As I run almost exclusively in the d20 fantasy sphere of games – Dungeons and Dragons, Pathfinder, d20 Modern – one of the tools that gets used often is a combat grid, whether it is a published or dry-erase footmat, HirstArts tiles of my construction or printed cardstock tiles.
But should you use the grid for social encounters?
The Prince of Redhand, one of the great social encounter scenarios. (Dungeon 131, February 2006.
You might think the default decision for social encounters is to never use the grid, reasoning that if the players aren’t focused on the table, then they can concentrate on roleplay. And there’s some truth to that. Certainly a majority of social encounters don’t need a footmap.
But I’ve found that there is a good occasion when the grid works:
When the player characters must “work the room,” when a sense of space and knowing where PCs and NPCs are standing in relation to others is key.
Big ballroom parties, a conference of important figures, the prelude to a villain’s showdown are all examples where this might be important.
The main advantage to having a grid in this case is it leaves the door open to combat/skill endeavors, even if the PCs elect not to do so. It’s a signal that all options are available.
If I anticipate a future big boss battle with multiple named NPCs, a social encounter with a grid is a good occasion to preview the miniatures that will be used. So, when those minis are used in a future combat, it may lesson the confusion for the players once they are familiar with a given fig.
The same can be said if the location for the social encounter will be the same set piece used for the boss battle at the end. This gives players a sense of familiar ground, a chance at previewing the landscape and brings more tactics into the adventure.
A very interesting concept Troy. While during social encounters my group prefers the game focus being as much as possible on the roleplaying/dialogue and as little as possible on the game table in front of us, I can definitely see the benefit of using miniatures and the grid during more complex scenarios.
When you have a larger social scene like a banquet, occult gathering or even a tavern scene where the group is gathering information before the big hit, it can be very useful having overview of where characters are to see who hears what and who witnesses which details. It also has the chance of making the whole encounter feel a little bit more realistic rather than the group skulking creepily as a single unit between conversations with NPCs .
Yes, it has a way of signaling that if you are not in that cluster of characters as shown on the board, then your PC is not a part of that conversation, you can’t hear that conversation, and you can’t act on that information.
I like this effect–it’d also combat the player who buts into seven different things with “Oh, I’m doing that too!” I’ve mentioned before an encounter where after a battle one character was simultaneously (trying to) keep watch, bury their foes, loot their bodies and interrogate the prisoner. Minis on a grid–or even just keeping to initiative order–should have revealed the insanity…
I like this idea for the purposes of plausible deniability. What I mean by that is if I set up minis and terrain for a good number of social encounters, then it won’t suddenly become suspicious if I do that for a social encounter that turns out to be an ambush or a trap.
Thinking about the relative social advantage of positioning, gaining familiarity with NPC minis, and leaving open skill/combat in the minds of the players are all just icing on the cake.
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Yep, you as the GM are not showing your hand. For the players, this gives them complete freedom. Do I talk or fight or do both? Just as ALWAYS running abstractly can be freeing, ALWAYS running on a grid is just so, because you are presenting the encounter agnostically. Do with this what you will.
I also like using the map for social encounters. It gives the Pcs a sense of whats going on around them, who is skirting the corners and what not. Also when you drop that big dragon mini, the sense of scale and the fact it is on a grid (can become combat situation) does wonders for building tension in a scene.
Building tension is always a good thing. Thanks for pointing that out Simon. On the grid, events can build on one another toward a confrontation, social or combative.
“It’s a signal that all options are available.”
I like that idea. It is almost like Pavlov’s dog salivating at the sound of a bell. What do the players think is going to happen when you get the battle map out and start putting figures everywhere and crafting the area for them? But this looks like a social encounter, right? …right? …or is it?
Well you make sure you’re on guard… just in case…
I like this idea. In campaigns I play in, if the grid isn’t used, it kind of gives you the idea that everything is going to work out completely fine and in the party’s/player’s favor. When a grid is present, it leads us to pay more attention and keep a better eye out, and thus more prone to making offered checks (or at least understanding why we may be offered to make a check).