Theatre of the Mind

Theatre of the Mind

The reason for not using gridded combat and miniatures was that the game was one of imagination. All the technical stuff like rules, gridded movement and so on kicked you right out of that imagination, and out of the flow of action.

No miniatures or grid

Gary never used maps or minis: maps and minis were Dave Arneson’s thing. Gary ran games in his office, which was provided with chairs, a couch, and file cabinets. While playing, Gary would open the drawers of the file cabinet and sit behind them so that the players COULD NOT SEE HIM. They only experienced the Dungeon Master as a disembodied voice. [29]

No, as far as I am concerned miniature figurines are more of an impediment to the imagination required for RPGing than they are a help...save in combat situations. However, as RPGs are not meant to be accurate/realistic combat simulation exercises, the use of miniatures tends to cause an erroneous focus to the play. [11]

We left tabletop miniatures battles behind in favor of the RPG. When mass-combat took place the DMs I played with, as well as me personally, abstracted the battles to contests between the principal figures, did quick attrition of the ordinary forces, and then used morale to determine when one side or the other broke. The reason for that is that the players did not want to wargame thay wanted to engage in RPGing.  [11]

I don't usually employ miniatures in my RPG play. We ceased that when we moved from CHAINMAIL Fantasy to D&D. I have nothing against the use of miniatures, but they are generally impractical for long and free-wheeling campaign play where the scene and opponents can vary wildly in the course of but an hour. #1721

When we began playing D&D all the time nobody cared much about using figurines, we seldom if ever did then, although there was a considerable demand for a D&D line, so eventually Grenadier was granted the license to produce the official line for them, [11]

I am lucky to get a half-hour's prep time, so I use scratch paper and dice on the table top to indicate the position of figures. When all is said and done, the RPG is an exercise of imagination, and no embellishments need be added...although illustrations are most helpful to the GM. [35]

No screen, props, music

I seldom use a screen, but I don't leave notes in view of the players--the map sometimes, but not other written material. #2055

I usually don't use any other props, but once in a while I will slip something in if I think it will liven things up. The exploding scroll tube is a good example of what I mean. #2864

I never use music as it is already quite difficult to manage to speak and retain the players' attention. #8068

Immersion

What I attempt is to have the party behave as would real persons in a confused situation. [11]