I'm not a GM nor am I a DM...I'm an ST...a storyteller. I tell you a story...weave you a scene...you immerse yourself and there will never be a need for a miniature or map...that's the difference between a GM/DM and an ST

I'm sorry, the condescendence made me only think of this:

Even if you are a great story teller, it still makes it easier on the players (especially a large group like ours with 8) to keep track of what is going on in combat. I've had the idea of taking turn counters with a single figure on top to represent minion groups.

Imagine something like this with an old WEG miniature or one of the Imperial Assault stormtroopers just sitting on it.

Even if you are a great story teller, it still makes it easier on the players (especially a large group like ours with 8) to keep track of what is going on in combat. I've had the idea of taking turn counters with a single figure on top to represent minion groups.

Our GM frequently uses dice, and is careful to turn them so that they have a particular number up and he can keep track of them that way. Minion groups might get d6 dice, and each minion in that group would be set to the same number. This allows you to have up to six different minion groups. If you go with color differentiation as well, that means you can re-use the same numbers since the blue-3 group is different from the red-3 group.

You can do something similar with other types of dice that you might find in a game store, but since they do Warhammer 40k there, d6 dice are in particular abundance.

I could imagine getting a pack of those tiny little d6's and place them beside minis to indicate count. I remember using those years ago for something, but don't recall what (initiative order?). I could also imagine them getting knocked about quite a bit.

Those cool counters above seem great if you can get ahold of them.

If using custom made tokens (either printed out and mounted or on a digital screen) you could also take time to make various models of the same minion, each with it's own minion count to be swapped out. As in, you have 6 versions of the Stormtrooper token. One each with the number 1-6 on the bottom (or even higher numbers) with an appropriate graphic showing the number of Stormtroopers. It would be a bit much to put that togather with physical tokens, but could be used with digital versions if you are displaying them on some sort of screen.

Could I do without miniatures and just describe what's happening? Yeah, I can do that and still have a lot of fun. But I like using miniatures, pictures and maps. I don't think one way is better than the other, it's just a matter of preference. I prefer to use miniatures.

I used miniatures for 4th Edition D&D, with all the cool tiles and such. It was neat, but though it helped tactically (and was essential for that game system) it detracted from immersiveness. You can't expect players to feel like they're a character if they can see a 3cm tall version or a picture-on-a-pog that represents the character.

I don't want to use miniatures for Star Wars, much as I'd love to have lots of Star Wars related miniatures around. I do play X-Wing, so perhaps I'll pull out those minis for the occasional starship battle. I really like the idea of having pictures for the scene though. Not necessarily a map, but a "this is what you see" kind of picture. More prep work for me, but I think the impact would be worth it.

All that said, the models from Imperial Assault are very nice, and the tiles fit nicely into the Star Wars theme which many generic sci-fi tiles don't. If you're not having large battles or don't need a large collection of choices for the players, they would probably work the best. The old WotC minis are at least recognizable as Star Wars and would work better if you need larger quantities.

The Game Doesn't Need It, But we Use Little Big Planet. WE Play In A Room With The TV, So We Just Turn On The Play Station And Use The Build Your Own Maps Options. We Can Even Make Custom Sacboys.

So i ran the first part of an adventure for the group (posted here), and this is what I used to represent the derelict Spacemaster transport and the PCs' ships. Pictures printed on poster board. I used some Reaper Bones minis to represent the Scree and just some scraps of paper to represent the PCs.

We have a massive group of 9, and it can be hard to track even general locations of the PCs. I did not use these maps for strict range measurement. I would say "there to there is X range" or "you can get to about here with one manuever." I did not fuss with lines of sight as the PCs were all clumped together in the zero-G environment. Some were on the ceiling, some on the floor. It seemed to work. It was a lot of effort to make the ships, so I doubt that will be a regular thing.

Spiders that big? Serious brown-pants time!

So i ran the first part of an adventure for the group (posted here), and this is what I used to represent the derelict Spacemaster transport and the PCs' ships. Pictures printed on poster board.

I used poster board vehicles myself during a d20 Star Wars campaign. I used them more as minis with deckplans kept on 1" graph paper. The graphics I stole online looking for top-down views only. Well except the landspeeder "pickup" below that was my hybrid creation.

I used poster board vehicles myself during a d20 Star Wars campaign. I used them more as minis with deckplans kept on 1" graph paper. The graphics I stole online looking for top-down views only. Well except the landspeeder "pickup" below that was my hybrid creation.

Very cool looking. I didn't use the 1" grid because a space master is 80m long, which would have put it at almost 7' of playing space! I used a 1:100 scale, so my ship was 80cm.

