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I think often the artist drawing the map has a hand in this - if the map is only one flipmat big, then your 500 feet range spell isn't going to decide the starting distance. This can be really aggravating when the map is a bit on the small side, where you would want a bit more margin. If everyone starts at the edge of the map and are already in range of each other there's not a lot of room for tactical maneuvering. So a clearing with 2 squares of jungle around it on the edge of the map screws over guerilla style forest characters.
I think often the artist drawing the map has a hand in this - if the map is only one flipmat big, then your 500 feet range spell isn't going to decide the starting distance. This can be really aggravating when the map is a bit on the small side, where you would want a bit more margin. If everyone starts at the edge of the map and are already in range of each other there's not a lot of room for tactical maneuvering. So a clearing with 2 squares of jungle around it on the edge of the map screws over guerilla style forest characters.
The advantage, though, is that it creates a decent way of defining line of sight in a forest, which is otherwise kind of arbitrary. Depending on how muh folisage t there is you might be able to see an enemy 10 feet away or 100 feet away. When I use a flip mat with two squares of jungle at the edge, I assume players can't see into the clearing unless they are on the map.
When I don't have a map it certainly gets trickier to decide those starting distances. There are a few tables out there you can use to roll for it depending on terrain. But that can create opportunities for long range characters to shine.
I am experimenting with long encounter distances. Because a few months ago we switched from playing in person on the dining room table to playing remotely by Roll20, my maps have grown in size. Yesterday's map was 250 feet by 325 feet (50 squares by 65 squares).
I think my encounter distance in yesterday's game session, 200 feet, was too far. I based that encounter distance on real life. Our house is in a forested swamp, and our dogs regularly start barking at neighbors 200 feet away when they stroll down the road.
That encounter was frustrating. Both the enemy patrol was in a forest across a meadow and a creek while the party was at the bottom of the meadow next to another forested area. The enemy tried to hide (not effective against the party's perception) and slowly advanced. The party devised a plan to lure the enemy closer by two deceptive characters acting clueless and the other three player characters sneaking through the adjacent forest into an ambush location. However, the hidden ranger Zinfandel decided to shoot when the enemy was 160 feet away and the druid Stormdancer followed up by casting a fireball. Everyone else in the party was stuck without any good attacks at that distance.
After the fireball, the enemy patrol realized that they were outmatched (they were only a moderate threat worth 80 xp) so they tried to sneak deeper into the forest to retreat. The deceptive rogue Sam tried to rally the party to chase them. I was surprised when Zinfandel's player argued that the enemy did not look like they were retreating. The enemy was sneaking in difficult terrain while taking an occasional longbow shot, so I guess the retreat was too slow for that player to notice. I had to shut my mouth to not blurt aloud that yes, that was a retreat.
Three of the enemy patrollers have disappeared into the forest. The fourth patroller was distracted by a party member's insults (the player wanted a taunt mechanic since her player lacked long-range attacks, so I let her make Intimidation checks to taunt. She rolled a nat 20 on her 3rd try), so the party caught up to him. He will probably die when the game resumes next week. I expect the party to have a rematch with the escaped enemy by tracking them. The enemy will have to regroup and stop to Treat Wounds.
My wife (Sam's player) swallowed her annoyance at a failed encounter because it felt realistic. Stormdancer's player feels guilty about chasing away the target by casting her biggest spell first and will try to avoid that mistake. Zinfandel's player has not realized that Zinfandel attacked too early for the lure-the-enemy-closer plan to work. I am accustomed to all my players being expert at combat tactics. I now have the enlightenment that a player can be good at combat tactics but bad at judging the tactical situation. I wonder whether some GM skills could make the situation more obvious.
I think often the artist drawing the map has a hand in this - if the map is only one flipmat big, then your 500 feet range spell isn't going to decide the starting distance. This can be really aggravating when the map is a bit on the small side, where you would want a bit more margin. If everyone starts at the edge of the map and are already in range of each other there's not a lot of room for tactical maneuvering. So a clearing with 2 squares of jungle around it on the edge of the map screws over guerilla style forest characters.The advantage, though, is that it creates a decent way of defining line of sight in a forest, which is otherwise kind of arbitrary. Depending on how muh folisage t there is you might be able to see an enemy 10 feet away or 100 feet away. When I use a flip mat with two squares of jungle at the edge, I assume players can't see into the clearing unless they are on the map.
When I don't have a map it certainly gets trickier to decide those starting distances. There are a few tables out there you can use to roll for it depending on terrain. But that can create opportunities for long range characters to shine.
I decided that 20 feet of this forest granted the concealed condition, 50 feet of this forest granted the hidden condition, and 100 feet of the forest granted the undetected condition. We have 20 feet of forest between our yard and the road, and we can see a person or car on the road but not the whole person, just bits of color (unless we look along the driveway, which is clear). And on that particular map, I marked several thick tree trunks that provide cover, too. Roll20 has a tool to track a straight line of sight, so we could easily test whether a tree trunk was in the way of a bow shot by sheer luck.
I am still learning about big maps instead of small playmats.