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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Crazy Jerome" data-source="post: 5443831" data-attributes="member: 54877">We use no battlemat more often than we do. We do use it some. My standard answer to how to make it work in any game is to use it some, but when you do, act as if you don't have it.  That is, don't get bogged down in the details of the system mechanics and the grid, but rather focus on what people want to accomplish and how they are going about it. The grid is supposed to be a tool to aid you in telling a good story, not something that imposes its will upon the table. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> (OTOH, if you really want the details of the system mechanics to impose hoops that people jump through for fun, as with a difficult puzzle, then you want the grid, and shouldn't even think about not using it.) Grid Tactical Thinking: A fighter uses some power that smacks a goblin and sends it sprawling 2 squares. The player studies the board, and realizes that if he sends the goblin northwest next to the wizard, the rogue will be able to get into a flanking position, and most likely finish the goblin off, given the smack the fighter just gave him, and previous damage. Sure, the wizard might suffer an OA if this gambit doesn't work, but nothing ventured, nothing gained ... No Grid Tactical Thinking: Player knows (from establish fiction thus far) that there are some injured goblins within reach, the wizard is close, and the rogue is a little further off. He asks if he can smack one to put it into reach of the rogue to set up a flank. The GM thinks about this for 3 seconds, and realizes that this is a reasonable action. The player announces his power use and what he intends ... All that was really lost was the detail of exactly which goblin, and the risk of the wizard being in the mix. But what exactly was lost? The wizard is established in the midst of some goblins. it's something he has to consider when he goes. As for which goblin, if you are playing this way, the chaotic melee of screaming goblins running around and it being hard to hit the exact one you intend ... is a feature, not a bug. As for the GM taking 3 seconds to decide this, consider it from a holistic perspective, instead of trying to visualize the grid. Likely, the rogue has decent speed. There are multiple goblins. Can you even set up this situation on a grid such that there is not a single goblin the fighter can hit and send 10 feet, with no location next to the fighter or wizard such that the rogue can easily flank? Maybe, if you really work at it. But the chances of that actually happening in play are remote. Play this way awhile with a grid, and it will get easy to drop it when you want.</blockquote>

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