Taking 20 Podcast - Ep 35 - Battle Map vs Theater of the Mind

Episode Date: August 23, 2020

There are two primary ways that combat can be run in Role Playing Games - Using battle maps that are printed or digitally produced or theater of the mind where all the action happens in everyone's imaginations.  Like nearly everything else, there are advantages to each and this episode discusses pros and cons of each with some lessons Jeremy has learned along the way.

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for tuning in to Taking 20, Episode 35, Battle Maps vs. Theater of the Mind. I'd like to thank our sponsor this week, the Joseph Reed and Michelle Wright Learning Centers of America, providing academic support since 1986. Please search for us on Facebook and Twitter, Taking20Podcast, all one word, should find us, and please give us a follow. Most of my posts right now are links to episodes, but I'm

slowly growing the social media presence. Also, if you have an idea for an episode, please reach out to me via social media or email your idea to feedback at Taking20Podcast.com. So this episode is going to focus on how combat is run in your game. There are two broad schools of thought. You can use battle maps where if you have a map, maybe with a square or hex grid, and you declare what you're doing, move your miniature or whatever item represents you around the map, and then take your actions you declare. Good guys do this, bad guys do that, and then there are dice rolls involved. Instead of using a battle map,

some groups use theater of the mind, where all combat occurs in the DMs and the players' imaginations. The game Dungeons & Dragons was born out of tactical wargaming, using maps and miniatures. Early versions of the game were very miniature-heavy. Wilderness maps were hex-based and necessary because rolls could be made on every single hex. Combat was map heavy as well. Movement during battles wasn't necessarily given in number of squares, but in inches they could move. One of my earliest games I ever played, we used miniatures and toothpicks to measure distance for movement and ranged combat. And to quote Billy Joel, the good old days weren't always good. It's much better now. Everything that we have is amazing compared to where we started.

This reliance on maps, by the way, stretched through 1st edition and Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. In AD&D, they finally started backing off a little bit and wilderness maps didn't have to be quite as detailed. 3rd edition finally started embracing Theater of the Mind fully as an alternative. Gave you the option to de-emphasize the battle map for combat. Wilderness maps weren't battle maps per se, but gave the DM a general idea about overland travel and the distances involved. DMs could decide on encounters per square or hex and provide maps if desired. This brings us to modern times. The most popular gaming systems today, Dungeons & Dragons of Pathfinder and their derivatives, give you the option of resolving combat using maps and

miniatures or Theater of the Mind. So which one should you use? Which one's better? Like many things, it's not so clear-cut and each one has its advantages. Theater of the Mind is the ultimate in flexibility. The battle area can be exactly what you want, laid out exactly how you want. With theater of the mind, it's cheaper. You don't have to worry about going and buying and procuring maps and finding the exact right one that you need.

It's faster. You don't have to draw maps or make the perfect map. And let's face it, it takes time to find a map that might apply to a particular encounter if one's not provided in the adventure path. In short, Theater of the Mind is easier to prepare as a DM. Another thing Theater of the Mind gives is it gives players more opportunities to contribute to area descriptions. The players won't know every detail that's in the DM's head, so they can contribute little facts like they leap off exposed bedrock on a hill. Players have more leeway to improvise, and when you have players that are comfortable

doing that, they may enjoy Theater of the Mind better. Using Theater of the Mind gives you more table space for non-mapping activities, things like, oh, rolling your dice and having reference materials available and maybe even your character sheet spread out a little more. But with Theater of the Mind, your player's understanding hinges on your ability to describe the scene. Oh, I forgot to mention there are twisted vines all over the forest canopy and you can't run full speed. With Theater of the Mind, there is ambiguity. A lot of RPG rules depend on distances, things like movement speed and attack range and modifiers, spell maximum range and area of effect, all given by distance. With Theater of the Mind, you as the DM have to be able to make consistent calls with

regard to this battle and keep a lot of things straight in your head. You'll likely have to answer a lot more questions. How wide is the walkway? Is this sturdy footing? Is the ground natural or work stone? Battle maps make all of this more clear, whereas theater of the mind you have to remember to describe them. Finally, theater of the mind is extremely difficult with bigger groups. You're going to have more questions, more people who are uncertain about the layout of combat, and more opportunities to honestly mess something up. Battle maps, on the other hand, I love to describe them as tactical and tactile.

