D&D (2024) My preferred way of playing D&D 2024 is... miniatures or not?

[MerricB]

One of the bigger splits in the D&D community is about whether or not to use miniatures. And they have a definitely effect on how the rules are written.

So, just for fun - where's your preference? Running D&D with miniatures (or VTT tokens, etc.) or using Theatre of the Mind and just describing the action.

I do know that many people go between the two - I do myself - but where's your preference for most play?

(A long time ago, for me it was Theatre of the Mind, but a lot of play with people who are unable to visualise combat has put me in the miniatures camp).

Cheers!

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I would be happy to play with miniatures in someone else's game. I don't have the space or money for them, myself.

 

[Clint_L]

I'm pretty heavily invested in miniatures and terrain, and collecting and painting them is its own pastime for me.

That said, they're also a pain in the butt sometimes, so a lot of the time we just do theatre of the mind or DDB Maps. Especially if I'm not playing at home.

 

[Reynard]

I like D&D with a grid. I think it makes a pretty meh combat game at least a little more interesting, as long as you have terrain and other positioning elements. Minis can be a slog if its just goblins vs PCs in a flat room, tho.

 

[TiQuinn]

I've tried the theater of the mind stuff and...

 

[Distracted DM]

I enjoy both, buuut miniatures are very inspirational to me. I dig through my minis boxes, and every miniature that I pick up sparks an adventure in my head.

Ofc after 2020 ALL of my gaming has moved online.. even the in-person friends that I'd game with, they generally will prefer the convenience of playing from home rather than all meeting in someone's house on a weeknight... so my miniatures have not gotten a lot of play in recent years :'(

 

[ezo]

I prefer ToM, but my players prefer a grid so they can see things more tactically. We've been doing it that way, but in many ways I feel like it remove imagination from the game more than adds to it. After my current campaign, I'll probably return to ToM only and the players will just have to deal with it. I'm tired of all the extra prep work, frankly speaking.

Anyway, it wasn't until 5E that I started using tokens or battle maps or any such thing.

 

[pukunui]

I have a large collection of D&D miniatures, but these days I mostly just use DDB's Maps - I put the Spectator View on a TV screen attached to my laptop and viola!

 

[AlViking]

I enjoy painting and using minis. We even started using sort of minis before it was really a thing. Theater of the mind just gets confusing when there's any complexity at all.

 

[Warpiglet-7]

I have a big game table with a 6’ x 4’ grid map for dungeons.

Lots of terrain and minis. But…

The tear down and set up takes. Lot of time. Not to mention it reduces table space!

But I can never go back to TOM anymore. I remember the arguments back in the day and no thanks.

When my pal DMs he has a tv lying flat in a sunken game table. He gets online maps with grids and minis go right on top.

At minimum gotta have a map with marks on it man!