"Help with D&D" Topic

I picked up the basic D&D rules the other day and started reading them, seems a lot has changed since I last played them 30 some years ago. I'm not looking for a huge amount of complexity so the beginner rules seem to be just about right. I intend to use figure and 3D terrain. My question is ranges are given for certain weapons, how do you measure those distances? how do you know how far a figure can move? Do you need a grid on your playing surface?…Will this game lead me to the worship of Satan?

#1) Each square= 5'

#2) Each race has a move distance. See above.

#3) A grid helps. See #1.

#4) No, not Satan but possibly Orcus or Demogorgon. :P

#5) Since most people play with 1" square maps/battlemats if you are going to use terrain without grids then just measure the movement/ranges in inches.

Hope that helps some.

Are you talking about the new 5th edition?

I'd use a range scale that looked appropriate to the figures, 1 inch for 5 feet with current 28mms would be about the actual ground scale.

A character's speed rate appears on the character sheet and a monster's in the stats block in the back of the module or in the Monster Manual. That is the usual distance they can move in a round, and they can dash as far again as their action.

I don't think a grid is required, just a tape measure.

I've been playing D&D since 1977 and it hasn't led to me worshipping Satan. Cthulhu, however, is another matter …

If you go to youtube and search "DM Craft" there is a way to tackle your questions about range, movement and measurement without using a grid. Heres the link

YouTube link

If you look at the online references for Pathfinder you can see the movement rates for all the classic D&D type monsters you can use those for your game. Heres alink:

link

Hope that helps

What Moonbeast said, except #4. Everybody's known since D&D was created that it's a fast track that leads a player directly to the right hand of Satan's throne, where you will serve The Beast burnt buttered popcorn as his tortured slave, while he watches home movies of his exploits of his high school days with the Manson brothers (Charlie and Marilyn)…

…or not. :)

Yes 5th addition.

thank you…for the positive replies…

The only issue with no grid is figuring out whether an enemy figure is adjacent. To show combat you can just make figures touch bases, but there is another rule where adjaceny matters: Opportunity strikes. A figure can make an opportunity strike (extra "free" attack) if a hostile figure moves out of an adjacent square. So you need to figure that adjacency.

Easiest way is to measure and if the bases are closer than 1" to each other then it's as if they are in adjacent squares.

This is pretty small gap between figures to get a tape measure into though. For another game I saw a player use a 1" Apart measurement tool, this was a 1" circular base with a handle in the center made from dowel. He would drop that between 2 figures; if the tool touched both bases then they were adjacent, if it didn't touch then they weren't.

If you have bases different sizes then you may need to make an adjustment for larger or smaller bases. E.g. 20mm bases are basically 3/4" so they can fudge an extra 1/4". Versus 30mm bases the opposite.

I don't use a grid, I just use my wargaming tables and terrain, some made for DnD.

What I do is translate 5 feet in DnD to 1 inch. So a character with 30 move can move 6 inches, a weapon with 80 range can shoot 16 inches. I have a 4, 6, 8 and 12 inch dowel cut outs for movement, painted with 1 inch stripes since 20 and 30 movement are the most common distances, and many characters run.

I got templates (from litko I think?) for blast templates with the radius translated. A 20 foot radius blast is an 8 inch template, a 10 foot is a 4 inch template. Mage hovers the template over the board, everything under it is affected by the w/e.

Medium guys are based on one inch bases, large on two inch bases, etc.

I find an awesome 12x6 gaming table littered with terrain (a walk through the woods to the ruins of an ancient cathedral?!) is more fun than drawing on a grid. I do have a seperate table for holding the beers, chips and books though.