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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Quickleaf" data-source="post: 8134687" data-attributes="member: 20323">[USER=15882]@TaranTheWanderer[/USER] My (limited) experience with Roll20, AstralTabletop, and Discord has – surprisingly – led to a similar lesson I learned about using maps at a physical table.Simply the process of setting out a map and placing minis/tokens activates a certain "board game think." This can be much stronger for some players than others – nothing wrong or right about it, just some of us are more wired to confine our thinking when presented with what visually looks like a board game.I've observed this happen both at a physical table and when playing online.My approach has been to not always assume that the same approach is warranted for every situation. Sometimes I'll use theater of the mind (for brief scenarios or those that don't lend themselves handily to mapping). Sometimes a vague evocative map without gridlines (for scenarios where the focus isn't on the combat, per se, but rather another objective). Sometimes I'll use a complex gridded map (for scenarios involving detailed tactical combat). And sometimes I'll even create a 3D map (for scenarios emphasizing verticality), which may be vague & evocative or gridded & detailed, depending on the needs of the scenario.Getting a feel for which approach is best suited to each scene/scenario takes some getting used to. Sometimes I choose the wrong one, but with practice now more often than not I can sense which approach is a best fit.</blockquote>

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