Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="Berandor" data-source="post: 1429330" data-attributes="member: 225">I don't like to use minis (even though I recently bought some Mage Knight Dungeons <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile&nbsp; &nbsp; :)"&nbsp; data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />), because I feel it a) slows down the combat: Not only do minis and battlemap have to be prepared, but the players will think far more tactical. They also can and will count the distance between enemies in squares, how far their movement takes them, whether they can evade AoOs by choosing a different course, etc. That takes time.b) takes you out of the narrative flow even more than round-based combat normally does: Many players I have encountered no longer considered the game reality of the combat, but the structure of the battlemap alone. Instead of getting by the orc chieftain with the malicious grin, it became a matter of moving ones mini past another mini. The fact that the mini will often not totally resemble (and in the case of our games, without a passionate collector, not even look very much like) the creature it represents, just like the map doesn't really communicate the dirt and darkness of the orc caves, only enhances this effect.Using a map might still be appropriate, as long as I don't have ti use it as a battlemap, but only as a visual gide of the location (and not the creatures).For the rest, I prefer to describe things and give the players leeway in what they can and cannot do. Instead of counting squares twice to make sure you can get to the wizard, the player simply asks, &quot;Can I get to the wizard?&quot;, and I respond, &quot;Sure.&quot;, unless the wizard somehow had specific precautions against such an action.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Berandor, post: 1429330, member: 225"] I don't like to use minis (even though I recently bought some Mage Knight Dungeons :)), because I feel it a) slows down the combat: Not only do minis and battlemap have to be prepared, but the players will think far more tactical. They also can and will count the distance between enemies in squares, how far their movement takes them, whether they can evade AoOs by choosing a different course, etc. That takes time. b) takes you out of the narrative flow even more than round-based combat normally does: Many players I have encountered no longer considered the game reality of the combat, but the structure of the battlemap alone. Instead of getting by the orc chieftain with the malicious grin, it became a matter of moving ones mini past another mini. The fact that the mini will often not totally resemble (and in the case of our games, without a passionate collector, not even look very much like) the creature it represents, just like the map doesn't really communicate the dirt and darkness of the orc caves, only enhances this effect. Using a map might still be appropriate, as long as I don't have ti use it as a battlemap, but only as a visual gide of the location (and not the creatures). For the rest, I prefer to describe things and give the players leeway in what they can and cannot do. Instead of counting squares twice to make sure you can get to the wizard, the player simply asks, "Can I get to the wizard?", and I respond, "Sure.", unless the wizard somehow had specific precautions against such an action. [/QUOTE]

Verification