Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="The Session Tapes" data-source="post: 7604134" data-attributes="member: 6994832">Hi folks,Recently started a new D&amp;D5E campaign, and we're just getting to the point where combat is imminent.Now I've run plenty of combat in 5E before, but I always use battlemaps or dungeon tiles and markers. This time, as I'm trying to run a more free-flow, narrative campaign, I was thinking of leaving off the battlemaps and sticking to narrative (read: &quot;Theatre of the Mind&quot;) combat.Unfortunately, my experience with TotM in 5E has been really negative thus-far... the system just seems overwhelmingly optimised for map-and-marker combat, at the expense of a lot of built-in tools for TotM. I'm going to try an persevere with using TotM for the more spontaneous action sequences and only using maps for the big set-piece &quot;Marvel Battles&quot;, but I was curious if there are other DMs out there who have the same issues using TotM in 5E.The biggest issue I see with TotM in 5E is that it puts all the stress for managing and directing the flow of the action on the DM. I think this strips a lot of agency from the players, and can leave the DM with all the blame if the fight &quot;goes south&quot;.What, as a DM, are your experiences with narrative combat in 5th? Are there any special tools or systems you use to make it more accessible for your players?</blockquote>

[QUOTE="The Session Tapes, post: 7604134, member: 6994832"] [FONT=Arial]Hi folks, [/FONT] [FONT=Arial]Recently started a new D&D5E campaign, and we're just getting to the point where combat is imminent. [/FONT] [FONT=Arial]Now I've run plenty of combat in 5E before, but I always use battlemaps or dungeon tiles and markers. This time, as I'm trying to run a more free-flow, narrative campaign, I was thinking of leaving off the battlemaps and sticking to narrative (read: "Theatre of the Mind") combat. [/FONT] [FONT=Arial]Unfortunately, my experience with TotM in 5E has been really negative thus-far... the system just seems overwhelmingly optimised for map-and-marker combat, at the expense of a lot of built-in tools for TotM. I'm going to try an persevere with using TotM for the more spontaneous action sequences and only using maps for the big set-piece "Marvel Battles", but I was curious if there are other DMs out there who have the same issues using TotM in 5E. [/FONT] [FONT=Arial]The biggest issue I see with TotM in 5E is that it puts all the stress for managing and directing the flow of the action on the DM. I think this strips a lot of agency from the players, and can leave the DM with all the blame if the fight "goes south". [/FONT] [FONT=Arial]What, as a DM, are [I]your [/I]experiences with narrative combat in 5th? Are there any special tools or systems you use to make it more accessible for your players?[/FONT] [/QUOTE]

Verification