[Poll] Who DOESN'T use minis?

[Mouseferatu]

In our games, what the DM says is always accepted at face value. If the DM says that the spell would only hit 3 of the 4 opponents, the players say OK, and we proceed from there. If he says that it would take two rounds to reach the opponent instead of one, we don't argue. Everyone sees the DM as being fair, and we don't question his decisions... we only complain occasionally when we have bad luck.

Maybe we have better imaginations than most? Maybe we just don't care if we are off by 5-10 feet occasionally... sometimes it benefits the players, other times it doesn't, but we just don't care too much. We just have a lot of fun.

Bingo, bullseye, hallelujah, can I get an amen!

We use mats and minis occasionally, for truly complex situations, but that's it. I've been playing without minis since OD&D, my group since (at latest) 2E, and we've never missed them. Nor have we ever had difficulty keep track of locations except in the most complicated situations.

Got no problem with people who prefer to use minis. It's just not for me.

(And it also hasn't kept us from using AoOs, combat reflexes, etc.)

 

[WinnipegDragon]

Time to go from the poll to the flame war

Okay, so far we have had a pretty good response to the Poll. I know it's a small sampling, and not statistically accurate by any means, but look at the results!

Fully half of us use Minis or something similar all the time. Another quarter use them in certain scenarios, so 75% (give or take) of those that responded DO use miniatures or equivalents.

Have those who complain about the prevalence of 'Miniatures Rules' in 3.5 considered the possible prevalence of miniatures in D&D gaming groups? Perhaps this really is a situation of WoTC actually giving us more of what we want and use, instead of them just trying to sell you figurines?

 

[Ralts Bloodthorne]

We have mini's, but those are for final showdowns, important battles, or if the kids go to bed.
See, we have wee-ones, protohumans if you will, that wander about. They eat dice, slobber on character sheets, draw on treasure lists, goop up party treasure lists.
And mini's are grabbed and run off with.
Nothing spices up a game trying to get the evil necromancer away from a giggling child before it is gone forever or thrown in the tiolet.

And I've been playing for 20 years. True, the children weren't mine in the beginning. They were little brothers and sisters, cousing, nieces and nephews.

Figures are a hassle. We use them VERY rarely. For the most part, I make sure I describe the encounter well.
If there is any confusion, my players do something that I haven't seen anyone elses do. They ASK QUESTIONS! GASP! CHOKE! Can you imagine the gall? Asking for description clarification! OMG! The gall!

Anyway, LOL, we hardly use them, and I dislike the focus on mini's because I recognise it from my marketing classes in college.

"Ensuring that accessories must be bought, preferably plentiful and "collectable" accessories, will increase the profit margin of the product beyond what an unaccessorized product will ever bring."
That, and:
"Accessory manufacturing can be just as profitable as manufacturing the product itself. Accessories can move with trends, and if done correctly, factory errors or poor quality control can result in "collectable editions" of these accessories."

Plus, I hate the "electron cloud" feel of the facing with the new mini-focus, since there is no real facing and direction.
But hey, we just houseruled it, along with weapon speed (Which is logical, and realistic, and my players are intellegent enough to use it without slowing the game) for our non-playtesting games.

Anyway, I'm rambling, but having fun...

Keep up the debates! After all, if you don't play correctly, Wizards will send thier crack "Canon-Fodderites" to your house to beat you down with boxes of Collectable AD&D Cards....

 

[nharwell]

Have those who complain about the prevalence of 'Miniatures Rules' in 3.5 considered the possible prevalence of miniatures in D&D gaming groups? Perhaps this really is a situation of WoTC actually giving us more of what we want and use, instead of them just trying to sell you figurines?

To the best of my knowledge, this isn't some new "strategem" on the part of WOTC. They've ALWAYS marketed 3e as needing miniatures -- or at least they have to gaming stores. Personally, I've used miniatures but certainly don't feel that they're necessary for the game. And sometimes they can detract from the atmosphere I want, so I can understand those who prefer more freeform combats...

 

[WinnipegDragon]

Personally, I've used miniatures but certainly don't feel that they're necessary for the game. And sometimes they can detract from the atmosphere I want, so I can understand those who prefer more freeform combats...

Well spoken, and agreed.

 

[Fenes 2]

Hmm... I have to amend my answer. While I sometimes use countres or dice to represent characters on a map, I have never used a grid in D&D.

As in other game groups, we just ask "Can I reach them with a charge/place the spell in a way to get all enemies/pass there without drawing an AoO/etc?"

 

[Lhorgrim]

We always use minis for showing a "marching order". Other than that we generally use them for the big combats. My gaming group likes to use tactics in combat, and without minis it can be very difficult to implement them. For us it is easier to spread our minis out on the map when fighting something with area effect abilities, rather than explain to the DM " we will seperate with a minimum of x feet between each of us blah blah blah..." I guess the long and short of it is that my group finds minis useful in more complex combats.

 

[MeepoTheMighty]

My current group doesn't use them, and it bugs the snot out of me. But I'm the new addition to the group, so I'm not going to rock the boat just yet.

Then again, we haven't had much combat, just an awful lot of walking from point A to point B. *sigh*

 

[thalmin]

Been using minis and some kind of grid since my third D&D game, over 22 years ago.

 

[Chronosome]

When playing 2nd edition, a combat involved my players continually asking me questions about terrain and evironment ("Why can't I just run around the ogre?", "I thought the pit was on his left!", "How come they can both see me? I'm hiding!") which really slowed things down.

I switched to minis when I switched to 3rd edition, and I think minis add so much to my game strategy, fun and "realism"...

My trick in keeping miniature combats "roleplayish" is not allowing people to "chess it". If a player is taking too long (which can generally be about half a minute, at the most) in deciding his characters action, I hand him his initiative card and say "You're delaying."

That way, the environment changes as he's thinking...other characters can take their turns, and he'll have to make a decision in something closer to "real-time".

Miniatures do take a little setup, but I find the game infinitely more fun...action-wise, story-wise--all around, really, because of them.