DM Thoughts – Big Fights

Our grisly murders showdown with Zyn was pretty grindy. Session #31 was almost entirely combat, which is highly unusual for us. It was a good experience, and we did well though.

For combats with an unusually high number of players… here would be my initial tips to another GM:

• Have a board of initiative. Or something. Basically, you want to offload the refereeing of “who’s turn is it?” to the players. Since #31 was mostly a big combat continued on from #30, I typed up the initiative order of the players, and handed out two “cheat sheets” so that they could keep each other focused and moving (“C’mon man! It’s your turn!”). It helped things move along.
• Have a lot of underlings/mooks/adds. It seems counter intuitive to add a bunch of things to an already big encounter, but if you don’t, it becomes a lopsided curb-stomp against the Big Bad, with players getting x activations per round and the Big Bad getting 1. Add mooks to 1) get in the way, and prevent players from surrounding the Big Bad 2) chip away at the party’s resources (spell slots, health, etc) 3) spice up combat. Tank’n’spank isn’t dynamic. This way someone can stand against the horde; some else can try to snipe the big bad… etc. More options for all involved.
• Have simple underlings/mooks/adds. The Big Bad Evil Guy can get cool abilities and what not, but these extras should be simple. One kind of attack, one spell, etc, so you can resolve them quickly. “The 5 goblins on the ledge have bows, and using their vantage point, they fire a volley at the wizard …. 3 hit… etc.” Easy-to-resolve is the desire for these.
• Spread out those enemy activations. While this can result in a player tuning out until it’s their turn, when done with a good group, this can keep players engaged even though they’re spectating. As they’re following what is unfolding, they are also deciding and revising their actions ahead of time (to keep the action moving along). Whether you activate the baddies by group (you see several bands of kobolds; the closest, a group of 4 charge with spears leveled…), by type (goblins first; then orcs…), or by some other method… the goal is spread out the activations a bit, so that the party doesn’t get six characters going in a row and the NPC baddies acting all at the beginning or end of the turn.
• Use Minis. It's easier to track what's going on. It doesn't need to be fancy. I "hobby" and use a lot of minis from Reaper Miniatures, but for baddies, this last session I drew up and used some paper drawings taped to stand up to display the minis. There are tons of pics out there if you want to resize and make your own. And, if you want to get more into the details (you're in a dungeon or something), there are lots of free graph paper options out there.
• Talking as a free action. Having players shout out a complex battle strategy isn’t the idea here. Instead, the Big Bad should be verbally sparring with the players; the players intimidating the mooks; or players shouting in character as a reaction to them being shot at or surprised “more goblins coming through the main gate!”

 I dabbled a bit with all of these, and it went pretty well. This is not something I want to do often, but when it comes around again, I think I will be able to do it better.