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<blockquote data-quote="MNblockhead" data-source="post: 7766488" data-attributes="member: 6796661">Sure, I have thousands of dollars of battlemaps, tile sets, terrain, minis, spell AOE templates, alea tools base markers, mini counters, flight platforms, measuring sticks, laser pointers, and other toys to show that I enjoy these things as well. My point was more about knowing your fellow player's preferences, especially with things like music and scents. But even with terrain and minis, some players will not like &quot;wasting&quot; game time on fancy battlefield setups.&nbsp; Other players will be disappointed with theater of the mind. But now that you raise the issue, I do think that there is a balance between aid an crutch. First, I know people who have not tried DMing because they don't want to make the investment in minis and terrain. I always encourage them to just try running the game theater of the mind. Too much emphasis on terrain and minis can lead to railroading because you don't and to waste all the time and money on prepping your session. Not having minis and terrain may dissuade a GM from running certain kinds of encounters or certain settings. I've played with an watch great DMs who use impressive sets and those who use nothing but the books and pen and paper. Good DMs can go either way. Chris Perkins or Mat Mercer can run a great game with or without physical aids.In my personal game, I try to mix it up. I don't use battlemaps and minis for every encounter and when I do I sometimes just draw out basic obstables on the Chessex battlemap, sometime lay down some generic terrain (a felt &quot;grass map&quot; and a road and trees, for example), and sometimes I prep for a set piece, which can be a fully prepped physical battlemap and terrain, tiles sets, or digital.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="MNblockhead, post: 7766488, member: 6796661"] Sure, I have thousands of dollars of battlemaps, tile sets, terrain, minis, spell AOE templates, alea tools base markers, mini counters, flight platforms, measuring sticks, laser pointers, and other toys to show that I enjoy these things as well. My point was more about knowing your fellow player's preferences, especially with things like music and scents. But even with terrain and minis, some players will not like "wasting" game time on fancy battlefield setups. Other players will be disappointed with theater of the mind. But now that you raise the issue, I do think that there is a balance between aid an crutch. First, I know people who have not tried DMing because they don't want to make the investment in minis and terrain. I always encourage them to just try running the game theater of the mind. Too much emphasis on terrain and minis can lead to railroading because you don't and to waste all the time and money on prepping your session. Not having minis and terrain may dissuade a GM from running certain kinds of encounters or certain settings. I've played with an watch great DMs who use impressive sets and those who use nothing but the books and pen and paper. Good DMs can go either way. Chris Perkins or Mat Mercer can run a great game with or without physical aids. In my personal game, I try to mix it up. I don't use battlemaps and minis for every encounter and when I do I sometimes just draw out basic obstables on the Chessex battlemap, sometime lay down some generic terrain (a felt "grass map" and a road and trees, for example), and sometimes I prep for a set piece, which can be a fully prepped physical battlemap and terrain, tiles sets, or digital. [/QUOTE]

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