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Message: <blockquote data-quote="KarinsDad" data-source="post: 6649578" data-attributes="member: 2011">I was thinking about this on the drive in to work today.We all use TotM. All of us.The difference is which other props, tools, and techniques that we use to make communication easier and/or the game run more smoothly.Grids and miniatures are just tools, like pencils, the init board Mearl uses, even his DM scsreen.As an example, in our game, we have a magnetic init board that one player controls. Most of the 8 players (including myself) can see that board from a distance, so we pretty much know when our init is coming up. Since a player controls it, that is one less thing as DM that I have to handle, so it makes the game run a little bit more smoothly for me.But, this is not a necessary tool. We could play the game that the highest init wins and we go clockwise around the room from there (I once did this with a GURPS group). Alternatively, we could use the best init to go first and the second best to determine if we go clockwise or counterclockwise (which rewards the best init player most, but also rewards the second best init player). What this does is remove an unnecessary tool from the game and some stuff from the PHB that we just handwave away (like normal TotM handwaves positioning and distances). It's all good.We don't need a ton of dice around the table. The DM could roll everything and just tell the players what happens. Players rolling is just a technique. Alternatively, no dice rules are needed. The DM could just decide.The point of this is that which tools we use allow us to better use, or alternatively handwave away, certain rules. Miniatures and grids allow for a more exact placement and an easier time for the players and DM to understand how far certain objects or creatures are from a given PC or NPC in order to determine whether or not  they can do a certain set of actions and movement this next round. Without this, the player might have to ask questions of the DM to determine this information. TotM allows for a more fluid situation where the DM does not necessarily have to prep a map and the DM or players do not have to move miniatures, or draw a map, etc. By doing this, the DM is potentially handwaving away some rules, PCs and NPCs might not be in the same location from round to round. Effectively, how much the encounter sticks to certain rules is totally dependent on how much the DM can juggle in his head with regard to where PCs and NPCs are located. If the DM fails to do this, then those rules might be ignored.Using miniatures without a grid makes distances a bit more fluid than with a grid, but still on a rough scale where most of the players are accurate on distances most of the time. A string or other tool can be used to improve upon this accuracy without using a grid.But all of this boils down to which tools and techniques a given table wants to use and for what purpose. I have seen electronic dice used, dice towers, etc. I've seen techniques like rolling both to hit and damage at the same time to speed up combat.Interestingly enough, TotM vs. Miniatures appears to be a larger gulf than many other tool/technique gulfs. TotM players call using miniatures and grids a tactical wargame. It really isn't. It's just a tool to help the players and DM be on the same page and following some of the rules. Yes, distances and positioning might become a little more important (and the DM often has to set up an initial "map" of the area), but even in TotM, distances and/or directions are often stated by DMs or asked by players. It just be an area of the rules where mistakes are made (and often ignored), or miscommunications can more easily occur in TotM, but that might not be important for a given table.Distance, direction, and even orientation ("the guard has his back to you") can all be important parts of TotM. They just have differing amounts of importance depending on situation, but they are still pieces of information that players might need or want to have.Grids vs. strings for measuring distance appears to be a more minor gulf, but again, this is just a different technique to pretty much determine the same information.</blockquote>

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