About to start my first face-to-face game, and I’m wondering if/how GMs are using visual aids? Certainly pure theater of the mind (and I use audio too) is attractive–the middle of the table can hold the snacks now, yes?–but so much of DW is fictional positioning and making use of the environment. Makes me think there’s opportunity to do something cool.
Anyone?
I almost always end up sketching out whatever area the PCs end up in. Especially if there’s a fight. Just quick scribbly stuff on scrap paper to show the relative position of characters to one another and the bad guys.
Likewise I generally just go with a quick sketch, if I have any props these can be set in the middle of the table too.
Now I use one of those foldable wipable plastic sheets for maps unless I have something preprinted. Also, wipeable plastic cards for NPC names, place names etc.
a stack of index cards for writing down locations, NPCs, and fancy loot, in addition to letters and other such paraphernalia
a quick sketch of a map not only aids in comprehensability, but can also add some hilarity while you flaunt your shoddy artistic skills
If you’ve got ’em, minis (or similar tokens) are a great prop for relative positioning. Don’t worry about counting squares, but I like to throw some terrain down (corks for trees, boxes or styrofoam for buildings/ruins, old D&D dungeon tiles for interiors, etc.).
I’ve also got a bunch of “skull” tokens to mark the fallen, and “?” tokens to note “you hear something moving in the brush over here” or “it darts around the corner” or “arrows come flitting out of the darkness from up here.”
Biggest tip I’ve got is: move the minis around constantly. Like, every time you make a GM move or resolve a player move, adjust the positioning. Knock figs down, pile them on top of each other, pin them up against trees or walls, etc. etc. etc.
Also, if you have detailed minis or actual color maps to work with, really pay attention to the details and use them to inform the fiction. Like, have someone leap up onto that table. Have someone stagger over that chair or tip the bookcase. Have someone pick up the stool and hurl it across the room. That stuff’s great.
I use art often (here is what the npc looks like, sometimes, when I have time, I do the art myself because I have a specific look I want to convey).
I often use maps, prefering much more general maps without hexes, squares since DW doesn’t really need grid movement. Where we play (Pete’s house), we have a laptop that can project to a large tv, so the map can be up for everyone to see. Recently, the airship that the PCs raised from a lake bed was found art and that was put up on the screen.
I am quite capable of drawing a very quick map if something comes up in game that I wasn’t expected.
Miniatures and terrain. Also a wipeable vinyl mat with wet erase markers. I also recently made a batch of these paper minis and chipboard bases. My players really liked them and I will most likely make more in the future. Real nice when you don’t have time or funds for buying real minis and painting/basing them.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/1UF-8ZwalechW_NOzOyGNe6rrJns0PNrIHv7daRwazi8QSNBm4FW3Dy1UzIszruK7rCpW71M73yFqCfqHz7wT-t-pY3RXYJmhzM=s0
I also made this guy pretty much from scratch lol
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/cT7Kmc4lERd4xambL_CT6lY6QrJ7JUTF9pK2KA1jMP29X278Mvyn6-P2zAnCIxdk9oaKmqGYTBwg5eUrm5fgBAZnH_XjCQP1XrQ=s0
I’m lucky enough to have several professional artists among my players.