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3.x/PF: Your experiences

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kirk

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« Reply #15 on: <10-06-11/1801:01> »
On minis, a minor thing that worked for me was to play it on a gridless surface. If necessary I broke out the movement sticks, but generally I allowed eyeball movement and horseshoes accuracy. (Close is good enough.) Other players willing to ridicule the 15 inch foot helped keep things under control.

Movement stick. I've discussed this elsewhere, and it's common in formal mini's battles. Take a stick. Put a mark at each critical point (walk and run in this case). Color each zone differently, plus a third for 'no".

Don't any of you own a ruler? It's a definate "Stick" XD Works for all characters too regardless of armor! xD
heh.

The rulers take you right back to the grid problem. Too much precision. Yes, that sounds weird, but it is.

The other advantage of the colored sticks without numbers is that you start getting an intuitive grasp of relations. This stick (perhaps movement for Trolls) happens to be sitting next to the stick for light pistol range, and suddenly you can SEE that a running troll can be a bad thing for the light pistol user, going from "long-shot" to "oh crap I'm gonna die" in a serious hurry.

bigity

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« Reply #16 on: <10-06-11/1809:19> »
Flashbacks of some jerk taking a turn in 40k that lasted over an hour, because he'd super analyze every iota of movement for a good 5 minutes for each squad.

We finally put a time limit on the table and he stopped showing up.   How does someone make a wargame not fun?  Ugh

kirk

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« Reply #17 on: <10-06-11/1844:41> »
Flashbacks of some jerk taking a turn in 40k that lasted over an hour, because he'd super analyze every iota of movement for a good 5 minutes for each squad.

We finally put a time limit on the table and he stopped showing up.   How does someone make a wargame not fun?  Ugh
heh.

I've been that way sometimes in the past. Fortunately I took the hint and corrected the behavior.

If you want a different way for the next time, go to "commander actions", which is actually an interesting way to play (for some people).  The player gets to physically move his forces commander and any unit to which it's attached. All other units get written commands and are moved by the game referee. Commands are limited length.  Due to the nature of some games' mechanics, sometimes you have to allow the general to select order of actions. And for interrupts allow 'on my command' orders.

Seems complex, actually not hard once you get the hang of it, and again it stops the micrometer players.

bigity

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« Reply #18 on: <10-06-11/1857:13> »
It's interesting for sure. 

40k was bad, but this guy playing Necromunda was simply the stuff of nightmares.

kirk

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« Reply #19 on: <10-06-11/1910:18> »
yeah, I can see that getting bad.

kirk

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« Reply #20 on: <10-06-11/1919:03> »
In my defense, my worst was usually when either playtesting a scenario or when I got units with which I was still unfamiliar.

My worst was while we were testing the Battle of Mincio scenario for Napoleon's Battles. Gads, the retweaking sucked.

Zilfer

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« Reply #21 on: <10-06-11/1939:44> »
>.> actually after a ruler been used for about an hour most of us can eyeball it movement wise. I've actually moved my PC before when another DM was DMing with no mat.  He told me to measure it out and i just laid down the ruler from where i moved to where i was and it matched the perfect amount of movement.
Having access to Ares Technology isn't so bad, being in a room that's connected to the 'trix with holographic display throughout the whole room isn't bad either. Food, drinks whenever you want it. Over all not bad, but being unable to leave and with a Female Dragon? No Thanks! ~The Captive Man

KarmaInferno

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« Reply #22 on: <10-07-11/0126:52> »
I have a retractable badge holder that I marked along the string 1 inch gradations. Works well so far for gridless miniatures combat.


-k

ARC

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« Reply #23 on: <10-07-11/0231:03> »
I just use a tape measure.
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Zilfer

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« Reply #24 on: <10-07-11/1207:54> »
I just use a tape measure.

My other DM that got us into Dungeons and Dragons original used that.
Having access to Ares Technology isn't so bad, being in a room that's connected to the 'trix with holographic display throughout the whole room isn't bad either. Food, drinks whenever you want it. Over all not bad, but being unable to leave and with a Female Dragon? No Thanks! ~The Captive Man

ARC

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« Reply #25 on: <10-07-11/1506:49> »
I play 40k and whfb so I always have mulitple tape measures.
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bigity

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« Reply #26 on: <10-07-11/1508:46> »
I have those red 18" (with marked 1" increments) sticks that came with Necromunda.  Those dang things are worth gold I tell ya.

ARC

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« Reply #27 on: <10-07-11/1517:59> »
Amen.
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Fnord

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« Reply #28 on: <10-07-11/1744:53> »
I have those red 18" (with marked 1" increments) sticks that came with Necromunda.  Those dang things are worth gold I tell ya.
Sadly they are noticeably shorter than 18".

Anyway, I find that certain systems encourages people to do certain things. In a system where your characters can take a lot of punishment with little or no long-term consequences, then people will be more willing to use combat as their go-to solution, while a system where permanent injuries are common and players are squishy, then people tend to look for alternative solutions.

As for D&D (in general) I find that the systems do encourage combat and a fare bit of min-maxing, even if most players are able to add a bit of their character into their stats. Still, it is very easy to end up with a character that just feels like it can't bring much to the table unless you design it within the limitations of the system. In most other games you are able to find your niche even with a "sub par" character, as it is easier for the GM to make a character useful when the system is more open ended, and character creation & development is not as rigid.
 D&D 4 though I've noticed that even those who usually stay far away from min-maxing in all its form feel almost forced to min-max. The game takes for granted that the players wants to optimize their characters at almost every turn, and offers very little in the way of "middle of the road" options, either you take something that was intended for your character type, or you take something that you won't be able to use.
 In many ways playing D&D 4 feels more like playing Battletech than like playing a proper RPG.

bigity

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« Reply #29 on: <10-07-11/2133:48> »
I have 18" ones from some Games Workshop game.  Only two have survived the years at their original length though.