Poll: Minis, battlemats and interpretation thereof

[Mexal]

I've never used miniatures and probably never shall either as DM or player. I just don't find them anything but confusing and a distraction from what is going on in the game.

 

[Psychic Warrior]

I've always used minis in RPGs and they are always literal representatrions of where the characters are. I really don't see how it can be any other way.

 

[Wombat]

I've always used minis in RPGs and they are always literal representatrions of where the characters are. I really don't see how it can be any other way.

People move.

A 5' square is actually a fair amount of space; equally, no one is actually mapping for each given moment. And six seconds is a long period of time, combat-wise. Nearly everything in rpgs is abstract to some extent; movement and placement always struck me as especially so.

Watch SCA battles, or RTSG -- where is an individual for six seconds? Can you uterly map it? Probably not. As such, all the map can give you is relative positions.

One person's interpretation only, YMMV.

 

[ashepp]

I don't think the options are quite accurate, but it is certainly closer to literal t

if you are not happy have to do samething about it

 

[ashepp]

Current Rules Edition
The Dungeons & Dragons game has gone through several editions during its thirty years in print. The current edition is version 3.5, most frequently abbreviated as "v.3.5."...

Edited out several articles copied from Wizard's website

 

[DaveyJones]

1" = 10 ft indoors and 10 yards outdoors

25 mm scale for the minis. but minis are an abstract. the scale is for comparison to each other not the size they represent on the map

 

[wingsandsword]

I'll say it's an abstraction.

The world doesn't come in neat 5 foot squares like a battlemat. The battlemat representation is the game world reduced to a grid and chaotic jumbles of combattants arranged into neat rows and rectangles on that grid.

It's a pretty close representation, and one that works for visualizing how things look and for tactical purposes, but I'd still call it at least somewhat abstracted.

 

[Pielorinho]

Current Rules Edition
The Dungeons & Dragons game has gone through several editions during its thirty years in print. The current edition is version 3.5, most frequently abbreviated as "v.3.5."...

Edited out several articles copied from Wizard's website

Moderator's Notes
Welcome to the boards, ashepp! I think you inadvertantly posted a bunch of articles from Wizard's website instead of the post you meant to make. I went ahead and deleted them (we've got the original post saved on file). If this wasn't a mistake, please report this post, using the little exclamation point button in the lower righthand corner, and let us know what you wanted done with these copyrighted articles.

Thanks!
Daniel

 

[The Thayan Menace]

Sowing the Seeds of Anarchy?

Literal ... I've had two players try and tactically stupify me when they should have been ganked.

Crimson Reckoning House Rule #10 now explicitly states:

Keep track of your character miniature at all times! Its actual placement on the game mat supersedes any conception of where you simply envision your character to be.

Samir Asad is GM Elite!

​

 

[ashepp]

In a combat system that is entirely abstract, why would exact positioning possibly be a part of it?

The placement of a mini simply represents that character existing somewhere in that space, or as has already been QFT'd twice:

Thanks i have looked at the the wab Address and i like it a lot