"Theater of the Mind" or Map and Minis?

[robus]

That sounds like how 13th Age handles it (but 'close' instead of 'near'), along with AEs affecting a random number of enemies at either close or far, instead of having to plot out AEs.
What it has to do with rock-paper-scissors, though, I've no idea...

- check out the thread that presents it: http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?592401-Roshambo-Style-Theatre-of-the-Mind-Combat

The Roshambo aspect is that there are 3 "actions" that can interfere with other actions: intercept beats engage, for example.

 

[Hexmage-EN]

I didn't start playing D&D until the tail end of 3.5. The person who introduced me to the game used grid paper, and the Basic Game set I bought came with dungeon tiles and minis.

Then 4E came around and focused heavily on the battle map and filling it with interactive features, like hanging ropes to swing on, magic circles that granted minor bonuses, cauldrons of boiling water to tip over on enemies, etc.

I really enjoy prepping battle maps myself and have bought tiles, tokens, and minis both from WotC and Paizo to mess around with. I have some backing board that I stick the tiles to with removable adhesive squares. It's fun to me to create an environment filled with terrain to take advantage of and unusual features to interact with. Often I'll take a tile depicting a statue, water basin, etc and invent an unusual minor magical effect for it.

For example, one map I made recently and can't wait to use is a couple of rooms in a crypt. Soon after the party enters the main room 1d4 skeletons will start emerging from their coffins each round (to a maximum of 10; only two of the skeletons will have ranged weapons). If the party rushes to a side chamber they should be able to funnel the skeletons to to them a few at a time as they enter the door, but if they stand their ground they'll be in trouble. However, there's also a cursed demonic statue nearby; a PC can sacrifice 1d4 hit dice worth of their life force to it to temporarily become stronger, but the demon the statue is a representation of will thereafter have some power over the PC.

 

[Morrus]

Sorry, this is a bit unclear to me. Could you briefly sketch a combat encounter in which terrain is not important? Or describe a general set of characteristics that render the terrain unimportant?

I can't really think how I would. It's about reading the room.

 

[neogod22]

Well, we don't always get what we want....

Besides, it's not the thing that "shouldn't" be in front of you these characters need to worry about. It's the thing you're backing up into.

That doesn't mean I can't have an opinion on the matter. I think theater of the mind sucks. Sure it's ok for nonchallenging combats that's not supposed to,last more than 1 round to save time, but it doesn't work for real fights since everyone's view of the battlefield becomes subjective.

 

[TheSword]

I use battle maps and the minis. Lucky enough to have accumulated a pretty chunky collection of prepainted over the years, which is a real asset.

For battlemaps I have a £20 A3 laminator and I print battlemaps from the published adventures. Mike Schley sells high res versions of his campaign maps usually including options without DM notations which is awesome. I also have most paizo flip mats on pdf for a few dollars each. The last chance is using campaign cartographers dungeon designer. I then cut out the individual rooms and laminate them so they can be placed as the party explores. It’s a bit Labour intensive but it makes it so much more engaging for players when they have detailed, full colour maps in front of them.

 

[Tony Vargas]

Could you briefly sketch a combat encounter in which terrain is not important?

Sure:
























...oh, a key:

| wall
/ door
S secret door
X difficult terrain
% visible hazard
_ Pit trap

 

[MarkB]

I voted Other. I haven't used minis since I started running 5e, but I will often use a simple dry-erase-board map to illustrate the battlefield.

 

[mrpopstar]

We use theater of the mind, supported by a gridless map where appropriate, but I always have a grid map behind the screen that I use to keep track of positioning and describe the scene (letter size, quarter inch rule, mapped with pen, marked up with pencil).

 

[happyhermit]

... To me, relying solely on verbal descriptions seems to result in either an impoverished* environment or really lengthy descriptions ...

It's funny, but one of my issues with strictly map and minis play is that GMs often shy away from or even shut down cool ideas because they don't want to have to deal with representing it. Anything with a 3d component, even as simple as someone standing under someone else on a balcony is likely to illicit groans from the GM and/or other players. Long-range combat suffers too IME, with the vast majority of fights starting at similar ranges. It is much more rare IME in a game that uses at least some Totm, for these things to be discouraged. Stuff like papercraft and dwarvenforge alleviates some of these issues, as do atypically good/flexible GMs but stuff that doesn't easily fit the mold is often neglected.

 

[robus]

It's funny, but one of my issues with strictly map and minis play is that GMs often shy away from or even shut down cool ideas because they don't want to have to deal with representing it. Anything with a 3d component, even as simple as someone standing under someone else on a balcony is likely to illicit groans from the GM and/or other players. Long-range combat suffers too IME, with the vast majority of fights starting at similar ranges. It is much more rare IME in a game that uses at least some Totm, for these things to be discouraged. Stuff like papercraft and dwarvenforge alleviates some of these issues, as do atypically good/flexible GMs but stuff that doesn't easily fit the mold is often neglected.

Agreed things get very 2D once a grid is involved IME