Quote from: Skarg;1043430I like counters and hex grids, but I started in TFT and GURPS which have explicit rules about them that mean that things are more concrete and require fewer GM rulings if figures are in specific hexes facing specific directions.

However I have played TFT & GURPS on square grids and without hexes. It works fine but is not as clear and requires GM rulings on some things.

I like flat cardboard counters with printed images, because they are cheap and easy to make, and can easily flip and stack when there are piles of bodies or people on the ground or whatever. They also show facing more accurately - miniatures often are in twisted postures where the feet, body, weapon/arms, and head may all be pointing in different directions from each other. In the games I play, facing is important so that becomes an issue.

Of course one option with miniatures to resolve facing is to mount the figures on standardized bases, and paint an "front" arrow on the base.

On the other hand, like you, I like the ability to stack counters...

Frank

Quote from: RPGPundit;10433015e was made to not need minis and grids at all.

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We might not need them, but we might like them.

Quote from: S'mon;1042579I would have just gone with "these squares are 1 meter. In this world there's 5 feet to the meter, which locals call the Yard".

A meter is 39.37 inches so two meters is closer to 5' than one meter.

Are you using printed maps of the same scale for each system? If there is some form of consistency, I'd consider getting some clear plastic you can cut with scissors and a sharpie. Draw a line with units for each scale and maybe a circle and a cone similarly. Then you can just overlay the pieces onto the map and measure that way.

Like Pundit said though, you don't really need to use grids. They are more important if you are doing a lot of tactical combat, but small encounters, you can really do without it. For BECMI/RC/1e I almost never used grids and eyeballed movement. For 2e I totally used grids, square and hex, because I did ridiculously detailed combat back when my brain could math way better than it can now.

Quote from: Steven Mitchell;1043358I use a grid maybe as much as 10% of the time in 5E.  If I need any markers, I'm more likely to simply place a few figures in an open space to show the rough arrangements.

My games are very heavy roleplay so I rarely use them except for when I note the players getting restless. When that happens I put together what I call "The Big Fight", doing a lot of prep before hand. In those instances I do measure everything out. But I do a lot of it beforehand. I also have a separate sheet with important stats for the PCs written out, including movement. These days though, I use Fantasy Grounds because it has manual dice input, and it logs everything which means I can use it as a campaign manager. In FG, having gridless maps are preferable because the program put square and hex grid for you, and with a push of a button you can make them bigger and smaller. The best thing is, I can prep those maps for the right scale before the session, and it automatically scales the pogs for Players and NPCs to the grid size.

Honestly, the only maps I REALLY need to worry about are the Amber Temple and Castle Ravenloft. For everything else, I'll probably stick to theatre of the mind. It's just been my practical experience that new players tend to really appreciate the map for complicated areas.

Ideally, I could find gridless versions of the maps that I could blow up to change the ratio from [1 in = 5 ft] to [1 in =1 yard]. Might honestly not be worth the hassle though. I've got a month before the campaign itself even starts, and they probably won't reach either location for months in real time, so it's not something I need to immediately worry about.

Quote from: chirine ba kal;1043458We might not need them, but we might like them.

If you like them, that's fine. The problem was that in some of the more recent editions the rules were such that they were essentially necessary, and that's a problem for anyone who isn't a big miniature fetishist.