tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2170237526012357403.post6015307938589676950..comments2024-03-26T15:35:56.004-04:00Comments on Delta's D&D Hotspot: Miniatures & MeDeltahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00705402326320853684noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2170237526012357403.post-83757495132553368452013-07-29T18:00:44.146-04:002013-07-29T18:00:44.146-04:00Thanks for the backup!Thanks for the backup!Deltahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00705402326320853684noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2170237526012357403.post-46807306927560193862013-07-29T10:58:50.932-04:002013-07-29T10:58:50.932-04:00I'm absolutely with you on miniatures. I start...I'm absolutely with you on miniatures. I started playing Moldvay Basic and moved into AD&D without using minis, just describing action and occasionally sketching out a little thumbnail map for clarity. I kept it that way even when playing, for instance, MSH, right up to the 3.x/Pathfinder era. Like you, I found it slowed combat considerably, and I've been inspired to give up 3.x/PF rulesets because you can't "do away" with the tactical map without breaking the game.LWSCHURTZhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06635573516962732975noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2170237526012357403.post-58205897553353410262011-04-17T22:10:43.799-04:002011-04-17T22:10:43.799-04:00We used miniatures back in the day (AD&D) for ...We used miniatures back in the day (AD&D) for marching order and splitting into watches. There use in combat kind of varied over the years. Sometimes we used them a lot, sometimes only for the big combats. We never used them in the counting squares fashion. Normally we told the DM what we were doing, “I’m charging the Orcs!” He would then tell us what happened. “They charge you too, and you meet in the middle of the room.” So we would put the figs in the middle of the room. None of the back and forth movement that would allow the first guy to cross the whole room without them moving. There was no measuring and counting squares for spells either. Throwing a fireball and bi-sec ting two combatants was considered impossible, so that kind of obsessive measuring was avoided. Our combats did not really run much longer with minitures.Michaelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11656554193044378009noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2170237526012357403.post-48030584779251798592011-04-17T01:15:48.588-04:002011-04-17T01:15:48.588-04:00Another intermediate step between a zero mini game...Another intermediate step between a zero mini game and full on little guys on a grid is what we tended to do for Paul's Labyrinth Lord game (*sigh*) where the minis were used as tokens for easy indicators of marching order and party dispersal during combat (front line, hanging back, split off to sneak up for a backstab, etc. etc.) Paul never used minis for the monsters, just the PCs. <br /><br />You saw a bit of this when I broke out the PC minis for his Forgotten Realms tournament game at Helgacon.<br /><br />As for myself, I still loves me some minis, but there is much to be said for not having to fiddle with 'em during play.BigFellahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03052419088140204154noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2170237526012357403.post-92164262858320174152011-04-16T02:11:53.777-04:002011-04-16T02:11:53.777-04:00I've always liked miniatures, but my fascinati...I've always liked miniatures, but my fascination with them predates my playing D&D.<br />Early on we used some 25mm Lord of the Rigs figures (absolutely every elf was represented by Legolas or on of the Rohan archers. every magic user was represented by the Gandalf figure, etc.). The placement of said figures was, as Gratuitous Saxon Violence said, considered approximate... I suppose because the rules dealing with them was considered approximate as well... we had just a few paragraphs... no diagrams, no other rules, etc.<br />So most rulings were done (more or less) by DM fiat. "You are here and you want to move here? OK, but this ogre gets to attack you as you run across the room..." etc. There were no rules in regards to such things (at least none that we knew of) and our squares on our tabletop were 3 inches across... which represented ~ 10 feet.<br />I don't remember it taking very long to resolve things... there certainly wasn't any square counting and debates about attacks of opportunity, etc.Stefan Poaghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08192911890556534923noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2170237526012357403.post-46417289983843086212011-04-15T16:34:45.751-04:002011-04-15T16:34:45.751-04:00Thanks for the comments, guys.
