Roll20 Theatre of the Mind "Maps"

Hey there everyone! In my game I usually run combats on 5x5 battle-maps with tokens. However recently I have found the need to increasingly move combat away from small skirmish encounters in enclosed areas into larger scale mass combats/large scale fights. Because of this I'm leaning less and less on battle-maps and more on TotM style combats. The problem with this style of play is that it's very easy for both the players and the GM to lose track of precisely where they are there enemies are in fights, and for people to talk/act at cross purposes because they don't know what's going on. My question is - does anyone who's more experienced in running TotM have any tools that allow them to keep track of combats? Specifically some sort of 'background map' with ranges (short/medium/long) and a sort of lose guide to locations designed for TotM play? I couldn't find anything with just a google search but I am sure something like this must exist. Any help would be greatly appreciated, thankyou!

I have cutup my GM screen digitally then just place the chunks on the map when expecting combat, if I felt the need. I tended to keep those image chunks on the GM layer so I could see them and they didn't clutter the player's view.

Cernunnos said: My question is - does anyone who's more experienced in running TotM have any tools that allow them to keep track of combats? Specifically some sort of 'background map' with ranges (short/medium/long) and a sort of lose guide to locations designed for TotM play? I couldn't find anything with just a google search but I am sure something like this must exist. Any help would be greatly appreciated, thankyou! When we go into Theater Of The Mind in my games, it is all based on the dialog of the GM and Players.  If we tracked ranges in any visual way -- whether it's a map, or a chart, or a list -- that would be getting away from ToM.  So my answer is basically, "Ask the GM or Ask the Player". Example, Player: How far away is the goblin? GM: It's currently about... let's say 30 yards. Player: Ok I run over and attack the goblin. And it carries on like-so for every round. If the player says, Player: But last round you said it was 30 yards and now you're saying it is 80 yards! GM: Ok that's fine, it's really about 30 yards if that is what you were picturing it to be.

Theatre of the mind is great for truly imaginative players who also have a great memory (DM's as well). However, if you have a large party or even just more than a couple of NPC combatants, using the robust features of the actual grid and tokens is highly encouraged and one of the main reasons to use Roll20. Otherwise, you could essentially run everything over Skype or Discord, rolling real dice. tl;dr: Use a blank combat map and throw down tokens. It is much simpler in the long-run and still just as engaging if you are effectively narrating combat.

The closest thing I normally do to this is have background images for some locations, rather than maps. It sets the mood, especially if I attach a jukebox track to them. If we're going into combat though, I break out the map. On the rare occasions we do TotM, I use the advice that Gold gives: give the players a lot of leeway on interpretation. It reduces arguments, speeds play, and reduces the bewilderment players feel on not seeing spatial relationships. Besides that, the DM has unlimited power on their side. Players usually only control their sheet. You can always adjust things on the fly if it's going to easy or too hard based upon their assumptions. Be prepared to improvise, and especially let players with movement-based powers and abilities have the benefit of the doubt. EDIT: I have developed a  macro system and spreadsheet parser that makes this very automatic.

Thought of another approach that we use sometimes in games. (This is like the "background images" method that keithcurtis suggested). Throw a photograph onto the screen.  Maybe it is an image of a field, a forest, a cliffside, or a room. Then the GM can use the "Ping" method, or the drawing tools in Roll20, to indicate positions.  To ping a spot, hold down your mouse button on the spot.  Example, "The goblins are hiding behind this tree over here" (PING the tree in the photograph). Player: "How far away is that tree?" GM: "You're not able to measure the exact distance, but it is about as far away as it looks in the picture. Maybe 30 yards or so." Try some background photographs with eye-level viewpoint like this forest pic.

The Men in Black RPG had a very funny range chart: it showed four pictures of MiB Headquarters, and each one showed Mikey at a different distance. The first picture was in your face, the second was not far, the third was over there a bit, and the last was all the way at the other end of the room. And that's how you determine range in the MiB game. So do things like that on your tabletop. For range the GM could, for instance, put the portrait of the target on the background image, and change its size to represent how far away it is. To arrange objects in your inventory, the GM creates tokens for each major item (stuff in bags gets one bag token) and the player can rearrange the stuff on his character portrait that the GM has placed on the tabletop. If time and countdowns are a big part of the game, the GM can add a clock token with separate hand tokens, then rotate the hand tokens to show the time. Just whatever you do, make sure it flows with your style. Only use these things to support whatever would take the players' attentions away from the plot. If the players spend too much time fiddling with the doodads on the tabletop, you've overdone it.

David T. said: The Men in Black RPG had a very funny range chart: it showed four pictures of MiB Headquarters, and each one showed Mikey at a different distance. The first picture was in your face, the second was not far, the third was over there a bit, and the last was all the way at the other end of the room. And that's how you determine range in the MiB game. This is what I was after, but more generic, or high fantasy themed. Been looking over google/bing searches but can't find what I am looking for...