Running D&D combat well is partly an information management problem. A game master who has to hunt for information during combat is a game master who is creating pauses.
The five things that need to be visible
1. Initiative order. Not in memory — somewhere visible. Who acts next should never require mental reconstruction mid-fight.
2. Token positions. Where every creature is on the map right now. Not where they were, and not where the GM thinks they are. Current position.
3. Hit points. Current HP for every creature in the encounter. Not approximate, not "about half." The actual number.
4. Active conditions. Frightened, poisoned, concentrating, restrained — anything that changes how a turn plays out. These expire, stack, and interact. They need to be visible, not remembered.
5. Whose turn it is. This sounds trivial. It is not. A fast, clear answer to "who acts next?" keeps momentum alive.
What happens when these things are in different places
Every time one of these five things lives in a different tool, window, or document, the GM has to context-switch to find it. Each switch is a small delay. In a six-round fight with six players and eight creatures, those delays compound into minutes.
The single-view answer
Virtual Combat Simulator is designed to keep all five visible in one encounter view. Initiative, tokens, HP, conditions, and turn order in the same combat control room — updated as the fight moves, visible to the whole table.
For setup and feature detail, see the VCS help pages.
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