What's the best way to play Labyrinth Lord without miniature

[Harruvon]

Yes, could someone give me advice on how to play Labyrinth Lord without the use of a map and miniatures? I will eventually use a large map and miniatures soon. But want to know a good way to play without?

[bighara]

If you mean for mapping a dungeon, just describe it and let them map it on a piece of paper if they want a players' map. If you mean for combats, really, it's just a question of describing the scene well and the players giving clear indication of what their PCs are doing. You don't have to go into excruciating detail, but things like the approximate dimensions of the area they're in and what's inside it is enough to be getting on with.

I have a lot of minis, so I like using them, but sometimes just letting folks use their imagination is a good way to go. LL doesn't require you to track what square/hex everyone in is or worry about things like flanking, so the game doesn't "suffer" for a lack of grid & minis.

If you have time to watch a long-ish video, check out Wil Wheaton's "Tabletop" on Youtube where he plays a PnP RPG sans minis, etc.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-61i3R5y9Y

[Harruvon]

Yes I meant mapping as well as combat. Back in the day Me and my friends used to play classic Dungeons & Dragons. And we used miniatures in a game that you purchase. But in homemade adventure we just had a mapper and graph paper. Who would draw by the vaguely description. But I would write notes of what they see and experience. In game I would go along with more details . The notes would give me an idea on what to describe.

[Dyson Logos]

I've been playing D&D-style games (especially B/X D&D which is essentially identical to LL) without minis for over 30 years (with a few exceptions to see what the hell we were missing, which it turns out isn't anything in our opinions).

The assumption in most old fantasy games was that melee was exactly what the name describes: mixed up. So I describe a room and the villainous opposition, the party decides whether to engage or not, or what parts of the party will engage. The area of engagement is "the melee" and characters not within the melee are able to use spells and missile weapons. It actually makes combat a lot quicker and easier in general, because you don't need to move minis around on a battlemat.

[dawnrazor]

We have played D&D and AD&D with minis and floor plans since the early 80's, just because it's fun. All other RPGs we play without minis, which works equally well. As previous posters said - you have to describe the scenes carefully and as GM I keep track of relative positions (IF it's really important) on a sheet of graph paper. Sometimes, I draw a small "battlemap" on a paper to help visualize the situation for the players. I think that RPG:ing without minis actually promotes the "role" in roleplaying, while using figs and battlemats can dissolve to "moving figures around on a map and rolling dice".

Both methods are ok, depending on what you're after in your game.