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5 months ago ::
Dec 19, 2012 - 7:11PM
#1
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Date Joined:
Jul 29, 2009
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Because honestly it should be the other way around. To me it just doesn't feel like D&D if it doesn't have battlemaps.
Things that 5E needs to do:
-Make the use of battlemaps/miniatures the default.
-Make healing fun, magical AND non-magical needs to be an option. Long live the Warlord!
-Make magic items feel magic/mythical. I don't want a dagger +1, I want STING.
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5 months ago ::
Dec 19, 2012 - 7:14PM
#2
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Because honestly it should be the other way around. To me it just doesn't feel like D&D if it doesn't have battlemaps.
Yeah, it was started with battle maps, and only in 1E did it provide optional rules to play without it. 2E made that style standard and the battle maps optional. 3.xE made battle maps required, though some made up rules to not use battle mats, 4E went back to the roots to play with battle maps...
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5 months ago ::
Dec 19, 2012 - 7:22PM
#3
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I like the battle maps alright, but I think they slow down gameplay too much sometimes. It's nice to be able to play the game without and add them when they're needed, not to have to perform surgery to remove them.
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5 months ago ::
Dec 19, 2012 - 7:22PM
#4
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Date Joined:
Oct 25, 2010
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I've got to say, after playing it both ways, I really prefer it without the battlemap.
I realize there are tradeoffs either way and originally when switching from AD&D to the map I said "Wow this is great, no more ambiguity about where everyone is!"
But after playing on it for a couple editions, my main problem with it is simply that it's just so slow and it leads to odd irrational metagame play. And spending 2 hours on one combat, it just takes the steam out of the story. Also I have never really been a fan of the "shift back and fire a bow" style of play that 3E/4E allowed and some of the other battlemap based absurdities. If the guy is in your face, you shouldn't be able to easily cast a spell or shoot a bow.
I don't have anything against the battlemap on principle, and if people have a group that works well with it where it doesn't detract from the story, I say great, there's no reason there can't be rules to use a map. But given that it's a poor choice to start newbies with, I think it should be in an optional module as opposed to the core idea.
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5 months ago ::
Dec 19, 2012 - 7:24PM
#5
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Date Joined:
Apr 15, 2001
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Prefer the default to be no battle map. I can alwas pull one out. I usually use them for "boss" fights.
Reducing a character to a list of dice rolls and modifiers is not role playing*
*pg 30, AD&D 2nd Ed DMG, 1989.
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5 months ago ::
Dec 19, 2012 - 7:42PM
#6
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Date Joined:
Sep 20, 2004
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No thanks. I too want the default to be "no battlemap."
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5 months ago ::
Dec 19, 2012 - 8:07PM
#7
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Date Joined:
Oct 19, 2012
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3.xE made battle maps required, though some made up rules to not use battle mats,
No it didn't. My group played TotM a whole hell of a lot, and never made up any rules for it. Pretty easy to do since everything was measured in feet.
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5 months ago ::
Dec 19, 2012 - 8:12PM
#8
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Most combats in my game are far too dynamic for a battlemap. 3 dimensional combat is far from uncommon, and a battlemap can't even handle a fight where the entire combat takes place mounted. If my battleground is over two miles of road, complete with twists, turns, and ruts, what good is a battlemat going to be for me?
For a room by room dungeon crawl, a battlemap is fine. For just about anything else the paradigm quickly breaks down.
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5 months ago ::
Dec 19, 2012 - 8:23PM
#9
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I default to battlemaps, but this is one area where I recognize that it's easier to convert a system not of my preference to my preference than it is to go the other way. (I think it's much easier to run 4e gridless than some people seem to think, but in general adding maps is easier than removing them.)
Dwarves invented beer so they could toast to their axes. Dwarves invented axes to kill people and take their beer.
"Feel free to claim I said anything you like. How's someone going to call you out on it? Are they going to be all like, 'I know all of the things that Gary said, and that's not one of them?'"
- Gary Gygax
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5 months ago ::
Dec 19, 2012 - 8:46PM
#10
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Date Joined:
Jun 15, 2012
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I prefer to use maps for huge combats and places with complicated terrain and such. I like to run small skirmishes and other fights TOTM.
For one, it's faster.
For two, my players always tend to do more interesting stuff without the map (their problem not the maps, as I don't doubt some people do plenty of crazy stuff with the map)
For three, we record our sessions and, the parts with the maps are AWFUL to listen to ("I go there." vs. "I rush up to the biggest orc.")
Also, as a DM, I find them to be a chore and they increase pre-pro for me.
A few guidelines for using the internet:
1. Mentally add "In my opinion" to the end of basically anything someone else says. Of course it's their opinion, they don't need to let you know. You're pretty smart.
2. Assume everyone means everything in the best manner they could mean it. Save yourself some stress and give people the benefit of the doubt. We'll all be happier if we type less emoticons.
3. Don't try to read people's minds. Sometimes people mean exactly what they say. You probably don't know them any better than they know themselves.
4. Let grammar slide. If you understood what they meant, you're good. It's better for your health.
5. Breath. It's just a dumb game.
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