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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Deadguy" data-source="post: 1309792" data-attributes="member: 2480">That's certainaly an interesting comparison you make, MerricB. I never used to use a battle map before I played D&D3, relying on scrappy bits of paper and my own interpretation. But since starting to play 3rd ed I have come to greatly prefer this method - it saves so much time in being questioned by players as to 'where's the leader orc relative to me again?' and the like. And it also means that I have to keep less in my head come combat. Now I prefer to use a battlemap or equivalent for all the games I play - though some people are seemingly reluctant... Why? Becase they associate battlemaps with D&D and they regard themselves as well beyond the 'D&D stage'! People are strange!  It does indeed seem to be the case at least for this section of what we might call 'dedicated D&D players' that a map is an important part of the play. I guess it's not that the rules require it (though 3.X combat works much better with it), but because it eases play in a game that expects to include a lot of combat. Even in games that use less combat, the visual impact of a well-depicted battleground makes fights more memorable, I believe.  One thing I will note: I don't like using miniatures! In my own experience both player and DM get too hung up on the mini, which all too often isn't an accurate depiction of the individual. I find using paper chits and chess pieces adequate to the task, and that the effort made to visualise the markers leaks over into actually visualising the battlefield. It can sometimes become a little too 'wargame'-y and abstract if you are not careful - seeing the chits as mere ciphers rather than individuals. But that might just be me! <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    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />  Shrewd poll to come up with MerricB! <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" /></blockquote>

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