Question for all the GM's out there

[madman]

So I have been thinking about Combat in Fantasy Grounds, and how to improve it from a roleplay standpoint.

Keep in mind that I run Pathfinder RPG games, though I think it will not matter much.

Example...
Party is marching along and they come across an encounter.

Most of the time I open up a map, drop some tokens and say "Roll Initiative."
This works for tons of things, but not all.

Problem...
Unless the Players see something to kill they never just start moving their tokens. Thinking that they are going to run into some kind of ambush or something.
And telling them OOC that there is something else they should be doing at that time, just sucks. In a sandbox adventure this is much more difficult. The party goes from just plugging along, to a complete stop. Because the map is up. I do not want to switch to no map encounters for combat, but would like better flow.

Asking them Ok, so what are you doing now. Also sucks

I guess I am looking for some feedback on how to move into an encounter without loosing focus on in character actions vs. OOC actions.

maybe keep the map out of it until the very last min. Roleplaying everything until combat is toe to toe.

Hit me up
Chris(Madman)

[Phystus]

I tend to not share the map until somebody makes a spot check, or the bad guys attack. Usually I wait until someone asks 'can I see the map?' before I share it. So by the time they see a map, they already know they need it.

Actually, that only applies for outdoor encounters. In the dungeon we've already got the map open (though masked except for what's been explored). In that case I just drop in hidden creatures and unhide them as they're spotted.

I also think it's totally worth the minor hassle of making the party's spot/listen/perception rolls for them, so they don't get the cue of 'please make a spot check' either. You can then use whisper to inform those that succeeded, and let those players decide what to tell everyone else. Though you'll want to be sure to tell the players up front that you'll be doing that to avoid an argument later!

~P

[lachancery]

I handle it similarly to Phystus, by the time the map comes up for an encounter, which side is surprised has already been established. As Phystus, the exception to that rule is when a map is expected to support a specific location, such as a dungeon, a specific building, an urban setting, a specific ruin, etc.

I am not shy about rolling perceptions (spot/listen) secretly for them, either. They see hidden dice flying around frequently; sometimes I roll dice for no other purpose than to keep them on their toes. (I used to do that as well when GMing games at the table.) At times, I will decide the surprise and setup of the encounter without rolling dice.

My players have stopped trying to use external cues to gain meta-insight... ;)

[Trenloe]

Problem...
Unless the Players see something to kill they never just start moving their tokens. Thinking that they are going to run into some kind of ambush or something.
When the players head off somewhere, I usually ask them to do a bit of a marching order/rough setup of how they are moving. Put their tokens on a blank map/image so you have an idea of where they will be when something happens. Then, when something does happen, you can just transpose that formation onto the map and that's where they start when things kick-off. But, I'll only show the map once any foes have shown themselves or an important event has occurred (arrows flying from the forest, for example).

Like Phystus and lachancery I sometimes roll perception myself for each character. Or, I get the players to roll into the tower/box. I ask the players to do this quite a lot - with success giving them interesting bits of info about their surroundings. So, asking for a perception roll while moving through a wood does not necessarily mean that there's an ambush up ahead - it might mean that they notice some interesting flora or something else about their surrououndings.

For me, the key is to describe any journey - be it taking 5 minutes to go to the local magic shoppe from the inn they're staying at, or travelling between towns for a few days. If the PCs get used to you only concentrating on encounters then they'll know something's coming up when you start to roll and describe the environment. If you spend a bit of time describing the scary forest they're travelling through, but there's no encounter - then that's cool and it'll keep them on their toes and also give the players a better idea of the world they are playing in.

Form this point of view (descrining journeys even without ewvents), it depends how episodic you play your games - moving from encounter to encounter, or adventure location to location with little details/gaming between them; or the player's experience of the game world is more immersive and the general day to day happenings are of interest. So, it all comes down to personal gaming preference - if you used the example of the scary forest and your players are used to getting an encounter, then they may waste a lot of gaming time looking for something to do that isn't there.

[VenomousFiligree]

maybe keep the map out of it until the very last min. Roleplaying everything until combat is toe to toe
Seems to be the general consensus and is what I try and do.

[Ardem]

A marching order is good for the ambush style, if you after it, but most times the right players know when something is up right from the beginning when you describe a setting, they are already on their guard, but this is not a bad thing as they are adventures and would have a sixth sense sometimes, to certain locations.

For instance I play Skyrim, sometimes certain area I already got my sword out when I don't even know something is there, you just get an incling something is about to come.

I playing with group which is fairly green except one player, I will be using Trenloe style of looking at the little things more regularly, after the first module, sometimes even a night of the little things can be enjoyable, to break up the quest mentality.