D&D 5E Do you play on a grid?

[dagger]

We use Chessex Hex or Grid 1" Megamats ( 34½” x 48” (88cm x 122cm)) and we lay thin plexi glass over them. We have had the same mats since the 90s thanks to the plexi glass, it protects them from spills and everything else. We use grease pencils (also called china markers) on the plexi that comes off easily with dry paper towels or napkins (no water needed). So we never actually draw on the map with dry erase...keeps them almost new.

I prefer to play on Hex so when I DM we use the Hex, when anyone else Dms we use the Grid.

http://www.chessex.com/mats/Battlemats_MegamatsReversible.htm

 

[GlassJaw]

Man, I wish I had your budget.

Mine was a fraction of some others. I shopped smart during KS 1-3.

It's very easy to go way overboard during Kickstarter pledging. Important to keep in mind what's practical and what you'll actually use. I didn't back Castles and won't be backing the current KS because of budget but also value. The pieces are getting more and more specialized and there's lots of overlap with the earlier Kickstarters.

I love the stuff though.

 

[Hussar]

Since I've been playing on a VTT since about 2002, we've been 100% gridded for a long time. It's been so long since I played a face to face game, I can't really remember what it's like.

 

[Xeviat]

I use a grid. In person, I use a wet erase battle mat and minis or tokens. I don't have too many minis, so I print tokens on cardstock.

When we play online, we use Roll20, so we have a grid too.


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[Klaudius Rex]

So now I either draw on the map or use clay cubes that I made myself. The cubes are 1 inch square, madde from crayola air dry clay. I also made some "pillars" and bigger blocks to make structures and what-not. The first two were a bit of a pain, but after that I could just use the two I had made to size the others.

I find the blocks work well ... I can represent the vast majority of terrain I want it it saves me drawing time.

Im interested in seeing these "cubes".
Can you upload a pic?

 

[ad_hoc]

I use a grid with dry erase markers for drawing. Pre-painted D&D minis too.

I like the visual of it. Helps me to imagine the real place and I think that is the same with the rest of the players.

I encourage people not to take the layout too seriously. I don't care about exact movements and characters aren't always in exact squares. It's helpful for making rulings though if things are close.

 

[Hastati]

I normally use a chessex mat and dry erase markers, augmented with some various cardboard tile overlays I've picked up over the years. I used to go for full 3D terrain for dungeons and wilderness encounters (I also play historical miniatures games), but found that it wasn't really practical for role playing. It took too long to set up and there was an air of "it's set up so we have to do it" from the players. I have 45 years worth of collecting fanstasy figures so the miniatures side is pretty well covered.

 

[Li Shenron]

if so, how involved do you get with your grid?

do you collect a bunch of minis? craft terrain and objects?
or just slap a few lines and circles on a chessex map and hope for the best?

i want to know how intricate...and more importantly how much work do you go through preparing for these mapped out scenarios?

No grid.

I use Lego minifigs as minis, as well other bricks to represent a few important environmental objects (esp. for cover). In the past few years there have been lots of these "collectable minifigs" packs which actually featured a lot of fantasy characters and even monsters which are great for RPGs. Ideally, I'd love to build the whole environment with Lego bricks, but it takes a HUGE amount of time to do so, way beyond the time to actually prepare the adventures, so I had to just limit myself to minifigs and a few important terrain elements.

Then, instead of using a grid, I go with gridless measuring of distances. It feels more natural, and there is no "diagonal bshit" to deal with.

 

[DaveDash]

We use a grid and roll20 plus dynamic lighting for vision. We use the old 3.5 rules for determining if something has cover.

I love my grids. Way back in 2E we used to get out hero quest minis and a ruler.

I don't think I could ever play THOTM.


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[Blue]

I run pure theater of the mind. As a group we even had a discussion about it, if we wanted more tactical combat or more free-form narrative combat and went for the second. It also ends up being a slight bit faster for my group but I don't think that's universal.

When I run with a grid, I use a wet-erase battlemap and a few colors of markers, plsu I have a lot of terrain printed on heavy cardstock that WotC put out in the 3ed-4e timeframe and I use that to spice things up - like might have an outdoor scene that's the full battlemap, but use various trees and other pre-printed terrain bits to help me quickly and colorfully populate the map. (That's "colourfully" for Morris and those across the pond. )

Last campaign I played in we ran with a grid, but we were running SKT and it was very tactical. Plus the DM would occasionally show up with these amazing maps he had prepped.