Great White Games/Pinnacle Entertainment Group

[lordthrog]

[Storn]

[stripestiger]

I tried using tactical map a couple times in a rather experimental post apocalypse setting I made up. The world is in ruins after a large nuclear war, and the US is slowly rebuilding after 200 years, though divided into three alliances.

I used simple white cardboard and drew on it. Friend drew the grid over top of that. I used army men and a toy army vehicle at first..we found the vehicle too big, but the army men worked nice..so next we used dice along with the army men, or just drew where the vehicle was going.

Some complaints that it slowed the game down but I'm still new...and this group is rather traditionalist in not using minis and a map, never has...these are people who play 1st edition AD&D and the one old drunk guy declares 3rd 'for wimps'. So there can be a bit of resistance to new things.

Surprised my Eberron game went as far as it did.

[The Angle]

I'm with those who say, sometimes yes, sometimes no.

If it's an important fight that could alter the course of the adventure, then I'll almost always set it up with miniatures. If it's a quick fight thrown in chiefly for some two-fisted action that I fully expect the PCs to win in 5-10 minutes, then probably not. Likewise if it's a widely-spaced fight where individual maneuver isn't that important (beyond, are you visible or not?) and where the range isn't going to change much -- e.g., cowboys in the rocks exchanging shots with rustlers in the gully.

One quick point on gridded mats -- When I use miniatures, I usually set them up on a piece of felt with no grid and use popsicle sticks to measure movement. In those cases where I do have a grid, it's there only as an aid to judging distance. Figures don't need to be placed in any specific square -- they can be anywhere. Otherwise, it feels too much like a boardgame.

Steve
_________________
"When choosing between two evils, I always pick the one I haven't tried before." -- Mae West

[dap6000]

i love playing in free form combat games, but personally my GM-fu is inferior so i use a hell of a lot of minis and a mat. it just makes keeping track of everything easier. and among my players having the visual aids for things like possible cover seems to make them more likely to think and act tactically. it's hard to quantify a statement like that though.

[Enno]

It depends on your type of playing: If you like it, use it. If you don't, don't...

In a "small brawl" of fisticuffs and friendly words a map is normally not needed because only the relative positions of the opponents are needed...

But if you want to use the rules with ALL tactical advantages/disadvantages a battlemap is a MUST. As said before: It eliminates any discussions of innocent bystanders, reach, ganging up, line of sight etc.

... And a (printed) battlemap could be a real eyecatcher.
_________________
There are 10 types of people in the world: Those who know binary and those who don't.

[Little Indian #5]

We never use miniatures. I remember doing so in the distant past, but to my experience it slows the action down to much (more often than not to a complete halt). It's also very difficult to have a fitting miniature at hand at all times and the experience suffers greatly if you sue proxies. Besides, I play SW to roleplay and not to wargame. I can imagine playing a tabletop scenario using these rules, but I don't like mixing that too much with the roleplaying acpect.
That said, must admit I find a simplified battlemat (if you can call it thus) very helpful: I like doing a to-scale pencil sketch of thoce locations where combat is likely to take place. Then, the positions of players and NPCs can be marked with a pencil on the sketch. That way, there can be very little confusion about like of sight etc. You can also easily erase positions and mark new ones if somebody moves.
_________________
"You can learn more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation."
[Plato]

[The Angle]

The next step is putting your graph paper map on a cork board and marking positions with colored pins ... and before you know it, you're using miniatures.

Steve
_________________
"When choosing between two evils, I always pick the one I haven't tried before." -- Mae West

[Little Indian #5]

[GreyGrendel]

I've never been on to use miniatures for a RPG, but with Savage Worlds I certainly do. No actual minis per se, but figure flats and the amazing cardstock terrain and such from Worldworks.

I find it really does breathe live into things, makes tactical decisions easier and is very useful for area effect attacks and the like.