I have gone back and forth my whole gaming career with varying opinions on whether miniatures and battlemats are necessary (or even fun) to use when combat is being played out during a game. I have never considered myself a wargamer, and have had little exposure to wargames in general. I like the fact that Dungeons & Dragons, and all the simulacrum/retro-clone games based on the D&D rules, utilize abstract rules for combat, so I never developed an appreciation for wargames or simulationist combat rules found in some RPGs.
As it stands, I am kind of still on the fence on the whole matter. Call it a love-hate relationship. Now, I have to admit that I like minis just as much as the next gamer. Having a physical representation of your character sitting on the game table in front of you is both cool as a visual aid, as well as handy for keeping track of your character's maneuvers during combat. What it really comes down to is that I appreciate the utility of miniatures, but loath the hassle of setting up combat encounters using the minis, a battlemat, terrain props and any of the other trappings that are available to help stage the battlefield. It's really just a big pain in the ass sometimes!
Like most things I find tedious in life, I have found a way to work around the problem by utilizing the good and discarding the bad. In this case my happy medium is this Simplified Battlemat:
Above is a PNG image of the mat, and below is the PDF version:
Simplified Battlemat
The idea behind this battlemat is to allow the positioning of characters to help track combat, while keeping combat abstract and free-flowing. Minis, tokens, beads, etc. can be used to represent the combatants, and depending on their position and maneuvering they are placed around the battle mat as needed. This battlemat can even be laminated, and a dry erase marker used in place or even in conjunction with miniatures.
Using range bands eliminates the need for grids or hexes, or at least they do in the games I run. First, determine a centralized area that melee combat will occur, and consider this as the "Close Range Combat" area. As the combatants advance or change positions in combat, move their minis into the appropriate range band(s) as needed. If a character is stunned, prone, dying or dead, simply move them out of the range band they are currently in and place them in the appropriate condition field. If moving them from the range band doesn't work for your game, then I suggest leaving the character where they are, tip the mini on its side to make it clear that they are not able to fight, write the character's name on a small piece of paper and place it in the appropriate condition field. The fields marked for surprise and retreat should be self explanatory. Remember, there is no right or wrong way to use this battlemat. Make it work for you...
There are several RPGs on the market that use a similar idea (3:16 Carnage Amongst the Stars, Ancient Odysseys: Treasure Awaits and Agon all come to mind), but I feel this one is unique and suits D&D-style combat quite well. I am always trying to improve upon the projects I post here on the Outer Dark, so if you have a comment or suggestion I am all ears.
12 comments:
Neat! It certainly makes things simple. The latest edition of Warhammer FRP uses a similar system.
For me though, the appeal of using miniatures is to set up a visually appealing scene, and putting them on a schematic board, like this, kind defeats that.
I can really sympathize with not wanting to mess around with counting squares, etc. I'm not keen on that either, so I've gone back to ye olde one-minute combat round. Since most creatures move 120' per round, and few dungeon rooms would be bigger than that, you can pretty much just place your miniature wherever you want it without having to fuss over counting out the squares.
This allows me to use my miniatures with cool-looking terrain and props to create a great looking scene and still make play fast and simple.
Thanks, Sean! Like I said in the post, I go back and forth with my desire to setup an elaborate battlefield. This project was a way to think outside the box (in this case, outside the grid) a bit, and rethink how combat can be presented to the players. I like it, but having said that I may not use this approach with every game.
This is very similar to basic space combat in Traveller. I like seeing it applied in this context, as it looks like it would lend itself well to the kind of combat implementation you describe above. I look forward to seeing if you have any adjustments after using it for a few months.
With Regards,
Flynn
Interesting idea. Kind of eurogamish in a cool way. How would you deal with multiple enemies scattered about at different ranges relative to different PCs?
I personally doodle with a whiteboard when playing games that "require" miniatures and then liberally guess distances, but this is a pretty good idea.
I especially like how simple it is. One of the things I find distasteful is purchasing "battlemats" or what have you, so this is right up my alley.
I was going to ask the same thing as cyclopeatron did. :) Seems like it could get out of hand with more combatants at varying ranges relative to each other.
@cyclopeatron & Anonymous - This concept is geared directly toward abstract group combat, and I can see situations where combat might veer outside the scope of this particular battlemat. I think the key to controlling the action is to determine the area where all the centralized melee combat will be focused, and designate this as your "close combat range" range band. This is the band where enemy fire will be aimed, and enemy forces will try to maneuver towards. Even if a character maneuvers in a way that works against the range bands I have found it is still pretty easy to maintain the action without getting confused.
Example: if one of the characters (let’s say his name is X) moves out of the "close combat range" range band, leaving his comrades behind, to attack someone (let’s say an archer) who is positioned in the "long range" range band it does not change the fact that the focal point for this battle is still located in the "close combat range" range band. When X closes in on the archer he will then be located in the “long range” range band, but will be engaging in melee combat with the archer. X is now considered a distance equal to “long range” from the centralized point of combat, which of course is the "close combat range" range band.
If the entire party decides to move out of the “close combat range" range band and attack their foes located in the outer range bands, then the game master will reposition the entire battlemat as needed to reflect the changing position of the battle’s centralized combat area. Once they close in on their enemies then everyone fighting should be considered in "close combat range".
In practice this mat will become easier to use once you give it a go, get your mind wrapped around the concept and run a few combats using it. The biggest thing to remember is that this battlemat is designed for abstract combat. If you like a little more meat to your combat then I doubt you will find this mat useful.
This is such a clever idea! Well done, sir!
An indie game I played a while back called "Agon" used a very similar method of judging ranges for attacks and competitions. Your battlemat is a bit more elaborate than what Agon used, but I liked the abstraction. I felt it kept everyone focused on the task at hand, and kept things organized.
@Christian - thanks, man! I appreciate the feedback.
@Eric (mntineer) - Agon is a very cool game. I have only tried it once, but I liked a lot about it. I especially liked the dice mechanic in Agon.
My main inspiration for this project was a little game called 3:16 Carnage Amongst the Stars. I have a link in this post, and I recommend it to anyone wanting a rules lite, fast paced space marine game.
Nicely done! I think I might have to use it for some games.
Now there is something to be said for having miniatures set up in situ to help the players visualize--just like Sean Robson pointed out.
Nowadays though, I tend not to use minis anymore. But this would allow me to bring them back out and help clarify combat without getting bogged down in unnecessary detail.
- Thanks!
Love the battlemat! I've made something similar, but not nearly so danged pretty.
By the way, regarding the question about moving a character to engage an archer--
The way I handled it when I was using my own mat was that a move action can shift the character one band AWAY from combat, or can shift any other character NOT in combat one band closer.
In other words, a magic-user pulled into melee can use his move action to retreat to Short Range. However, an enemy orc, gunning for the robed goofball who brought a stick to a knife fight, can use his own move action to pull the magic-user back into combat. This represents the orc using his movement to maneuver himself and shift the battle until it re-envelopes the magic-user.
It's an idea!
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