Whole dungeon level on combat tracker?

[glenshoe]

I'm going to have my players run through a dungeon level that's populated with a bunch of monsters. I'm thinking about placing the entire roster of NPC's on the combat tracker. That way, once the alarm is raised, I can see where all the other NPC's are and where they're going to go. Also certain encounters will draw in monsters from other locations. I also employ the mask feature so my players cant see the whole dungeon level till they explore. My question is, is this OK? I'm pretty sure I can skip unseen NPC's in the CT. And if I toggle each token to the "mask sensitive" feature, they don't show up until I reveal that particular area. Or is that simply too many npc's to keep control of. There must be like 50-60 tokens on this level. Keep in mind, not all of them will be moving at the same time. Some of them have to stay to guard this room or that. Also I don't know about initiatives. Should I just roll once for everybody once the party starts the first combat? Or do I only roll once the monsters show up? I'm afraid me trying to decide where a bunch of monsters are going to go will slow the pace down to a crawl. Finally, is there a limit to how many slots I can throw into the combat tracker?

Thanks in advance for your input!

[celestian]

You might want to test it out first. I've had some serious "lag" issues with a large number of npcs in the CT.

The plan you describe is why I would prefer to have the npcs tokens ON the map to begin with. That way I can easily tell there are nearby creatures that might come if the pcs make a lot of racket.

[Andraax]

While you can do it, I wouldn't recommend it. Create an encounter for each group of monsters, and drop a link for the encounter onto the map. This way, you'll know where they are, but they're not cluttering up your CT. When you're ready to add them, it's two clicks to put them into the CT and onto the map.

[LordNova2]

In short what you are doing is called the "Headache" scenario. LOL
I have not done that many, around twenty-some is the most I have done in FG. It can get a bit confusing,hectic and slow with that many mobs to control *(and that does not include the delays and frustrations if you got bad players pulling their shenanigans, so keep that in mind too)*.

For simplicity, I would suggest keeping the mobs off the combat tracker when possible. Make some tokens (not tied to any NPC sheets) put them on the map (hidden) and use them to represent the mobs in a room/area and moving about the dungeon when aggroed from this area. Then set up your encounters for the mobs in each room/area that that token represents. When the players reach that area add in the mobs to the map and tracker when the players get there.

Unfortunately there is no real easy way of doing large numbers of mobs individually. You might want to check out the Unearthed Arcana: Mass Combat rules, however this would be more applicable if the party was facing off with all the denzines of the dungeon at once.
Large numbers of mobs scattered in a dungeon are large numbers of mobs scattered in a dungeon unfortunately...

[Andraax]

For simplicity, I would suggest keeping the mobs off the combat tracker when possible. Make some tokens (not tied to any NPC sheets) put them on the map (hidden) and use them to represent the mobs in a room/area and moving about the dungeon when aggroed from this area. Then set up your encounters for the mobs in each room/area that that token represents. When the players reach that area add in the mobs to the map and tracker when the players get there.

I just use pins linked to the encounters. If you give a meaningful name to the encounter, it shows up as a tool tip when you hover over the pin, and you can drag the pins around like you could a token. Plus, it's one click to bring up the encounter, and a second click to add all of the monsters to the CT from there.

[damned]

Hi glenshoe different VTTs do things in different ways.
the best/correct/intended way to do this in FG is - as the others above have posted - by way of Encounters.
Once you understand the concept of the Encounter it really makes things easy to use.

[Segin]

While you can do it, I wouldn't recommend it. Create an encounter for each group of monsters, and drop a link for the encounter onto the map. This way, you'll know where they are, but they're not cluttering up your CT. When you're ready to add them, it's two clicks to put them into the CT and onto the map.

Thats a great idea. Can move the pin around which more or less represents the monsters moving and if encountered, bam, click on the pin just as if encountered stationary in a room. Sweet.

[damned]

you can also re-use an encounter - say the party are waltzing thru the challenge you can simply add it again to the CT as reinforcements arrive

[Ken L]

This is where you'd use maptokens. AK does this but it comes with a bunch of other changes as well.

[Andraax]

This is where you'd use maptokens. AK does this but it comes with a bunch of other changes as well.

Or pins. Which is built in. :-)