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

[Doc_Klueless]

I've always preferred some sort of tokens to represent PCs, NPCs and Monsters on a grid map. Exactitude is not necessary. Just a ball park "Kobold here, here and here."

But I can definitely do TotM as well.

 

[Hussar]

I enjoy both, but I find that not many people want to play theater of the mind in this era. It was how I played exclusively in the 1E and 2E eras.

I did run the entirety of Lost Mine of Phandelver TotM when I first got back into D&D in 2017, and it went perfectly fine.

I disagree with the notion that 5E can't be run TotM; it very much can.

Ok, I have to ask. How? There are so many encounters in that module (I just happened to have run it recently) that I couldn't imagine trying to do TotM. Cragmaw Castle? How did you track like 20 (ish) combatants between four or five locations that all react to the PC's being found? Or the incorporeal undead in Wave Echo Cavern that can move through walls to attack from several different directions? Yikes.

I remember when they went into the Redbrand Hideout and things kicked off. I had the NPC's moving through multiple locations, tracking about four or five different encounters at the same time as the NPC's moved an alerted other groups of NPC's. I couldn't imagine trying to do that TotM.

As an aside, and this is 100% not directed at you @Burnside, just something that twigged in my brain - I wonder if there is any correlation between TotM DM's and the complaint that 5e isn't lethal enough. That the DM, by eschewing the more tactical elements of using minis, lighting, LOS, positioning, etc. results in the game being less difficult. I know that using a VTT and Lighting and LOS makes a HUGE difference to the difficulty of the game and it really hits home when things like Darkness or various other obscuring effects come into play.

 

[MNblockhead]

I started really playing DnD instead of just dabbling during the summer 3.5e came out, back in 2003. I DMed the first campaign I was ever involved in and, right off the bat, I made my own tokens. I used photoshop to make grids showing the exact art of whatever NPCs, PCs, or homebrew monsters I wanted to use, printed the documents out on 8.5x11" label stock, and punched out the circles after sticking the label onto poster board. Every week I'd have fresh sheets of monsters tokens punched out and I stored them in old film bottles. I strongly prefer this over minis for my own in-person games because I can have pieces that show exactly what I want, no matter how exotic or original.

I did the same, but glued the printed and puched card stock onto metal blanks. Very cheap, but look nice, feel good to pick up and move, don't get shifted or blown out of place easily, and can be used with my Aleo magnetic status tokens.

 

[MNblockhead]

I think they were also a LOT more hard to get hold of (and paint) back in the day.

D&D painted plastic minis made a big difference when they arrived 22 years ago, and youtube painting tutorials also opened up the world to a lot of people. (The cost of the Wizkids minis now is absolutely shocking to me).

Cheers!

Depends where you lived. In the 80s there were a number of FLGS with a good collection of fantasy minatures. In 1e, however, we mainly used them to track marching order. We never used battlemaps. When I got back into the hobby in my mid 40s, I had the disposable income to experiment with all kinds of terrain, tokens, minis, etc. But time constraints meant most would go unpainted and I got tired of having to set up multiple scenes the night before to avoid too much downtime when setting up a scene. I also felt that it was causing me to be a bit railroady because I didn't want to waste my efforts. I switched to a horizontal TV display case and digital battlemaps and never looked back. I also got a Silhouette paper cutter machine and used paper 2D minis and flat round tokens/pogs which was cheaper, easier, and allowed me to have colorful "minis" without having to paint.

 

[MNblockhead]

Using a VTT, I prefer to use the minis. It generally speeds up play and keeps things moving. IRL I prefer theater of the mind, because setting up a map and mini's takes too much time.

Use your VTT for battlemap and monster/NPC tokens and have your players use minis for their PCs. Best of both worlds for in-person play.

 

[el-remmen]

Not playing 2024 5E, but is there a difference between it and 2014 in terms of using minis?

Anyway, I have loved using minis since 2E days but will also use TotM for scenes where it makes sense. I actually love starting a potential combat scene as TotM and then reveal the pre-drawn map. I also love using 2D+3D for flair. So, a Chessex mat with stuff written with a wet erase arker but scatter terrain to give it heft. I also use scatter terrain, esp. trees and brush with those Pathfinder maps.

Hand drawn area map + scatter terrain and homemade entangle spell template

But I feel like I can run TotM as well as with minis, if I have to. I am also not averse to simply drawing general position on a piece of paper. . .whatever works!

I will say, however, unlike several people on here, I am a count squares/keep track of movement/ranges, etc guy. Why are we even using square if we don't? Oh no squares? Each of my players has a measuring stick cut to their Speed (or other common speeds they use for a spell or wildshape).

 

[MNblockhead]

Not playing 2024 5E, but is there a difference between it and 2014 in terms of using minis?

Anyway, I have loved using minis since 2E days but will also use TotM for scenes where it makes sense. I actually love starting a potential combat scene as TotM and then reveal the pre-drawn map. I also love using 2D+3D for flair. So, a Chessex mat with stuff written with a wet erase arker but scatter terrain to give it heft. I also use scatter terrain, esp. trees and brush with those Pathfinder maps.

Hand drawn area map + scatter terrain and homemade entangle spell template
View attachment 397216

But I feel like I can run TotM as well as with minis, if I have to. I am also not averse to simply drawing general position on a piece of paper. . .whatever works!

I will say, however, unlike several people on here, I am a count squares/keep track of movement/ranges, etc guy. Why are we even using square if we don't? Oh no squares? Each of my players has a measuring stick cut to their Speed (or other common speeds they use for a spell or wildshape).

View attachment 397218

Love the measure sticks! I started doing that after watching a DM's Craft video on it. Mine use the same square wooden dowels and line markers like yours, except I alternately colored in ever other sement. I find that they are especially useful for gridless play. Instead of putting down a gridded battlemap, I can just lay down a large sheet for green or brown felt, through on some scatter terrain and I'm good to go. The measure sticks are the length of 30' of movement, with lines for every 5'. It allows any surface to be a battlemap!

 

[GreatestHonor]

I’ve exclusively used minis and tokens in the past, but with complications arising my table will be moving to using digital.

 

[el-remmen]

Love the measure sticks! I started doing that after watching a DM's Craft video on it. Mine use the same square wooden dowels and line markers like yours, except I alternately colored in ever other sement. I find that they are especially useful for gridless play. Instead of putting down a gridded battlemap, I can just lay down a large sheet for green or brown felt, through on some scatter terrain and I'm good to go. The measure sticks are the length of 30' of movement, with lines for every 5'. It allows any surface to be a battlemap!

I probably watched the same video, but it has been a few years, so I forget whose channel it was.

We use the sticks for both a gridded and non-gridded surface, as it also helps those who struggle with proper diagonal movement which I personally cannot stand not using.

 

[dave2008]

I enjoy painting and using minis. We even started using sort of minis before it was really a thing.

What do you mean by this statement? The game originated from war games that relied on miniatures. Minis have always been a thing in D&D. We used them when I started playing in the mid '80s and have never stopped. Have we always used detail battle maps or terrain? No, but we always used minis.