The Lantern Hall
Painting: an ancient lexicon open on a carved lectern in a dark chapel of books, glowing runes and symbols lifting off its pages like fireflies.
TermTabletop term

Theater of the mind

Running scenes, including combat, through description alone, without maps or miniatures, leaving positions and distances to shared imagination. The phrase comes from radio drama.

Running scenes, including combat, through description alone, without maps or miniatures, leaving positions and distances to shared imagination. The phrase comes from radio drama.

Quick answers

What does "Theater of the mind" mean?
Running scenes, including combat, through description alone, without maps or miniatures, leaving positions and distances to shared imagination. The phrase comes from radio drama.

Nearby in the archive

Game Master

Tabletop term

The player who runs the game: describing the world, voicing every Non-player character, adjudicating rules and deciding what the dice mean. Different games give the role different names, such as Dungeon Master in D&D, Storyteller in Vampire: The Masquerade and Keeper in Call of Cthulhu. The role descends from the neutral umpire of refereed wargames.

Virtual Tabletops

Phenomenon2004

Fantasy Grounds, Roll20, Foundry and D&D Beyond moved the map, the dice and the character sheet onto the screen, and when the pandemic closed the kitchen tables of 2020, virtual tabletops kept the hobby playing.

GM screen

Tabletop term1979

A folding cardboard screen that hides the Game Master's maps and dice from the players while printing the most-used tables on the inside. It is both a practical tool and a symbol of the referee's secret knowledge.

Mentioned in 1 other exhibit