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Finarvyn,

I have sent you a message to google docs... see if you can download it.

Anyone else who wants wants it, I can send you a link.

When running larger amounts of players (7-16) I have found it useful to not use a battlemap, but use a small DM map where I keep track of all characters and creatures.  I do it loosely.  Player says I move here, I tell them whether or not they can.  All push pull slides etc turn into direct to hit bonuses or damage bonuses, players choice.  All players should have their action thought of before hand so their turn goes fast.  The basic rule of thumb;  the more players, the simpler and faster each turn has to be.

This system has evolved a little.  In every group of players, it always seems their is one players who likes the tactical sides of things.  We let him/her run all player movement (with consultation from the moving player).  It does speed things up.  He/she usually knows what would be the best move for said player.  Of course, the player sometimes wants to do something, and that is fine.

I also use loose "moral" rules.  If it is turning into a hp slugfest and it is obvious the players are going to win, and it fits within the context of the encounter, the monsters break or surrender.  It can create good RP'ing moments.

Using these guidelines, with a normal sized group of 5-7, we can clear a lot of encounters in a night.

Combat grindfest 4e happens when:

1. The DM is unwilling to allow combats to be resolved without playing through the fight.

Specifically if you just automatically call for initiative when the players walk into a room full of monsters, you're heading for combat grindfest. Additionally if every monster only attempts diplomacy so it can get the jump on the players later, you'll head towards combat grindfest. If your monsters are content to wait in their lair completely alert 24/7 and never ever leave it no matter what... combat grindfest.

Let your players negotiate. Let your players lure monsters into ambushes. Let your players sneak past monsters.

2. You have too many equal-level soldiers and brutes, and too many higher levelled monsters, or other similar "you can't hurt me" creatures.

If this happens, defenses get high, the players miss a lot, and the players have tons of hitpoints to grind through. Result - longer combats. You're much better off facing players with 2 equal-levelled creatures than 1 higher level creature of an equivalent xp budget. Even better is to put in tons of minions.

This also covers creatures which weaken, stun, daze, slow and blind on a regular basis, or ones which are immune to common damage types. The game gets boring when the players turns are regularly wasted, because monsters take a longer time to die, and during that time your player is just going "I do nothing. again."

3. Your monsters are immune to terrain effects

Players want to have fun and experience your battlefield, and you want the monsters to die in interesting ways. So why are your monsters standing next to a giant lava pit immune to lava? Is that fun at all? This somewhat ties into 2 - wasted turns are boring. At least a couple of times, your players will try to do the smart thing and push a creature into lava, and when that has zero effect, it's a wasted turn that just serves to draw out the combat. It also frustrates the player and makes them less likely to care about how you describe a room.

In concert with 1, feel free to put combat-ending hazards in your game. Don't stop with a measly 3d6 damage for dipping in the lava just because more would insta-kill a monster. Bump it right up and speed up the fight for canny players. Make the deathtrap dance-of-death room a real deathtrap.

Of course if you do these, make sure the players know that environmental hazards are likely to be really nasty.