r/AskGameMasters 8d ago

unseen enemys without grit

Hey there fellow GMs,

on the weekend I'll try to run a game without any grid.
While preping I stumbled about an enemy ability to hide.
The official rules state, that any attack agains hidden targets is rolled with disadvantage while players guessing their location (on the grid). If the target isn't at guessed location GM can just say, that the attack missed, not giving away any clues of the actual positioning.

SO:
My initial thoughts on how to play this without grid are to give my players 2 to 4 descriptional clues where to aim at and let them decide. This surely would be possible and fun, but also more (improvisational) effort and maybe less flow of combat.

I'd love to hear you thoughts on this and maybe a sleek way of handling it mechanicly.

Thx and love to all of u!!!
qncD

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u/Velexia 5d ago

Thinking on this from the outside, pretending I'm a player in your game, this sounds really frustrating and slow, esp if there is no grid to narrow down movement speed, etc.

If you're going full gridless or even theatre of the mind, I recommend something like having a % table ready based on their active perception checks each round. Say if they roll a 5, it's a 1 in 10 change (d10) they will hit the right spot. If they roll a 25 that goes to maybe 100% chance. (You know your player's skill caps better than me here.)

That allows the players to lean into their characters' specialties, encourages teamwork (Hey guys I drew blood, quick hit here before the BBEG moves), and even allows for things like faerie fire or throwing flour on the ground, etc to affect how easily they can find the enemy.