Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
White Dwarf Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Nest
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
EN Publishing
Twitter
BlueSky
Facebook
Instagram
EN World
BlueSky
YouTube
Facebook
Twitter
Twitch
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Difficulty Eliminating the Grid
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Reynard" data-source="post: 5762274" data-attributes="member: 467"><p>I don't mean difficulty with changing the rules to not have to use the grid. Rather, I mean difficulty no longer using the grid, even when playing an edition where it is (largely) unnecessary.</p><p></p><p>Today, I ran a "New Year, Old School" one shot using the 1981 Moldvay Basic Set. During play, we used a standard 1-inch square Chessex battle grid. My intention was simply to have something to look at. In the end, though, I found that we used the grid too much, that we restricted ourselves and our play to the grid.</p><p></p><p>Some background: the players included myself and two players from my regular PF dungeon crawl game (plus my son, but as he's new, it doesn't seem relevant). I myself grew up with BECM and never used a grid until 3E, and hardly remember ever using even a sketch of the battlefield. For most of my gaming life, it was all mind space and imagination.</p><p></p><p>But since 3E appeared, any time I have played D&D, it has included a battle board -- sometimes more precise than others, but more or less always there. (There was a brief period where we played at Yale and used blackboards, which was quite freeing.) I am afraid that I have "forgotten" how to play D&D without some visual battle field reference, when I never even considered one for years.</p><p></p><p>To give specifics: there was one room in the dungeon with 12 skeletal guards, which would be awakened by either direct attack or touching the treasure vault door. In my mind's eye, I imagined a fast moving battle with characters constantly maneuvering between skeletal soldiers, drawing them into the cleric's "line of fire" for Turning and the like. What occurred (and, admittedly, it was near the end of a 4 hour session, so folks were starting to fatigue a little) was two PCs bottlenecking the door and a series of traded blows until all the skeletons were killed. I didn't even realize we had "Pathfinderized" the battlemat until afterward.</p><p></p><p>So, is it possible to "go home again"? Is there a balance between square by square control and imagination driven narrative? Have too many years of relying on minis and battlemats ruined my freeform DMing style?</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Reynard, post: 5762274, member: 467"] I don't mean difficulty with changing the rules to not have to use the grid. Rather, I mean difficulty no longer using the grid, even when playing an edition where it is (largely) unnecessary. Today, I ran a "New Year, Old School" one shot using the 1981 Moldvay Basic Set. During play, we used a standard 1-inch square Chessex battle grid. My intention was simply to have something to look at. In the end, though, I found that we used the grid too much, that we restricted ourselves and our play to the grid. Some background: the players included myself and two players from my regular PF dungeon crawl game (plus my son, but as he's new, it doesn't seem relevant). I myself grew up with BECM and never used a grid until 3E, and hardly remember ever using even a sketch of the battlefield. For most of my gaming life, it was all mind space and imagination. But since 3E appeared, any time I have played D&D, it has included a battle board -- sometimes more precise than others, but more or less always there. (There was a brief period where we played at Yale and used blackboards, which was quite freeing.) I am afraid that I have "forgotten" how to play D&D without some visual battle field reference, when I never even considered one for years. To give specifics: there was one room in the dungeon with 12 skeletal guards, which would be awakened by either direct attack or touching the treasure vault door. In my mind's eye, I imagined a fast moving battle with characters constantly maneuvering between skeletal soldiers, drawing them into the cleric's "line of fire" for Turning and the like. What occurred (and, admittedly, it was near the end of a 4 hour session, so folks were starting to fatigue a little) was two PCs bottlenecking the door and a series of traded blows until all the skeletons were killed. I didn't even realize we had "Pathfinderized" the battlemat until afterward. So, is it possible to "go home again"? Is there a balance between square by square control and imagination driven narrative? Have too many years of relying on minis and battlemats ruined my freeform DMing style? [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Difficulty Eliminating the Grid
Top