Not using Grid / minis / pawns

[Giant2005]

Well, you don't have to buy it, but it doesn't change the fact that grid play isn't the default assumption in 5e. The fact that grid rules are explicitly listed as "optional" in fact means that it's not the default style. Don't forget what else I had also said. AD&D had very clear measurements as well, and it wasn't meant to be played on a grid as default, so just because 5e uses 5ft measurements in no way implies or infers that grid play is expected.

Not just that, but I think the rules make it pretty clear that they were made specifically for TotM and as a result, they break a little bit when you use a grid.
Take Opportunity Attacks for example. They were simplified to only being triggered when someone leaves your reach to make it easy for TotM play, however using that same mechanic with a grid gets really quite stupid as it adds the grid-exclusive issue of circling the opponent so you can move around them without risking an OA.

 

[Tony Vargas]

The PHB indicates using grid as an option. Would you play in a game that didn't?

Wouldn't matter, the only important factor is whether the DM is good enough.

The 'Next' playtest made much of the game going 'TotM' and 5e does come out and say that's how it's meant to be played. In spite of that, it gives movement, ranges, area-effects, and the like in precise-to-the-foot measurements and geometric shapes. It also has fewer/less-detailed rules for combat, which plays to both the 'faster combat' and TotM agendas. But it doesn't actually have rules to facilitate TotM the way some other systems, like 13th Age, do.

FWIW, I do run my 5e games TotM. It's a technique I mastered in the 90s when available play spaces were limited for my mostly-college-age gaming groups, and minis just weren't an option, I've even run Champions! (a game much more into it's hex mats and 2m scale than D&D has ever been to 'da grid') that way.

In my limited experience with playing in a few groups minis etc seem to be expected now. Way back when we never did

Yeah, these experiences often seem to be regional or group-specific. Back in the day, around here, the more serious DMs had large mini collections from their wargaming days, collecting & painting them was a hobby in itself, so minis got used heavily. In the 90s that trailed off (except for Warhammer) especially for those of us who wandered from D&D, then came back in the oughts with 3.0 & plastic blind/random minis.

 

[Brotton Goodfellow]

Yeah, I'm not sure I could run a game without the grid. I use it for all combats, but stay away from it during social scenarios. I know my players like it too, so running a game without it wouldn't be as enjoyable for them. I can't remember a time in the last 15 years where a grid wasn't used. Isn't it hard to keep track of where everyone is in relation to one another? Seems like too much extra work.

 

[Ath'kethin]

I have owned a great number of miniatures in my day, and even learned to paint them fairly well. Their use in my experience is for either of two purposes: playing miniatures wargames and playing HeroQuest. In 20+ years as a DM I have never used grids and minis, and have never had any kind of issue.

I don't shy away from DMs who use minis, but I find that when grids and minis are in play the game becomes much more about determining what the rules say you can do than it is about deciding what you want to do and using the rules to make it happen.

 

[Bayonet]

I like grid based combat for a number of reasons;

It's easier to keep track of the action. Sometimes the DM isn't positioning and terrain well, or a player just isn't getting it. A quick sketch or placement can remedy that. It also allows people to make a quick dash from the table to check on their kid, get a drink, etc. without being lost when they get back.

It's easier for some people to immerse themselves in a grid combat than Theatre of the Mind. I personally like the tactical maneuvering part of the game, and one of my players really isn't that comfortable with some of the RP stuff; she definitely appreciates when she gets to move a counter around. As well, there;s the inevitable confusion about who got hit with the fireball. Grids streamline that.

Drawing stuff, finding cool tokens, etc. is pretty fun, too.

 

[ccs]

Of course I'd play/run an RPG without grids/minis!
It's how I started.
It's largely how I still play (despite being fully invested as a miniature wargamer - all genres, many companies)
And I suspect it's how I'll end. Right now, in my 40s, space isn't an issue. But eventually when I'm old & in a nursing/retirement home? There just won't be room for more than a few books & some dice

See, the thing is I like both RPGs & miniature wargames. And board games. I just don't like them combined much.

 

[zaratan]

I like to play with grid and minis, but I feel that pain of low budget, so I do this:

 

[ProphetSword]

I got tired of handling miniatures (real or cardboard) and our group opted to go completely digital. I make all my maps in advance (and have a ton of them on standby), so I always have every situation covered. I have tons of digital miniatures for every monster or NPC, and the players are happy to play with their real miniatures on the digital landscape.

Here's the nice gaming table that one of the guys in our group built, that has a 40" TV in the center. The table is hollow in the center with supports for the TV and a place to put a small computer. We use MapTools and set up a local server (I have a laptop behind my screen to help me run the DM side of things during combat).

Works out pretty nice.

If I tried to go TotM now, my players would lynch me!

 

[devincutler]

I despise not playing with a grid. And I grew up in TOTM D&D back in the day. But the fact is that positioning still matters in 5e (less so than in 3e or 4e) and inevitably the vision the DM has in his head of the combat is not the same as the players (and, indeed, varies from player to player). Yes, a good, descriptive DM can mitigate some of this, but not all or even most of the confusion IMO. As such, I find that more time is spent debating things like cover and the like than it would take to just draw the damned thing out on a grid battlemat.

Our 5e DM has tried TOTM and we players roundly rejected it. Yes, for simple hand-wavy type encounters TOTM is fine. But not for any combat even remotely worthwhile.

Frankly, other than nostalgic hubris, I am not sure why there is this hostility to using a grid. Is it some sort of old-skool pride? I don't see how using a grid and markers blunts the imagination of the players. They are still picturing the combat in their minds, and, IMO having a grid and markers actually aids that imagining.

 

[Demorgus]

My work campaign is all theater of the mind style gaming.