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<blockquote data-quote="MNblockhead" data-source="post: 8087034" data-attributes="member: 6796661">Maybe you are reading too much into &quot;automating&quot;.&nbsp; As someone playing with a group that greatly enjoys highly tactical combat, I think we would appreciate more automation of area-effect roles and other quality-of-life automations than more theater of mind types. Because we are more tactical, we rarely hand wave. I have used average damage in the past, but would rather roll for damage because I think that extra randomness creates more tension and changes assumptions when planning your moves. But if a PC casts an area of effect spell that effects, say 20 mobs, it just not fun for me to manually make, and the players to wait for me to make, the saving-throw and damage rolls. I makes what could be a cool event in a combat to an opportunity for a player to step away to grab a drink while I'm make rolls and manually applying the results to each NPC. I'm more inclined to agree that animations and such can detract from the game. I like to keep things fairly abstract. I like beautiful and detailed battlemaps but still prefer the art to be abstracted.&nbsp; I think the animate spell effects with some of the Foundry mobs are cool the first few times you use them, but I would rather have the player or myself describe the effect rather than have the effects look the same every time it is cast, no matter who casts it. I do like to use some sound effects but usually, I use area-based effects or background sounds and music to set mood rather than &quot;realism.&quot;&nbsp; One thing I like about foundry is that you can set sound for a specific area that is muffled by walls and distance. But I treat that as a spice to be used sparingly. Partially because I don't want to detract from theater of the mind and partially because I would rather spend my prep time on the story and planning encounters and combats rather than trying to create a multi-media video game experience.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="MNblockhead, post: 8087034, member: 6796661"] Maybe you are reading too much into "automating". As someone playing with a group that greatly enjoys highly tactical combat, I think we would appreciate more automation of area-effect roles and other quality-of-life automations than more theater of mind types. Because we are more tactical, we rarely hand wave. I have used average damage in the past, but would rather roll for damage because I think that extra randomness creates more tension and changes assumptions when planning your moves. But if a PC casts an area of effect spell that effects, say 20 mobs, it just not fun for me to manually make, and the players to wait for me to make, the saving-throw and damage rolls. I makes what could be a cool event in a combat to an opportunity for a player to step away to grab a drink while I'm make rolls and manually applying the results to each NPC. I'm more inclined to agree that animations and such can detract from the game. I like to keep things fairly abstract. I like beautiful and detailed battlemaps but still prefer the art to be abstracted. I think the animate spell effects with some of the Foundry mobs are cool the first few times you use them, but I would rather have the player or myself describe the effect rather than have the effects look the same every time it is cast, no matter who casts it. I do like to use some sound effects but usually, I use area-based effects or background sounds and music to set mood rather than "realism." One thing I like about foundry is that you can set sound for a specific area that is muffled by walls and distance. But I treat that as a spice to be used sparingly. Partially because I don't want to detract from theater of the mind and partially because I would rather spend my prep time on the story and planning encounters and combats rather than trying to create a multi-media video game experience. [/QUOTE]

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