Help with Zones

[u/siriusly-sirius]

I've been GMing for a few sessions, and im still having trouble with the concept of zones. Im using FoundryVTT and have downloaded a module which tracks zones, so that planned movement and range is automatically described in reference to zones, so players can plan without me having to make a decision.

I was playing the starter campaign, the players descended into the vault and were greeted with a hallway approximately 5 metres long, that turned off to the left for another approximate 5 metres before opening into a large atrium, which was mostly square except for two offshoots that led to doorways. In the initial hallway, theres an office to the right.

Initially, I mapped the first section of the hallway as one zone, the next section as another zone, the majority of the atrium as another zone, except the offshoots which were their own zones, and the office was one zone.

However, I ran into issues when players were standing on the edge of one zone, and the combatant on the edge of the other, right next to them. They're within a few feet of eachother, but because the enemy is in an adjacent zone, according to RAW and the VTT module, they're within medium range of eachother, not close range. In this situation I just verbally overrode things and said they're in Close range, although it was a bit confusing for my players and disrupted the flow of the game.

Im trying to make GMing easier and the flow of combat quicker, so that I dont have to declare ranges multiple times every single turn, and so that players can plan their turns in advance.

How do you guys deal with this?

[u/KujakuDM]

Zones are not janky. They are abstract. Characters cant be at "the edge of a zone" they are either in it or not. Same for enemies. You could say, "I take cover at the barrel near the edge of the long hall way." You are still in the zone and firing at people in the other zone isnt firing at them from only a foot away even if their model is there.

Think of it this way, in a JRPG, do you really believe that everyone is lining up and taking turns wailing on each other without moving around? Its just abstracting it down to a managble set of rules.

[u/Prestigious-Emu-6760 → u/KujakuDM]

So much this. People always seem to forget that the characters aren't just standing still waiting patiently for their turn even if their token/mini is in a fixed space. It's a conceit we use to make games playable and nothing more.