There's no uncertainty where players are in relation to one another. There's no uncertainty with where they are in relation to the opponents either. Area of effect spells can be precisely adjudicated. I cast Fireball. Can it hit all five goblins? With Theater of the Mind, you have to say, um, no, I'm going to say no. With a battle map, you can say, well, where do you want to center the Fireball? And you can lean over, look, do the calculations, and say, you can get four of the five goblins. Some players and DMs love having miniatures they can touch and feel,

and they enjoy custom painting or 3D printing miniatures. This kind of detailed work and love really only gets shown on a battle map. Battle maps provide a visual representation of an area. There's no uncertainty where the altar is, where the bad guy's standing, how far the fog bank has advanced. The layout of the room is crystal clear because everyone can see it, but with a battle map you're limited by what's on the map. If you wanted a tree in a different location from where it is, you either have to redraw the map or tell PCs to ignore it. The DM has to go out and either produce, locate, or buy the right map or as close as you

can get. And even then, the map may not be exactly what you want unless you want to learn mapping or drawing software. So what are some tips that we can pull out? Well, let's talk. Starting with battle maps. DMs, accept the fact that you may have to draw maps. They may have to hand draw them using erasable sheets, whiteboards, pieces of paper you can tape together, something like that. I have the artistic skill of a baboon with head trauma, so my drawn maps are awful. I used to draw maps more than I do now and had to answer a lot of what's this questions. It's a tree. Oh, it looks like Salvador Dali threw up on a Cezanne painting.

By the way, one person out there probably snorted at that joke. Not laughed, snorted. Blew air slightly more forcibly out of his nose. But since I've moved to electronic, I don't draw maps much anymore. And my players, I'm sure, are thankful for it. If you use a battle map, you may have to change the scale on provided maps. Every time I run an adventure where the provided battle maps are 10 feet per square, 15 feet per square, or the one that I'm working with right now, 20 feet per square,

it makes me irrationally angry. Most game systems use 5 feet per square, because that's the distance of a 5-foot step, that's the difference of a quick movement, and so forth. One of my groups is coming close to the end of Rain of Winter and there's this massive battle map that they've been on for most of book five that is 10 foot per square. Why? Why do you do this? Now I have to redraw or rescale or work in quarter squares. It's just garbage. Changing scale like this takes time and finagling to get it right, and even with virtual tabletop software like Roll20, it just adds the time it takes to prepare. Another thing you'll have to come to terms with as a DM is that you may find a map and just accept

that it is not perfect. Offline, there are all sorts of books of maps that you can purchase. Dungeons for the Master by Matt Davids jumps to mind. I've got that book on my shelf behind me, and I've actually used some of the dungeons when players have gone places that I wasn't prepared for. Physical maps and map packs can be purchased from game publishers, and if you're running a pre-built adventure, that may contain some maps that you can use. There's all sorts of places you can get physical maps if you so choose. Online, there's a number of amazing map developers you can subscribe to with Patreon. Some with animation, day and night versions.

