especially younger players - the tendency to want to fidget with the minis is absent with cubes. Likewise, players don't get angry that I've used "Spearchucker" instead of "swordsman".

I find those benefits of non-representational objects as tokens are lost when even going so far as meeples - meeples start to hit the fidget point. Players want faces on them, and start to expect to use facing rules, and start to think of combat position as a static thing. An issue I've not had with cubes in use instead.

The much smaller scale I'm using corresponds closely to 10mm... but I'd not use 10mm minis instead of cubes. Because the representational figure creates expectations the cubes do not. Figure flats and picture tokens have similar expectation issues to minis. Issues that pawns, or beads, or gumdrops, or cubes don't.

For years, I simply used wet-erase marker on map-in-page protector or dry erase on the whiteboard - still not TOTM, and not minis play. The gray zone between.

 

[Leatherhead]

Where is the "digital tools" option?

 

[Mercule]

I use battle mats (Tact-Tiles, though I'm waiting for my GNL mats to ship), but rarely bother with minis. Instead, I have a big bag of all the dice that have displeased me over the last 30 years and they are used to track position. Poker chips often sub in for size large critters. I do have three cases worth of 3E era D&D Minis that sit two feet away from the game table, but it's rarely worth the effort to find the right one.

Based on what you said, above, I'll go vote "use minis", though.

 

[MerricB]

Where is the "digital tools" option?

Are you describing the combat and having people imagine it (Theatre of the Mind) or displaying on the screen the exact positioning of the characters (Miniatures)?

Yes, Miniatures is something of a wider category than just the little metal or plastic figures.

Cheers!

 

[painted_klown]

I voted for using minis as I always have. Having said that, I would love to go full TotM, but am not really sure how to run combat that way.

Can anybody point me to a good youtube video that shows 5E combat scenarios without minis? I REALLY want to see how to properly handle it.