Minis or Theatre of the Mind? (Survey)

For combat with more than 5 I will pull out minis. Exploration going into towns 99% theater of the mind

 

[jasper]

Minis for combat. I had too many people who if I drew out the house they were presently sitting in, they could not find the front door.

 

[Ace-Azzameen]

I don't mind either but I'm voting minis.. For some games TOTM is more appropriate, like Star Wars for FFG. I'm in a group that's been playing SW for about six months and not once have we had a need for minis. D&D 5th on the other hand, I prefer minis, just for combat.

 

[drjones]

I did not vote because I regularly use both. Small encounter TotM, big encounter with environmental effects, traps, complex monsters etc. I bust out a map. Often with the map, we still don't count off squares and such. It supports different types of encounters, and also breaks up the monotony by letting different skills come out in different circumstances.

 

[cmad1977]

Theatre of the Minis.



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[RSIxidor]

I'm sure I'm not the only one who thinks a binary choice here doesn't really describe how they play. My biggest preference is primarily TOTM with miniatures used to indicate some things. Depending on the game, this might be where players are in a larger world or how combatants in a battle clump together in separate groups.

There's also some groups I play with where tactics are more heavily used... so really, I suppose I'm somewhere in the middle while also being all over both sides.

 

[Skyscraper]

Since this is a 5E forum I'll answer "minis". I think that D&D lends itself well to miniature play. TotM is OK, but as soon as the battle is at least slightly complex, I find it often benefits from at least a hand-drawn map anyway.

So, since a reference is used, I'd rather use minis, I find them nicer To reduce setup time, I almost never draw a map. About half the time I use preprinted maps (I have about 30 and I pick the one that fits best) and the other half or just lay the minis on the table with an eraser representing a boulder and a dice box representing the horse-drawn cart. Even on a gridded map, we often won't count sqaures precisely.

Our battles are quick and this system works well for us. Where in 4E it often took us close to an entire session for a single battle, now we can easily fit 2 in one session and combat then still reprensents the minority of our gaming time.

That said, in other game systems, TotM works better for us, where the tactical combat is not as important.

 

[sphere830]

I voted for miniatures because for a number of years my groups have used miniatures (post 3rd edition). For a few years now, however, more and more encounters have been dealt with through TotM--which is a return to my formative and early gaming experiences. Like many before, I also agree that the survey should have included an additional two options which would be c. both (TotM heavy) and d. both (mini heavy).

 

[OB1]

ToM. I started 5e using mostly minis, moved to half and half, and now DM almost exclusively with ToM. It's faster, more dynamic, and allows for fantastical settings that can't be replicated on a grid.

 

[Blue]

Both. In a D&D 5e type of game (ranges, area of effects in feat, reach weapons, etc.) I find that I like minis for a larger battles but theater of the mind to go quicker for simpler ones.

In games like 13th Age where distances in feat aren't so ingrained into the mechanics (spells and such can target "nearby" vs. "far") I like theater of the mind for just about everything. In games like FATE even moreso.

But even with TotM there sometimes an aid - an image printed out, a quick map sketch to replace 1000 words, separating which characters are fighting ontop of the giant skywhale and which are in the ship rigged below it.

 

[Argyle King]

I kinda do both. It's something I learned from Edge of The Empire, and I liked the idea, so I started using it with other games.

I'll use minis, chess pieces, bottle caps, or whatever to show general locations of things, but then I use theater of the mind to fill in specifics.

For example, I might have the players arrange their minis to show me what their formation is while exploring, and I'll probably plop down a few things to show that a creature is to the left or right of where they are, but then I'll describe distances and location details via theater of the mind.