Find a good map maker that you like and do me a favor, support him or her. Artists love it when they can make a little bit of money doing what they love. And if it's something that you can use and it costs you $6 a month, it might be worth it. Other places you can get digital maps are on Reddit, the Battle Maps subreddit, Fantasy Maps subreddit, the D&D Maps subreddit, probably others. Those are the three that jump to mind and I subscribe to and I use those constantly. Another site that I found, RPGMapshare.com is a really neat site. People have uploaded maps and you can actually download maps free to use from there. So give that one a shot as well. Finally, one of the

ones I want to call attention to is Historic City Maps webpage. I'll include a link in the links page on taking20podcast.com. It's niche, but you can see, for example, the way the city of London was laid out in the 16th century. If you don't want to find maps, instead if you want to make your own, there are some great programs available. Over the past year and a half to two years, there have been some great programs come out. Dungeon Draft, Campaign Cartographer, Wonder Draft, Ill Winter. I'll add links also on the page,

but these are fantastic programs that you can use to make your own battle maps. Finally, another place you can go for digital maps would be buy PDFs from the publishers, Wizards of the Coast, Paizo, Kobold Press, whomever. Use those PDFs in a digital format as your background for your battle map. So players, a few tips for you if you're using battle maps. How about helping your old DM out a little bit when you find a few tips for you if you're using battle maps how about helping your old dm out a little bit when you find a good source for maps maybe even help pay for some premium content dming can be a fairly expensive hobby if you're not careful because there's all sorts of

subscriptions that you may want or need so give a little love to your dm trust me we will thank you for it another thing you should do in battle maps as a player is accept the DM's ruling on edge cases. Can I stand there? Well, the wall takes up more than half the square, so I'm going to say no. This is not the time for a big argument about whether that's half. If the DM has decided that's not enough room for you to stand, just use some other tactic. So let's talk about some tips for theater of the mind. DMs, if you want to learn theater of the mind, my advice is start with a small battle. A single enemy or a small group of enemies that start in the same place. This will help you get

your sea legs when it comes to using theater of the mind instead of a battle map. DMs, you need to be extremely giving of your descriptions of the area the battle is taking place. Talk until you feel like you've described it too much and then add one or two more details. Be theatrical, flowery, let your words flow. Don't worry about feeling silly. Fuck your fear. Imagine this is a movie scene and you're describing it to someone who is facing away from the screen. Draw a quick map on a piece of paper behind the DM screen. It doesn't have to be to scale or any detail whatsoever, but it helps you remember there's a stream on the left-hand side and the right-hand side is 20 feet higher than the left-hand side. It also helps you remember that the rogue and fighter are side by

side while the wizard's on a rock 60 feet away and the cleric is fucking praying again. I'm pretty sure that your god knows that you love her. Care to join us, Agalthiel? Come on! If you have to adjudicate an area or line of effect, lean slightly in the party's favor. Another tip, allow your players to help describe areas and monsters. It allows them to buy in, and it takes a little bit of that burden off of you. If you have multiple instances of the same monster, three kobolds for example, give each one a unique characteristic. One has a scar over his left eye, one is wielding a blue shield that looks like he stole off of a knight, and the other one has a donkey's head mounted on his pike and a missing tooth.

Assume everyone is within move and strike melee distance unless you describe that it isn't, or if the player describes they are maintaining distance from the rest of the group. Describe the situation from each character's point of view. Alright, round three. Crassus, you yank your axe free from the lizard's spine, and it seems like the rain is falling even harder now, washing the lizard blood around. It makes the cobblestone run a little slick. Two of the lizard's mates are closing in on you, already in melee striking distance. Joe the wizard is keeping one at bay with a shield spell. Egalthiel is kneeling to a small portable altar to his god. What do you do?

Crassus takes his turn. Joe, you see Crassus behead one of the lizards and has another one bearing down on him. The blue-tongued lizard in front of you lashes out, but your shield is holding for now. Egalthiel seems unfazed by the combat around him, and is still praying! What do you do? Finally, if you don't want to use a drawing or pieces of paper behind your screen, have little miniatures or icons behind the screen that you can move around. Just little separate things, whether it's a washer or a miniature. That way you can kind of keep track of relative distance between the combatants. I'm not talking anything detailed. I'm not talking anything to scale. If Goblin 1 is in melee with

