As a person with sometimes very very very short time memory it can get confusing to run battles with lots of monsters/npc's. The initial 1-2 rounds usually goes well, but after a huge and long battle drags on I often loose track on which mob is which of lets say 8 gargoyles. So, anybody got any suggestions on how to tag miniatures beside using dice? Any clever things out there I could buy?
Oxi.
I'm using a magnetic white erasable board with permanent one inch squares on it. I draw out the immediate outline of the area that the battle is taking place, then add magnetic letters to represent the characters (usually the first letter of each character's name), then I add magnetic numbers (usually from 0 to 9, cause it's pretty rare that the team encounters more than ten opponents, but if they do I use round magnetic markers and don't count the hit points as it's usually skeletons, or kobolds, or some other type of creature with low hit points).
If there are few opponents, I make all individual rolls, write them down on the board so everyone can see, and start taking turns. If there's a large group of foes, I roll only one initiative for them and they all move on that turn, while the players still roll individually.
For REALLY large battles (I'm talking like a war scenario with hundreds of opponents), I usually handle just what the characters fight face to face and narrate the rest.
Believe me, the last thing you want is for you epic battle to drag down your game to a turtle-paced-yawn-fest. You gotta keep things moving fast enough that the players (and yourself) don't get tired of it. So my advice is: Less opponents, but stronger ones. At higher levels, just narrate those encouters with the weaker opponents.
Ultradan
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A pack of index cards, and some poster tack (the rubbery "silly putty" stuff) go a long way. You can mark individual minis with little index card flags, you can organize groups and number them, etc. A little ball of poster tack and the mini won't leave its card behind.
For really big battles, a group of us got together and banged repeatedly on the idea of a template based military unit system, that turned large groups into blocks of infantry. It was a lot like the mob rules, but for organized and trained units.
I will try to remember to dig up the link later when it isn't locked behind a firewall of force... stupid websense
I use the combat pad from Gamemastery and in the area where you mark the hit points of the creatures I usually put the initials of the player attacking the creature. That helps me keep track of who's who since their minis are usually right next to each other or are fairly obvious who there attacking.
