minis and battlemats or not?
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the Jester
Legend
Minis and grids solve the age-old "I wasn't over there, I was over here" problem in dnd. I love them for that.
Exactly the same way I feel. In my opinion, it doesn't hurt the imagination to have a visual representation, but rather helps everyone at the table to make sure that their imaginations are lined up an compatible. Sometimes there can be large gaps between what we are thinking, what we are saying, and what people hear us say.
Back in the days of 1E AD&D, I use to pull out a chess set whenever there were constant arguments of "I wasn't over there, I was over here". The pawns would represent the badguys, while the players chose other particular chess pieces to represent their player characters. Usually this almost always immediately eliminated all the arguments of "I wasn't over there, I was over here".
If a group didn't have players arguing "I wasn't over there, I was over here", usually I didn't bring out the chess set. These days I have a few battlemats and miniatures, but haven't had to use them extensively yet.
the Jester
Legend
Once we started using a battlemat, we pretty much decided we like it a lot. Since then, I've done several miniature-scale maps on paper in advance, with all sorts of cool bits of coloring and art.
hvg3akaek
First Post
Gotta use a battlemap and minis, as I am too engineeringly-minded. Abstract descriptions of things just don't cut it, and ultimately, any game that tries, runs into the "No, I meant I was over here" problem, where what is inside one person's head simply doesn't mesh with what is inside another's. A map simply clarifies that, and extra descriptions, imagination, and so forth can be overlayed once the foundation is set.
As others before have stated, battlemats and minis pretty much eliminate the question of who was where when whatever happened- its all spread out on the board in 3-D for all to see.
darjr
I crit!
I actually play the gamut. I love playing rpgs without the battlemat and often do. I am also a big 4e fan, in large part because of the mini's and the battlemat.
I'll use them only a little bit, where the mini's are really only there in the most simplest of ways. Like sometimes in Traveller when we use 15mm mini's and just move them from room to room to denote where everyone is. All the way to GURPS where facing is very important. And not use them at all. Funny thing is I've done all of that in GURPS as well. I've run games where not even a map came out onto the table to games where the mini's and their positioning was important throughout the game.
In every game imagination is key and really part of the ultimate goal of playing at all.
I'll use them only a little bit, where the mini's are really only there in the most simplest of ways. Like sometimes in Traveller when we use 15mm mini's and just move them from room to room to denote where everyone is. All the way to GURPS where facing is very important. And not use them at all. Funny thing is I've done all of that in GURPS as well. I've run games where not even a map came out onto the table to games where the mini's and their positioning was important throughout the game.
In every game imagination is key and really part of the ultimate goal of playing at all.
Amphimir Míriel
Explorer
Here in my third-world game, I use a battlemat during combat but don't use minis (too expensive and they never represent the characters in our minds)
Instead we use chess pieces, colored glass beads, toys, and in one memorable occasion, Playdoh
The battlemat is only used during combats, so nothing distracts from the imagination during the exploration or social parts of the game
Instead we use chess pieces, colored glass beads, toys, and in one memorable occasion, Playdoh
The battlemat is only used during combats, so nothing distracts from the imagination during the exploration or social parts of the game
