As to minis, that was something we edged into using. Two of my players liked having them, the rest of us didn't care that much. D&D 3.5 tries to heavily encourage use of minis in the literature, but it's not necessary at all. As you noted with Mutants & Masterminds, it's not really necessary, and it's not really necessary with D&D 3.5 if everyone has a good idea of ranges etc. We started using the board and the minis for a couple of reasons. First, my one player made it for me so I could use minis without causing chaos. Sort of rude to discard his work:) Second, there are times when having a clearer understanding of the battle, or the terrain, is necessary. We don't break out the board for every single combat. Generally, we reserved it for large scale combats or tricky situations.
We have used Excel as a recording venue to show where characters were on a battle map so we could save a complex battle until the next week. However, generally excel maps are used more as maps of locations the characters are entering and exploring. I have a GM version that I mark secret doors, traps, etc on and a player version. It cuts out a lot of did you say this was T intersection going east/west/south discussions. It causes some metagaming occasionally, but my players are good about trying to keep character knowledge and player knowledge separate. When I was running, and our game currently, generally only runs about 1.5 to 2 hours. Time is of the essence. If my players tell me they are searching and being careful, I have them search when there's something to find. If a big battle on the board is necessary, I try to lay it out ahead of time. The excel map of an area is another convenience. All of these speed up play, and allow us to enjoy the game rather than arguing over minutiae. I personally can take minis or leave them. There's times when they really clarify a battle, but about 80% of the time they're not really necessary. Take care, Jeremy --- Gamers mailing list __ [email protected] If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to [email protected]. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to [email protected].
