During D&D combat, how do you run it?

[MerricB]

How do you run combat in D&D?

Does the DM keep track of where combatants are and describe it to the players?

Does the DM make all judgements on the fly?

Do you use a battlegrid?

Do you have pewter or lead miniatures, carefully painted?

Me? I'm somewhere between "DM keeping track and describing it" and "DM makes judgements on the fly", probably closer to the first. (I keep a battlegrid tattooed on the back of my eyelids )

Cheers!

 

[Wormwood]

I use miniatures (mostly the new D&D minis---a godsend).

And since I have access to an Epson 9600 large format (44"wide on roll paper), I custom print full-color battlegrids one entire dungeon at a time.

I expect to be fired any day now.

 

[Telperion]

I use the battle-grid, but I have covered it with plastic that I can make markings on. When the battle ends I take wet peace of paper and wipe away the markings.

Easy enough.

And we also use various tokens to represent pc's and npc's. I never really felt the need to spend absurd amounts of money on miniatures.

 

[thalmin]

We use the grid (megamat) and miniatures, supplemented with tokens for monsters when the right minis aren't at hand. Been doing it that way for 22 years (battlemat instead of megamat for first 4 years).

 

[Bendris Noulg]

Like Wormwood, I have access to a large plotter... Those things are great. Anyone with a few extra grand lying around should get one.

One thing, though, is that we don't use a grid on the maps. Rather, we took one from WarHammer and use a tape measure. Cut-out shapes are used to determine spell areas. Counters (home made and purchased/scanned) fill the rest (those plotters can kick out entire legions of troops in minutes!!!).

 

[Painfully]

My group uses a battlemat and painted character minis. It doesn't hurt if your second addiction is painting minis too.

Evil bosses might be painted or unpainted figures, and mooks or piles of identical bad guys might become various colors of glass counters (easier to actually use than paper counters IMO).

If a character needs to travel long distances on the mat, then it's usually faster to grab a tape measure instead of counting squares.

We also elect an intiative tracker at the beginning of each session via d20 rolls. It is their job to call out who is next in the round, and makes the DMs job a little easier.

In a previous group of mine I strictly enforced a 30 sec rule to good effect. It really helps to cut down the OT chatter, and all too frequent out-of-turn tactical advice between players. You might have a hard time converting your players at first, but if you can pull it off it's a great time saver.

I keep some reusable locations drawn on large easel paper (with 1" grid preprinted) and whenever we need a tavern we use either tavern A (large), or tavern B (small) as appropriate. I highly recommend it.

 

[d4]

I use miniatures (mostly the new D&D minis---a godsend).

wow, you took the words right out of my mouth -- use miniatures, the new D&D miniatures, a godsend.

 

[MrFilthyIke]

I don't need minis, but I enjoy them. It gets my RPGer AND Wargamer fixes satisfied in one place. Two birds? One stone? Problem solved.

 

[Darklone]

I do use different things. Last time, two manticores attacked the ship of the players: No minis, just distance info.

Other battles: Up to 300 miniatures on battlegrid.

 

[Quasqueton]

Battlegrid and minis. Always have (started playing D&D 1980). I'll sometimes even use the battlegrid and minis to play out a non-combat encounter.

90% of my minis are unpainted, but I'm starting to enjoy painting some. Not all my minis are the metal/pewter stuff. I've got 150 tiny army men (greens and tans) to represent hordes of small creatures. And I've even used a Treebeard action figure (about 10" tall) to represent an advanced treant. I've begun picking up odd little action figures and toys for future use as minis, too.

I've played only a few games without using some kind of tabletop representations, and I've found those games terribly confusing.

Quasqueton