Tabletop combat

[Ubby]

I've played a few BW sessions now, and I really like the combat scripting system, especially as I get better at it (last session I dropped an opponent with 1 Superb strike due to a well timed feint). However, I still have d20 flowing in my veins (despite my best efforts :wink: ), and one of the aspects I enjoyed about d20 was the 5' square and its use in combat.

I'm curious to know what other players, especially BW veterans, do to physically represent a combat, how they keep track of distance for one another, from the furniture in a room, etc. Do people actually use minatures on a dry erase mat with a square/hex equaling X paces, or is it kept imprecise with just keeping a tally of the number of paces everyone is in relation to each other?

Just curious as to what other people do.

[Kublai]

With its well-defined movement system, I think BW lends itself to miniatures very well. Large hexmaps make keeping track of everybody's position a simple matter. That being said, I have yet to do this! :D

I love the above kind of playing for Warhammer and such, but I find it strips off some of the imagination when roleplaying. When GMing, I just keep a lose track of paces between the opponents. So far it has worked out fine and the players haven't complained of any cheating yet!

When I need to remind them of distances, I get up and actually walk off the amount of paces we are discussing. This clears up things rather quickly.

And that being said, I would love to play some combats using minis and a map! Either that or paly more Warhammer! :wink:

[luke]

sometimes we'll use minis or coins, but as Pete said, it tends to damage the imaginative part of the game.

it detracts from the fluidity, chaos and confusion of the situation. It encourages power-gaming ("I was three and A HALF paces away, not THREE!), and forces players to see the situation as a top-down tactical one instead of a head on imaginative/visual one.

-L

[eruditus]

Yeah, I tend to do it through either description or live motion. I often will describe the scene based on a single player's perspective instead of giving everyone a clear overall picture. Unless they use an Assess to take tally of who is around them, and such.

As abzu mentioned, I am a big fan of the fog of war and the chaos inherent in battle. I think it would be cool to break out a small map off to the side for a PC that has Gray Tactics.

[eruditus]

Addiitonally, my combats tend to be a little too 3D to do a hexmap. PCs and NPCs alike are always jumping off shit and manuevering around cluttered battlefields. One the first fights my group went through was in a crowded barn filled with a taxidermists workshop, dodging lanterns and torches being thrown into the windows as they fought (by another PC, mind you).

[alterego]

Another option not mentioned is to draw a quick freehand sketch just so that people get the idea of what's going on, and who's where. There's something to be said for the assess action, but it is usually clear in a simple combat (ie under 5v5) where your enemies are located and how long it would take to reach them.

The quick sketch is somewhere between pure imagination and a hexmap. It's worked for my group so far.

[Blackberry]

sometimes we'll use minis or coins, but as Pete said, it tends to damage the imaginative part of the game.

For me, it helps the imaginative part of the game, because then I can imagine the same thing that everyone else is imagining. It prevents arguments like this:

P: Okay, I go up to the corner and hide behind it and peek out.
GM: Okay, you do that, and the guy to your right who can see you in full view shoots you in the head.
P: What? You said he was around the other corner in the distance.
GM: I said he was around the "other" corner, meaning the closest corner.
P: Well, then I charge up fifty feet.
GM: Fine, then you fall head first into the spiked pit.
P: You said the spiked pit was 100 feet away!
GM: That was when you started. Now you're only 40 feet away.
P: Argh!

[Manicrack]

I, persoanally hate hex fields like hell. They are one reason why I deffinetly do not like D&D.

Whenever I played any RPG, it was usually done imaginative. And when it got sticky(a fight ina bar, everyone is throwing around tables, glasses, and other fighters) a small sketch came in very handy.
However I would only use it when it gets very problematic.

-Crack

[Wuxing]

Just curious as to what other people do.

My group usually uses a rough sketch and that's about it. I GM so I try extremely hard to make sure people know how far they are at all times. There's so much give in take in the game, putting it all together during scripting resolution, that a little bit more doesn't bother me (or my group) all that much. Then again I place a large amount of responsibility for description of the intention on players and they have no problem keeping up with the action.

We've played together for a while, if that is of any relevance to you. :)