I bought a whiteboard at Target for $8.50. Minis are cool but I like using the whiteboard more. I did a session using the tiles from Space Hulk and it was pretty fun but it felt more like playing a board game with EotE rules. I plan on using minis again because some people really liked it, but others found it distracts them from imagining the scenes which is my opinion as well.

So i ran the first part of an adventure for the group (posted here), and this is what I used to represent the derelict Spacemaster transport and the PCs' ships. Pictures printed on poster board. I used some Reaper Bones minis to represent the Scree and just some scraps of paper to represent the PCs.

We have a massive group of 9, and it can be hard to track even general locations of the PCs. I did not use these maps for strict range measurement. I would say "there to there is X range" or "you can get to about here with one manuever." I did not fuss with lines of sight as the PCs were all clumped together in the zero-G environment. Some were on the ceiling, some on the floor. It seemed to work. It was a lot of effort to make the ships, so I doubt that will be a regular thing.

Where do you get your maps/vehicle layouts?

I make them myself using the Mac-equivalent of PowerPoint and shared images of objects from Dundjinni and RPGMapShare. I have not posted the HWK-290 or Spacemaster yet, but I have posted my versions of the A-36, YV-560, YV-666, and YV-929 on the forums here. I may get around to posting the other two later today.

Oh, and if you can the 3 circles in the upper right corner of the two smaller ship, I use these as places to put a d6 to track speed, and d20s to track System Strain and Hull Trauma. I don't use those ships for positions in ship-to-ship combat. I use them to track what PC is on what ship and what they're doing. Like I said, a group of 9 PCs gets a bit confusing.

As promised, the Space Master and HWK-290 are posted.

As promised, the Space Master and HWK-290 are posted.

Much appreciated! Thanks!

This Looks fun

I'm not a GM nor am I a DM...I'm an ST...a storyteller. I tell you a story...weave you a scene...you immerse yourself and there will never be a need for a miniature or map...that's the difference between a GM/DM and an ST

Actually, looking at all the evidence, it seems more likely you're a PT.

I use paper friends. Printed them on cardboard and use some stands I bought online that holds them very well in place. I have houndreds of figures, creatures, vehicles. Very cheap and they look quite good. Search for paper friends, they have a huge SW collection.

@Sturn and Domingo.

Those look like the most awful, boring, un epic, un cinematic, and un interesting adventures!!!

Can I play too? I have my own dice and stuff...I'll bring the beer.

(The top line was written in "sarcasm" font)

I'm not a GM nor am I a DM...I'm an ST...a storyteller. I tell you a story...weave you a scene...you immerse yourself and there will never be a need for a miniature or map...that's the difference between a GM/DM and an ST

Good for you. When I have 50 minions assaulting the players barricaded in a farmhouse, I'll keep my minis.

I'm not a GM nor am I a DM...I'm an ST...a storyteller. I tell you a story...weave you a scene...you immerse yourself and there will never be a need for a miniature or map...that's the difference between a GM/DM and an ST

Good for you. When I have 50 minions assaulting the players barricaded in a farmhouse, I'll keep my minis.

Foreshadowing things to come? That doesn't bode well for me.

Mini's are by no means essential, but they're nice for reference. Sometimes it's just easier to show somebody then describe a complicated situation. It also helps to remember generally where things are. We usually only pull them out for complicated situations, but I like having them on hand.

I missed out on getting the WoTC mini's back in the day. I'm considering grabbing the Imperial Assault game and addons, but they're really spendy. I'm not sure I'll be able to justify it.

The WOTC minis are pretty cheap on Miniature Market. Many of them are less than one dollar.

I never bought them before, but a couple months ago I started buying sets of them, so I've got a pretty decent collection now.

I'd say I use maps and minis for every third or fourth session, usually when something is complex enough that I want to make it really clear where everybody is.

In our latest session I used the massive 4' x 6' vinyl map of the space station from Christopher West's latest project:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mapmaker/distant-outposts-a-sci-fi-poster-map-set

It filled the whole table, and the PCs had a multi-pronged assault where they needed to be in two places at once, and lots was going on. It worked out great!

For "a gang of thugs attacks you in the street", we usually just describe it with words.

Mini's are by no means essential, but they're nice for reference. Sometimes it's just easier to show somebody then describe a complicated situation. It also helps to remember generally where things are. We usually only pull them out for complicated situations, but I like having them on hand.

I missed out on getting the WoTC mini's back in the day. I'm considering grabbing the Imperial Assault game and addons, but they're really spendy. I'm not sure I'll be able to justify it.

Sites like CoolStuff Inc sell the old miniatures individually at prices from $0.49 and up depending of the figure. I will probably stick with tokens though.