Immersion

Theater of the mind is a controversial issue in TTRPGs. Battlemaps and minis allow you to easily and efficiently visualize combat encounters. There is no worrying about where everyone is on the battlefield, and it’s very clear to see who is attacking whom. In groups, it prevents arguments about who is where, and solo players don’t have to wrack their brains trying to imagine what’s going on on the battlefield. On top of this, minis are a lot of fun to play with. I personally enjoy making my own cardstock minis and playing solo games with them.

That being said, minis and battlemaps have several drawbacks for solo players:

• You are limited in your ability to set up the battlefield because you can only use what you have available. If you don’t have minis and battlemaps, you can’t play.
• Setup time for miniatures and battlemaps can be time-consuming for brand new games. From buying the minis and painting them to creating or downloading battlemaps, setting up the battlefield for your game takes time unless you’re well-stocked on play aids. This can interfere with solo games when an unexpected encounter occurs.
• Issues with portability. Because you’re using minis and battlemaps, you cannot play anywhere you like. For example, you cannot play a quick game on your lunch break at work or school.
• Not all RPGs have minis available for gameplay. Although major RPGs such as D&D and Pathfinder all have miniature and battlemap support, many smaller games don’t. This can limit your options regarding combat situations.

Tactical theater of the mind

Theater of the mind is highly immersive when done correctly. If you have a vivid imagination, you can picture epic vistas, hellish landscapes, and deep, dark dungeons. You aren’t limited by the minis and battlemaps you have available.

However, the biggest problem with the theater of the mind is keeping track of each combatant and what they’re doing. This limits tactical gameplay for solo players who like crunchy rules.

What many solo players need are tactical theater of the mind rules that allow for gameplay depth, while needing only a scrap of paper to keep track of combatants.

The following theater of the mind rules simplifies combat without minis while still maintaining tactical depth. It’s based on the movement of old turn-based RPGs and strategy games. Feel free to change and adapt this system to suit your game.

The abstract battlemap for theater of the mind

An abstract battlemap is a way of imagining the battlefield without needing minis or a physical battlemap. The abstract map is divided into three zones of combat:

1. Close range: When a combatant is at Close range, they can use melee and close-range attacks against enemies. Ranged attacks have disadvantage.
2. Medium range: At Medium range, the combatant can only use ranged attacks to hit enemies. Melee attacks are out of range.
3. Long range: The combatant is out of range of all melee attacks, and medium-range attacks have disadvantage. The only exceptions are long-range weapons such as sniper rifles and similar spells or abilities.

Actions on the abstract battlemap

• It takes a movement action to move from Close to Medium range, or from Medium to Long range.
• Attacks of opportunity trigger when a combatant at Close range attempts to move to Medium or Long range.
• Enemies will prioritize party members at closer ranges over those at longer ranges. If more than one party member is within the same range, enemies will prioritize the party member with the highest initiative.
• If you wish to flank a monster, then both party members must be within close range and spend a movement action.
• If you wish to attempt to hide behind terrain to use stealth-based attacks and abilities, then you must be within medium range and spend a movement action.
• AOE and cleave attacks strike everyone within the same range as the primary target.

Step by Step Theater of the Mind Combat

1. Determine the initiative or turn order of each combatant, then deploy them at Medium range at the start of combat.
2. When it’s the player’s turn, choose an attack and move towards the appropriate range for your attack. For example, move towards Close range for a melee weapon attack.
3. When it’s the monster’s turn, choose the monster’s attack by rolling a die. For example, roll 1D2 to select between two attacks, then move the monster towards the most appropriate range for the attack.
4. Use a notepad to keep track of enemy and player ranges if there are several combatants.

Example:

To illustrate how this all works in practice, I will use gameplay from D&D 5e as an example. However, the same basic idea can be applied to most RPGs.

Our player is a level 5 barbarian attacking a manticore. The player rolls for initiative; the barbarian’s initiative is 5, and the manticore’s is 16. The manticore acts first.

Image courtesy of dndbeyond.com

The manticore has 3 actions, so our player rolls a 1D3 to select one of its actions at random. The result is 3, so the manticore attacks with its Tail Spike attack.

Because this is a ranged attack, the manticore moves to Medium range to attack the barbarian. Its attack rolls succeed, and together with the extra attacks granted by its multiattack, the manticore deals 21 damage to the barbarian.

The barbarian decides to enter a rage and melee the manticore. He moves to Close range to attack it with his greataxe. His attack roll succeeds and deals 15 damage to the manticore.

On the manticore’s turn, our player rolls 1D3 to select the creature’s next attack. The result is 1, so the manticore attacks with its Bite. However, due to its multiattack ability, it attacks once with its Bite and twice with its claws, dealing 15 damage at Close range.

Conclusion

Theater of the mind allows you to run combat encounters even if you lack minis. By substituting minis and battlemaps with an abstract map, you can play virtually any scenario without needing physical play aids. This makes the game highly portable, allowing you to play anywhere at any time. All you need is a piece of paper and a pencil, and you can play any combat scenario you want.

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