Step One: Scale

Here’s a tip for saving time: don’t make a battlefield bigger than it has to be. There’s no point in mapping every street of a town if you’re confident that you can contain the battle in one dark alleyway. Refer to the encounter ranges listed for the various terrain types in the previous section; you probably don’t need to make the battlefield bigger than about 125% to 150% of the maximum encounter range. For example, in light forest, the encounter range is 4d6 squares. The maximum encounter range is 24 squares, so you’ll want a battlefield about 30 to 35 squares across. If the encounter is taking place indoors, it’s not necessary to map out more than the room the PCs are fighting in.

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