On the subject of ...Thanks for the comments, guys.<br /><br />On the subject of marching order, I ask my players and just make a little sketch in the margin of my notepaper. I find that with minis for that players tend to take a lot of time discussing & repositioning the line during play on the table, when it mostly isn't significant.<br /><br />Re: Joshua, "One thing that has helped me somewhat is having miniatures on a drawing mat with no lines." -- That too was part of my separation process; I got a gridless map that I used for about 2 years or so (with rulers), hoping to solve the chessboard problem. It improved stuff somewhat, but not the silver bullet for me.Deltahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00705402326320853684noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2170237526012357403.post-68953713644185897152011-04-15T14:02:13.862-04:002011-04-15T14:02:13.862-04:00Back in the day we always played with figures or o...Back in the day we always played with figures or other markers. Leading (in a gloriously Gazeboey way) one new player to think Ogres were large white cube shaped creatures until he bought the <i>Monster Manual</i>.<br /><br />But we were never very tactical about it, measuring distances or counting squares. We used them to show marching order. Because that way the DM didn't have to ask when a trap was going off or something had snuck up on us. Otherwise when he did ask (and usually it was me DMing), there would be a jockeying for position, to have the best arrangement for they thought might happen. That sort of Metagaming ruined the illusion for us.<br /><br />When an actual combat broke out, we used the figs to show who was fighting what enemy; and who was "over there" doing something else. There was some tactical movement e.g. the giant tries to break through your line to get to the M-U. And that was all resolved by reasonableness and DM fiat when necessary (after all the point of a DM was that you didn't need 500 pages of rules to cover every possible situation-the DM was the rulebook).<br /><br />Plus minis are cool. And girls like minis, they think they're <b>cute</b>. (Still important, even these days, that last bit.)<br /><br />NICE: auto word-complete is trying to help me with the word verification.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2170237526012357403.post-12408164100924992142011-04-15T13:37:16.480-04:002011-04-15T13:37:16.480-04:00In terms of Aristotle's dramatic elements, we ...<b>In terms of Aristotle's dramatic elements, we might suggest that miniatures downplay Action and Language in favor of increased Spectacle.</b><br /><br />I've been very down on miniatures the last few years. I think my emotional exhaustion from using them extensively in my 3.5 campaign was transformed in outright aversion after reading Guy deBord's work on the Spectacle.Jeff Rientshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17493878980535235896noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2170237526012357403.post-55609264008213979152011-04-15T13:27:33.028-04:002011-04-15T13:27:33.028-04:00this is one of the many reasons I am switching bac...this is one of the many reasons I am switching back to basic dnd.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00899964934488037629noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2170237526012357403.post-58627939329664101352011-04-15T11:43:35.593-04:002011-04-15T11:43:35.593-04:00Yes very interesting. I never used miniatures beca...Yes very interesting. I never used miniatures because I found that having used a figure once it was corny to use it again as something other. In that case one is better off with abstract pieces like dice.<br /><br />My old crew were still fond of fidgeting with their chosen lead representatives as visual artifacts during a game.<br /><br />My new crew (new to the game) look on miniatures with unspoken contempt and dont want to see them on the table. This puzzles me.<br /><br />I think as soon as you whip out a nice large scale map miniatures are a positive feature for positioning for exploration but they have a degrading effect on the verbal description of the freedom and dynamics of combat.Kenthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11165997449776226774noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2170237526012357403.post-78988892994163595902011-04-15T11:41:16.031-04:002011-04-15T11:41:16.031-04:00I've had a lot of the same problems, and I thi...I've had a lot of the same problems, and I think you've got a very lucid take on it.<br /><br />One thing that has helped me somewhat is having miniatures on a drawing mat with no lines. I just eyeball most movements and ranges (I keep them rounded off a six-inch resolution anyway), and the players seem to be fairly spontaneous, without having to mentally or on paper keep track of how many goblins are left or who they are endangering (I use hand-drawn paper minis, so I can drop a lot on the table at once).Joshua L. Lylehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03358762663581842879noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2170237526012357403.post-72948908333269913212011-04-15T09:20:45.734-04:002011-04-15T09:20:45.734-04:00This is a terrific post. Thanks.This is a terrific post. Thanks.James Maliszewskihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.com