Determining radius with squares

[Kershek]

That'd be great, thanks!

 

[drnuncheon]

If you use a ruler, wouldn't it take too long for the DM to draw the map, since he would need a ruler to judge the length of walls and width of corridors of a dungeon or else the drawing will be off?

I can lay a ruler down and draw a 12" line a lot faster than I can count 12 squares to do the same thing without the ruler, so I'm not sure what you're getting at here.

If you just use rulers, do you just eyeball it to make sure that people aren't closer than 5' apart? After all, if they're closer, they shouldn't be able to effectively swing their weapons.

Use miniatures (or other representations) with a 1" base, and do not allow overlapping.

Do you measure from the center of the miniature? Does it have to reach the center of another miniature to hit it?

If you want 'diagonals' to come out OK and you're using square-based miniatures, you need to measure melee ranges from the edge of the miniature.

If you're using round miniatures, or for ranged attacks, center-to-center is fine.

If you're using larger-than-Medium-size monsters, then measure the distance between the centers of the closest 1" section on the base.

Can you explain how you normally would play with just rulers?

Exactly the same as you would with squares or hexes, except without the problems of having to remain 'lined up'. Hexmaps/squaremaps are merely measuring tools, just like a ruler.

So, to move, you measure from where you are to where you want to go, and each inch is 5' of movement. You can also cut pieces of string for common ranges (like a 30' "move string"), enabling you to lay it down in your exact path (if you didn't want to walk in a straight line - to skirt a pillar or a known trap, for example, or walking along a curved wall).

To handle ranges, measure as above. You could mark your string with the various range increments for your weapon if you like.

For spell attacks, make a template and lay it over the centerpoint. Any figure whose centerpoint is covered is affected.

J

 

[dkilgo]

Hey, kreynolds, next time we get together to run a game do you want ot try the gridless system? If not I'll understand.

 

[kreynolds]

Hey, kreynolds, next time we get together to run a game do you want ot try the gridless system? If not I'll understand.

Sure. Actually, I was thinking we could try it when we mess around with psionics.