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Message: <blockquote data-quote="T. Foster" data-source="post: 4544881" data-attributes="member: 16574">The DMG (early on, the same section IIRC that recommends using only Official TSR Miniatures) suggests if you're using minis that you use a scale of 1" = 3.33' (so 3" = 10'). I like that scale a lot better than 1" = 5' because it allows 3 characters abroad in a 10' wide corridor (which is established elsewhere in the rules as the norm) and means you don't need to make all your rooms 40' x 60' (or larger) in order to allow people some room to maneuver.The 1" = 10' scale is a carryover from Chainmail, where each figure represented a unit of 20 men (actually in Chainmail it was 1" = 10 yards, but when Dave Arneson moved the action indoors he also decreased the scale). This scale is actually convenient when you're not using minis because dungeon maps are typically drawn 1 square = 10' so if the party has a move rate of 6" they can move 6 squares in 1 round, if a weapon has a range of 8" it can fire at a target up to 8 squares away, and so on -- it makes things very easy to estimate. Once you start using individual-scale minis (instead of perhaps 1 figure representing the entire party), though, you'll definitely want to "zoom in" for more detail.Note also, though, that the AD&D combat system actually probably works better if you don't use minis due to its level of abstraction (moving more than 10' into combat takes an entire round unless you charge but movement of less than 10' is free, missiles fired into melee hit random targets, attacks in melee hit random targets unless you specify otherwise, etc.). A mini placed in a specific square loses that sense of chaos and constant movement that the rules are meant to evoke. When I was running AD&D with minis (something I don't do anymore) in order to emphasize this I would occasionally shuffle the minis around. Playing without a grid/battlemat (maintaining the 3" = 10' scale but measuring distances with a ruler instead of counting squares) also helps.</blockquote>

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