The new forums will be named Coin Return (based on the most recent vote)! You can check on the status and timeline of the transition to the new forums here.
Please vote in the Forum Structure Poll. Polling will close at 2PM EST on January 21, 2025.
DnD Play Grid?
SniperGuy
SniperGuyGamingRegistered User regular
SniperGuyGamingRegistered User regular
So I've started running a DnD game with some friend (3.5e, starting with The Sunless Citadel) and I had the most problem with the play grid. I didn't really know what to do, so I had a few sheets of notebook paper and just drew up a rough grid whenever it was time to move into a new room. It was a huge pain whenever anyone split up, or moved around too much. I hear about people playing in maps all the time, but how do you work it? Do you get a big dry erase board and have it all mapped out already? I'm looking for something that is already gridded up hopefully, with 1 inch squares, and something easy to carry around. I'm also thinking of trying to get some miniatures, as that'll probably help the group get better into the feeling. Any suggestions for what kind of stuff to get?
SniperGuy on
0
This discussion has been closed.
Posts
These mats are newer, works with dry erase, and store easier. I haven't seen them or used them, but if I ever start running a game they will be what I pick up.
Also, don't feel the need to map everything out for the players! If there's no combat, don't bother mapping it (unless it is vital). If combat is expected to be really quick, don't bother. For most combats, though, a rough map and miniatures will help you and the players a lot, especially if everyone is new to the game.
One of those is what I've seen pretty much every group use, our group uses the Megamat. Also make sure you get the right markers for them, normal Dry erase markers can be permanent on them, they sell the markers on that site or you can use markers meant for an Overhead device or whatever. That in combination with miniatures.
And our group just draws each room as you get to it.
My group is lucky enough to have a guy who buys shitloads of the dnd miniatures so we have a bunch to use, but you can buy singles and the common ones can be found for like under a buck. For a campaign I'm writing right now I'm ordering singles of specific monsters for each encounter, just google D&D miniatures singles or check ebay.
Critical Failures - Havenhold Campaign • August St. Cloud (Human Ranger)
We were really lucky in that our DM was into making scenery - he made trees, walls, rocks, you name it, out of materials around the house. If you're interested in the methods I'd be glad to go into it. If you don't have the time/desire to make these types of things, pencils make good wall markers in a pinch. We also had a bunch of miniatures, but when circumstances called for more enemies than we had figures, we improvised - one of the guys had a ton of d6's he had accumulated over the years in various colours. Each die could represent one enemy with up to 6 in each colour (for clarity's sake, no number was used twice on the same colour so we could say "I attack red 3" or whatever the case was) or we could say blues are goblins, greens are kobolds, whatever. It was a great system.
Even cheaper, get the fold out grid that should be in the back of the DM's guide, and laminate that. Thats what we did. it is practically free, like a dollar for lamination.
but they're listening to every word I say
Was going to recommend something like this. You can draw the part of the map the party is on, and as they move on you attach new pieces in the direction they're moving and remove pieces as they move away from them.
Much of the actions are very much in your head, but having a grid and miniatures of some sort helps a lot, especially with the latest editions, that give very clear descriptions of powers. Being able to move x feet, or move another player / opponent y squares with an attack or ability, etc.
Keeping track of where 2 or 3 people are in relation to one another is easy enough, but for a group of 4-5+ and who knows how many opponents, it can rapidly become confusing, especially if you're in the midst of large scale combat, which can take hours. At 2am, there's no way I'm going to have nearly as accurate a view of the battlefield in my head as what's on the board, at least in terms of ranges/cover/radii, etc.
As for miniatures; ebay is often good for things like commons that people probably try to unload in bulk at times, if it's anything like buying M:TG cards. Alternatively, maybe swing by the local games shops, and see if they have singles laying around. Shipping and handling on magic cards isn't too bad because they're fairly damage resistant. I'm not sure how expensive shipping on miniatures would be, but if you can find a local source for them, it might make life a bit easier. I'd probably be willing to pay 10-25% more per figure just to get them in hand, rather than have to wait potentially weeks for shipping, and dealing with extra costs or issues like S&H.
Then again, it'd very much depend on what you were buying, what the Ebay/craigslist/etc market is like, your local stores and how much you're willing to spend.
In your shoes, I'd probably price out what Ebay has to offer, shop around at the local comics/cards/games shops, and see what felt like the best deal.
Minis are great, but they are fucking expensive and I've never seen the reward being worth the investment.
So now, instead, I make these:
I have a little template in photoshop for a circle on a one inch canvas, I grab my PDF of the monster manual and paste the picture into the token. I put them all on a sheet together, print, cut and tape them to nickles. The tokens easily identify the individual threats, but are ridiculously cheap to make.