Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Minis or Theatre of the Mind? (Survey)
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Olaf the Stout" data-source="post: 7704612" data-attributes="member: 13703"><p>It’s minis all the way for me for D&D.</p><p></p><p>I played from about 1994 to 2002 using only theatre of the mind (mainly AD&D, but some other RPGs as well). I found that it made you more reliant on the DM. He was the one that could decide how many Orcs were caught in your fireball spell, or whether the Bugbears were lined up well enough to all get hit by your lightning spell. If the DM wanted the Kobold heading for the alarm to be just out of range of your charging Fighter, theatre of the mind allowed him to easily do so.</p><p></p><p>When I started running a 3E game there were many feats and combat rules that relied on quite precise positioning. So I switched to using 2d counters (monster artwork printed out to mini scale squares and laminated) on a homemade gridded battle mat.</p><p></p><p>After a few years of using 2d counters I bought some pre-painted WotC D&D minis. I loved what they added to the game and quickly grew my collection to a couple of thousand minis.</p><p></p><p>I haven’t bought any new ones for several years, but that’s mainly because I reached the point where for most combats I can represent the monster we’re fighting with an actual mini of that monster. For those cases where I don’t have the exact mini, I can still give a pretty close proxy, rather than having to pretend that the Orc with the axe is a Mind Flayer, and the Goblin with the bow is a Drow Sorcerer. There is just something really cool about mentioning that the PCs spot something flying overhead and then slapping a Huge Red Dragon mini down on the table.</p><p></p><p>The best reaction I got doing that was during our Shackled City campaign several years ago. The PCs were only 2nd level. They entered a room and I described this strange round creature floating in the air and plopped a Beholder mini down on the table. Eyes immediately went wide around the table! <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite8" alt=":D" title="Big grin :D" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":D" /> (FYI, it wasn’t an illusion, it was an actual Beholder they were facing!)</p><p></p><p>That said, for some RPGs I prefer to use theatre of the mind as I think those games work better for their style. For example, Feng Shui and Paranoia both come to mind as games that work better as theatre of the mind, due to the fact that they are more narrative-style games.</p><p></p><p>Theatre of the mind means that if the player needs the mooks to be next to a window so he can fly kick them out the window and into the garbage bin below, he can do that. If he needs the drinks cart to be near the stairs, instead of in between 2 tables, as it will allow him to jump on it and ride it down the stairs while shooting out the lights, it now is. No need to let stuff like that get in the way of a cool action scene.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Olaf the Stout, post: 7704612, member: 13703"] It’s minis all the way for me for D&D. I played from about 1994 to 2002 using only theatre of the mind (mainly AD&D, but some other RPGs as well). I found that it made you more reliant on the DM. He was the one that could decide how many Orcs were caught in your fireball spell, or whether the Bugbears were lined up well enough to all get hit by your lightning spell. If the DM wanted the Kobold heading for the alarm to be just out of range of your charging Fighter, theatre of the mind allowed him to easily do so. When I started running a 3E game there were many feats and combat rules that relied on quite precise positioning. So I switched to using 2d counters (monster artwork printed out to mini scale squares and laminated) on a homemade gridded battle mat. After a few years of using 2d counters I bought some pre-painted WotC D&D minis. I loved what they added to the game and quickly grew my collection to a couple of thousand minis. I haven’t bought any new ones for several years, but that’s mainly because I reached the point where for most combats I can represent the monster we’re fighting with an actual mini of that monster. For those cases where I don’t have the exact mini, I can still give a pretty close proxy, rather than having to pretend that the Orc with the axe is a Mind Flayer, and the Goblin with the bow is a Drow Sorcerer. There is just something really cool about mentioning that the PCs spot something flying overhead and then slapping a Huge Red Dragon mini down on the table. The best reaction I got doing that was during our Shackled City campaign several years ago. The PCs were only 2nd level. They entered a room and I described this strange round creature floating in the air and plopped a Beholder mini down on the table. Eyes immediately went wide around the table! :D (FYI, it wasn’t an illusion, it was an actual Beholder they were facing!) That said, for some RPGs I prefer to use theatre of the mind as I think those games work better for their style. For example, Feng Shui and Paranoia both come to mind as games that work better as theatre of the mind, due to the fact that they are more narrative-style games. Theatre of the mind means that if the player needs the mooks to be next to a window so he can fly kick them out the window and into the garbage bin below, he can do that. If he needs the drinks cart to be near the stairs, instead of in between 2 tables, as it will allow him to jump on it and ride it down the stairs while shooting out the lights, it now is. No need to let stuff like that get in the way of a cool action scene. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Minis or Theatre of the Mind? (Survey)
Top