D&D 5E Theatre of the Mind or Miniatures?

[billd91]

I usually do not use minis while running 5e. We still have some tokens out, in this case from Paizo's Creature Collections and other cardboard stand-up sets, to indicate things like marching order and just to have a visual reference of the group. We do sometimes put the figures out on the table for particularly complex tactical situations or to help the youngest player (who is 8) visualize the situation. But it's almost never on a grid now and we eyeball distances.

 

[DaveDash]

I use roll20 minis with dynamic lighting. I'm finding it's quite a bit of work.

I've been watching Mike Mearls run Temple of Elemental Evil ThoM and it's very fast for him to run.

 

[Sgurr]

This is a highly relevant and current question for me! I voted "Theatre of mind", but for the first time in 35 years I've started contemplating using minis in D&D! We'll see: maybe I'll start using minis..

 

[Leatherhead]

Are you describing the combat and having people imagine it (Theatre of the Mind) or displaying on the screen the exact positioning of the characters (Miniatures)?

Yes, Miniatures is something of a wider category than just the little metal or plastic figures.

Cheers!

Does Theater of the Mind allow for props or images?

I never use my Colossal Red Dragon on a map, it's rather pointless when dealing with flying creatures. However, I love to pull it out and line it up next to the PC minis just to show the scale of the fight. It's always fun when you show that a halfling isn't even a mouthful.

 

[dd.stevenson]

Minis/tokens/pennies, but without a gridded map.

 

[Shiroiken]

When I run on Roll20, I use mini's for the most part, since it's a quick and easy tool. IRL, I almost always run TotM, since setting up mini's slows down the game far too much. Since my current game is on Roll20, I guess I'd have to say mini's, but I prefer TotM in general.

 

[Mercule]

I've been watching Mike Mearls run Temple of Elemental Evil ThoM and it's very fast for him to run.

First, where do you watch him? I assume there's a YouTube channel or something.

Second, we've been using battle mats since 3E was released (TotM before that). I'm finding myself slipping more and more into a TotM style with PotA. Major battles tend to get the battle mat treatment, but a lot of things have been purely descriptive. I'm not sure whether it's the adventure or the 5E rules, but I like it. That said, I do like battle mats if there's any chance of confusion; I remember far too many 1E/2E arguments because people had different scenery in their mental theatre.

 

[Wormwood]

I don;t mind miniatures for positioning and visualization, but I *hate* playing on a grid (PTSD from running two 4e campaigns from 1-30). Unfortunately, most of my players enjoy the tactical minigame of grid-based combat.

As a compromise I try to play at one or two of the smaller combats without the grid every game. Faster, more immersive, more fun, and they keep me from hitting /gquit.

 

[DEFCON 1]

Mostly Theater of the Mind. When I do pull out the minis, it's about 50/50 between using them on your standard 1" grids and doing "true" positioning with minis for every PC and every enemy on the field... versus using small non-gridded maps (like on 8.5x11 sheets of paper) purely for location visualization and players and enemies moving themselves representationally on the diagram with little concern of exact distances/positioning and the like. And that tends to depend on just how large, odd, or full of important terrain details the map includes and which the PCs need to concern themselves with.

But as usually is the case... the more precise and detailed the map, the longer the combats become. Which is why I usually do TotM.

 

[jayoungr]

I wish you'd given us a "both" or "other" choice. I run/play D&D 5E with two groups. One uses minis regularly. The other trades off between two campaigns run by different DMs. One of those DMs is entirely TotM, while the other one usually uses minis. I'd say that works out to me using minis more than half the time, so I'm voting for using them.