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  1. #11

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    Quote Originally Posted by LordEntrails View Post
    I use the marching order as a default. So that when I spring an ambush or trap on the party I don't just give them a map and let them set themselves up how they want knowing they are going into combat.
    My players don't tend to metagame. Besides, that's why I let them set themselves up before I decide where they're being attacked from. If they're being attacked from behind, for example, they set themselves with the fighters up front, spell casters in the back, but the I bring in the enemy from behind the spell casters. If they spread out too far, I could take out the casters before the fighter get into combat, for example.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Andraax View Post
    My players don't tend to metagame. Besides, that's why I let them set themselves up before I decide where they're being attacked from. If they're being attacked from behind, for example, they set themselves with the fighters up front, spell casters in the back, but the I bring in the enemy from behind the spell casters. If they spread out too far, I could take out the casters before the fighter get into combat, for example.
    So you metagame instead of the players?

  4. #14

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    Quote Originally Posted by damned View Post
    So you metagame instead of the players?
    Not really. I roll to see if the party is surprised. If they are, then I make sure it's a surprise. If they aren't, then I let them setup after telling them the *approximate position* of the opponents, and I setup the opponents appropriately.

    For example, one time the encounter was that they encounter a child along the trail, sitting on the side and crying. After a short period of time, a band of orcs will attack from the woods on the opposite side of the trail. So, I throw up a trail through woods "generic" map, place the child on it, and lay out the situation for the players ("You're walking down this trail, from the north, heading south. You see a child on the side of the trail, sitting and softly crying. Go ahead and set yourselves up on the trail, north of the child.") After the players have arranged themselves on the map, I setup the orcs in the woods opposite about where they would come out, hidden. During the encounter with the child, I throw some perception checks for the party to determine if they hear the orcs creeping through the woods, and go into combat based on that - sneak attack, with the orcs getting a round of free attacks before the players can do anything if they fail, or I unhide the tokens as I tell them they hear a group of orcs coming out of the woods behind them.

    Or another example, I'll throw out a generic map and drop a campfire token on it. "Your ranger has determined this is the best place in the area for a camp, and he's gotten the fire going for you. Go ahead and pick out your sleeping spots, first watch is so-and-so." If the encounter happens on a later watch, then I'll go "Nothing happens on first watch, second watch is so-and-so, rearrange your tokens," and so on.

    Of course, I make sure that I throw out maps once in a while when there is *nothing* going on, or for a random encounter with farmers or what not, so they don't get the idea that a new map appearing means they're being attacked.

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