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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ThoughtBubble" data-source="post: 2656439" data-attributes="member: 9723">I've played with and without the map across multiple games.In general, the battlemap brings everyone on the same page but costs us description and creativity in our fights.The most extreme case was in my first 3.0 game, where a player who is usually fairly good about description declared his action by moving his piece across the board and saying 'I attack'. The board beame the interface to the game, rather than a piece of equimpent to track locations and terrain.On the other end, the Exalted game I was running tended towards confusion about what and where things were. When layouts were important, I'd take a piece of paper and draw a rough version of the area we could drop figures on. We break out a to-scale battle map sometimes, when distances are important.What I've found is that a battlemap is very handy to have. It helps keep people on the same page as to what and where things are. It also means that the guy who isn't entirely paying attention until his turn can still keep up with the game. It does, however, tend to get people paying more attention to where they're standing, and get angry about things like being moved by a hit or dodging by being pressed back. Descriptions can also fall by the wayside.I've been having a lot of success with a technique in my M&M sessions though. We have a bag of cheap figures we use for tracking characters. We have a battlemat. A lot of time is spent withouth the mat to encourage talking and creativity. Often times we'll break out a sheet of paper and do a quick sketch of "You're here, the wall's here". But whenever it becomes important I describe the scenario (With big hand gestures) and draw a 'mostly to scale' map. Combat happens mostly while we're talking (I tend to apply their descriptions as bonuses, special abilities and FX) and then we resolve any issues and update the board. Everyone has a good idea of what's going on, and flow is maintained.</blockquote>

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