[0B]

I've gotten used to using maps for everything- both in combat, and out of combat. When I did DnD IRL, I used tiles, and when I started doing SR over Roll20, I would build up maps in RPGMaker and screenshot them for my maps. I got a few scifi/urban tilesets in a humble bundle a while back. I haven't actually completed any games made in RPGMaker, but it's been very helpful for this sort of thing.

However, I also find it rather limiting. It's true that players like the tactile part of moving their characters, whether on a screen or on a table. However, it constrains how much "space" I have to work with for an encounter. Theater of the mind always felt a bit more fulfilling to me, as a player, and as a GM I have more room to maneuver when I do this. However, a lot of the tactical focus in combat for 5E SR made it difficult to do a theater of the mind with SR without handwaving a lot of movement rules.

On the other hand, I feel like using tiles for non-combat situations creates a "everything looks like a nail" situation. (Also, since making unique sprites takes time, NPCs all tend to blend together)... I also don't really describe the scenery or appearances of characters when the tiles are in front of me, unless a player asks something specific. And this has only happened rarely, and usually in a "what's inside the chest?" situation where they can't physically see it on the board.

Theater of the mind is something I personally prefer, though doing tiles isn't a gamebreaker for me. A mix of tiles for combat-only is a little better. I really like using one of the screens on Roll20 to show a street map of the area, since then players can start plotting out escape routes a little easier.

What do you all use to show the world?

[AJCarrington]

I much prefer using maps and tiles for my games...also like minis a whole lot. I think it comes down to style and approach...whatever works best for the group.

[Sphinx]

We roll out a basic wet-erase battle mat, on which I'll sketch the environment at whatever scale fits the surface (1m per square for basic rooms, 2m for larger rooms, 5m or 10m for outdoor areas). Details are usually pretty rough, just enough to show walls and other major obstacles — plenty of room for players to fill in details with their imaginations. We use a variety of tokens and colored markers to show position and movement, and I'll jot notes in the margins of the map to track environmental modifiers, initiative order, NPC wound levels, etc. It can get pretty cluttered by the end of an encounter.

[Reaver]

I use a white board with a grid on it myself.

This way, I can quickly sketch out the way an area looks to give enough detail for the players to see the situation and make tactical choices, but its not detailed enough to mess with their own "mind's eye view" of what the world, the races, or the environment looks like.

For NPCs in the encounters, and the players themselves, I just use dice. (Although I have player that did provide a miniature, so I use that for them).

The advantage I find with the white board, is I can quickly draw out the layout of the situation, allowing me to free-form  and have to worry about "planning" out encounters because I can't/didn't make a map for "outside of sports arena" or some other large event where my player evoke trouble.... And then I can erase it, add to it, change it as the situation calls for it.... (like when my players deliberately blow up cars to make a wall of fire between them and KE....)

[Horsemen]

I've mostly used Theater of the Mind and on occasion where needed for clarity a map. Part of it was also a space issue and we don't usually use online resources.

That said, if I ever move that is one of the things I am looking at, increasing the size of our available area to game in. Though even without that, I am considering making more use of maps and miniatures in my next two campaigns. I still prefer Theater of the Mind as I find players slow down with a map as they get swamped with their options visually and decision paralysis sets in.

[BeCareful]

I do a mix, usually. I like having maps for areas where I'm fairly certain there'll either be fighting, or where the players will want to keep track of each others' positions. If the decker says, "I copy the floor plans & make an ARO of it to share in our AR displays, and we can each put a different-coloured dot on it for where we are," then I'll know to prep a map, or pull out the one I made, or sketch it.
For most other places, I won't need one, like if they're all hanging out with their fixer or going shopping for new tacticool weapon attachments.
It even works on Roll20: for places they won't need to explore, just use one big background image to set the mood.

[Michael Chandra]

I do sketches for general locations, and maps for when I believe positioning will be really relevant. Currently need to make time to make a big restaurant map. O_O

[RuleLawyer]

I started with maps and 25mm figures for RPGs in 1978 and kept with it all the way through SR1, SR2 and SR3 but was bewildered by SR played at the national conventions in 2002 and 2003 without maps. I couldn’t figure out how either  the players or GMs could choose tactics. Tactics issues like “I can move 4m per initiative pass and don’t want to be caught in the open”. Or “our mage tosses 6m fireballs and I don’t want to get that close to their center but I want to be within 10m of the closest one for my Pistol”.

Our hobby is moving away from low level tactical miniature combat, and I’m dragging myself into the new era. I just completed 6 weeks of GMing the same adventures using both styles. Thursday evenings played in Bellevue were 4 hours of ToTM and Saturday afternoons in Seattle were 6 hours with maps and figures. I learned that ToTM was sufficient for 90% of the combat scenes and was definitely faster. Guess I’m an old dog with new tricks.

[Stainless Steel Devil Rat]

A sure way to ensure players pick tactics that render a given map useless is to pregenerate that map.

[Chalkarts]

I like drawing out my maps, not to scale, and the players just kind of point to where they are.
I'm using a grid map for the D&D game I'm running, but prefer something more loose for SR.

[mcv]

I use theater of the mind, and handwave a lot of movement. Sometimes I also use a map for extra clarity, but it doesn't overrule the theater of the mind. I don't like strongly-grid-based combat, as it's often too limiting and doesn't provide immersion.

[Shadowjack]

I like to use a map for complex scenes and theater of the mind for simple ones.

[prophet42]

I do sketches for general locations, and maps for when I believe positioning will be really relevant. Currently need to make time to make a big restaurant map. O_O

While I don't see that they have a big restaurant map available, Fabled Environments has a decent map selection, covering a variety of locations.
http://www.fabledenvironments.com/OurMaps.htm

[Michael Chandra]

I need to create a very specific restaurant with something that has no license on it, unfortunately. =) But thanks for the tip.