"It’s more accessible. TOTM allows players with visual impairments or other disabilities to fully participate in the game without any additional accommodations. That’s a big win for inclusivity!"
In my (rarely) humble opinion, TOTM also works better for some of the more rules- centric games, like D&D and for many of the same reasons that you mentioned.
1. It's limitless - if you can describe it then you can use it. Why would a dragon land where characters can hack at it? Why would it not choose to attack from the air? With minis, is a GM going to hold the dragon for the entire combat? With TOTM the description of the dragon flying sets the stage.
2. It's portable - just as mangrove for rules- lite games, this applies for other games as well.
The same arguments really vary through the rest of the points presented.
Even for paid GMs, TOTM really is superior. Many people have been trained to expect terrain and minis from many of the broadcast sessions without also realizing that those sessions are following a very carefully created script. Matt Mercer's table is not going to change their minds or select something that he hasn't prepared because their session is scripted and the players are voice actors. There will never be a case c where he has all the terrain set up for the castle and the group decides to go explore a cave instead. Tell me a real GM who has not dealt with that. TOTM takes that in-stride and enables the GM to maintain the immersion by creating the new situation through description (even if it was not something they had planned at all).
"It’s more accessible. TOTM allows players with visual impairments or other disabilities to fully participate in the game without any additional accommodations. That’s a big win for inclusivity!"
"Aphantasia is the inability to voluntarily create a mental picture in your head. People with aphantasia are unable to picture a scene, person, or object, even if it’s very familiar. " (https://www.healthline.com/health/aphantasia-cure#What-is-aphantasia?)
In my (rarely) humble opinion, TOTM also works better for some of the more rules- centric games, like D&D and for many of the same reasons that you mentioned.
1. It's limitless - if you can describe it then you can use it. Why would a dragon land where characters can hack at it? Why would it not choose to attack from the air? With minis, is a GM going to hold the dragon for the entire combat? With TOTM the description of the dragon flying sets the stage.
2. It's portable - just as mangrove for rules- lite games, this applies for other games as well.
The same arguments really vary through the rest of the points presented.
Even for paid GMs, TOTM really is superior. Many people have been trained to expect terrain and minis from many of the broadcast sessions without also realizing that those sessions are following a very carefully created script. Matt Mercer's table is not going to change their minds or select something that he hasn't prepared because their session is scripted and the players are voice actors. There will never be a case c where he has all the terrain set up for the castle and the group decides to go explore a cave instead. Tell me a real GM who has not dealt with that. TOTM takes that in-stride and enables the GM to maintain the immersion by creating the new situation through description (even if it was not something they had planned at all).
For all of these reasons TOTM remains superior