Crassus, you put their miniatures side by side. If a Galthiel is off by himself, you push that miniature or that object away from the group. Having a visual representation like this helps you keep the chaos of battle straight in your mind and reduce mistakes that you make. Players. If you're using theater of the mind, be descriptive about what you want to do. Tell the DM what your intent is and he or she will help adjudicate it. Describe your actions. Instead of saying, oh, I run up and swing with my dagger, use, well, my shield spell is all but spent at this point, so I'm going to dismiss that and I'm going to leap off of a flat rock into the air and try to bring my dagger down on the

lizard behind the log. All of that helps fill the world and fill the battle map in everybody's minds. All of that helps fill the world and fill the battle map in everybody's minds. Also, players, understand that all of you and the DM may have different mental pictures about what's going on. Be willing to adjust your mental picture as new information is revealed by your fellow players and your DM. Last tip for players. If you are at all unsure about what the situation is, where you are, anything relative to anything else, ask the DM. Mr. DM, can I reach the Ankylosaurus to melee it? Ms. DM, how far am I away from the Kobold Chieftain? I've done both battle maps and theater of the mind and use both. Both are fine. There are times when players go in an unexpected direction and I don't want to make

everyone wait 15 minutes while I find the right map in my map horde. And make no mistake, I am a hoarder. Ooh, found more maps online. Maybe I should just download a few while I... Anyone else's teeth itching right now? I really need to go download. No, bad, bad Jeremy. You're making an episode right now. Stop. Okay, okay, bad Jeremy. You're making an episode right now. Stop. Okay. Okay. Focus. Rather than make the players wait for me to find a map, we'll use theater of the mind for that battle. I will admit I do prefer battle maps. I like visual representations to tell you how far back my need for maps goes. I used to have an architect's cart that was designed

to store architectural drawings. Mine was chock full of drawn and printed maps. I've gone mostly digital at this point. While I paused, I actually went and checked and I have five gigabytes of maps stored locally, plus some in the cloud, plus some more on USB sticks I've got over here. I might have a hoarding problem. My gaming groups are mostly using Roll20 as their game system of choice, so digital gaming maps make sense. Combat happens in a wide variety of terrains and locations, and I never know where they're going to go. So yeah, that's what I'm doing. I don't have a map problem. I'm supporting my group and having things ready for them to adventure in all sorts of places. But even when we met in person, I used to use an old TV in the middle of the table. An old 40-inch, 15-year-old flat-screen TV.

I think it actually was a Google TV brand. That big bastard's heavy. I don't connect it to Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, etc., and I send the signal to it via HDMI cable. That TV's so old it's not supported anymore, and I'm sure it has scads of unpatched security flaws, so no connections to anywhere. I have plans to update it at some point, but I've got time since we probably won't be meeting face-to-face for a good while. Point being, I like digital maps and subscribe to a couple of Patreon map producers. Sometimes even when I find a beautiful map, I'll build combats, adventures, maybe even parts of campaigns around that map. DMs will have their preference for what type of combat to use, but good ones

listen to their players. So far, the groups that I have DMed have all preferred battle maps, which is good because that's my preference as well. It costs me time and sometimes a little money to get the maps just right, but I like the look and feel of a battle map. However, I don't rule out using theater of the mind. So my advice would be get familiar with both. Run both. See which method you and your group prefer. Make that your default, but don't be afraid to change it up if needed. Because if players are going to do one thing, it's that something that's unexpected. The hell you mean you want to jump to the seventh planet and try to destroy a generator? Ooh, I think I have a map for that. Thank you all for listening. I greatly appreciate it. I love all

the feedback that I get. We're now on YouTube, by the way, audio only, because this face, no, does not need to be on video. I once again want to thank our sponsor, the Joseph Reed and Michelle Wright Learning Center. Learn to read and write with read and write. This has been Taking 20, Episode 35, Battle Maps vs. Theater of the Mind. My name is Jeremy Shelley, and I hope that your next game is your best game.