When playing D&D I use battlemats...

[Ed_Laprade]

It does not have to be the official D&D one, but any kind of "battlemat"

I haven't read any of the other posts, just want to memtion my experience.
I started drooling when I saw the first add for them back in the day. And I've been using one or another of them since getting my first one. That was with 1E, so there's nothing new about wanting to know where everyone is during a fight!

 

[justanobody]

Daaamn. I am jealous of your DM - lounging around while the peon players are crawling around on the floor at his feet? The image in my head of your playgroup is somewhere between decadent DM luxury and weird S&M overtones...

All guys, um no!

Otherwise still, no thank you.

Gives players time to do things when it isn't their turn and the DM can focus more on the player's turn it is rather than lose their place while fiddling with markers or maps or such. Keeps the game going at a decent pace.

Also no to the near the feet....that would require a death wish or CDC level 4 attire.

 

[Shemeska]

I must admit, I'm a tad surprised that about 80% of those who have partaken in the poll use a battlemat pretty much every gaming session.

Maybe I'm too old school

I guess WOTC knew a lot more about people's D&D gaming habits than I did when they designed 4e

I think there's something else going on with the poll, because polls over the past few years weren't that lopsided towards using a battlemap.

4e is designed to make minis and battlemap an integral part of the game, even to the point that it seems it might be difficult to play it without them, since it even uses "squares" within game rules terminology, etc. Since 4e started a lot of 4e fans have been more heavily active here on Enworld and a lot of other folks (myself included) have had a drop in posting because we're just not interested in 4e. Thus I think you're going to see a bit of bias in what pool of folks are going to be here to answer the question.

 

[Wootz]

Is it possible to have a good RP while using a battlemat? Because I think so. You just have to be more creative with your dungeons (and with visual representations helps people know who's doing what, instead of keeping track of it all in your head)

 

[Wormwood]

Always with 3.5 and 4e.

Never when playing 1e or Basic (a game that I had the great pleasure of introducing to my nephews last year)

 

[RFisher]

Hrm, when 80% of respondents use battlemaps a lot of the time, it's not a big shock that 4e becomes more battlemat dependent is it?

Although...just because someone always uses a battlemat, that doesn’t necessarily mean they want battlemat dependent rules. It’d be interesting to have that poll too and see how it correlates to this one.

 

[ProfessorCirno]

Rarely if ever. Battlemap takes away far more to combat then it brings, and it being mandatory is one of the many negative points in 4e.

 

[jdsivyer]

I think there's something else going on with the poll, because polls over the past few years weren't that lopsided towards using a battlemap.

4e is designed to make minis and battlemap an integral part of the game, even to the point that it seems it might be difficult to play it without them, since it even uses "squares" within game rules terminology, etc. Since 4e started a lot of 4e fans have been more heavily active here on Enworld and a lot of other folks (myself included) have had a drop in posting because we're just not interested in 4e. Thus I think you're going to see a bit of bias in what pool of folks are going to be here to answer the question.

Yeah, that's a fair point indeed. Can't help but be inclined to agree with you

 

[Jhaelen]

I'm also a bit surprised about the poll results so far. Maybe because I misinterpreted the question?

I thought this was about battle mats as opposed to, say, dungeon tiles or pieces of scrap paper. I've used _some_ kind of representing combat areas since before I even started playing D&D to avoid endless discussions about who is where, etc.

But I first started using a battle mat with 3E. This is because it's the most flexible way to accurately represent complex encounter areas that encourage making use of terrain features.

 

[darjr]

Whenever possible, for all editions of D&D, when it was available, I've used a battlemat. I have and will play older editions without one, but ever since discovering them I've wanted to use them. Or some other representation. Mini's are just cool.