Running a game without a mat/minis?

Ask the party how it is grouped and ballpark it. Instead of exact ranges or squares, you have striking distance for adjacent/10feet, a stone's throw for out of reach but near/15-30ft, moments away/middle-distance/way away like totally far away, etc.

Try not to get to over complicated with how and where players and objects are positioned. General discriptors.

>>50460145
Mind's eye is how I originally designed my very tactical RPG system (eventually I added in grid combat). Basically it works like this: you tell people how far they are away from relative points of interest. Cover, enemies, etc. Then they just declare what they're moving to. Honestly, DnD is so straightforward I've never seen it lose anything by doing this. It's not like a real tactics game where you need to be in a specific place.

>>50460145
We do it all the time. It's not the best, but sometimes It's quicker than trying to doodle out a map on a whiteboard and put down dice in place of minis (because we're cheap-asses). Mostly, everything centers around the melee, the the ranged folk declare how far away they are (usually, close enough for spells, but far enough they can't be charged in one turn), and the rogue declares he moves around to flank, stuff like that.
AOE affects usually work on anyone in range in the GM's mind's eye. The GM will tell the caster who he will and wont hit, and let him decide based on that. If things get confusing, just a sheet of paper with Xs and Os can clear up positioning really fast.

>>50460145
>traps
Usually triggered by a player's decision. They drink from the bottle, walk down the corridor, open the door, stick their hand in the hole, etc.

>AOE
Bullshit it. If characters are far apart then you can handle them as separate groups when the dragon starts throwing around a breath weapon.

For a small AOE (like say a cloud of gas pouring out of a trap), if positions were unclear before, just make a judgement call. If a player wants to argue they were standing at the back of the room the whole time, flip a coin to see if they're affected.

You print graph paper and get some erasers and pencils with you or does that fall under mats/ minis? To be honest I'm a lot more comfy when I can just doodle a map when GMing.

>>50463727
I meant running the game with just descriptions.
I'd have a map of the dungeon and notes for the encounters but combat wouldn't be done with a grid.