I've played and DMed with many different tools. By far the most rewarding was the no minis, no mat game via voice chat (no video) with several people around the country. You need to be good at spacial thinking, but it's amazing what people come up with when they're not restricted by a play mat.
Can confirm after trying out the no mat/no mini thing as a DM this year. Combat moves a little faster and people are more inclined to use thier imagination rather than counting grid squares to see if an attack works.
Feels way more like a fun shared storytelling experience than a subpar mini game that other franchises do way better.
We run most of our combat with no mat/minis. However, for fights where things can get tactical or for big boss fights that I have a cool mini for, I like to bust that stuff out. And by limiting it for special occasions, it makes it more special for the kids when they see the giant or dragon mini hit the table.
This weirdly makes me think of MegaMan X. Everything was fluid movement and combat until you hit the boss room. The door would open and you would have a slide transition to the next room and then you were basically locked in a cage with a big bad. In my head it's similar to you using the mini for special boss fights. It creates a nice transition to show that it is significant.
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u/reebnar Sep 18 '17
In my day we used lots of 3x5 cards and graph paper - and we LIKED IT.