Generating a Battlefield

Since the Player’s Option combat system relies on a figure’s positioning and facing, any battlefield the DM creates should show obstacles and terrain features in the exact squares they occupy. The following section describes a quick battlefield generation system that the DM can use when he doesn’t have the time or forewarning to prepare a detailed battlefield before the player characters get into a fight.

This system should not replace old-fashioned preparation for an adventure. If you know that the players are likely to encounter a troll ambush in a mountain pass, make some notes about the setting of the battle before the adventure begins. Any staged encounters in buildings should be described, too. If you take the time to draw a good dungeon map, the map can be copied to a larger size for use with the Player’s Option combat system without too much trouble.

The only times you should have to create a battlefield from scratch are when you don’t expect a fight to occur, such as when the PCs run into a random encounter while traveling cross-country or pick a fight with someone they were just supposed to talk to. Save yourself the trouble of creating a battlefield if it is fairly obvious that the encounter won’t lead to a fight or if it seems likely that the actual fight will be very short.

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