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<blockquote data-quote="MerricB" data-source="post: 9595607" data-attributes="member: 3586">Well, have a look at the cover of Original D&amp;D.&quot;Rules for fantastic Medieval Wargames Campaigns Playable with Paper and Pencil and Miniature Figures&quot;.Looks like Minatures are pretty prominently mentioned there, right?There's not all that much mentioned in the rules for OD&amp;D, but then - there were a lot of references to the Chainmail rules (explicitly for miniature wargames), and they had a habit of assuming you already knew the early works. But even given that, early D&amp;D moved quite a bit away from its miniature wargaming roots. In the Foreword you've got this lovely passage by Gygax: &quot;In fact you will not even need miniature figures, although their occasional employment is recommended for real spectacle when battles are fought.&quot; And in the &quot;scope&quot; of the game: &quot;The use of paper, pencil and map boards are standard. Miniature figures can be added if the players have them available and so desire, but miniatures are not required, only esthetically pleasing; similarly, unit counters can be employed — with or without figures — although by themselves the bits of cardboard lack the eye-appeal of the varied and brightly painted miniature figures.&quot;Early D&amp;D - both OD&amp;D, Basic and AD&amp;D - tended not to have detailed rules for miniatures, if they even considered their use. But, of course, it wasn't like they were really considering how to run &quot;Theatre of the Mind&quot; play either. There were the rules of the game, sometimes badly written (AD&amp;D initiative!), and you needed to work out to adapt them for your group. I think the first set of D&amp;D rules that really helped you run games on a grid rather than just a tabletop was the Player's Option: Combat &amp; Tactics book in 1995. And people discovered the joys (or annoyances) of flanking.In a lot of ways, 5E is the least miniature-dependent version of D&amp;D since then... though a lot of it ends up being left up to groups to adjudicate. (2024 feels a little more miniature heavy than 2014, just because of fighter manuevers, but that's minor compared to how much you wanted precise positioning in 3E or 4E).Knowing where the monsters and characters were in relation to each other has always been part of the game to resolve spells like fireball and lightning bolt. The techniques for this have varied - and often resided in the judgment of the DM, not the rulebook.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="MerricB, post: 9595607, member: 3586"] Well, have a look at the cover of Original D&D. "Rules for fantastic Medieval Wargames Campaigns Playable with Paper and Pencil and Miniature Figures". Looks like Minatures are pretty prominently mentioned there, right? There's not all that much mentioned in the rules for OD&D, but then - there were a lot of references to the Chainmail rules (explicitly for miniature wargames), and they had a habit of assuming you already knew the early works. But even given that, early D&D moved quite a bit away from its miniature wargaming roots. In the Foreword you've got this lovely passage by Gygax: "In fact you will not even need miniature figures, although their occasional employment is recommended for real spectacle when battles are fought." And in the "scope" of the game: "The use of paper, pencil and map boards are standard. Miniature figures can be added if the players have them available and so desire, but miniatures are not required, only esthetically pleasing; similarly, unit counters can be employed — with or without figures — although by themselves the bits of cardboard lack the eye-appeal of the varied and brightly painted miniature figures." Early D&D - both OD&D, Basic and AD&D - tended not to have detailed rules for miniatures, if they even considered their use. But, of course, it wasn't like they were really considering how to run "Theatre of the Mind" play either. There were the rules of the game, sometimes badly written (AD&D initiative!), and you needed to work out to adapt them for your group. I think the first set of D&D rules that [I]really[/I] helped you run games on a grid rather than just a tabletop was the Player's Option: Combat & Tactics book in 1995. And people discovered the joys (or annoyances) of flanking. In a lot of ways, 5E is the least miniature-dependent version of D&D since then... though a lot of it ends up being left up to groups to adjudicate. (2024 feels a little more miniature heavy than 2014, just because of fighter manuevers, but that's minor compared to how much you wanted precise positioning in 3E or 4E). Knowing where the monsters and characters were in relation to each other has always been part of the game to resolve spells like fireball and lightning bolt. The techniques for this have varied - and often resided in the judgment of the DM, not the rulebook. [/QUOTE]

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