I am preparing for the final session with the battle at the well of dragons in Tiamat’s temple.
We play in person, so I was trying to get an idea on scale for the battle, and I realised the temple diameter is about 2,65 metres (~104 inch), considering 5ft = 2,54cm (1 inch)
How did you deal with this when playing in-person?
Full disclosure: I haven’t gotten there yet.
I think I would describe what is not in the immediate play area around the players. Only use the battlefield around players, not whatever some mage is doing off in the distance. If they move, so does the battlefield. Draw the relevant features on some sheets of paper and switch them out when necessary, or erase and draw if you are using an erasable battle map mat.
If they split the party up, use theatre of the mind, even when fighting. You can still roll dice, discuss positioning, and describe the action without a 2.65m circular map on the table.
I was also considering the theatre of the mind, but unfortunately theatre of the mind doesn’t always convey the impressive size of -in this case- the temple.
I did notice using terrain made my players think twice, as whenever they encounter a dragon they go ‘Ooh! Nice skirt for me!’ Even after some of the payers died at the hand of dragons…
Oh well…
True, true… Now if you tell them “that thing is 500ft away” they will start counting how many turns it would take them to get there and it may sink in just how far that is.