When I'm running 4E, I kept having the issue of bottle-necking the heroes. They'll be in the hallway going into a large, open, dynamic encounter area; my soldiers beat them on initiative. Obviously they will want to move forward to protect their squishy allied monsters. So it ends up being a long, dragged out fight between the party's defenders (who don't deal big damage and don't get hit often), and the brute/soldiers. Compound this with a party that doesn't have a lot of ranged or forced movement control options, and you can see the problem.
How do I address these issues? Do I wait and call for Initiative until after the party is in the room? Do I encourage the party to do maneuvers like Bull Rush to push the opponents out of the hallway?
Our 2nd level party had a two hour fight last session. Just looking at ways to speed it up and make it interesting for all players.
How do I address these issues? Do I wait and call for Initiative until after the party is in the room? Do I encourage the party to do maneuvers like Bull Rush to push the opponents out of the hallway?
Our 2nd level party had a two hour fight last session. Just looking at ways to speed it up and make it interesting for all players.