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<blockquote data-quote="Tony Vargas" data-source="post: 6588443" data-attributes="member: 996">Meh.&nbsp; D&amp;D was never &quot;meant to be theatre of the mind.&quot;&nbsp; I question whether that was even a serious intent of 5e.Old-school D&amp;D grew straight out of wargaming - minis, sand tables, the whole 9 yards (or 1&quot; = 10 yards out doors or 10' in doors).&nbsp; It added dungeon exploration in which a key (/the key/) activity was, of course, 'mapping' on a pad of graph paper (XOMG, graph paper is a 'grid!').&nbsp; AD&amp;D never got away from any of that, and 3e and 4e merely simplified it using a 1&quot;=5' grid (not a new practice, just better-supported in those editions).5e states movement, range, &amp; area in feet.&nbsp; That's not in any way 'TotM,' it's just allowing flexibility with the scale.&nbsp; If you wanted to use, say 15mm figures instead of the supposedly-25mm (more like 35 these days) scale long traditional in D&amp;D, for instance, everything stated in feet helps slightly.&nbsp; 5e states movement in feet, range in feet, and areas in geometric shapes precise to the foot.&nbsp; That screems out for minis, a play surface, measuring tape, protractor, and a compass &amp; straight-edge like geometry class.&nbsp;&nbsp; What would help facilitate 'TotM' is some stuff 5e simply doesn't do, at all.&nbsp; For decades, other games have actually supported play without maps or minis with more abstract rules for movement, range, area and positioning.&nbsp; 'Areas' instead of ranges or shapes, range bands, all sorts of things.&nbsp; Even 4e got that treatment from the late Wrecan at the Wizard's community with his SARN-FU rules.Most recently 13A declared TotM as it's default, and actually came through with a system of enganged, close, &amp; far ranges, and area effects that targeted a random number of enemies at a given range instead of needing exact positioning and precise shapes to determine who was affected.&nbsp; That's actual rules support for TotM.&nbsp; Check it out, you may be surprised to see how smoothly TotM can run when you're not fighting the rules to do it.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Tony Vargas, post: 6588443, member: 996"] Meh. D&D was never "meant to be theatre of the mind." I question whether that was even a serious intent of 5e. Old-school D&D grew straight out of wargaming - minis, sand tables, the whole 9 yards (or 1" = 10 yards out doors or 10' in doors). It added dungeon exploration in which a key (/the key/) activity was, of course, 'mapping' on a pad of graph paper (XOMG, graph paper is a 'grid!'). AD&D never got away from any of that, and 3e and 4e merely simplified it using a 1"=5' grid (not a new practice, just better-supported in those editions). 5e states movement, range, & area in feet. That's not in any way 'TotM,' it's just allowing flexibility with the scale. If you wanted to use, say 15mm figures instead of the supposedly-25mm (more like 35 these days) scale long traditional in D&D, for instance, everything stated in feet helps slightly. 5e states movement in feet, range in feet, and areas in geometric shapes precise to the foot. That screems out for minis, a play surface, measuring tape, protractor, and a compass & straight-edge like geometry class. What would help facilitate 'TotM' is some stuff 5e simply doesn't do, at all. For decades, other games have actually supported play without maps or minis with more abstract rules for movement, range, area and positioning. 'Areas' instead of ranges or shapes, range bands, all sorts of things. Even 4e got that treatment from the late Wrecan at the Wizard's community with his SARN-FU rules. Most recently 13A declared TotM as it's default, and actually came through with a system of enganged, close, & far ranges, and area effects that targeted a random number of enemies at a given range instead of needing exact positioning and precise shapes to determine who was affected. That's actual rules support for TotM. Check it out, you may be surprised to see how smoothly TotM can run when you're not fighting the rules to do it. [/QUOTE]

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