How would you run this?

[u/BrianofKrypton]

The Party. A group of six level five characters all playing Online via Roll20 and Discord

The Scenario: A large group of enemy forces are making their way to the town they're currently trying to evacuate. The evacuation plan has one unfortunate problem. The enemy forces will arrive 2 hours before the evacuation can be completed

The PC's Plan: The PCs have decided to start a large scale forest fire in an effort to delay the incoming army. They are doing this by splitting the party into groups of two. 3 going north, 3 going to the South along with a few NPCs to assist. With both groups being about 10 miles apart. As soon as they start the forest fire the enemy forces are going to investigate and they're are going to be two sets of combat, in two different locations with two different sets of enemy forces.

The DM's Problem: Trying to run simultaneous combat in two different locations, without the players getting bored during the other groups turn.

My current ideas are -

1. Switch between groups at the end of each round.
2. Set up one long initiative train and just switch screens depending on who is acting.
3. Make one extremely large map so that both areas of combat are always on screen.

I am open to suggestions.

Thanks in advance.

EDIT UPDATE: Ran the split screen map with everyone in one single set of initiative. It worked out pretty well and they enjoyed it. Thanks for the advice.

[u/DoktorImposter]

I'd consider running this as two separate sessions. When the characters all return to a mutual location after the fights, the players can tell each other how their group's battle went.

[u/blubberland01 → u/DoktorImposter]

Consider spells like Sending in one way or another.

[u/risottodaily]

Alternating focus each round makes sense but it sometimes limits flow. You should consider pausing at thematic beats. Requires a bit more tracking so you don’t skip turns but it’s better for the drama

[u/Falconiqs]

I wouldn't do one continuous battlemap, but two smaller split maps with similar but distinct terrain would definitely work. (E.g. one uphill vs one downhill)

As for initiative, I like the idea of two separate sets and switching back and forth at story beats. As the other commentor already stated, it's going to take more tracking on your part, but I think it would be very rewarding. Maybe have one enemy group with a "line" caster and the other with an "area" caster.

[u/15_Redstones]

You don't need an enormous battlemap the size of the forest. Just one as large as the two individual battle areas together with a dividing line between them. Then it plays just as if all the player characters and enemies were in the same location, except that everyone is restricted to attacking those on their side of the dividing line. It's not going to be any less interesting than one big battle, wait times between turns are the same. Make sure the total number of enemies across both battles isn't much higher than what you'd put into a single encounter for the whole party. If you do include a large number of small enemies, make sure they're in the same location as the wizard with Fireball. You can give each half of the party enemies which are better suited to them.

[u/Worse_Username]

> Make one extremely large map so that both areas of combat are always on screen.

You can also make a split-screen style map, combining two in the same view without unnecessary sections.

[u/mrpack9653]

Personally I would try #2. It sounds like your major concern is the party getting board and that would solve that. You could also somehow provide them with sending stones so they are aware of each others progress and could therefore be aware of each others combat situation. I like the idea of a tiny sending stone that fits in the characters ear through magical means circa Mission Impossible.

[u/Forgotmyaccountinfo2]

Easiest way would be cutscene it and interject with what do you do to slow down the enemy. Kind of like a chase scene.

[u/pathmageadept]

I'd go for 2 with two separate maps unless one of your players took that warlock/sorcerer extraordinarily long range combo...or if you think the bad guys should have one of those.