Extrapolation

A role-playing game is one where a three-month journey can take 3 minutes to play, and a three-minute combat can take two entire sessions.

But it doesn’t have to. I find solo combats tend to run faster than group game combats. There are a ton of reasons for this. Firstly, the number of combatants tends to be lower. This can make for a much smaller initiative ladder. Secondly, you are going to always be fully engaged and prepared for the next actor on that initiative ladder, and you are likely to know the rules of the game. There is a good chance that we all know the player who doesn’t even begin to think of their next action until the GM tells them that it is their turn. The player who doesn’t follow the game when it isn’t their turn so has to have the situation described to them every round. The player who is checking Bluesky or Mastodon between rounds. Or, the player who, two years in, still has no idea about their character’s feats, abilities, spells, or skills.

Even if you dodge all those bad habits, some game systems can just be time-consuming. We may want the simulationist detail, but it comes at a cost in time and effort.

There is an option to play three rounds or so of a combat, and then try to extrapolate from there. If, after three rounds, you are putting foes down with little cost to yourself, then you could assume that the net effect of the encounter will be the same. If, on the other hand, you are struggling and already taking wounds, then you can make a subjective call as to how the battle would end if it goes all the way.

But why did the battle start? What did you want from it, or what did the other side want? Does every battle have to be to the death? Many games have a morale mechanic that can end a fight faster. We can also use the Oracle and Muse to give the top dog on the monsters/foes’ side a motivation.

If you interpret the answers in the context of this fight, then you can use it to consider how the enemy would want the fight to end, or at what point they would want to negotiate. If they are winning, what, other than your immediate death, would they want? Are you more valuable as a hostage? Would they be expected to bring a captive to a bigger boss?

Almost any scenario is likely to give you more role-playing options than just grinding through hours of combat rounds, rolling to hit and rolling damage for both sides until one side runs out of hit points.