Combat Zones For D&D & Pathfinder (Ep. 136)

The way my group runs it is that "Close Range" means you can hit them with a melee attack immediately, "Mid Range" means that you can get close enough to hit with a melee attack that turn, and "Long Range" means you can hit with a ranged attack, but you can't get close enough for melee.

This entire channel has really upgraded the way I run DnD, both in quality and the efficiency of running it and prepping for it. I cannot stress enough how much I enjoy these videos especially the Caves of Chaos, showing how it is implemented in play really helps spark ideas.

This video reminds me of when I was looking to get into dnd and was watching videos. This channel and runehammer were the reason I took the plunge. This way of looking at the game.... This is THE way in my opinion. The ideas are on point and they should both be hired to make 6th edition.

This video was a roller coaster! At first I was empowered by movement based on my hand size as I have large hands. Then I was attacked by the sausage fingers, that hit home. Great video.

Interestingly the 'here' and "there" simplification makes it much more difficult to follow.

I wish there was more Zone Combat content available. Speedier than Grid, and less obfuscated than Theater of the Mind.

I would love to see an actual gameplay video where this is used, not only in a physical in-person game, but also to see the concept on a virtual tabletop like Role20. I think the live theater metaphor is extremely apt, and I love it, but my players really love gridded, heavily tactical combat.

I love the comparison with Hamilton and theatre. Genre improvisation on stage is commonly setup with minimal set that can stand in for lots of locations, and that's the closest performance art-form to role-playing. Probably explains why most of my friends in improv are also roleplayers :)

You seemed a lot more happy in this video than usual. I like that. You get really happy talking about your terrain and it's lovely to see

I remember spending (quite a lot of) time trying to translate FFG's Star Wars RPGs into a grid-style combat game so I could use my collection of miniatures. It was soooo liberating when I finally realized that I didn't have to do that and instead started designing encounters around loosely defined zones.

Love this episode I have been doing encounters with my son for sometime. I used a lot of modified rules. When I came to your channel my encounters with my son were so much better thanks to you. You have taken the mystery out of the game and made it better for my son and I to play. I would love to be part of an encounter with you and some other players. I have never been apart of a game. I have just DM for my son and I. Keep up the great work

I don't rock the UDT but I do use zones. I just make landmarks on a more or less regular map into zones. Like I scribbled out a six-zone map for a session I'm running in less than an hour, hehe. It's got the road, a pile of rocks, some broken stairs, two burned-out houses either side of the road, and the walltop(with a mounted machine gun). These are all zones because there's something noteworthy or useful there. Cover, an obstacle, a cool gun. Stuff like that.

I think that I'll stick with grids.

This is one of those things that people should try out and see if they like it. I fall firmly into the "give me grids or give me death" camp, but I can see how others could prefer this style of play. Our game group likes just a bit more tactical feel than zones or theater of the mind allow for, and if we get away from the grid, alot of questions arise...thus making the game slower. Even though Professor Dungeon Master does ALOT of things vastly different than me, I always appreciate the videos none-the-less. I always want to improve my games whenever possible, and see how other's do things, even if I decide not to implement that idea, it can always provide new insights.

Thanks for sharing this! I am getting into EZD6. They use this under the names Near and Far. So this was really helpful to me!

Im absolutely inspired! I still like my tabletop with terrain and houses but have opined how inadequate the setup is for interior spaces. Particularly large ones like twisted caverns or sprawling castles. I'm going to start working on a set of these and use the zone system for all my interiors! This is so practical and still lets you get the minis out, be tactical, and get that sweet visual stimulus.

I wanted to thank you and share my appreciation. I used your video as a jumping off point to create a basic system that makes combat distances simpler for blind and visually impaired players. I wanted to thank you for providing inspiration, sending me down a rabbit hold of articles and the rules for Exalted 3rd Edition. I have referenced your video and provided a link in the set of rules I am putting out to players in our blind and visually impaired community.

I think this video with the combat examples explain the zone concept well. Whether you and your players can adapt to the abstract nature seems to be the problems some of the commenters are having with the concept. If you're running 5E, and used to running grids of 5ft squares, you might have to adapt a bit, but nothing a bit of houseruling and discussion between DM and players hopefully can overcome. The Professor plays faster simpler games that may accommodate this concept better. But it seems a nice midway between basic theatre of the mind and fully fleshed out battlemaps with buildings or cavern corridors laid out in full.

I started with Star Wars Edge of the Empire games which also uses zones. I love it and use it with every system I run.

This video sold me on the idea of zones a lot more than previous ones. I feel like there are a few types of encounters I would still want a "grid" for, but it seems a lot simpler for 90% of fights. Very cool video