Whoa!

[Nork]

Characters and monsters have powers that shift foes/allies and there is more proximity based effects, there are also "immediate actions" that might be triggered based on where you are against a foe; as such it is more mini centric.

I'm not really seeing how that makes it miniature centric. You can just use a pencil to write 'O' in a square of graph paper to represent an orc and never have to lay a finger on a single miniature.

If this is about the squares themselves and not miniatures... Well I needed graph paper to play the game by the rules back when my character's class was an Elf. So this does not seem like anything new.

 

[Peter LaCara]

Characters and monsters have powers that shift foes/allies and there is more proximity based effects, there are also "immediate actions" that might be triggered based on where you are against a foe; as such it is more mini centric.

Well, then you narrate those exactly like you would normal movement in combat. Instead of saying "he staggers two squares back to here *points on map*", you say, "your attack forces him back 10 feet into a tree."

As for things like auras 'n stuff, it's as much a DM fiat call as anything else done without a map. "Am I in range of his aura?" is not a harder question than "Am I close enough to shoot my bow at him?"

 

[Stormtalon]

Chessex Battlemat + the random stuff in your pockets and backpacks = fun. When we don't have our miniatures available to us (and three members of my group all buy them often), we just use whatever is at hand, from erasers and coins to balls of chewing gum and lint (the lint IS a monster!).

M&Ms & Skittles, with the house rule added "He who kills it gets to eat it."

 

[Fallen Seraph]

M&Ms & Skittles, with the house rule added "He who kills it gets to eat it."

We play our Halloween games like that

 

[Fenes]

Well, then you narrate those exactly like you would normal movement in combat. Instead of saying "he staggers two squares back to here *points on map*", you say, "your attack forces him back 10 feet into a tree."

As for things like auras 'n stuff, it's as much a DM fiat call as anything else done without a map. "Am I in range of his aura?" is not a harder question than "Am I close enough to shoot my bow at him?"

We do it like that (with the added clarification that I don't do many detailed combats, I focus on the PCs, and the rest of the battle is simple description. When needed, I sketch the set up of a battle, but often, descriptions are enough).

 

[Fallen Seraph]

We do it like that (with the added clarification that I don't do many detailed combats, I focus on the PCs, and the rest of the battle is simple description. When needed, I sketch the set up of a battle, but often, descriptions are enough).

I would like to do that, but I always get worried of losing math and the position of players. Since D&D has a much more direct/precise combat system, then others.

The one thing I am still puzzling out in my head is I am going to college next year, so won't have time to make dungeon-maps. So I am trying to think how to run dungeons. I could do small maps (the whole dungeon on ordinary sheet of paper with little symbol to represent the party on it), with a random battlemat for combat. But how would one then deal with traps or other environmental hazards?

 

[ZombieRoboNinja]

I would like to do that, but I always get worried of losing math and the position of players. Since D&D has a much more direct/precise combat system, then others.

The one thing I am still puzzling out in my head is I am going to college next year, so won't have time to make dungeon-maps. So I am trying to think how to run dungeons. I could do small maps (the whole dungeon on ordinary sheet of paper with little symbol to represent the party on it), with a random battlemat for combat. But how would one then deal with traps or other environmental hazards?

You could do what I did and buy a cheap whiteboard and then Xacto-knife a grid into it, for quick-and-dirty battle grids...

 

[WayneLigon]

The one thing I am still puzzling out in my head is I am going to college next year, so won't have time to make dungeon-maps.

Sure you will. Dude, your college years - provided you know how to manage your time - will see you having the most free time of your entire life unless you're doing something like carrying a double-major in microbiology and aerospace engineering while trying to hold down a full-time job.

There are all sorts of ways you can make quality dungeon maps with very little time. There are any number of pre-made dungeon tile products that you can mix and match to create any map you want. Skeleton Key makes lots of them, for example.

 

[Fallen Seraph]

Well... I am going into a heavy 12-classes a semester, 2 year Social Worker Program with on-job training and I will be living in Toronto, which has ridiculously expensive rent, so will be working most of the time

I have been looking at some of the map-boards, thinking about getting one of the paizo flip-mats: http://paizo.com/gameMastery/maps/steelSqwireFlipMats/v5748btpy7l5e

Hopefully I can at the least fit my smaller dungeons on it (I usually don't use dungeons that often, so hopefully shall work out).

I am thinking of having one be a devoted combat-sheet (basic space that is empty I can quickly draw things on). Another would be for a set-piece like dungeon, roof-chase, etc.