Stormonu
Legend
Minis are life! I live by the motto “he who dies with the most toys wins!” (and “gamers only die when their paint table is clear” - and I intend to live forever!
D&D General The Grid vs. Theater of the Mind vs. a Mix [a poll & discussion]
Lyxen
Great Old One
Some people are really hardcore about this, but for me, it's just a set of tools and I will just use the one most appropriate to the situation.
For example we love minis, but we don't need a map to use them if all what we are tracking is who is currently discussing with who during a palace intrigue, and it does not prevent that game to be mostly Theater of the Mind. And sometimes we use a map, because it's a battlefield, but no hexes or squares, it's just to see roughly where huge and complex armies are located and track who is fighting who at the moment.
And sometimes it's a more detailed technical fight just because we feel like it and we have a real map (but never grids on it, they format the mind too much for us, although it's fine for people who want a more technical and "complete" feel of the game to prefer them).
But we can go for many sessions without using even a single map, and still have our minis on the table, as they are really gorgeous, see what heroforge did for my demigoddess half-siren paladin:
For example we love minis, but we don't need a map to use them if all what we are tracking is who is currently discussing with who during a palace intrigue, and it does not prevent that game to be mostly Theater of the Mind. And sometimes we use a map, because it's a battlefield, but no hexes or squares, it's just to see roughly where huge and complex armies are located and track who is fighting who at the moment.
And sometimes it's a more detailed technical fight just because we feel like it and we have a real map (but never grids on it, they format the mind too much for us, although it's fine for people who want a more technical and "complete" feel of the game to prefer them).
But we can go for many sessions without using even a single map, and still have our minis on the table, as they are really gorgeous, see what heroforge did for my demigoddess half-siren paladin:
el-remmen
Moderator Emeritus
Well, I either draw it on the wet-erase map as it becomes clear OR if the map is pre-drawn I cover areas with black cardboard or construction paper and uncover portions as encountered.
Lyxen
Great Old One
Just detail a new area when the players enter it. Clarity is not dependent on drawing something, it can certainly be worsened by a map full of irrelevant details, however gorgeous. It mostly depends on how clear the DM expresses himself, whatever the media, whether it's just voice of if there is another support.
Lanefan
Victoria Rules
Hexes are a bloody nuisance when everything else - including the way I think about directions - uses the eight cardinal points of the compass.
That said, oftentimes people/things/effects want to move or occur on a line that's neither a straight nor a perfect diagonal, meaning it comes down to eyeballing it in any case (or, if critical, measuring precisely with string or a ruler).
EzekielRaiden
Follower of the Way
I'm definitely "give me a grid unless it's very ad-hoc and not super consequential."
With the fog of war & lightning tools in addition to verbally as appropriate to the situation
Scott Christian
Hero
I know when I DM, I personally will set scenes, and sometimes even have the group go through a few traps or setting descriptors, before pulling out the map. Same is true for certain, perhaps unexpected fight scenes. This way the map doesn't become a trigger of "we have a fight." I find it is better. But, many groups I have played with just always have the maps out. Nothing wrong with that either.
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