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

[Clint_L]

You know, this is why people give up on posting here and why I hadn't. I was just relaying that for me and the people I played with we did not use minis, minis were not available for purchase in our area, if there was a mention of minis we either missed it or I forgot about it because it's been close to 50 freakin' years.

Give it a break people, please.

I hope you didn't think my post was critical of yours. I was describing my own contrasting experience, in response to your last sentence, "I'm sure other people handled things differently," not critiquing yours or anyone else's. If I gave you that impression, I apologize.

Edit: let me reemphasize: there is no ONE RIGHT WAY to do it, miniatures or not. Other than the way that works best for each of us. It's a game! I've appreciated this thread because any chance to discuss my nerdy passion for collecting and painting miniatures is irresistible, and I love learning about other's experiences.

 

[AlViking]

I hope you didn't think my post was critical of yours. I was describing my own contrasting experience, in response to your last sentence, "I'm sure other people handled things differently," not critiquing yours or anyone else's. If I gave you that impression, I apologize.

Edit: let me reemphasize: there is no ONE RIGHT WAY to do it, miniatures or not. Other than the way that works best for each of us. It's a game! I've appreciated this thread because any chance to discuss my nerdy passion for collecting and painting miniatures is irresistible, and I love learning about other's experiences.

It's just that multiple people have pointed out that miniatures were mentioned in the original books and it is getting old. I know we all have different experiences and I started playing in 76? 77? I don't remember. Long ago in a century far far away in any case. Yes I know I likely have to trade in my grognard card for this.

It's just such a minor thing and I could have phrased it better. It doesn't help I have a chest cold with a bad cough and it's February in the upper midwest. I didn't take offense at what you said or even really any one individual.

 

[MNblockhead]

I actually prefer Theater of the Mind but then I also love 3D-printing and spend more time printing and painting minis than I do playing DnD so that makes me vote for playing with Miniatures.

If there was a way to combine TotM with minis I'd vote for that

Minis can still be helpful without full out tactical grid use. Showing marching order. Tracking initiative. Showing and tracking status effects (knock the mini over when prone, hand colored rubber bands on them or put them on top of colored poker chips to indicate status effects), etc.

 

[MNblockhead]

The people who played those war games DnD started with may have used miniatures. But there was no mention of the grid in the OD&D books that I remember. It was probably discussed in the 1e DMG. There were no battle mats or minis in the stores I got the books from.

So for us it was before the grid was really a thing.

Didn't the OD&D books recommend and expect that the players would also have the Chainmail rules?

 

[MNblockhead]

As I said no minis were sold at the stores the books were sold at, no battle mats, no mention of minis or grids in the old book that I remember. I'm sure some people used them we did not initially. I'm also dredging up memories from nearly half a century ago. When we started we used theater of the mind exclusively and then started using miscellaneous tokens from different board games or pieces of paper to indicate positioning and distances. I'm sure other people handled things differently.

In the 80s we mixed it up. Mostly TotM, but players would try to map as they explored and we would often mark location on the player-created maps, or just indicate location on scratch paper. Often we would use minis, bottle caps, candy, whatever was on hand, to indicate placement, just on the table without any map or terrain.

 

[MNblockhead]

Interesting, I always got my D&D books from a hobby store that also sold minis (and models) so it was very natural. Heck, some of the shops even held wargamming events and painting mini sessions. D&D is a very regional experience and everyone's is different!

When we started we used TotM and minis (they are not mutually exclusive). No battlemaps or grids though.

I think it depends on where you lived and how easily you could get to various shops. We had some great hobby shops that would have lots of minis and pain supplies as well as TTRPG books. But, until we could drive, it was hard to get to those places. A parent would have to go out the way to bring us there. Most of my books and modules were purchased at B Dalton bookstore in the mall. I would just spend most of my time in B Daltons while my parents shopped for boring stuff. So I didn't really get into minis until late high school.

 

[MerricB]

Didn't the OD&D books recommend and expect that the players would also have the Chainmail rules?

One point worth considering from the post you reply to refers to "the grid" rather than minis in particular - which I don't think Chainmail or OD&D reference at all.

Chainmail was being played as a traditional wargame with miniatures - so measuring tape and rulers, but not a grid.

If anyone can find me references in an official rulebook to using a grid for combat before the 1995 Combat & Tactics book, I'd appreciate it. I'm sure people did do it, as play was so varied,

 

[Hussar]

I think I said this earlier, but, I mostly played AD&D without minis because the system lacked any real need for minis. There were virtually no rules for tactical positioning or movement. Combat was largely just rolling dice until the bad guys fell down because there was very little else you could do.

It wasn't until 3e that I started using minis/tokens regularly since the system was actually set up for using them.

 

[MNblockhead]

It's just that multiple people have pointed out that miniatures were mentioned in the original books and it is getting old. I know we all have different experiences and I started playing in 76? 77? I don't remember. Long ago in a century far far away in any case. Yes I know I likely have to trade in my grognard card for this.

It's just such a minor thing and I could have phrased it better. It doesn't help I have a chest cold with a bad cough and it's February in the upper midwest. I didn't take offense at what you said or even really any one individual.

Sorry for contributing to that. I have a bad habit of not reading through the entire thread before responding to a post. I think thats why it can sometimes feel like a pile on. Not that most posters are trying to pile on, they are just responding at the same time others are responding or are not caught up with the thread. In any case, yeah, it would be silly for someone to argue that their experience represents how everyone played at any given time. Whether a group played with minis back in the days before cheap shipping and the interest, would depend on whether there were hobby shops near by, your ability to drive, how much your parents accommodated your hobby, how much disposable income you had, and personal and group preferences. We used minis a bit in OD&D and AD&D but mostly winged it with ToTM, scratch paper, or using whatever small items we had on hand. I didn't really get into minis until late high school and Warhammer 40,000k, which was was a miniature battle game and which sucked up much of my summer and after school job income.

 

[MerricB]

I think I said this earlier, but, I mostly played AD&D without minis because the system lacked any real need for minis. There were virtually no rules for tactical positioning or movement. Combat was largely just rolling dice until the bad guys fell down because there was very little else you could do.

It wasn't until 3e that I started using minis/tokens regularly since the system was actually set up for using them.

I had the idea of a "mob" which was the scrum of melee. There's a reference in the 1E DMG to randomly selecting targets once in melee, so we would occasionally do that. Looking back, it was very unstructured.

Cheers,
Merric