No Minis for 4ed
Mearls scores big with this post, which suggests how to play 4ed without minis. While this almost exactly maps to how pre-3ed D&D would handle this situation, I feel like there is room to new-school the old-school. (If the following idea sounds terrible to you, just blame all those indie rpgs I’ve been reading lately.)
First, remove the rules text from all of the powers. Just keep the fluff text.
Include all the header information, such as the action type, triggers, burst and blasts, and such. In all of these situations, remove any instances of squares. You can either change the instances to feet, or just simplify to the basic concept intended by the power. In any case, this header information is important to describe how and when the power should be used.
Replace the body of the rules text with damage codes and some simplified key words. In most cases, these simplified key words can (and, for ease of play, should) be based on the terminology of the rules they represent. So “Push target 3 squares” might boil down to the keyword “push” or even “small push” to give a little granularity. The important thing here is that these keywords are used to provide a little narrative control to the player. By looking at the key words, the player can understand what to expect out of a power, and be able to describe what he is attempting with that power. It might be useful to make a cheat sheet that lists all the keywords and has a one or two sentence description of what they mean.
As an example (a power I am making up on the spot, so don’t judge its merits:)
Punch in the Face (Fighter Attack 1)
You pull back a mighty fist and plant one square on the jaw of the beady-eyed creature.
At-Will – Martial
Standard Action
Target: One creature in melee range
Attack: Strength vs. Fortitude
Hit: 1d4 + Strength damage and a short push.
And the cheat sheet would say:
Short Push: You push your target a couple feet away from you.
And so, as a player, on your turn you might say: “I punch him in the face. I want to try to push him backwards and make him stumble over a bar stool.”
I may be in the monority, but I enjoy the tactical aspect of the combat grid and the counters or minis.
Oh, don’t get me wrong. I very much enjoy 4ed the way it is. This is just an interesting way to change up the play style for a group that wants a more narrative feel.
This indeed very interesting. I may try it sometime just for a change of pace. Especially given how every online gametable program I try seems to die screaming whenever I network with more than two people or put more than a few tiles on the grid.